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Castles In The Middle Ages

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In the Middle Ages, castles were a wall against bandits and intruders. They acted as the foundation in defensive construction. Castles were all made different with a common goal to prevent violent groups from penetrating it. They housed residences, economies, royalty, and peasant populations. They are a vital component of the Middle Age’s society. One of the first type of castle designs, the motte and bailey castle, features two main parts. Used first by the Normans in 1066 (people from modern-day Normandy France), it has the raised centerpiece which is the motte. Due to the steepness of the motte, it was nearly impossible to “run up the sides.” On top of that, there was a trench dug out surrounding the motte, sometimes even containing water like a moat. This stopped intruders even further from being able to climb to the top as they had no where to get a starting footing. The only way to get to the motte was through a bridge somewhere in the bailey. To make an attack even harder, the height of these defensive structures ranged from “25 feet (8 [meters]) to over 80 feet (24 [meters]).” The motte even had a fence at its top surrounding it. Within the fence was a “fortified tower” set on a flat piece of land that allowed a full view of surrounding areas in order to check for secureness. …show more content…

This is where most of the everyday tasks took place agriculturally and at the homestead in dwellings. The defense mainly took place here. Architecture revolving around the ability for archers to fight determined a lot of the layout for the bailey. “Any point on its circumference (outer edge) would be within bowshot of the tower” or motte. The bailey was sufficient until the 1100s and 1200s where new innovations took place causing this castle model is mainly go into extinction. In spite of this, many motte and bailey castles were transformed using new

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