Description

A European innovation, castles originated inthe 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the CarolingianEmpire resulted in its territory being divided among individuallords and princes. These nobles built castles to control the areaimmediately surrounding them, and were both offensive and defensivestructures; they provided a base from which raids could be launchedas well as protection from enemies. Although their military originsare often emphasised in castle studies, the structures also servedas centres of administration and symbols of power. Urban castleswere used to control the local populace and important travelroutes, and rural castles were often situated near features thatwere integral to life in the community, such as mills and fertileland.

Many castles were originally built from earth and timber, buthad their defenses replaced later by stone. Early castles oftenexploited natural defenses, and lacked features such as towers andarrowslits and relied on a central keep. In the late 12th and early13th centuries, a scientific approach to castle defense emerged.This led to the proliferation of towers, with an emphasis onflanking fire. Many new castles were polygonal or relied onconcentric defense – several stages of defense within each otherthat could all function at the same time to maximize the castle'sfirepower. These changes in defense have been attributed to amixture of castle technology from the Crusades, such as concentricfortification, and inspiration from earlier defenses such as Romanforts. Not all the elements of castle architecture were military innature, and devices such as moats evolved from their originalpurpose of defense into symbols of power. Some grand castles hadlong winding approaches intended to impress and dominate theirlandscape.