![]() ![]() In subsequent centuries the castle evolves into something more akin to a great man's residence, his fortified palace. In Europe the castle as a fortified garrison is seen in a highly developed form in the great series built in the late 13th century for Edward I along the coast of Wales, uncompromising in their purpose of keeping the Welsh in submission. They soon create in the Holy Land magnificently impressive examples of their own - such as the great Krak des Chevaliers, largely built by the Knights of St John and occupied by them from 1142. One influence is the Byzantine castle architecture seen by the crusaders on their way east. During the 12th century stone walls and towers become more common in European castles, together with more sophisticated forms of bastion and battlement. Where stone and time are available, it is clearly preferable to construct a castle of the stronger and non-combustible material. In the first five years of the Norman conquest of England thirty-five such castles are established, nearly all of them of wood. A bridge crosses the moat to reach the more secure mound and its tower. This is the bailey, or outer courtyard, in which the garrison live and keep their livestock. On top of the mound a tower is built, within a palisade.Īn adjacent area is surrounded by another palisade, and sometimes also by a moat. ![]() The earth from it is piled inwards to form a mound, preferably adding height to an existing prominence. A circular ditch is dug (when filled with water, it becomes a moat). The construction of a mound-and-bailey castle is a simple matter of hard and rapid labour. This is a design developed by the Franks in the 9th century and adopted by the Normans. It is of the mound-and-bailey variety, also called motte-and-bailey (from the Norman French motte for a mound). It comes as a shock to read that William I, in his invasion of England in 1066, lands at Pevensey on September 28 and builds himself a castle before fighting the battle at Hastings on October 14. Such castles are often surprisingly flimsy affairs. In feudal Europe, where armed men are granted rights over often hostile territories, the castle becomes an important feature of the countryside.
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