HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE IN SKETCHES: Castle - Medieval Obstacle Course

Medieval times were quite unsafe. Besides wars between neighboring little countries, there were frequent civil wars and armed conflicts between landowners and noblemen. It was believed that the best way of becoming wealthy was taking away wealth from others. And in order to stay wealthy, you had to keep your belongings, your house included, behind high walls and other elements of fortifications. So, prepare for Medieval Obstacle Course. Number one. Natural terrain surrounding the castle. In the case of lowland castles, it might be a lake, a river or wetlands. In the case of highland castles, it would be highlands. In general, those were places difficult to surround with an army and not very siege machines friendly. This obstacle was usually quite easy to overcome though. The whole plan of the castle depended mostly on the landform, though also on the number of troops residing inside. Number two. Mode. Considering that the castle isn't built in the middle of a lake, of course. In the case of highland castles, it was usually only around the gate. There are three types of modes. Wet modes filled with water and sewage, dry modes with snares and various sharp gadgets and segmented modes, which were a combination of the former two. In early medieval times, modes were rather narrow, but in Gothic they got wider. They made it almost impossible to get right to the walls with siege machines. Also, digging tunnels under defensive walls would be extremely inconvenient with a moat in front of those walls. The question is, how can we go through this obstacle? We could hide inside a shed-like machine and fill the moat with stones, logs and brushwood. Ok, we made it through the moat. The next obstacle we meet are defensive walls. The largest might be even 8 meters wide at the bottom and 40 meters high. Luckily for us, potential attackers, usually defensive walls were less massive, so maybe we would stay a chance to cross the walls with a battering ram. Or dig a tunnel under the walls to destroy it later and cause a collapse of fragments of walls. At the top of the walls there was a passage flanked with battlements. Those teeth were about 2 meters high. Spaces between them were used for aiming at attackers. Even lower levels had some spots for shooting. Battlements alone could be a tough hinder, but unfortunately for us, attackers, there's more. Rather primitive, highly flammable wooden hoarding or more advanced mechicolation, made of stone or bricks, popular in late medieval times. Through bottom openings in hoarding and mechicolation we could be thrown at with stones, showered with heated sand, very unpleasant I suppose, doused with boiling water or molten lead among others. If that wouldn't discourage us, I don't know what would. Let's find out. In early medieval ages, towers in defensive walls were rarity, but in gothic times they were placed near gates, on the corners and sometimes somewhere in between. The most effective were round towers as round shape was hardest to crush with a battering ram and enabled aiming in many directions. If we were gothic invaders, we might be in a rather nasty situation. Fortifications got better and better as siege machines and artillery were developing. All those elements had to be a real pain for the attackers. So why not just use a bridge leading straight to the gate? Wooden bridges could be easily disassembled or burned down by defenders if needed. Jaw bridges appeared on a larger scale in gothic times. I don't want to overwhelm you with dates and other super specific info, but if you are going to draw or describe something from a specific time period, it's not that bad to keep some facts in mind. Medieval jaw bridge is usually a short wooden bridge connecting a gate with a permanent bridge. In this case, a permanent bridge could be even made of stone or bricks, as it didn't necessarily need to be quickly destroyed. While raised with wheels and chains, a jaw bridge was an additional protection of a gate. At the peak of gothic times, bridges were often additionally fortified with barbicans. Towers or even mini-fortresses joined to main gates with defense corridors. In other words, expect massive archery shooting here. Number 5. Gate. Spectacular, gigantic gates surely look awesome in fantasy movies and games. Unluckily for invaders, in our grey reality, they were usually barely 2 to 3 meters wide. Even though, besides some special events, usually only a narrow, 1 meter wide gateway was used. Door leafs were made of oak logs and forced with metal plates or studs. Of course, there were hoardings or machiculations above the entrance, so we should reckon with hot shower of diverse kind here. Just a small reminder. Boiling water, heated sand, molten lead and more. At the end of 12th century, portcullis was a hot trend. Two portcullis were even better, as they could trap some enemies between them. Forcing a gate is probably that moment when the game is over. Or is it? Our obstacle course has much more to offer. First of all, who builds only one ring of defensive walls, when you can have two or even three? And what's between those rings? Pastures and playgrounds? In times of peace, maybe, but during attacks, those narrow areas changed into open kill zones. It could be just a plain space, but if we were unlucky, there could be another moat, making our most likely short life even harder. That was usually a spot for negotiations, before deciding if there is a point to continue an attack or defense or not. Let's say that the landlord is not so keen to surrender and leave his castle to us. In this case, we have to face and cross next ring of walls. We've seen the first ring of walls, so we know what to expect. Many castles consisted of so-called low castle, middle castle and high castle. Or if we were lucky, only a low and a high castle, depending on the number of defensive walls and space between them. If the space was wide enough, there could be also some fortified buildings. Okay, let's say that our plan went well and we made it through all the way to the high castle. Mission is not completed until we take over the Keep, known as the Tower of Last Defense. Standard size of such tower would be around 10 meters wide and around 20 meters high. Exterior walls, especially on the ground level, could be two and a half meters wide. Just as wide as my workroom. It could be built separately from the rest of the castle or connected with defensive walls. Entrance was placed one level above the ground. Sovereign's family and their troops could get there on a pulled-in ladder. The highest level was simply a stone floor surrounded by battlements. Additionally, it could be covered with a temporary roof. On daily basis, the ruler's family lived in slightly more comfortable conditions in a palace building within the same ring of defensive walls and connected with a chapel. However, sometimes the Keep and the palace building were combined into one wide tower, like the famous Tower of London. Anyway, our goal is the Keep. Once we get inside, we have to climb winding, narrow stairs. Each step could be different height and width, not because of laziness and incompetence of builders, but to make it harder to climb them during an attack. At least that's how builders were explaining themselves. I was climbing such stairs during peaceful times and it was not fun at all. But during an attack, stairs were additionally blocked with various hindrances and traps. So annoying. But once we get to the highest room where the Sovereign is hiding and force him to surrender, the mission is completed. Actually, attacks on castles often resolved at some earlier stage, when one side withdrew from the conflict. But here you have the whole picture of a castle's obstacle course.