FREE ESSAY ON CASTLES

CASTLES

By Guneri Tugcu
In 1494 the armies of the French king, Charles VIII, invaded Italy to capture the kingdom
of
Naples. They swept through the country and bombarded and destroyed many castles. This
invasion signaled the end of the castle as a stronghold of defense. For centuries it had
been the
dominant fortification in Western Europe for the defense of kings, nobility, and
townspeople.
Ancient cities were often walled to keep out invaders, and within the walls there was
usually a
citadel, a strongly built fortification occupying the highest or militarily most
advantageous
position. A castle is much like such a walled city and its citadel contracted into a
smaller space.
Castles were basically fortified locations. The word itself comes from the Latin
castellum. Up to
the 6th century fortifications were primarily communities in which most of the population
lived.
But in the middle of the 6th century, the armies of the Byzantine Empire began to build
strong
forts as defensive positions. For the next few centuries this castle building was
confined to the
Byzantine Empire, but later hordes of Islamic warriors who swept out of Arabia to conquer
the
Middle East, North Africa, and much Byzantine territory also started building such
forts.
Western Europe, in the depths of the Dark Ages from the 5th through the 9th century, had
no
such works. But late in the 9th century, as local lords and kings began to consolidate
power,
castle building began probably in France. Once begun, castle building spread rapidly to
other
areas. But it was not until the 12th and 13th centuries, after the Crusaders returned
from their
wars against Islam in Palestine, that castles as imposing as those of the Byzantine or
Islamic
empires were constructed in Europe. Many of the stone castles of the late Middle Ages
still
stand. Some are tourist attractions, in various states of repair, along the Rhine River
from Mainz
to Cologne in Germany, dotted about the French countryside, or perched on hilltops in
Spain.
The original French castles had been built on open plains. Later ones, however, were
situated on
rocky crags, at river forks, or in some position where advancing enemies would find
approach
extremely difficult, if not impossible. The fortifications became more elaborate with
time, with
considerable attention paid to making the living quarters more comfortable. A typical
castle was
usually guarded on the outskirts by a surrounding heavy wooden fence of sharp-pointed
stakes
called a barbican . It was intended to prevent surprise attacks by delaying the advance
of
assailants and giving those within the castle compound time to prepare to resist and
attack.
Inside the barbican stretched the lists, or wards: strips of land that encircled the
castle. The lists
served as a road in time of peace and as a trap in war; once within the barbican the
enemy was in
the range of arrows shot from the castle walls. In peacetime the lists also served as an
exercise
ground for horses and occasionally as tournament grounds. Between the lists and the
towering
outer walls of the castle itself was the moat, usually filled with water. Across it
stretched a
drawbridge, which was raised every night. At the castle end of the drawbridge was the
portcullis,
a large sliding door made of wooden or iron grillwork hung over the entryway. It moved up
and
down in grooves and was raised every day and lowered at night. In times of danger it
blocked the
way to the heavy oak gates that served as doors to the castle compound. These gates were
so
large that they were rarely opened except on ceremonial occasions. A smaller door was
built into
one of them to provide easy entrance and exit for those who lived in the castle . A
person known
as the chief porter was charged with the responsibility of making sure that only friends
passed
through. The outer walls of most castles were massively thick, sometimes as much as 15
feet. At
intervals were high towers, each a small fort in itself with provisions to withstand a
long siege.
When an attack was expected, wooden balconies were hung over the outer edges of the
wall.
During an attack, large stones were thrown or boiling oil poured from the balconies onto
anyone
trying to climb the wall. The wall and the towers had hundreds of narrow openings
through
which defenders could shoot arrows and other missiles. Inside the walls was the bailey,
or
courtyard. At intervals around the bailey were the stables, a carpentry shop, the shop of
the
armorer and blacksmith, barracks for the men-at-arms and for servants, a chapel, and a
storehouse. There was also an oven room where the bread was baked, a kitchen, a kennel
for
dogs, and a well and drinking fountain . The largest building along the wall was the
castle
owner's home. It contained the apartment for the master and his family and a great hall.
This
great hall was the center of social life such as wedding feasts, banquets, and knighting
ceremonies. Within the walls there was another structure called the keep, or donjon
(dungeon) .
The keep was the focal point of the castle, the place to which, in times of attack or
siege, the
whole population of the castle retired if the outer defenses were failing. The keep had
its own
walls and was often protected by a moat as well. It contained private apartments, service
rooms,
weapons supplies, and a well to provide water. Most keeps were rectangular structures
from two
to four stories high. The entrance doorway was often on the second floor, with access by
a
stairway protected by a wall or forebuilding. In the Middle East the Crusaders from
Europe
found keeps that were built with round or multiangular towers to defend them more easily
against an enemy coming from any direction. The round keep became common in Europe after
the 12th century. Some later castles were built in a square and enclosed by one or two
lines of
walls. At each corner of the inner line of walls was a strong tower. Powerful gateways
took the
place of the keep, and great care was taken in building the outerworks to make access to
the
castle difficult. The castles of Conway and Caernarvon in Wales are both of this type.
The terms
castle and palace have often been used interchangeably, but they are not the same.
Castles are
fortifications, while palaces have been built for centuries as residences for kings and
nobles . But
as castles began to lose their defensive role, they became residences; and to them were
added the
customary luxuries. As early as the 15th century, imposing residential tower houses,
designed
more for elegance than defense, were built within castles, such as those at Vincennes
near Paris
and Tattershall in England. Historically the palace antedates the castle by several
centuries.
Although the word derives from the Palatine Hill in Rome, where the emperors built their
residences, palaces were built for the pharaohs of ancient Egypt as early as the 16th
century BC.
Much larger than the Egyptian palaces were those built in Assyria, which today is Iraq.
The
palace at Khorsabad of Sargon II, who ruled from 721 to 705 BC, extended over more than
25
acres. In Rome more than 1 million square feet of the Palatine Hill were devoted to
splendid
residences of such emperors as Augustus, Tiberius, and Septimius Severus. Palace
building
declined in Europe during the Middle Ages until prosperity and a measure of safety
returned
during the Renaissance. Then, in Italy, every prince and wealthy family had its palazzo.
Many
are still standing: the Pitti and Medici palaces in Florence and the palaces along the
Grand Canal
in Venice. London has three notable palaces: Buckingham, Whitehall, and St. James. Many
German cities notably Wurzburg and Munich have impressive palaces. Among those most
recently built are those of Ludwig II of Bavaria in the 19th century. The most famous and
most
frequently pictured is Neuschwanstein, located near Fussen. But for many the most
appealing is
the small Linderhof, a jewel of rococo design near Oberammergau. Ludwig's Herrenchiemsee
palace on an island in the lake named Chiemsee was modeled after Louis XIV's magnificent
edifice at Versailles, near Paris. Versailles has other imitations, including the
beautiful
Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. Palaces will probably be built for as long as there is
wealth
enough to pay for them. In the 1980s the sultan of Brunei, Sir Muda Hassanal Bolkiah
Muizzaddin Waddaulah, opened his new palace. Named New Istana, it contains 1,788 rooms,
making it one of the grandest palaces anywhere. Although castles are no longer readily
built,
because of the lack of money or just the lack of need, they will always be appreciated
for their
beauty, architecture, and most importantly the land that they helped to defend.