Castles

When William the Conqueror invaded England, on of the first things he did was to build a castle. Castles were not a new idea, in fact Castles had been built in some form or another since before the Roman invasion over a thousand years before. As a result of his conquest Castles began appearing around England at an increasing pace and Castle building began to improve.
The earliest form of Castle built in England by the Normans was the Motte and Bailey Castle. A Motte and Bailey Castle was constructed from earth and wood and could be completed within only a few weeks. Many of these Castles would eventually be transformed into Stone Keeps.

The Stone Keep was a stronger form of Castle and eventually replaced the Motte and Bailey Castle. The walls were designed to be high to make attacking the Castle more difficult. However this style of castle also became obsolete, as methods of laying seige to a Stone Keep Castle would render it worthless. As a result the people of England designed and began to build Concentric Castles.
Concentric Castles can be built in a variety of shapes and forms. The idea behind Concentric Castles was to make sure that the attacker could be seen by as many of the Castle's defenders as possible whilst at the same time making sure that the defenders were hidden as best as possible. Hence the design of circular towers and maze like inner wards would make attacking these style of Castles very dangerous.

Exercises:

On a new page in your books put the Heading “Castles”. Under the heading write a 1/4 - 1/2 page summary based upon the information available from this link. After you have completed the summary, write the following sub-headings and the questions in your books and answer them in full sentences using the links to the websites listed below. 

Motte and Bailey Castles

1. Describe the main defensive features of a Motte and Bailey Castle

2. Describe the main defensive frailties of a Motte and Bailey Castle

3. Given the numbers of weaknesses of the Motte and Bailey Castle, explain why the Normans built so many of these structures
  
Stone Keep Castles

 

1. Describe the major advantages of Stone Keep Castles over Motte and Bailey Castles

2. Explain what the main weaknesses of a Stone Keep Castles were

3. Explain why the builders of the Tower of London made so many alterations to its design in such a short period of time 

Concentric Castles

1. Why do you think attacking a Concentric Castle would be harder than attacking stone Keep Castles and Motte and Bailey Castles?

2. Explain why the outer curtain walls were lower than the inner curtain walls

3. Draw a picture of a castle in your books and colour it in

After you have finished the work above, click on links Castle Diagram and Explore a Castle to learn more about life in medieval castles