Castles In The Middle Ages

From 550CE to 1550CE, there was the time period known as the Medieval Era, or Middle Ages. This is where the Feudal system thrived, Kings and Queens were ruled over by the Pope, superstition was believed by everyone, knights fought for their clan, servants and peasants served for the Lord and Ladies, and castles were the magnificent structures that defended these people and displayed their wealth.
Castles were originally built in France but were introduced to England in 1066 by William the Conquer after the Battle of Hastings. One of the first castle types built in Europe was the ‘Motte and Bailey’. These “castles” were fortresses built out of wood on top of a hill with a wooden stake fence around the outside; usually with a moat-like ditch. The ‘Motte and Bailey’ weren’t very effective at preventing attacks since it was made out of wood and c easily be burn down. Because of this reccurring problem, in the late 11th century, architects then evolved the design of the ‘Motte and Bailey’ to a new castle; the ‘Keep’.
‘Keeps’ had much better defence mechanisms. They were built out of thick stone walls and were up to 4 stories high. They had replaced the dirt ditch with a moat, and were conveniently built on either a
The ‘Concentric’ was built with two outer walls and the castle in the middle out of stone & brick; meaning that if another clan was to come and attack, they would have to break through two walls to get to the actual castle, and by then the guards would have been alerted. It was more commonly built on lakes and islands, but they were occasionally built on hills and cliffs. The difficult placing made it not only difficult to attack, but the attackers could be easily seen if they were swimming across a lake or climbing up a cliff with a large group of people. ‘Concentric’ castles were the most effective at defending until the invention of gunpowder and