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How to attack (and defend) a medieval castle - Connor C. Wilson
How to attack (and defend) a medieval castle - Connor C. Wilson
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Phụ đề (84)
0:08
In 1315, Scotland’s King Robert the Bruce decided to lay siege
0:13
to England's Carlisle Castle.
0:15
Robert expected a swift victory,
0:18
but his men arrived to find a relentless downpour.
0:22
Struggling against muck and mud,
0:25
they tried to fill the moat with corn husks
0:28
only for the husks to float away.
0:31
Then Robert ordered the construction of a massive siege tower,
0:34
but the English responded with wooden scaffolds
0:37
that heightened the castle walls.
0:40
Their final push to scale those walls ended with English arrows raining down
0:45
on the sodden Scots.
0:48
At a time when sieges could last months or even years,
0:51
Robert retreated after just 11 days.
0:55
This siege is a prime example of how medieval European castles
0:59
could stand firm against enemy onslaughts.
1:02
But castles weren’t just for passive defense;
1:06
they were symbols of power, private residences,
1:09
and hubs of governance intended to impress and intimidate.
1:14
In fact, they were just as likely to be used for offensive military tactics.
1:20
Castles regularly served as bases for launching attacks
1:24
and as a way to control local populations with promises of shelter
1:28
or threats of violence.
1:31
While citadels and fortified palaces could be found as early as the 8th century BCE,
1:38
European castles as we think of them
1:40
started appearing in large numbers in the late 9th century CE.
1:44
At this time, the ruling Carolingian Empire was breaking down.
1:48
And as the monarch’s control
1:50
over his 1 million square kilometer realm disintegrated,
1:54
nobles began building castles to solidify their regional power.
1:59
These early wooden castles followed the motte and bailey design,
2:03
featuring a central tower built atop a steep mound
2:06
with a walled yard at the base.
2:09
But over the following centuries, as castles became centers
2:12
of social, cultural, military, and political life,
2:16
their designs grew more varied and complex.
2:19
By the 12th century, many wooden motte and baileys had been rebuilt with stone,
2:25
increasing their defense and longevity.
2:28
Subsequent castles built in stone from the start
2:31
used curtain walls and gatehouses to enclose the castle yard.
2:36
And their walls and towers were often coated in a layer of protective limewash,
2:41
covering their stony grey with a range of colorful tones.
2:47
Alongside their scale,
2:49
visual beauty was a way for castles to project power.
2:53
Castle Caernarfon in northern Wales
2:55
was built with bands of different colored stone.
2:59
And Crusader armies building castles in the Middle East
3:02
often incorporated elements of intricate Islamic and Byzantine architecture.
3:07
But as European castles became more widespread,
3:10
so did technologies to defeat them.
3:13
Fire had long threatened wooden motte and baileys,
3:16
and while their stone counterparts were more resistant,
3:19
their underlying wooden structure was still vulnerable to arson.
3:23
Battering rams cracked castle doors,
3:25
siege towers and mining operations thwarted castle walls,
3:30
and trebuchets launching stones up to 130 kilograms
3:34
endangered entire structures.
3:37
Rectangular castle towers were especially vulnerable
3:40
since their square corners had fewer load bearing stones.
3:44
Fortunately, when the Crusaders returned to Europe from the Middle East,
3:48
they brought home architectural innovations,
3:51
including the design for concentric castles.
3:55
Featuring numerous rings of defensive walls around a central tower,
3:59
this approach created a circular fortress with multiple layers of siege security.
4:05
From the 13th century onward, this design reigned supreme,
4:09
even standing up to the small cannons that had begun spreading across Europe.
4:14
But by the 15th century,
4:15
the high towers that once rained arrows on attackers
4:19
became easy targets for powerful new cannons.
4:23
While castle builders adapted by making squatter structures
4:26
with walls up to three meters thick,
4:28
this kind of construction was prohibitively expensive.
4:32
By the early 16th century,
4:34
most local nobles couldn’t keep up with the costs,
4:37
and became reliant on strong centralized rulers
4:40
who could afford to support modern defenses and large standing armies.
4:45
This financial and political pressure, alongside advances in gunpowder weapons,
4:50
put an end to castles’ military dominance.
4:53
Most of these fortresses were converted to residences,
4:56
administrative centers, or prisons,
4:59
and today many still serve as tourist attractions and private estates.
5:04
But while they no longer protect their inhabitants from sieging armies,
5:08
they still project the grandeur and authority
5:12
that made medieval castles so effective for centuries.
