How castles were built in the Middle Ages. Medieval castles of Europe. Castle construction stages

Not every castle is actually a castle. Today, the word “castle” is used to describe almost any significant structure of the Middle Ages, be it a palace, a large estate or a fortress - in general, the home of a feudal lord in medieval Europe. This everyday use of the word “castle” is at odds with its original meaning, because a castle is primarily a fortification. Inside the castle territory there could be buildings for different purposes: residential, religious, and cultural. But still, first of all, the main function of the castle is defensive. From this point of view, for example, the famous romantic palace of Ludwig II, Neuschwanstein, is not a castle.

Location, and not the structural features of the castle are the key to its defensive power. Of course, the layout of the fortification is important for the defense of the castle, but what makes it truly impregnable is not the thickness of the walls and the location of the loopholes, but the correctly chosen construction site. A steep and high hill, which is almost impossible to get close to, a sheer rock, a winding road to the castle, which is perfectly visible from the fortress, determine the outcome of the battle to a much greater extent than all other equipment.

Gates- the most vulnerable place in the castle. Of course, the fortress had to have a central entrance (in peaceful moments, sometimes you want to enter beautifully and solemnly, but the castle is not defended all the time). When capturing, it is always easier to break through the entrance that already exists than to create a new one by destroying massive walls. Therefore, the gates were designed in a special way - they had to be wide enough for the carts and narrow enough for the enemy army. Cinematography often makes the mistake of depicting a castle entrance with a large wooden gate that can be locked: such would be extremely impractical for defense.

The interior walls of the castle were colored. The interiors of medieval castles are often depicted in gray-brown tones, without any cladding, simply as the inside of bare, cold stone walls. But the inhabitants of medieval palaces loved bright colors and lavishly decorated the interior of their living quarters. The inhabitants of the castles were rich and, of course, wanted to live in luxury. Our ideas stem from the fact that in most cases the paint has not stood the test of time.

Large windows are a rarity for a medieval castle. As a rule, they were absent altogether, giving way to multiple small window “slots” in the castle walls. In addition to their defensive purpose, narrow window openings protected the privacy of the castle's inhabitants. If you come across a castle building with luxurious panoramic windows, most likely they appeared at a later time, as, for example, at the Roctailade castle in the south of France.

Secret passages, secret doors and dungeons. When walking around the castle, know that somewhere underneath you lie corridors hidden from the eyes of the average person (perhaps someone still wanders through them today?). Poterns - underground corridors between the buildings of the fortress - made it possible to move around the fortress or leave it unnoticed. But it’s a disaster if the traitor opened the secret door to the enemy, as happened during the siege of Corfe Castle in 1645.

Storming the castle was not such a fleeting and easy process as it is portrayed in the movies. A massive attack was a rather extreme decision in an attempt to capture the castle, exposing the main military force to unreasonable risk. Castle sieges were carefully thought out and took a long time to implement. The most important thing was the ratio of the trebuchet, the throwing machine, to the thickness of the walls. To make a hole in the castle wall, a trebuchet needed from several days to several weeks, especially since just a hole in the wall did not guarantee the capture of the fortress. For example, the siege of Harlech Castle by the future king Henry V lasted about a year, and the castle fell only because the city ran out of provisions. So the rapid attacks of medieval castles are an element of film fantasies, not historical realities.

Hunger- the most powerful weapon when taking a castle. Most castles had rainwater tanks or wells. The chances of the castle residents to survive during the siege depended on the supplies of water and food: the option of “waiting it out” was the least risky for both sides.

For castle defense it didn't require as many people as it seems. Castles were built in such a way as to allow those inside to calmly fight off the enemy, making do with small forces. Compare: the garrison of Harlech Castle, which held out for almost a whole year, consisted of 36 people, while the castle was surrounded by an army numbering hundreds, or even thousands of soldiers. In addition, an extra person on the territory of the castle during a siege is an extra mouth, and as we remember, the issue of provisions could be decisive.

The position of the defenders of the besieged castle was far from hopeless. There were many ways they could push back their attackers. Most of the castles were located in hard to reach places and was designed to withstand a long siege. They were built on top of a steep hill or surrounded by a ditch or trench. The castle always had impressive supplies of weapons, water and food, and the guards knew how to defend themselves. However, in order to survive the siege, a born leader was needed, knowledgeable in the art of war, defensive tactics and military tricks.

The Crenellated Parapet The guards kept a constant watch over the surrounding area from behind a crenellated parapet, behind which a walkway ran over the castle walls. Defense equipment If the defenders knew in advance that attackers were approaching, they prepared to defend themselves, stocking up on provisions and providing shelter to surrounding residents. Villages and fields around were often burned so that the besiegers would not get anything. The castles were designed to the highest technical standards of those times. Wooden castles caught fire easily, so they began to build them from stone. Stone walls withstood shells from siege weapons, and ditches prevented enemy attempts to dig a tunnel into the fortress. Wooden paths were made on top of the walls - from them the defenders threw stones at the attackers. Later they were replaced by stone crenellated parapets. The spread of cannons brought radical changes to the design of castles and methods of warfare. Loopholes The defenders could safely fire at the enemy from the loopholes and from behind the jagged parapet on the castle walls. For the convenience of archers and musketeers, the loopholes expanded inward. This also made it possible to increase the firing sector. But it was difficult for the enemy to get into the narrow loophole, although there were sharp shooters who were trained specifically for this purpose.

Loopholes Existed different types loopholes: straight, in the shape of a cross and even a key. All for the sake of protection 1 The weak point of every castle was the gate. First the enemy had to pass a drawbridge, and then a gate and a portcullis. But even here the defenders had a few surprises in store. 2 Holes in the wooden floor allowed the defenders to throw stones down onto the heads of the besiegers, sprinkle hot sand on them and pour slaked lime, boiling water or oil. 3 The defenders were digging a defensive tunnel. 4 Arrows and other projectiles bounced off rounded walls better. 5 Crenellated parapet. 6 Attackers were often injured by stones bouncing off the walls. 7 They fired at the enemy from the loopholes. 8 The soldiers defending the castle used long poles to push back the ladders of the attackers. 9 The defenders tried to neutralize the battering ram by lowering mattresses on ropes or trying to catch the end of the ram with a hook and pull it up. 10 Extinguishing a fire within the castle walls.

Led to a boom in castle building, but the process of creating a fortress from scratch is far from simple.

Bodiam Castle in East Sussex, founded in 1385

1) Choose your building site carefully

Castles were usually built on natural elevations, and were usually equipped with a link connecting them with the external environment, such as a ford, bridge or passage.

Historians have rarely been able to find evidence from contemporaries regarding the choice of location for the construction of the castle, but they still exist. On September 30, 1223, 15-year-old King Henry III arrived in Montgomery with his army. The king, having successfully carried out a military campaign against the Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, was planning to build a new castle in the area to ensure security on the border of his domains. The English carpenters had been given the task of preparing the wood a month earlier, but the king's advisers had only now determined the site for the construction of the castle.



Montgomery Castle, when it began to be built in 1223, was located on a hill

After a careful survey of the area, they chose a point on the very edge of a ledge overlooking the Severn valley. According to the chronicler Roger of Wendover, this position "looked unassailable to anyone." He also noted that the castle was created “for the security of the region from frequent attacks by the Welsh.”

Advice: Identify places where the topography rises above transport routes: These are natural places for castles. Keep in mind that the design of the castle is determined by where it is built. For example, a castle will have a dry moat on a ledge of outcroppings.

2) Come up with a workable plan

Experienced soldiers may have their own ideas about the design of the castle, in terms of the shape of its buildings and their location. But it is unlikely that they will have the knowledge of specialists in design and construction.

To implement the idea, a master mason was required - an experienced builder, whose distinguishing feature was the ability to draw a plan. With an understanding of practical geometry, he used simple tools such as ruler, square and compass to create architectural plans. Master masons submitted a drawing with a building plan for approval, and during construction they supervised its construction.

When Edward II ordered the construction of the tower at Knaresborough, he personally approved the plans and demanded reports on the construction

When Edward II began building a huge residential tower at Knaresborough Castle in Yorkshire in 1307 for his favorite Piers Gaveston, he not only personally approved the plans created by the London master mason Hugh of Titchmarsh - probably made as a drawing - but also demanded regular reports on the construction . From the middle of the 16th century new group professionals called engineers increasingly began to take on a role in drawing up plans and constructing fortifications. They had technical knowledge of the use and power of cannons, both for defense and attack on castles.

Advice: Plan loopholes to provide a wide angle of attack. Shape them according to the weapon you're using: longbow archers need larger slopes, crossbowmen need smaller ones.

3) Hire a large group of experienced workers

The construction of the castle required enormous efforts. We have no documentary evidence of the construction of the first castles in England from 1066, but from the scale of many castles of that period it is clear why some chronicles claim that the English were under pressure to build castles for their Norman conquerors. But from the later Middle Ages, some estimates with detailed information have reached us.

During the invasion of Wales in 1277, King Edward I began building a castle at Flint, north-east Wales. It was erected quickly, thanks to the rich resources of the crown. A month after the start of work, in August, 2,300 people were involved in the construction, including 1,270 diggers, 320 woodcutters, 330 carpenters, 200 masons, 12 blacksmiths and 10 charcoal burners. All of them were driven from the surrounding lands under an armed escort, who made sure that they did not desert from the construction site.

From time to time, foreign specialists could be involved in construction. For example, millions of bricks for the reconstruction of Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire in the 1440s were supplied by a certain Baldwin “Docheman”, or Dutchman, that is, “Dutchman” - obviously a foreigner.

Advice: Depending on the size of the workforce and the distance they have to travel, they may need to be housed on site.

4) Ensure the safety of the construction site

To build a castle on enemy territory, you need to protect the construction site from attacks. For example, you can surround the construction site with wooden fortifications or a low stone wall. Such medieval defense systems sometimes remained after the construction of the building as an additional wall - as, for example, at Beaumaris Castle, the construction of which began in 1295.

Beaumaris (English: Beaumaris, Welsh: Biwmares) is a town on the island of Anglesey, Wales.

Safe communication with the outside world for the delivery of building materials and provisions is also important. In 1277 Edward I dug a canal to the River Clwyd straight from the sea to the site of his new castle at Rydlan. The outer wall, built to protect the construction site, extended to the piers on the banks of the river.

Rydland Castle

Security problems may also arise when radically renovating an existing castle. When Henry II rebuilt Dover Castle in the 1180s, the work was carefully planned so that the fortifications would provide protection for the duration of the renovation. According to the surviving decrees, work on the inner wall of the castle began only when the tower was already sufficiently repaired so that guards could be on duty in it.

Advice: building materials for building a castle are large and voluminous. If possible, it is better to transport them by water, even if this means building a dock or canal.

5) Prepare the landscape

It is often forgotten that the castle’s fortifications were built not only through architectural techniques, but also through landscape design. Huge resources were devoted to moving land. The scale of the Norman land work can be considered outstanding. For example, according to some estimates, the mound built in 1100 around Pleshy Castle in Essex required 24,000 man-days.

Some aspects of landscaping required serious skill, especially the creation of water ditches. When Edward I rebuilt the Tower of London in the 1270s, he hired a foreign specialist, Walter of Flanders, to create a huge tidal ditch. Digging the ditches under his direction cost £4,000, a staggering sum, almost a quarter of the cost of the entire project.

18th century engraving with plan Tower of London 1597 shows how much earth had to be moved to build ditches and ramparts.

With the increasing role of cannons in siege art, the earth began to play an even more important role as an absorber of cannon shots. Interestingly, experience in moving large volumes of earth allowed some fortification engineers to find work as garden designers.

Advice: Reduce time and cost by excavating the stonework for your castle walls from the moats around it.

6) Lay the foundation

Using ropes of the required length and pegs, it was possible to mark the foundation of the building on the ground in full size. After the ditches for the foundation were dug, work began on the masonry. To save money, responsibility for construction was assigned to the senior mason instead of the master mason. In the Middle Ages, clutches were usually measured in childbirth, one English gender= 5.03 m. At Warkworth in Northumberland, one of the complex towers stands on a grid of rods, perhaps for the purpose of calculating construction costs.

Warkworth Castle

Often the construction of medieval castles was accompanied by detailed documentation. In 1441-42 the tower of Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire was destroyed and plans were drawn up for its successor on the ground. But for some reason the Prince of Stafford was dissatisfied. The king's master mason, Robert of Westerley, was sent to Tutbury, where he held a meeting with two senior masons to design new tower in a new place. Westerly then left, and over the next eight years a small group of workers, including four junior masons, built a new tower.

Senior masons could be called upon to certify the quality of the work, as was the case at Cooling Castle in Kent when the royal mason Heinrich Yewel assessed the work carried out from 1381 to 1384. He criticized deviations from the original plan and rounded down the estimate.

Advice: Don't let the master mason fool you. Make him make a plan so that it is easy to make an estimate.

7) Strengthen your castle

Until the 12th century, the fortifications of most castles consisted of earth and logs. And although later preference was given to stone buildings, wood remained a very important material in medieval wars and fortifications.

Stone castles were prepared for attacks by adding special battle galleries along the walls, as well as shutters that could be used to cover the gaps between the battlements to protect the castle defenders. All this was made of wood. Heavy weapons used to defend the castle, catapults and heavy crossbows, springalds, were also built from wood. Artillery was usually designed by a highly paid professional carpenter, sometimes with the title of engineer, from the Latin "ingeniator".

Storming of the castle, drawing from the 15th century

Such experts were not cheap, but could end up being worth their weight in gold. This, for example, happened in 1266, when the castle of Kenilworth in Warwickshire resisted Henry III for almost six months with the help of catapults and water defense.

There are records of marching castles made entirely of wood - they could be carried with you and erected as needed. One of these was built for the French invasion of England in 1386, but the garrison of Calais captured it along with the ship. It was described as consisting of a wall of logs 20 feet high and 3,000 steps long. There was a 30-foot tower every 12 paces, capable of housing up to 10 soldiers, and the castle also had unspecified defenses for archers.

Advice: Oak wood becomes stronger over the years, and it is easiest to work with when it is green. The upper branches of trees are easy to transport and shape.

8) Provide water and sewerage

The most important aspect for the castle was efficient access to water. These could be wells that supplied water to certain buildings, for example, a kitchen or stable. Without a detailed knowledge of medieval well shafts, it is difficult to do them justice. For example, at Beeston Castle in Cheshire there is a well 100 m deep, the top 60 m of which is lined with cut stone.

There is some evidence of complex aqueducts that brought water to the apartments. The tower of Dover Castle has a system of lead pipes that delivers water to the rooms. It was fed from a well using a winch, and possibly from a rainwater collection system.

Effective disposal of human waste was another challenge for lock designers. Latrines were collected in one place in the buildings so that their shafts were emptied in one place. They were located in short corridors that trapped unpleasant odors, and were often equipped with wooden seats and removable covers.

Reflection room at Chipchase Castle

Today, it is widely believed that restrooms used to be called “wardrobes.” In fact, the vocabulary for toilets was extensive and colorful. They were called gongs or gangs (from the Anglo-Saxon word for "place to go"), nooks and jakes (the French version of "john").

Advice: Ask a master mason to design comfortable and private latrines outside the bedroom, following the example of Henry II and Dover Castle.

9) Decorate as needed

During war, the castle must be defended - but it also serves as a luxurious home. Noble gentlemen of the Middle Ages expected their homes to be both comfortable and richly furnished. In the Middle Ages, these citizens traveled together with servants, things and furniture from one residence to another. But home interiors often had fixed decorative features, such as stained glass windows.

Henry III's tastes in furnishings are recorded very carefully, with interesting and attractive detail. In 1235-36, for example, he ordered his hall at Winchester Castle to be decorated with images of the world map and the wheel of fortune. Since then, these decorations have not survived, but the well-known round table of King Arthur, created perhaps between 1250 and 1280, remains in the interior.

Winchester Castle with King Arthur's round table hanging on the wall

The large area of ​​the castles played an important role in luxurious life. Parks were created for hunting, a jealously guarded privilege of aristocrats; gardens were also in demand. The extant description of the construction of Kirby Muxloe Castle in Leicestershire says that its owner, Lord Hastings, began laying out gardens at the very beginning of the castle's construction in 1480.

In the Middle Ages they also loved rooms with beautiful views. One group of 13th-century rooms in the castles of Leeds in Kent, Corfe in Dorset and Chepstow in Monmotshire were called gloriettes (from the French gloriette - a diminutive of the word glory) for their magnificence.

Advice: The interior of the castle should be luxurious enough to attract visitors and friends. Entertainment can win battles without having to expose oneself to the dangers of combat.

As mentioned above, medieval castles and each of their components were built according to certain rules. The following main structural elements of the castle can be distinguished:

Courtyard

Fortress wall

Let's look at them in more detail.

Most of the towers were erected on natural hills. If there were no such hills in the area, then the builders resorted to constructing a hill. As a rule, the height of the hill was 5 meters, but there were heights of more than 10 meters, although there were exceptions - for example, the height of the hill on which one of the Norfolk castles was placed near Thetford reached hundreds of feet (about 30 meters).

The shape of the castle territory varied - some were oblong, some were square, and there were courtyards in the shape of a figure eight. Variations were highly variable depending on the size of the host condition and site configuration.

After the site for construction was chosen, the first step was to dug it in with a ditch. The excavated earth was thrown onto the inner bank of the ditch, resulting in a rampart or embankment called a scarp. The opposite bank of the ditch was called, accordingly, the counter-scarp. If possible, a ditch was dug around a natural hill or other elevation. But, as a rule, the hill had to be filled in, which required a huge amount of earthwork.

The hill consisted of earth mixed with limestone, peat, gravel, brushwood, and the surface was covered with clay or wooden flooring.

The first fence of the castle was protected by all sorts of defensive structures designed to stop too rapid an attack by the enemy: hedges, slingshots (placed between pillars driven into the ground), earthen embankments, hedges, various protruding structures, for example, a traditional barbican that protected access to drawbridge. At the foot of the wall there was a ditch, they tried to make it as deep as possible (sometimes more than 10 m deep, as in Trematon and Lassa) and wider (10 m in Loches, 12 in Dourdan, 15 in Tremworth, 22 m - in Kusi). Typically, moats were dug around castles as part of a defensive system. They made it difficult to access the fortress walls, including siege weapons such as a battering ram or a siege tower. Sometimes the moat was even filled with water. In shape, it more often resembled the letter V than U. If a ditch was dug directly under the wall, a fence, a lower rampart, was erected above it to protect the patrol path outside the fortress. This piece of land was called a palisade.

An important property of a water-filled ditch is the prevention of undermining. Often rivers and other natural bodies of water were connected to ditches to fill them with water. The ditches needed to be periodically cleared of debris to prevent shallowing. Sometimes stakes were placed at the bottom of ditches, making it difficult to cross by swimming. Access to the fortress was usually organized through drawbridges

Depending on the width of the ditch, it is supported by one or more supports. While the outer part of the bridge is fixed, the last section is movable. This is the so-called drawbridge. It is designed so that its plate can rotate around an axis fixed at the base of the gate, breaking the bridge and closing the gate. To set the drawbridge in motion, devices are used both on the gate itself and on its inside. The bridge is raised manually, using ropes or chains running through blocks in slots in the wall. To make work easier, counterweights can be used. The chain can go through blocks to the gate located in the room above the gate. This gate can be horizontal and rotated by a handle, or vertical and driven by horizontal beams threaded through it. Another way to lift the bridge is with a lever. Swinging beams are threaded through the slots in the wall, the outer end of which is connected by chains to the front end of the bridge plate, and counterweights are attached to the rear end inside the gate. This design facilitates rapid lifting of the bridge. Finally, the bridge plate can be designed according to the rocker principle.

The outer part of the plate, turning around an axis at the base of the goal, closes the passage, and the inner part, on which the attackers may already be, goes down into the so-called. a wolf pit, invisible while the bridge is down. Such a bridge is called a tilting or swinging bridge.

In Fig. 1. A diagram of the entrance to the castle is presented.

The fence itself consisted of thick solid walls - curtains - part of the fortress wall between two bastions and various side structures, collectively called

Fig.1.

towers. The fortress wall rose directly above the moat, its bases went deep into the ground, and the bottom was made as flat as possible to prevent possible undermining by the attackers, as well as so that shells dropped from a height would ricochet off it. The shape of the fence depended on its location, but its perimeter was always significant.

The fortified castle did not at all resemble an individual dwelling. The height of the curtains ranged from 6 to 10 m, the thickness - from 1.5 to 3 m. However, in some fortresses, for example, in Chateau-Gaillard, the thickness of the walls in some places exceeds 4.5 m. The towers are usually round, less often square or polygonal , were built, as a rule, on the floor above the curtains. Their diameter (from 6 to 20 m) depended on the location: the most powerful were in the corners and near the entrance gates. The towers were built hollow, inside they were divided into floors by floors made of wooden planks with a hole in the center or on the side through which a rope passed, used to lift shells to the upper platform in case of defending the fortress. The stairs were hidden by partitions in the walls. Thus, each floor was a room where the soldiers were located; it was possible to light a fire in a fireplace built into the thickness of the wall. The only openings in the tower are the archery loopholes, long and narrow openings that widened into the room (Fig. 2).

Fig.2.

In France, for example, the height of such loopholes is usually 1 m, and the width is 30 cm on the outside and 1.3 m on the inside. Such a structure made it difficult for enemy arrows to penetrate, but the defenders had the opportunity to shoot in different directions.

The most important defensive element of the castle was the outer wall - high, thick, sometimes on an inclined base. Processed stones or bricks made up its outer surface. Inside it consisted of rubble stone and slaked lime. The walls were placed on a deep foundation, under which it was very difficult to dig.

At the top of the fortress wall there was a so-called sentinel path, protected from the outside by a jagged parapet. It served for observation, communication between towers and defense of the fortress. A large wooden board was sometimes attached to the battlements between two embrasures, held on a horizontal axis, behind which crossbowmen took cover to load their weapons. During the wars, the patrol route was supplemented with something like a folding wooden gallery of the required shape, mounted in front of the parapet. Holes were made in the floor so that the defenders could shoot from above if the attackers took cover at the foot of the wall. Starting from the end of the 12th century, especially in the southern regions of France, these wooden galleries, not very durable and easily flammable, began to be replaced by real stone projections, built along with the parapet. These are the so-called machicolations, galleries with hinged loopholes (Fig. 3). They performed the same function as before, but their advantage was their greater strength and the fact that they made it possible to throw cannonballs down, which then ricocheted off the gentle slope of the wall.

Fig.3.

Sometimes several secret doors were made in the fortress wall for the passage of infantrymen, but only one large gate was always built, which was invariably fortified with special care, since it was on them that the main blow of the attackers fell.

The earliest way to protect a gate was to place it between two rectangular towers. A good example of this type of protection is the construction of gates in the 11th century Exeter Castle, which has survived to this day. In the 13th century, the square gate towers gave way to the main gate tower, which was a merger of the two previous ones with additional floors built above them. These are the gate towers of Richmond and Ludlow Castles. In the 12th century, the more common way to protect the gate was to build two towers on either side of the entrance to the castle, and only in the 13th century did the gate towers appear in their completed form. The two flanking towers now join into one above the gate, becoming a massive and powerful fortification and one of the most important parts of the castle. The gate and entrance now turn into a long and narrow passage, blocked at each end with porticoes. These were doors that slid vertically along gutters carved in stone, made in the form of large gratings made of thick timber; the lower ends of the vertical beams were pointed and bound with iron, so the lower edge of the portico was a series of pointed iron stakes. These lattice gates were opened and closed using thick ropes and a winch located in a special chamber in the wall above the passage. Later, the entrance was protected with the help of "mertières", deadly holes drilled into the vaulted ceiling of the passage. Through these holes, objects and substances usual in such a situation - arrows, stones, boiling water and hot oil - rained down and poured on anyone who tried to force their way through to the gate. However, another explanation seems more plausible - water was poured through the holes if the enemy tried to set fire to the wooden gates, since the most the best way to penetrate the castle was to fill the passage with straw and logs, thoroughly soak the mixture with flammable oil and set it on fire; they killed two birds with one stone - they burned the lattice gates and fried the castle defenders in the gate rooms. In the walls of the passage there were small rooms equipped with shooting slits, through which the castle defenders could shoot with bows. close range a dense mass of attackers trying to break into the castle. In Fig.4. presented various types shooting slits.

In the upper floors of the gate tower there were rooms for soldiers and often even living quarters. In special chambers there were gates, with the help of which the drawbridge was lowered and raised on chains. Since the gate was the place that was most often attacked by the enemy besieging the castle, they were sometimes provided with another means of additional protection - the so-called barbicans, which began at some distance from the gate. Typically, the barbican consisted of two high, thick walls running parallel outward from the gate, thus forcing the enemy to squeeze into the narrow passage between the walls, exposing himself to the arrows of the archers of the gate tower and the upper platform of the barbican hidden behind the battlements. Sometimes, to make access to the gate even more dangerous, the barbican was installed at an angle to it, which forced attackers to go to the gate on the right, and parts of the body not covered by shields became targets for archers. The entrance and exit of the Barbican were usually very intricately decorated.

Fig.4.

Each more or less serious castle had at least two more rows of defensive structures (ditches, hedges, curtains, towers, parapets, gates and bridges), smaller in size, but built on the same principle. A fairly significant distance was left between them, so each castle looked like a small fortified city. Freteval can again be cited as an example. Its fences have a round shape, the diameter of the first is 140 m, the second is 70 m, the third is 30 m. The last fence, called the “shirt,” was erected very close to the donjon in order to block access to it.

The space between the first two fences constituted the lower courtyard. There was a real village there: the houses of peasants who worked on the master's fields, workshops and dwellings of artisans (blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, carvers, carriage makers), a threshing floor and stable, a bakery, a community mill and press, a well, a fountain, sometimes a pond with live fish, washroom, traders' counters. Such a village was a typical settlement of that time with chaotically located streets and houses. Later, such settlements began to go beyond the castle and settle in its surroundings on the other side of the moat. Their inhabitants, as well as the rest of the inhabitants of the seigneury, took refuge behind the fortress walls only in case of serious danger.

Between the second and third fences there was an upper courtyard also with many buildings: a chapel, housing for soldiers, stables, kennels, dovecotes and a falcon yard, a pantry with food supplies, kitchens, and a pond.

Behind the “shirt,” that is, the last fence, stood the donjon. It was usually built not in the center of the castle, but in its most inaccessible part; it simultaneously served as both the dwelling of the feudal lord and the military center of the fortress. Donjon (French donjon) is the main tower of a medieval castle, one of the symbols of the European Middle Ages.

It was the most massive structure that was part of the castle buildings. The walls were gigantic in thickness and were installed on a powerful foundation capable of withstanding the blows of pickaxes, drills and battering guns of the besiegers.

It surpassed all other buildings in height, often exceeding 25 m: 27 m in Etampes, 28 m in Gisors, 30 m in Udun, Dourdan and Freteval, 31 m in Chateaudun, 35 m in Tonquedec, 40 in Losches, 45 m - in Provins. It could be square (Tower of London), rectangular (Loches), hexagonal (Tournoel Castle), octagonal (Gisors), four-lobed (Etampes), but more often round ones with a diameter of 15 to 20 m and a wall thickness of 3 to 4 m are found.

Flat buttresses, called pilasters, supported the walls along their entire length and at the corners; at each corner such a pilaster was crowned with a turret. The entrance was always located on the second floor, high above the ground. An external staircase led to the entrance, located at right angles to the door and covered by a bridge tower installed outside directly against the wall. For obvious reasons, the windows were very small. On the first floor there were none at all, on the second they were tiny and only on the next floors they became a little larger. These distinctive features - the bridge tower, the outer staircase and small windows - can be clearly seen at Rochester Castle and at Hedingham Castle in Essex.

The shapes of donjons are very diverse: in Great Britain, quadrangular towers were popular, but there were also round, octagonal, regular and irregular polygonal donjons, as well as combinations of several of these shapes. The change in the shape of the dungeons is associated with the development of architecture and siege technology. A tower that is round or polygonal in plan is better able to withstand the impact of projectiles. Sometimes when constructing a keep, builders followed the terrain of the area, for example by placing a tower on an irregularly shaped rock. This type of tower arose in the 11th century. in Europe, more precisely in Normandy (France). Initially it was a rectangular tower, adapted for defense, but at the same time being the residence of the feudal lord.

In the XII-XIII centuries. The feudal lord moved into the castle, and the donjon turned into a separate structure, significantly reduced in size, but stretched vertically. The tower was now located separately outside the perimeter of the fortress walls, in a place most inaccessible to the enemy, sometimes even separated by a ditch from the rest of the fortifications. It performed defensive and patrol functions (at the very top there was always a combat and patrol platform, covered with battlements). It was considered as the last refuge in defense from the enemy (for this purpose there were weapons and food warehouses inside), and only after the capture of the donjon was the castle considered conquered.

By the 16th century the active use of cannons turned the dungeons, towering above the rest of the buildings, into too convenient targets.

The donjon was divided inside into floors by means of wooden floors (Fig. 5).

Fig.5.

For defensive purposes, its only door was at the level of the second floor, that is, at a height of at least 5 m above the ground. One got inside via stairs, scaffolding or a bridge connected to a parapet. However, all these structures were very simple: after all, they had to be removed very quickly in the event of an attack. It was on the second floor that there was a large hall, sometimes with a vaulted ceiling, - the center of the lord's life. Here he dined, entertained, received guests and vassals, and even administered justice in winter. On the floor above were the rooms of the castle owner and his wife; They climbed there along a narrow stone staircase in the wall. On the fourth and fifth floors there are common rooms for children, servants and subjects. The guests also slept there. The top of the donjon resembled the top of a fortress wall with its crenellated parapet and sentinel path, as well as additional wooden or stone galleries. To this was added a watchtower to monitor the surrounding area.

The first floor, that is, the floor under the large hall, did not have a single opening leading out. However, it was neither a prison nor a stone bag, as archaeologists of the last century assumed. Usually there was a storeroom where firewood, wine, grain and weapons were stored.

In some dungeons, in the lower room, in addition, there was a well or an entrance to a dungeon dug under the castle and leading to an open field, which, however, was quite rare. By the way, the dungeon, as a rule, served to store food supplies for a year, and not at all to facilitate a secret escape, romantic or forced by R.I. Lapin. Article "Donjon". Encyclopedic Fund of Russia. Access address: http://www.russika.ru/.

The interior of the donjon is also of particular interest within the framework of the work.

DONJON INTERIOR

The interior of the lord's home can be characterized by three features: simplicity, modest decoration, and a small amount of furniture.

No matter how high the main hall was (from 7 to 12 meters) and spacious (from 50 to 150 meters), the hall always remained one room. Sometimes it was divided into several rooms by some kind of draperies, but always only for a while and due to certain circumstances. Separated in this manner, trapezoidal window openings and deep niches in the wall served as small living rooms. Large windows, rather high than wide, with a semicircular top, were arranged in the thickness of the wall, similar to tower loopholes for archery.

No matter how high it was (from 7 to 12 meters) and spacious (from 50 to 150 meters), the hall always remained one room. Sometimes it was divided into several rooms by some kind of draperies, but always only for a while and due to certain circumstances. Trapezoidal window openings separated in this manner and deep niches in the wall served as small living rooms. Large windows, rather high than wide, with a semicircular top, were arranged in the thickness of the wall, similar to tower loopholes for archery. There was a stone bench in front of the windows, which was used for talking or looking out the window. Windows were rarely glazed (glass is an expensive material, used mainly for church stained glass windows); more often they were covered with a small lattice made of wicker rod or metal, or covered with glued fabric or an oiled sheet of parchment nailed to the frame.

A folding wooden sash was attached to the window, usually internal rather than external; usually it was not closed unless one slept in big hall.

Even though the windows were few and quite narrow, they still let in enough light to illuminate the hall on summer days. In the evening or winter, sunlight was replaced not only by the fireplace fire, but also by tar torches, tallow candles or oil lamps, which were attached to the walls and ceiling. Thus, internal lighting always turned out to be a source of heat and smoke, but this was still not enough to overcome dampness - the real scourge of a medieval home. Wax candles, like glass, were intended only for the richest homes and churches.

The floor in the hall was made of wooden planks, clay, or, less commonly, stone slabs, however, whatever it was, it never remained undisguised. In winter it was covered with straw, either finely chopped or woven into rough mats. In spring and summer - reeds, branches and flowers (lilies, gladioli, irises). Fragrant herbs and fragrant plants, such as mint and verbena, were placed along the walls. Woolen carpets and bedspreads made from embroidered fabrics were generally used for seating only in bedrooms. In the large hall, everyone usually sat on the floor, laying down skins and furs.

The ceiling, which is also the floor of the upper floor, often remained untreated, but in the 13th century they began to try to decorate it with beams and caissons, creating geometric patterns, heraldic friezes or ornate patterns depicting animals. Sometimes the walls were painted in the same way, but more often they were simply painted in a specific color (preference was given to red and yellow ocher) or covered with a pattern that imitated the appearance of cut stone or a chessboard. Frescoes depicting allegorical and historical scenes, borrowed from legends, the Bible or literary works, are already appearing in princely houses. It is known, for example, that King Henry III of England loved to sleep in a room whose walls were decorated with episodes from the life of Alexander the Great, a hero who aroused special admiration in the Middle Ages. However, such luxury remained available only to the sovereign. An ordinary vassal, an inhabitant of a wooden dungeon, had to be content with a rough, bare wall, ennobled only by his own spear and shield.

Instead of wall paintings, tapestries with geometric, floral or historical motifs were used. However, more often these are not real tapestries (which were usually brought from the East), but mostly embroidery on thick fabric, like the so-called “Queen Matilda carpet” kept in Bayeux.

Tapestries made it possible to hide a door or window or to divide a large room into several rooms - “bedrooms”.

This word quite often did not mean the room where they slept, but the totality of all the tapestries, embroidered cloths and various fabrics intended for interior decoration. When going on a trip, tapestries were always taken with them, because they constituted the main element of decorating an aristocratic home, capable of giving it individuality.

In the 13th century, only wooden furniture existed. It was constantly moved (The word “furniture” comes from the word mobile (French) - movable. (Note per.)), since, with the exception of the bed, the rest of the furniture did not have a single purpose. Thus, the chest, the main type of furniture, served simultaneously as a wardrobe, table and seat. To perform the latter function, it could have a back and even handles. However, the chest is only an additional seat. Mostly they sat on common benches, sometimes divided into separate seats, on small wooden benches, on small stools without a back. The chair was intended for the owner of the house or an honored guest. Squires and women sat on armfuls of straw, sometimes covered with embroidered cloth, or simply on the floor, like servants and lackeys. Several boards placed on trestles made up a table; during meals it was placed in the center of the hall. It turned out to be long, narrow and somewhat taller than modern tables. The diners sat on one side, leaving the other free for serving dishes.

There was little furniture: apart from chests, into which dishes, household utensils, clothes, money and letters were stuffed at random, sometimes there was a wardrobe or sideboard, less often - a sideboard, where the richest placed precious dishes or jewelry. Often such furniture was replaced by niches in the wall, hung with drapery or closed with doors. Clothes were usually not folded, but rolled and scented. Letters written on parchment were also rolled up before placing them in a linen bag, which served as a kind of safe, where, in addition, one or more leather wallets were kept.

To get a more complete picture of the furniture and decor of the main hall of the donjon, you also need to add a few boxes, some trinkets and some religious accessories (relics, crypts). As we see, in this regard it is very far from abundance. The bedrooms had even less furniture: men had a bed and a chest, women had a bed and something like a dressing table. There were no benches or chairs; people sat on straw covered with a cloth, on the floor or on the bed. The huge square bed looked more wide than long. They usually didn’t sleep alone.

Even if the lord of the castle and his wife had separate bedrooms, they still shared one bed. In the rooms of children, servants or guests, beds were also shared. Two, four or six people slept on them.

The lord's bed usually stood on a raised platform, with his head towards the wall and his feet towards the fireplace. A kind of vault was created from a wooden frame, where a canopy was hung to isolate the sleeping people from the outside world. The bedding was almost no different from modern ones. A feather bed was placed on a straw mattress or mattress, and a lower sheet was laid on top of it. She was covered with a top sheet that was not tucked in. On top lay a down or cotton blanket, quilted like modern ones. The bolster and cushions in pillowcases are also similar to the ones we use today. White embroidered sheets were made from linen or silk, woolen bedspreads were lined with ermine or squirrel fur. Less wealthy people used burlap instead of silk, and twill instead of wool.

In this soft and spacious bed (so wide that it was possible to make it only by helping oneself with a stick), people usually slept completely naked, but with a cap on their head. Before going to bed, clothes were hung on a rod like a hanger driven into the wall, protruding almost to the middle of the room parallel to the bed; only the shirt was left on, but this was also taken off in bed and, folded, placed under the pillow to be put on again early in the morning. , before standing up.

The fireplace in the bedroom was not lit all day. He was divorced only in the evening during a family vigil, which took place here in a more intimate setting than in the large hall. In the hall there was a truly gigantic fireplace, designed for large logs; in front of him stood several benches that could seat ten, fifteen or even twenty people. A conical exhaust hood with protruding posts formed something like a house inside the hall. The fireplace was not decorated with anything; the custom of placing a family coat of arms on it appeared only at the beginning of the 14th century. In some, more spacious rooms, two or three fireplaces were sometimes built, but not against opposite walls, but all together in the center of the room; for their hearth they used a single flat stone of enormous size, and the exhaust hood was built in the form of a pyramid of brick and wood.

The donjon could well have been used only for military and economic purposes (observation posts on the tower, dungeon, food storage). In such cases, the feudal lord’s family lived in the “palace” - the living quarters of the castle, standing apart from the tower. The palaces were built of stone and had several floors in height.

medieval castle residential interior

Since the seas and rivers provided great visibility for tracking down and attacking foreign invaders.

The water supply made it possible to preserve ditches and ditches, which were an indispensable part of the castle’s defense system. The locks also functioned as administrative centers, and reservoirs helped facilitate the collection of taxes, because rivers and seas were important trade waterways.

Castles were also built on high hills or in rocky cliffs, which were difficult to attack.

Castle construction stages

At the beginning of the construction of the castle, ditches were dug in the ground around the location of the future building. Their contents were folded inside. The result was an embankment or hill called a “mott.” A castle was later built on it.

Then the castle walls were built. Often two rows of walls were erected. The outer wall was lower than the inner one. It contained towers for the castle defenders, a drawbridge and a lock. Towers were built on the inner wall of the castle, which were used for. The basement rooms were intended to store food in the event of a siege. The area, which was surrounded by an internal wall, was called a “bailey”. On the site there was a tower where the feudal lord lived. Castles could be supplemented with extensions.

What were castles made of?

The material from which the castles were made depended on the geology of the area. The first castles were built from wood, but later stone became the building material. Sand, limestone, and granite were used in construction.

All construction work was done by hand.

Castle walls rarely consisted entirely of solid stone. The outside of the wall was faced with processed stones, and on its inside, stones of uneven shape and different sizes were laid. These two layers were connected using lime mortar. The solution was prepared right on the site of the future structure, and the stones were also whitened with its help.

Wooden scaffolding was erected at the construction site. In this case, horizontal beams were stuck into holes made in the walls. Boards were placed across them on top. On the walls of medieval castles you can see square recesses. These are the marks from the scaffolding. At the end of construction, the building niches were filled with limestone, but over time it fell off.

The windows in the castles were narrow openings. Small openings were made on the castle tower so that the defenders could shoot arrows.

How much did the locks cost?

If we were talking about a royal residence, then specialists were hired throughout the country for construction. This is how the king of medieval Wales, Edward the First, built his ring castles. Masons cut stones into blocks of the correct shape and size using a hammer, chisel and measuring tools. This work required high skill.

Stone castles were an expensive pleasure. King Edward almost bankrupted the state treasury by spending £100,000 on their construction. About 3,000 workers were involved in the construction of one castle.

The construction of castles took from three to ten years. Some were built in war zones and took longer to complete the work. Most of the castles built by Edward the First still stand.