Medieval Castles

Castles were used in the Medieval period. They were used to protect the cities when they were under attack from neighboring cities. As the technology and attacking methods improved, the defending methods had to keep up. There were many different types of attacks that castles had to be prepared for; therefore, there were many different castles structures and designs. For example, in case of archers the castle would have to have embrasures, arrow loops, and curtains. These were all parts of a castle that protected it and the people inside of it. Curtains and embrasures were also helpful when they were attached by an army with trebuchets or even just a direct attack from below. A siege is when an army surrounds a castle and stays there for long periods of time. They may even cut off their food and water supply, or throw contagious animals inside the castle. The point of a siege is to stay posted until the opposing side either starves, dies from a disease, or surrenders, so if they throw contagious animals in the
This was one of the first methods of attack. The castle protected itself from these battles by making a moat so that its harder for the army to cross into the castle, a drawbridge so that if they got across the moat they would also have a locked door that could only open from the inside, and a palisade which came even before the moat. A palisade was a big wooden makeshift wall that was put up quickly to block the enemy before they made their more sturdier walls called curtains. Castles also had gatehouses where when armies entered they were greeted with weapons and hot liquids falling down from the murder holes. Embrasures were put up on the top of the curtains to block the soldiers protecting the castle from getting hit by arrows and other weapons being thrown up at them. Rubble was also put in the walls to provide a stronger