Nestled among the green hills of Baden-Württemberg and crowning the old medieval town Heidelberg, Heidelberg Medieval Castle, is one of the most wonderful romantic sights in Germany. The first mention of the castle dates back to 1225. The ruins of the castle are one of the most important structures of the Renaissance tonorth of the Alps. Long years Heidelberg Castle wasresidence of the countsPalatine, who were accountable only to the emperor.

2. Hohensalzburg Castle (Austria)

One of the largest medieval castles in Europe, located on Mount Festung, at an altitude of 120 meters, next to Salzburg. During its existence, Hohensalzburg Castle was repeatedly rebuilt and fortified, gradually turning into a powerful, impregnable fortress.In the 19th century, the castle was used as a warehouse, military barracks and a prison. The first mention of the castle dates back to the 10th century.

3. Bran Castle (Romania)

Located almost in the center of Romania, this medieval castle gained its worldwide fame thanks to Hollywood, it is believed that Count Dracula lived in this castle. Lock is a national monument and main attractionRomania. The first mention of the castle dates back to the 13th century.

4. Castle of Segovia (Spain)

This majestic stone fortress is located near the city of Segovia in Spain and is one of the most famous castles of the Iberian Peninsula. It was his special shape that inspired Walt Disney to recreate Cinderella's castle in his cartoon. Alcazar (castle) was originally built as a fortress, but served in as a royal palace, prison, royal artillery school and military academy. Currently used as museum and the storage places of the military archives of Spain. The first mention of the castle dates back to 1120, it was built during the reign of the Berber dynasty.

5. Dunstanborough Castle (England)

The castle was built by the countThomas Lancasterbetween 1313 and 1322 at a time when the relationship between King Edward II and his vassal, Baron Thomas Lancaster, became overtly hostile. In 1362 Dunstanborough took over John of Ghent , the fourth son of the king Edward III , who significantly rebuilt the castle. During Wars of the Scarlet and White Rose the Lancaster citadel came under fire, as a result of which the castle was destroyed.

6. Cardiff Castle (Wales)

Situated in the heart of Cardiff City, this medieval castle is one of the most defining landmarks in the capital of Wales. The castle was built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century on the site of the former fort of the 3rd century Roman Empire.

This medieval castle dominates the skylineEdinburgh, capital of Scotland. The historical origins of the formidable Edinburgh Castle on the cliff are shrouded in mystery, it is mentioned in epics of the 6th century, appear in the annals before finally coming to the fore in Scottish history when Edinburgh established itself as a seat of monarchical power in the 12th century.

One of the most visited sites in southern Ireland, it is also one of the most pristine examples of medieval fortification in the world. Blarney Castle is the third fortress built on this site. The first building was made of wood and dates back to the 10th century. Around 1210, a stone fortress was built in its place. Subsequently, it was destroyed and in 1446 Dermot McCarthy, ruler of Munster, built the third castle on this site, which has survived to this day.

The medieval castle of Castel Nuovo was built first king of Naples, Charles I of Anjou, Castel Nuovois one of the most famous landmarks of the city.With its thick walls, majestic towers and impressive triumphal arch, it is the quintessential medieval castle.

10. Conwy Castle (England)

The castle is a magnificent example of architecture of the XIII century, it was built by order of King Edward I of England. It is surrounded by a stone wall with eight round towers. Until now, only the castle walls have survived, but they also look very impressive. Many huge fireplaces were used to heat the castle.

You write about the baron in the castle - if only you can imagine how the castle was heated, how it was ventilated, how it was illuminated ...
From an interview with G.L. Oldie

At the word "castle", the image of a majestic fortress appears in our imagination - business card fantasy genre. There is hardly any other architectural structure that would attract so much attention from historians, experts in military affairs, tourists, writers and fans of “fairytale” fantasy.

We play computer games, board games and role-playing games where we have to explore, build or capture impregnable castles. But do we know what these fortifications really are? What kind interesting stories related to them? What do the stone walls hide behind them - witnesses of entire eras, grandiose battles, knightly nobility and vile betrayal?

Surprisingly, the fact is that the fortified dwellings of feudal lords in different parts of the world (Japan, Asia, Europe) were built according to very similar principles and had many common design features. But this article will focus primarily on medieval European feudal fortresses, since they served as the basis for the creation of a mass artistic image of the “medieval castle” as a whole.

The birth of a fortress

The Middle Ages in Europe were a turbulent time. Feudal lords on any occasion arranged small wars among themselves - or rather, not even wars, but, in modern language, armed "showdowns". If a neighbor had money, it had to be taken away. Lots of land and peasants? This is simply indecent, because God commanded to share. And if knightly honor is offended, then here it was simply impossible to do without a small victorious war.

Under such circumstances, the large aristocratic landowners had no choice but to strengthen their homes with the expectation that one fine day neighbors may come to visit them, whom they do not feed with bread - let someone kill them.

Initially, these fortifications were made of wood and did not in any way resemble the castles known to us - except that a moat was dug in front of the entrance and a wooden palisade was placed around the house.

The courtyards of Hasterknaup and Elmendorv are the ancestors of castles.

However, progress did not stand still - with the development of military affairs, the feudal lords had to modernize their fortifications so that they could withstand a massive assault using stone cannonballs and rams.

The European castle has its roots in antiquity. The earliest structures of this kind were copied from Roman military camps (tents surrounded by a palisade). It is generally accepted that the tradition of building gigantic (by the standards of that time) stone structures began with the Normans, and classical castles appeared in the 12th century.

The besieged castle of Mortan (withstood the siege for 6 months).

Very simple requirements were imposed on the castle - it must be inaccessible to the enemy, provide observation of the area (including the nearest villages belonging to the owner of the castle), have its own source of water (in case of a siege) and perform representative functions - that is, show the power and wealth of the feudal lord.

Beaumari Castle, owned by Edward I.

welcome

We make our way to the castle, which stands on a ledge of a mountain slope at the edge of a fertile valley. The road goes through a small settlement - one of those that usually grew up near the fortress wall. Simple people live here - mostly artisans, and warriors guarding the outer perimeter of protection (in particular, guarding our road). This is the so-called "castle people".

The scheme of castle structures. Note - there are two gate towers, the largest one stands separately.

The road is laid in such a way that the aliens are always facing the castle with their right side, not covered by a shield. Directly in front of the fortress wall there is a bare plateau, which lies under a significant slope (the castle itself stands on an elevation - natural or embankment). The vegetation is not high here so that there is no cover for the attackers.

The first obstacle is a deep ditch, and in front of it is a shaft of excavated earth. The moat can be transverse (separating the castle wall from the plateau), or crescent-shaped, curved forward. If the landscape permits, the moat surrounds the entire castle in a circle.

Sometimes ditches were dug inside the castle, making it difficult for the enemy to move around its territory.

The bottom near the ditches could be V-shaped and U-shaped (the latter is the most common). If the soil under the castle is rocky, then the ditches were either not made at all, or they were cut down to a shallow depth that only impedes the advance of the infantry (it is almost impossible to dig under the castle wall in the rock - therefore the depth of the ditch was not decisive).

The crest of an earthen rampart, lying directly in front of the moat (which makes it seem even deeper), often carried a palisade - a fence made of wooden stakes dug into the ground, pointed and tightly fitted to each other.

A bridge over the moat leads to the outer wall of the castle. Depending on the size of the moat and bridge, the latter supports one or more supports (huge logs). The outer part of the bridge is fixed, but the last section of it (right next to the wall) is movable.

The scheme of the entrance to the castle: 2 - gallery on the wall, 3 - drawbridge, 4 - lattice.

Counterweights on the gate lift.

Castle gate.

This drawbridge is designed so that in an upright position it covers the gate. The bridge is propelled by mechanisms hidden in the building above them. Ropes or chains run from the bridge to the hoisting machines through the wall openings. To facilitate the work of the people serving the bridge mechanism, the ropes were sometimes equipped with heavy counterweights, which took some of the weight of this structure onto themselves.

Of particular interest is the bridge, which worked on the principle of a swing (it is called "overturning" or "swinging"). One half of it was inside - lying on the ground under the gate, and the other stretched across the moat. When the inner part rose, blocking the entrance to the castle, the outer one (which sometimes the attackers had already managed to run into) sank down into the moat, where the so-called "wolf's pit" was arranged (sharp stakes dug into the ground), invisible from the side, while the bridge is down.

To enter the castle with the gates closed, there was a side gate next to them, to which a separate ladder was usually laid.

The gates are the most vulnerable part of the castle, usually they were not made directly in its wall, but were arranged in the so-called "gate towers". Most often, the gates were double-winged, and the gates were hammered together from two layers of boards. To protect them from arson from the outside, they were upholstered with iron. At the same time, in one of the doors there was a small narrow door, through which one could only be bent over. In addition to locks and iron bolts, the gate was closed by a transverse beam lying in the wall channel and sliding into the opposite wall. The crossbeam could also be inserted into hook-like slots in the walls. Its main purpose was to protect the gate from being dropped by attackers.

There was usually a descending grate behind the gate. Most often it was made of wood, with the lower ends bound with iron. But there were also iron gratings made of steel four-sided rods. The lattice could descend from a gap in the arch of the portal of the gate, or be behind them (from the inside of the overhead tower), dropping along the grooves in the walls.

The lattice hung on ropes or chains, which in case of danger could be chopped off so that it quickly fell down, blocking the path of the invaders.

Inside the gate tower there were rooms for the guards. They kept watch on the upper platform of the tower, asked the guests about the purpose of their visit, opened the gates, and, if necessary, could strike from a bow all those who passed under them. For this, in the arch of the gate portal there were vertical loopholes, as well as “resin noses” - holes for pouring hot resin on the attackers.

Resin noses.

All on the wall!

The most important defensive element of the castle was the outer wall - high, thick, sometimes on an inclined plinth. Treated stones or bricks formed 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 a tunnel.

Often double walls were built in castles - a high outer wall and a small inner one. An empty space appeared between them, which received the German name "zwinger". The attackers, overcoming the outer wall, could not take with them additional assault devices (bulky ladders, poles and other things that could not be carried inside the fortress). Once in the zwinger in front of another wall, they became an easy target (for archers, there were small loopholes in the walls of the zwinger).

Zwinger at Laneck Castle.

A gallery for defense soldiers ran along the top of the wall. From the outside of the castle, they were protected by a solid parapet half a man's height, on which stone battlements were regularly located. Behind them you could stand at full height and, for example, load a crossbow. The shape of the teeth was extremely varied - rectangular, rounded, in the form of a swallow's tail, decoratively decorated. In some castles, the galleries were covered (wooden canopy) to protect the warriors from bad weather.

In addition to the battlements, behind which it was convenient to hide, the walls of the castle were equipped with loopholes. The attackers were fired through them. Due to the peculiarities of the use of throwing weapons (freedom of movement and a certain firing position), loopholes for archers were long and narrow, and for crossbowmen they were short, with widening on the sides.

A special type of loophole is a ball loop. It was a freely rotating wooden ball fixed in the wall with a slot for firing.

Pedestrian gallery on the wall.

Balconies (the so-called "mashikuli") were very rarely installed in the walls - for example, in the case when the wall was too narrow for the free passage of several soldiers, and, as a rule, performed only decorative functions.

At the corners of the castle, small towers were erected on the walls, most often flanking (that is, protruding outward), which allowed the defenders to fire along the walls in two directions. In the late Middle Ages, they began to adapt to storage facilities. The inner sides of such towers (facing the castle courtyard) were usually left open so that the enemy who burst into the wall could not gain a foothold inside them.

Flanking corner tower.

Castle from the inside

The internal structure of the locks was diverse. In addition to the aforementioned zwingers, behind the main gate there could be a small rectangular courtyard with loopholes in the walls - a kind of "trap" for the attackers. At times, castles consisted of several “sections” separated by inner walls. But an indispensable attribute of the castle was a large courtyard (outbuildings, a well, premises for servants) and a central tower, also known as “donjon”.

Donjon at the Vincennes castle.

The life of all the inhabitants of the castle directly depended on the presence and location of the well. Problems often arose with him - after all, as mentioned above, castles were built on elevations. The solid rocky ground also did not facilitate the task of supplying water to the fortress. There are known cases of laying castle wells to a depth of more than 100 meters (for example, the Kuffheuser castle in Thuringia or the Königstein fortress in Saxony had wells more than 140 meters deep). It took one to five years to dig the well. In some cases, this consumed as much money as all the internal buildings of the castle were worth.

Due to the fact that water had to be difficult to get from deep wells, issues of personal hygiene and sanitation faded into the background. Instead of washing themselves, people preferred to take care of animals - first of all, expensive horses. It is not surprising that the townspeople and villagers wrinkled their noses in the presence of the inhabitants of the castles.

The location of the water source depended primarily on natural causes. But if there was a choice, the well was dug not in the square, but in a fortified room to provide it with water in case of shelter during a siege. If, due to the peculiarities of the occurrence of groundwater, a well was dug outside the castle wall, then a stone tower was erected above it (if possible, with wooden passages to the castle).

When there was no way to dig a well, a cistern was built in the castle, collecting rainwater from the roofs. Such water needed purification - it was filtered through gravel.

The military garrison of castles in peacetime was minimal. So in 1425, two co-owners of the Reichelsberg castle in the Lower Franconian Auba entered into an agreement that each of them exhibits one armed servant, and two gatekeepers and two guards are paid together.

The castle also had a number of buildings that ensure the autonomous life of its inhabitants in conditions of complete isolation (blockade): a bakery, a steam bath, a kitchen, etc.

Kitchen in the Marksburg castle.

The tower was the tallest structure in the entire castle. She provided the opportunity to observe the surroundings and performed the functions of the last refuge. When the enemy broke through all the lines of defense, the population of the castle took refuge in the keep and withstood a long siege.

The exceptional thickness of the walls of this tower made its destruction almost impossible (in any case, it would take a huge amount of time). The entrance to the tower was very narrow. It was located in a courtyard at a considerable (6-12 meters) height. The wooden staircase leading to the inside could be easily destroyed and thus block the path of the attackers.

Entrance to the keep.

There was sometimes a very high shaft inside the tower, going from top to bottom. She served as either a prison or a warehouse. The entrance to it was possible only through a hole in the vault of the upper floor - “Angstloch” (German - frightening hole). Depending on the purpose of the mine, the winch lowered prisoners or provisions there.

If there were no prison rooms in the castle, then the prisoners were placed in large wooden boxes made of thick boards, too small to stand up to their full height. These boxes could be installed anywhere in the castle.

Of course, they were taken prisoner, first of all, to obtain a ransom or to use the prisoner in a political game. Therefore, VIPs were provided according to the highest class - guarded chambers in the tower were allocated for their maintenance. This is exactly how Friedrich the Handsome "spent his term" in Trausnitz castle on Pfeimd and Richard the Lionheart in Trifels.

Chamber at Marksburg Castle.

The tower of the Abenberg castle (12th century) in section.

At the base of the tower there was a basement, which could also be used as a dungeon, and a kitchen with a pantry. The main hall (dining room, common room) occupied an entire floor and was heated by a huge fireplace (it spread heat only a few meters, so iron baskets with coals were placed further down the hall). Above were the chambers of the feudal lord's family, heated by small stoves.

At the very top of the tower there was an open (less often covered, but if necessary, the roof could be thrown off) platform where a catapult or other throwing weapon could be installed to fire at the enemy. The standard (banner) of the owner of the castle was also hoisted there.

Sometimes the donjon did not serve as living quarters. It could well be used only for military-economic purposes (observation posts on the tower, dungeon, food storage). In such cases, the family of the feudal lord 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.

It should be noted that the living conditions in the castles were far from the most pleasant. Only the largest carpets had a large knightly hall for celebrations. It was very cold in the donjons and rugs. The fireplace heating helped, but the walls were still covered with thick tapestries and carpets - not for decoration, but to keep warm.

The windows let in very little sunlight (the fortification nature of the castle architecture affected), not all of them were glazed. Toilets were arranged in the form of a bay window in the wall. They were unheated, so visiting the sanctuary in winter left people with a unique experience.

Castle toilet.

Concluding our “excursion” around the castle, one cannot fail to mention that there was necessarily a room for worship (temple, chapel) in it. Among the indispensable inhabitants of the castle was a chaplain or priest, who, in addition to his main duties, played the role of a clerk and teacher. In the most modest fortresses, the role of the temple was played by a wall niche, where there was a small altar.

Large temples had two floors. The commoners prayed below, and the gentlemen gathered in a warm (sometimes glazed) choir on the second tier. The decoration of such rooms was rather modest - an altar, benches and wall paintings. Sometimes the temple played the role of a tomb for the family living in the castle. Less commonly, it was used as a refuge (along with the keep).

O underground passages many stories are told in castles. Of course, there were moves. But only a very few of them led from the castle somewhere to the neighboring forest and could be used as an escape route. As a rule, there were no long moves at all. Most often, there were short tunnels between individual buildings, or from the keep to the complex of caves under the castle (additional shelter, warehouse or treasury).

War on land and underground

Contrary to popular misconceptions, the average size of a military garrison of an ordinary castle during active hostilities rarely exceeded 30 people. This was quite enough for defense, since the inhabitants of the fortress were relatively safe outside its walls and did not suffer such losses as the attackers.

To capture the castle, it was required to isolate it - that is, to block all routes for the supply of food. That is why the attacking armies were much larger than the defending ones - about 150 people (this is true for the war of the middle feudal lords).

The food issue was the most painful. A person can live without water for several days, without food - for about a month (at the same time, one should take into account his low combat effectiveness during a hunger strike). Therefore, the owners of the castle, preparing for a siege, often went to extreme measures - they drove out of its borders all the commoners who could not benefit the defense. As mentioned above, the garrison of the castles was small - it was impossible to feed an entire army under siege conditions.

The inhabitants of the castle rarely launched counterattacks. This simply did not make sense - there were fewer of them than the attackers, and outside the walls they felt much calmer. Food outings are a special case. The latter were carried out, as a rule, at night, in small groups that walked along poorly guarded paths to the nearest villages.

The attackers had no less problems. The siege of castles sometimes stretched out for years (for example, the German Turant defended from 1245 to 1248), so the question of the rear supply of an army of several hundred people arose especially acute.

In the case of the siege of Turanta, chroniclers claim that during all this time, the soldiers of the attacking army drank 300 fuders of wine (a fuder is a huge barrel). This amounts to about 2.8 million liters. Either the scribe made a mistake, or the constant number of besiegers was more than 1,000.

Summer was the most preferred season for starving out the castle - it rains less than in spring or autumn (in winter, the inhabitants of the castle could get water by melting the snow), the harvest was not yet ripe, and the old stocks were already over.

The attackers tried to deprive the castle of a source of water (for example, they built dams on the river). In the most extreme cases, "biological weapons" were used - corpses were thrown into the water, which could provoke outbreaks of epidemics throughout the district. Those inhabitants of the castle who were captured were mutilated and released by the attackers. Those returned back, and became involuntary parasites. In the castle they might not have been accepted, but if they were the wives or children of the besieged, then the voice of the heart outweighed considerations of tactical expediency.

The inhabitants of the surrounding villages who tried to deliver supplies to the castle were treated no less cruelly. In 1161, during the siege of Milan, Friedrich Barbarossa ordered the hands of 25 citizens of Piacenza, who were trying to supply the enemies with provisions, to be cut off.

The besiegers set up a permanent camp near the castle. It also had some of the simplest fortifications (palisades, earthen ramparts) in case of a sudden attack by the defenders of the fortress. For protracted sieges, a so-called "counter-castle" was erected near the castle. Usually it was located higher than the besieged, which made it possible to conduct effective observation of the besieged from its walls and, if the distance allowed, to fire at them from throwing guns.

View of the Eltz castle from the Trutz-Eltz counter-castle.

The war against castles had its own specifics. After all, any more or less high stone fortification represented a serious obstacle for ordinary armies. Direct infantry attacks on the fortress could well have been crowned with success, which, however, came at the cost of great sacrifices.

That is why a whole complex of military measures was necessary for the successful capture of the castle (the siege and starvation was already mentioned above). Undermining was one of the most time-consuming, but at the same time extremely successful ways to overcome the defenses of the castle.

The excavations were made for two purposes - to provide troops with direct access to the courtyard of the castle, or to destroy a section of its wall.

So, during the siege of Altwindstein Castle in Northern Alsace in 1332, a sapper brigade of 80 (!) People took advantage of the diversionary maneuvers of their troops (periodic short attacks on the castle) and for 10 weeks made a long passage in solid rock to the southeastern part of the fortress ...

If the castle wall was not too large and had an unreliable foundation, then a tunnel broke through its base, the walls of which were reinforced with wooden struts. Then the spacers were set on fire - just under the wall. The tunnel collapsed, the base of the foundation sagged, and the wall above this place crumbled to pieces.

Storming the castle (miniature of the 14th century).

Later, with the advent of gunpowder weapons, bombs were planted in the trenches under the castle walls. To neutralize the undermining, the besieged sometimes dug counter-tunnels. Enemy sappers were poured with boiling water, bees were launched into the tunnel, feces were poured there (and in ancient times, the Carthaginians launched live crocodiles into Roman tunnels).

Curious devices were used to detect the trenches. For example, large copper bowls with balls inside were placed throughout the castle. If a ball in any bowl began to tremble, it was a sure sign that a tunnel was under way nearby.

But the main argument in the attack on the castle was siege machines - catapults and battering rams. The first ones were not much different from those catapults that were used by the Romans. These attachments were equipped with a counterweight to give the throwing arm the greatest force. With the proper skill of the "gun crew", the catapults were quite accurate weapons. They threw large, smoothly hewn stones, and the range of the battle (on average - several hundred meters) was regulated by the weight of the shells.

A type of catapult is a trebuchet.

Sometimes barrels filled with combustible materials were loaded into the catapults. To deliver a couple of pleasant minutes to the defenders of the castle, catapults threw the severed heads of prisoners to them (especially powerful machines could throw even whole corpses over the wall).

Storming the castle with a mobile tower.

In addition to the usual ram, pendulum ones were also used. They were fixed on high mobile frames with a canopy and were a log suspended from a chain. The besiegers hid inside the tower and swung the chain, forcing the log to hit the wall.

In response, the besieged lowered a rope from the wall, at the end of which steel hooks were fixed. With this rope, they caught the ram and tried to lift it up, depriving it of mobility. Sometimes a gape soldier could get caught on such hooks.

Having overcome the rampart, breaking the palisades and filling up the moat, the attackers either stormed the castle using stairs or used tall wooden towers, the upper platform of which was level with the wall (or even higher). These giant structures doused with water to avoid arson by the defenders and rolled up to the castle on the flooring of the boards. A heavy platform was thrown onto the wall. The assault group climbed up the inner staircase, went out onto the platform and with a fight invaded the gallery of the fortress wall. This usually meant that in a couple of minutes the lock would be taken.

Silent glanders

Sapa (from the French sape, literally - a hoe, saper - to dig) - a method of fragments of a ditch, trench or tunnel to approach its fortifications, used in the 16-19 centuries. Known flap (quiet, secretive) and flying glanders. The work was carried out with a cross-over ditch from the bottom of the initial ditch without the workers coming to the surface, and the volatile work was carried out from the surface of the earth under the cover of a previously prepared protective embankment made of barrels and sacks of earth. In the second half of the 17th century, engineers appeared in the armies of a number of countries to carry out such work.

The expression to act "quietly" means: sneak, walk slowly, unnoticed, penetrate somewhere.

Fights on the stairs of the castle

From one floor of the tower, one could get to another only by a narrow and steep spiral staircase. The ascent along it was carried out only one after another - it was so narrow. At the same time, the warrior who walked first could only rely on his own ability to fight, for the steepness of the turn of the loop was chosen in such a way that it was impossible to act with a spear or long sword from behind the leader. Therefore, the battles on the stairs were reduced to a single combat between the defenders of the castle and one of the attackers. Precisely the defenders, because they could easily replace each other, since a special extended area was located behind them.

All locks have clockwise staircases. There is only one reverse-twist lock - the fortress of the Wallenstein Counts. When studying the history of this genus, it was found that most of the men in it were left-handed. Thanks to this, historians realized that such a design of the stairs greatly facilitates the work of the defenders. The most powerful blow with the sword can be applied to the side of your left shoulder, and the shield in the left hand best covers the body from this direction. All these advantages are available only to the defender. The attacker can only strike to the right side, but his striking hand will be pressed against the wall. If he puts the shield forward, he will almost lose the ability to operate with a weapon.

Samurai castles

Himeji Castle.

The least we know about exotic castles - for example, Japanese.

Initially, samurai and their overlords lived in their estates, where, apart from the watchtower “yagura” and a small moat around the dwelling, there were no other defensive structures. In the event of a protracted war, fortifications were erected in hard-to-reach areas of the mountains, where it was possible to defend against superior enemy forces.

Stone castles began to be built at the end of the 16th century, taking into account European achievements in fortification. An indispensable feature of the Japanese castle is the wide and deep artificial ditches with steep slopes that surrounded it from all sides. Usually they were filled with water, but sometimes this function was performed by a natural water barrier - a river, lake, swamp.

Inside, the castle was a complex system of defensive structures, consisting of several rows of walls with courtyards and gates, underground corridors and labyrinths. All these structures were located around the honmaru central square, on which the feudal lord's palace and the high central tenshukaku tower were erected. The latter consisted of several, gradually decreasing upward, rectangular tiers with protruding tiled roofs and pediments.

Japanese castles were usually small - about 200 meters long and 500 meters wide. But among them there were also real giants. So, Odawara Castle occupied an area of ​​170 hectares, and the total length of its walls reached 5 kilometers, which is twice the length of the walls of the Moscow Kremlin.

The charm of antiquity

Castles are still under construction. Those of them that were in state property, often return to the descendants of ancient clans. Castles are a symbol of the influence of their owners. They are an example of an ideal compositional solution, which combines fusion (defense considerations did not allow the picturesque distribution of buildings across the territory), multi-level buildings (main and secondary) and the ultimate functionality of all components. Elements of the castle architecture have already become archetypes - for example, a castle tower with battlements: its image sits in the subconscious of any more or less educated person.

French castle Saumur (14th century miniature).

Finally, we love castles because they are simply romantic. Knightly tournaments, receptions, dastardly conspiracies, secret passages, ghosts, treasures - in relation to castles, all this ceases to be a legend and turns into history. The expression “walls remember” fits perfectly here: it seems that every stone of the castle breathes and hides a secret. I would like to believe that medieval castles will continue to preserve an aura of mystery - after all, without it, sooner or later they will turn into an old heap of stones.

The Norman conquest of England led to a boom in castle building, but the process of building a fortress from scratch is far from easy. If you want to start building a fortress on your own, then you should read the following tips.

It is imperative to build your castle on an elevated position and at a strategic point.

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

Historians have rarely been able to find evidence of contemporaries regarding the choice of the site 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, who successfully conducted a military campaign against the Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Iorvert, was going to build a new castle in this area to ensure security on the border of his possessions. The English carpenters were given the task of preparing the timber a month earlier, but the king's advisers had only now determined the place for the construction of the castle.

After a careful survey of the area, they selected a point at the very edge of the ledge above the Severn valley. According to chronicler Roger Wendoversky, this position "looked impregnable to anyone." He also noted that the castle was created "for the safety of the region from the frequent attacks of the Welsh."

Tip: identify places where topography rises above transport routes: These are natural locations for castles. Keep in mind that the design of the castle is determined by the place of construction. For example, a castle will have a dry moat on a ledge of outcropping.

2) Have a workable plan

You will need a master bricklayer who can draw plans. An engineer who is versed in weapons will also come in handy.

Experienced soldiers may have their own ideas for the design of the castle, in terms of the shape of its buildings and their location. But they are unlikely to have knowledge of the level of specialists in design and construction.

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

When Edward II began in 1307 to build a huge residential tower at Narsborough Castle in Yorkshire for his favorite Pierce Gaveston, he not only personally approved the plan drawn up by the London master mason Hugh Tichmarshevsky - probably drawn in the form of a drawing - but also required regular construction reports. ... From the mid-16th century onwards, a new group of professionals called engineers increasingly began to take on a role in the development of plans and the construction of fortifications. They had the technical knowledge of the use and power of cannons, both for defense and for attacking castles.

Tip: Plan loopholes for a wide angle of attack. Shape them according to the weapon you use: archers with large bows need large slopes, crossbowmen need smaller ones.

You will need thousands of people. And not necessarily all of them will come of their own free will.

Great efforts were required to build the castle. We do not have documentary evidence of the construction of the first castles in England since 1066, but from the scale of many castles of that period it becomes clear why some chronicles claim that the British population was under the yoke of building castles for their Norman conquerors. But from the later time of the Middle Ages, some estimates with detailed information have come down to us.

During the invasion of Wales in 1277, King Edward I began building a castle in Flint, northeastern 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 1270 excavators, 320 woodcutters, 330 carpenters, 200 masons, 12 blacksmiths and 10 coal burners. All of them were driven from the surrounding lands under an armed escort, who made sure that they did not defect from the construction.

Periodically, foreign specialists could be involved in the construction. For example, millions of bricks for the rebuilding of Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire in the 1440s were installed by a certain Baldwin "Docheman", or Dutchman, that is, "Dutchman" - obviously a foreigner.

Tip: Depending on the size of the workforce and the distance it has traveled, it may be necessary to provide them with accommodation at the construction site.

An unfinished castle on enemy territory is very vulnerable to attacks.

To build a castle on enemy territory, you need to defend the construction site from attacks. For example, you can enclose a 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 - for example, in the castle of Bomaris, the construction of which began in 1295.

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

Security problems can also arise during a radical reconstruction of an existing castle. When Henry II rebuilt Dover Castle in the 1180s, all 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 had already been sufficiently renovated for a guard to be on duty.

Tip: Building materials for building a castle are large and voluminous. If possible, it is best to transport them by water, even if it requires building a dock or canal.

When building a castle, you may have to move an impressive amount of land, which is expensive.

It is often forgotten that the fortifications of the castle were built not only at the expense of architectural techniques, but also at the expense of landscape design. Huge resources were allocated to move land. The scale of the Normans' earthworks can be considered outstanding. For example, according to some estimates, the embankment erected in 1100 around Pleshi Castle in Essex took 24,000 man-days.

Several aspects of the landscape work required serious skills, especially the creation of ditches. When Edward I rebuilt Tower of London in the 1270s, he hired a foreign expert, Walter Flandersky, to create a huge tidal ditch. Ditching under his direction cost £ 4,000, a staggering amount, almost a quarter of the cost of the entire project.

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

Tip: Reduce time and costs by digging masonry for the castle walls from the moats around it.

Carefully bring the mason's plan to life.

By using ropes of the correct length and pegs it was possible to mark the foundation of a building on the ground in full size. After the foundation ditches were dug, work began on the masonry. To save money, the responsibility for the construction was assigned to the senior bricklayer instead of the master bricklayer. In the Middle Ages, clutches were usually measured in childbirth, one English genus = 5.03 m. In Workworth, Northumberland, one of the complex bachets is on a trellis from the clans, possibly for the purpose of calculating construction costs.

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

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

Advice: don't be fooled by the master mason. Get him to make a plan that makes it easy to budget.

Finish the building with sophisticated fortifications and specialized timber structures.

Until the 12th century, the fortifications of most castles consisted of earth and logs. And although later the 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 close the gaps between the battlements to protect the defenders of the castle. All this was made of wood. Heavy weapons used to defend the castle, catapults and heavy crossbows, springalds were also built of wood. The artillery was usually developed by a highly paid professional carpenter, sometimes bore the title of engineer, from the Latin "ingeniator".

Such experts were not cheap, but could cost their weight in gold as a result. This, for example, happened in 1266, when Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire resisted Henry III for almost six months with catapults and water defenses.

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

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

8) Provide water and drainage

The most important aspect for the castle was efficient access to water. These could be wells supplying water to certain buildings, for example, a kitchen or a stable. Without a detailed acquaintance with the medieval well mines, it is difficult to give them their due. For example, at Beeston Castle in Cheshire, there is a well 100 m deep, the top 60 m of which is lined with hewn stone.

There is some evidence that complex plumbing systems existed to bring water to the apartment. The tower of Dover Castle has a lead pipe system that brings water to the rooms. It was fed from a well with a winch, and possibly from a rainwater harvesting system.

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

It is now widely believed that toilets used to be called "wardrobes." In fact, the vocabulary for toilets was vast and colorful. They were called gongs or gangs (from the Anglo-Saxon word for "place to go"), nooks and crannies and jakes (French for "john").

Tip: Ask a master bricklayer to plan out comfortable and secluded latrines outside the bedroom, following the example of Henry II and Dover Castle.

The castle should not only be well guarded - its inhabitants, possessing a high status, demanded a certain chic.

During war, the castle must be protected - but it also serves luxury home... The noble gentlemen of the Middle Ages expected their dwelling to be both comfortable and richly furnished. In the Middle Ages, these citizens traveled 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 the setting are recorded very carefully, with interesting and engaging details. In 1235-36, for example, he ordered that his hall at Winchester Castle be decorated with images of the world map and the wheel of fortune. Since then, these decorations have not survived, but the well-known King Arthur Round Table, created possibly between 1250 and 1280, remains in the interior.

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

In the Middle Ages, they also loved rooms with beautiful views... One of the thirteenth-century groups of rooms in the castles of Leeds in Kent, Corfe in Dorset and Chepstow in Monmothshire was named gloriettes (from the French gloriette - diminutive of glory) for their magnificence.

Tip: 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.

Hello dear reader!

Still, medieval architects in Europe were geniuses - they built castles, luxurious structures that were also extremely practical. Castles, unlike modern mansions, not only demonstrated the wealth of their owners, but also served as powerful fortresses that could hold the defense for several years, and at the same time life did not stop there.

Medieval castles

Even the very fact that many castles, having survived the wars, the blows of the elements and the carelessness of the owners, are still intact, suggests that they have not yet invented more reliable dwellings. And they are also incredibly beautiful and seem to have appeared in our world from the pages of fairy tales and legends. Their high spiers remind of the times when they fought for the hearts of beauties, and the air was saturated with chivalry and courage.

In order for you to be imbued with a romantic mood, I have collected in this material 20 of the most famous castles that are still left on Earth. You will certainly want to visit them and, possibly, stay to live.

Reichsburg Castle, Germany

The millennial castle was originally the seat of King Conrad III of Germany and later of King Louis XIV of France. The fortress was burned down by the French in 1689 and would have sunk into oblivion, but a German businessman acquired its remains in 1868 and spent most of his wealth on rebuilding the castle.

Mont Saint Michel, France

The impregnable castle of Mont Saint-Michel, surrounded on all sides by the sea, is one of the most popular attractions in France after Paris. Built in 709, it still looks stunning today.

Hochosterwitz Castle, Austria

The medieval castle Hochosterwitz was built in the distant IX century. Its towers still watch the surrounding area, proudly towering above it at an altitude of 160 m.And in sunny weather, they can be admired even at a distance of 30 km

Bled Castle, Slovenia

The castle is located on a hundred-meter cliff, threateningly hanging over Lake Bled. In addition to the magnificent view from the windows of the castle, this place has a rich history - here was the residence of the Serbian queen of the dynasty, and later of Marshal Josip Broz Tito

Hohenzollern Castle, Germany

This castle is located on the top of the Hohenzollern mountain, 2800 meters above sea level. During its heyday, the castle in this fortress was considered the residence of the Prussian emperors.

Barciense Castle, Spain

Barciense Castle in the Spanish province of Toledo was built in the 15th century by a local count. For 100 years, the castle served as a powerful artillery fortress, and today these empty walls attract only photographers and tourists.

Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany

The romantic castle of the Bavarian king Ludwig II was built in the middle of the 19th century, and at that time its architecture was considered very extravagant. Be that as it may, it was its walls that inspired the creators of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland.

Methoni Castle, Greece

Since the 14th century, the Venetian castle-fortress of Methoni was the center of battles and the last outpost of Europeans in this area in battles against the Turks who dreamed of capturing the Peloponnese. Today only ruins remain of the fortress.

Hohenschwangau Castle, Germany

This castle-fortress was built by the knights of Schwangau in the XII century and was the residence of many rulers, including the famous King Ludwig II, who received the composer Richard Wagner within these walls.

Chillon Castle, Switzerland

This medieval bastille looks like a warship from a bird's eye view. The castle's rich history and distinctive exterior have inspired many famous writers. In the 16th century, the castle was used as a state prison, as described by George Byron in his poem The Prisoner of Chillon.

Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland

The castle, located on a rocky island in the Loch Duich fjord, is one of the most romantic castles in Scotland, famous for its heather honey and legends. Many films were filmed here, but most importantly, the castle is open to visitors and everyone can touch the stones of its history.

Bodiam Castle, England

Since its founding in the 14th century, Bodiam Castle has experienced many owners, all of whom enjoyed fighting. Therefore, when Lord Curzon acquired it in 1917, only ruins remained of the castle. Fortunately, its walls were quickly restored, and now the castle is as good as new.

Guaita Castle, San Marino

The castle has been located on the top of the inaccessible mountain of Monte Titano since the 11th century and, together with two other towers, protects the oldest state in the world of San Marino.

Swallow's nest, Crimea

Initially, a small wooden house was located on the cliff of Cape Ai-Todor. And its current look "Swallow's Nest" got thanks to the oil industrialist Baron Steingel, who loved to relax in the Crimea. He decided to build a romantic castle that resembles medieval buildings on the banks of the Rhine river.

Stalker Castle, Scotland

Stalker Castle, which means "Falconer", was built in 1320 and belonged to the MacDougal clan. Since that time, its walls have experienced a huge number of strife and wars, which affected the state of the castle. In 1965, Colonel D.R.

Bran Castle, Romania

Bran Castle is the pearl of Transylvania, a mysterious museum-fort, where the famous legend of Count Dracula, the vampire, murderer and governor Vlad Tepes, was born. According to legend, he spent the night here during the periods of his campaigns, and the forest surrounding the Bran Castle was a favorite hunting ground for Tepes.

Vyborg castle, Russia

The Vyborg castle was founded by the Swedes in 1293, during one of the crusades to the Karelian land. It remained Scandinavian until 1710, when the troops of Peter I drove the Swedes far and away for a long time. Since that time, the castle has managed to be a warehouse, and a barracks, and even a prison for the Decembrists. And nowadays there is a museum here.

Cashel Castle, Ireland

Cashel Castle was the seat of the kings of Ireland for several hundred years before the Norman invasion. Here in the 5th century A.D. e. lived and preached Saint Patrick. The walls of the castle witnessed the bloody suppression of the revolution by the troops of Oliver Cromwell, who burned soldiers here alive. Since then, the castle has become a symbol of the brutality of the British, true courage and fortitude of the Irish.

Kilhurn Castle, Scotland

The very beautiful and even a little eerie ruins of Kilhurn Castle are located on the shores of the picturesque Lake Av. The history of this castle, unlike most castles in Scotland, proceeded quite calmly - numerous earls lived here, which replaced each other. In 1769 the building was damaged by a lightning strike, and soon it was finally abandoned, as it remains to this day.

Lichtenstein Castle, Germany

Built in the 12th century, this castle was destroyed several times. It was finally restored in 1884 and since then the castle has become a filming location for many films, including the film "The Three Musketeers".

For some reason, when the word "fairy tale" is mentioned, medieval castles and fortresses first of all appear before the mind's eye. Maybe because they were built in those ancient times, when wizards freely roamed the fields and meadows, and over mountain peaks fire-breathing dragons were flying.

Be that as it may, even now, looking at the castles and fortresses that have been preserved in some places, one cannot help imagining princesses sleeping in them and evil fairies casting magic over magic potions. Let's take a look at the once luxurious housing of those in power.

(German Schloß Neuschwanstein, literally "New Swan Stone") is located in Germany, near the town of Fussen (German Fussen). The castle was founded in 1869 by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The construction was completed in 1891, 5 years after the unexpected death of the king. The castle is magnificent and attracts curious tourists from all over the world with its beauty of architectural forms.

This is the "dream palace" of the young king, who was never able to see her incarnate in his full grandeur. Ludwig II, the Bavarian, founder of the castle, ascended the throne too young. And being a dreamy nature, representing himself as a fairy-tale character Lohengrin, he conceived to build his castle in order to hide in it from the harsh reality of the defeat of Bavaria in alliance with Austria in 1866 in the war with Prussia.

Moving away from state concerns, the young king demanded too much from the army of architects, artists and artisans. Sometimes he set completely unrealistic deadlines, which required round-the-clock work of masons and joiners. During the construction, Ludwig II delved deeper into his fictional world, for which he was later declared insane. The architectural design of the castle was constantly changing. Thus, the guest quarters were excluded and a small grotto was added. The small audience hall has been transformed into the majestic Throne Room.

A century and a half ago, Ludwig II, the Bavarian tried to hide from people behind the walls of a medieval castle - today they come in millions to admire his fabulous refuge.

(German Burg Hohenzollern) is an old castle-fortress in Baden-Württemberg, 50 km south of Stuttgart. The castle is built at an altitude of 855 m above sea level on the top of the Hohenzollern mountain. Only the third castle has survived to this day. The medieval castle fortress was first built in the 11th century and was completely destroyed after the capture, at the end of a grueling siege by the troops of the cities of Swabia in 1423.

A new fortress was built on its ruins in 1454-1461, which served as a refuge for the Hohenzollern house during the Thirty Years War. Due to the complete loss of the fortress of strategic importance, by the end of the 18th century, the castle was noticeably dilapidated, and some parts of the building were finally dismantled.

The modern version of the castle was erected in 1850-1867 on the personal instructions of King Frederick William IV, who decided to completely restore the ancestral castle of the Prussian royal house. The famous Berlin architect Friedrich August Stüler supervised the construction of the castle. He managed to combine new, large-scale neo-Gothic castle buildings and the few surviving buildings of the former destroyed castles.

(Karlštejn), built by the order of the Czech king and emperor Charles IV (named after him) on a high limestone cliff above the Berounka river, as a summer residence and a storage place for the sacred relics of the royal family. The first stone in the foundation of the Karlštejn castle was laid by Archbishop Arnost, who was close to the emperor, in 1348, and already in 1357 the construction of the castle was completed. Two years before the end of construction, Charles IV settled in the castle.

The stepped architecture of Karlštejn Castle, ending in a tower with a chapel of the Grand Cross, is quite common in the Czech Republic. The ensemble includes the castle itself, the Church of the Virgin Mary, the Catherine Chapel, the Big Tower, the Mariana and Well Towers.

The majestic Studnice tower and imperial palace, in which the king's chambers were located, transport tourists to the Middle Ages, when a powerful monarch ruled the Czech Republic.

Royal palace and fortress in the Spanish city of Segovia, in the provinces of Castile and Leon. The fortress was built on a high rock, above the confluence of the Eresma and Clamores rivers. Such a good location made it practically unapproachable. Now it is one of the most recognizable and beautiful palaces in Spain. Originally built as a fortress, the Alcazar was at one time and royal palace, and the prison, and the royal artillery academy.

The Alcazar, which was a small wooden fortress in the 12th century, was later rebuilt into a stone castle and became the most impregnable defensive structure. This palace became famous for great historically significant events: the coronation of Isabella the Catholic, her first marriage to the King of Aragon Ferdinand, the wedding of Anne of Austria to Philip II.

(Castelul Peleş) was built by the King of Romania Karol I near the city of Sinai in the Romanian Carpathians. The king was so fascinated local beauty that bought up the surrounding land and built a castle for hunting and summer recreation. The name of the castle was given by a small mountain stream flowing nearby.

Construction began in 1873 grandiose structure, led by architect Johann Schulz. Together with the castle, other structures necessary for a comfortable life were built: royal stables, houses for guards, a hunting lodge and a power station.

Thanks to the power plant, Peles became the first electrified castle in the world. The castle officially opened in 1883. At the same time, central heating and a lift were installed in it. The construction was fully completed in 1914.

It is a symbol of the small city-state of San Marino in the territory of modern Italy. The beginning of the construction of the fortress is considered to be the 10th century A.D. Guaita is the first of three San Marino fortresses built on the peaks of Monte Titano.

The structure consists of two rings of fortifications, the inner one has retained all the signs of forts of the feudal era. The main entrance gate was located at a height of several meters, and it was possible to pass through them only by a drawbridge, now destroyed. The fortress was restored many times in the 15th - 17th centuries.

Well, here we have seen some medieval castles and fortresses in Europe, of course, not all. Next time we will admire the fortresses on the tops of inaccessible rocks. There are still so many interesting discoveries ahead!