Evolution Of Castle Research Paper

The Evolution of Castles

Here is my easy on how castles have evolved, from the early 11th century Mottle and Bailey castle to the Nuclear Bunker in the 19th century.

The first castle we saw was the Mottle and Bailey castle in the eleventh century. These were wooden castles built on a huge hill; they would have a wooden fence surrounding a four acre plot of land. The best feature of this castle was that it had its keep built into the hill so it made it harder for the attackers to get to. The castle would have ramparts which were mounds of earth that would slow the attackers down.

So as the defences got better so did the attacks, attackers would build siege towers which were tall wooden towers with ladders inside them so that attackers
Curtain walls were two or more walls where the one outside would be lower than the inside walls so that defenders could look out. The great thing about a stone castle is that it can’t be burned down. A feature of curtain walls is arrow slits. Is a thin gap in the wall so that archers can shoot out at the defenders whilst being covered. The walls were up to twenty feet thick and forty five feet high!
The next attacking feat was battering rams which would batter down drawbridges which would be smashed after a few hits!
So comes the feature of the portcullis, a metal drawbridge that slides down and is made out of metal squares that prevent battering rams from knocking them down, and can sometimes make them get stuck. These were featured on the thirteenth century courtyard castles with a moat. When the defenders realised that the attackers were improving rapidly they built a moat around the castle to render siege towers useless.

Castle with a Moat

Then they realised that a moat wasn’t quite enough, so they decided in the fifteenth century to build a caste on an island, so that the attackers would have to cross to the island on a boat, which gave the defenders time to kill the