Motte and Bailey Castle

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Motte and Bailey Castle
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How Motte and Bailey is invented

• The Motte and Bailey castle was invented by the
  Norman in 1050. When they first started off they
  only had the Motte but there was no bailey until
  later. This castle was surrounded by a ditch and
  sometimes filled with water to prevent the enemy
  from reaching the fences and going in. There was
  only one way in the castle and that is to cross
  the bridge. But sooner or later they were no good
  because people found a way to break the fences
  and that is by burning down the fence. Motte and
  Bailey were the first castle ever invented. Some
  people prefer there style for example Durham made
  his Bailey triangular

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Advantage of Motte and Bailey Castle.

• Advantage
• .They were quick to build and need around 4-7
  days to build
• .They were cheap to build
• .only needs a few soldier to guard the castle
  unless the Motte and Bailey castle is going to
  war with another country
• .They could live in there and food supply were
  carried into the bailey and transported into the
  motte

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Disadvantage of Motte and Bailey

• .Easy to burn down by fire and rot away
• .The wood rotted quickly and had to be rebuilt
  every 10 years

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Fact about Castles

• After many castle were built in England and many
  parts of Europe. Timber and earth were often
  employed for there construction. Unfortunately
  although cheap, provided severely weak defence so
  a well planed attack involving fire, arrow and
  some siege weapon. After the 7th century many
  nobles sought to strengthen there castle to be
  effective against fire. This often involve hard
  work and in most case utter reconstruction of the
  whole castle because they add strong root to
  prevent the digger from diggings holes into the
  castle and fences. When the trebuchet was
  invented and introduced in medieval warfare ,
  again castle were re designed in order once again
  to protective. The same held true for other Siege
  weapons such as the catapult itself which often
  threw enormous projectile which consisted of
  human beings to spread disease - reason for which
  every part of a castle had to be accessible by
  the defenders to avoid a rotting body in an
  unreachable position.

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Castle Defence

• After all these improvements, it was also
  realized that the best defense against a cannon
  was another cannon. Round towers were shortened
  and on top of them, cannons were placed. The same
  principle that governs an arrow when fired from
  the top of a wall also applies to a cannon. The
  higher the cannon, the more damage it
  inflicts.The downside for castles was that
  cannons began to be improved. Their caliber
  increased dramatically, and, after a few years
  castles started to lose their newly acquired
  strength.Constantinople was subject to these
  changes. Being a very fortified city itself, it
  was promptly destroyed by a combination of
  gunpowder and a much greater force in numbers.
  When it was besieged, an enormous cannon was used
  to destroy the walls which played a very
  important role in Constantinople's fall.

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Castle Dungeons

• The word Dungeons come from the word Donjon in
  French it means tower, The dungeons were not
  located in the dark and cold basement but in the
  highest of the castle. The reason for this is,
  while hundreds of guards would be needed to
  properly defend a complete underground dungeon,
  only a dozen would be needed to protect a high
  tower since the narrow stairs made it
  possible.Those who were confined in an
  underground dungeon, usually stayed there for
  their whole lifetime. Whilst the space in the
  high tower was limited and prisoners in a tower
  would be either executed or set free. Castles,
  having been built so resistant, were frequently
  turned into prisons. Both the French Bastille and
  the English Tower of London served for that
  purpose over the years.Dungeons were frequently
  host to many torture devices in which inmates
  would be either killed or heavily tortured. This
  was especially frequent after the XII century

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Castle Defence

• Starting with timber castles, castles evolved
  throughout the centuries to build better
  elaborated strongholds. Before the XII century,
  most castles were made of timber and wood by the
  end of the XII century, however, there was a much
  higher need of protection, hence stone
  castles.Besieging a castle was a very difficult
  task and very frequently, a failed attempt. As
  castles evolved, so did their defense. When moats
  were introduced, invading a castle through force
  was a much harder task. Instead, besieging it was
  very common. Castle's walls were very effective
  in halting the invaders. Some walls were wider
  than 30 feet thus destroying them was very hard,
  even after gunpowder was invented.
• Even when the moat and the first line of defense
  were breached, most castles still had another two
  lines of defense including the keep which was the
  last defensible spot. Castles with more than two
  lines of defense are known today as concentric
  castles. Archers were situated on top of the
  walls, firing at their victims who took shelted
  behind trees or anything they could find in order
  to save their own lives. After bows, crossbows
  were introduced severely improving the
  efficiency of a castle's defense.

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Bibliography

• http//medieval-castles.org/index.php?cat70
• http//www.castlewales.com/motte.html
• http//www.castles-of-britain.com/castlesa.htm
• http//www.jfk.herts.sch.uk/class/history/motte_an
  d_bailey_castle.htm