Bradbury Jim. The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare

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feudal arrangements.

WAR CRIES

Usually originating as a family or national signal in war, an appeal for support in

action. With the development of heraldry the war cry was often incorporated as a text in

family arms. Examples include the

‘Hui hui’

of the Magyars. War cries were often to

saints—the English ‘St George’, the French ‘St Denis’.

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Krak des Chevaliers seen from the north-west of the castle

Medieval armies 293

Castles and siege warfare

A–Z OF MAJOR CASTLES

Abinger, Aigle, Alhambra, Amboise, Arques, Arundel, Beaufort, Beaumaris, Bled,

Bodiam, Bodrum, Bonaguil, Bouillon, Burghausen, Burwell, Caernarvon, Carisbrooke,

Castel del Monte, Castello Sforzesco, Castel Sant’Angelo, Châteaudun, Château-

Gaillard, Chepstow, Chillon, Chinon, Cochem, Colchester, Conway, Corfe, Domfront,

Doué-la-Fontaine, Dover, Drachenfels, Falaise, Gisors, Grandson, Habsburg,

Hälsingborg, Harlech, Hastings, Haut Koenigsbourg, Herstmonceux, Hochosterwitz,

Hüsterknupp, Karlštejn, Kerak, Kirby Muxloe, Krak des Chevaliers, Langeais, Lewes,

Linz, Loches, London, Louvre, Málaga, Mantua, Margat, Marienburg, Montreal,

Montreuil-Bellay, Montségur, Muiderslot, Niort, Nuremburg, Nyborg, Orford, Plessis-

Bourré, Plessis-Grimoult, Rhodes, Rhuddlan, Riga, Roche-Guyon, Rochester, Salzburg,

San Gimignano, Saumur, Segovia, Silifke, Sirmione, Stirling, Stokesay, Tarascon, Thun,

Trifels, Trim, Valladolid, Vincennes, Visborg, Wartburg, Werlar, Windsor, York.

A–Z OF TERMS

Adulterine castles,

archères,

artillery, ashlar, bailey, balearic sling, balista, barbican,

bastide,

bastion, belfry,

bergfried,

berm, bore, brattice, brigola, cannon, castellan, castle-

guard, cat, catapult, combustibles, concentric castles, counter castles, crakkis,

crenellation, curtain, donjon, drawbridge,

en bec, fonevol,

forebuilding,

funda,

Greek

Fire, hoarding, keep, machicolation, mangonel, mantlet, merlon,

meutrières,

mining,

moat, motte, parapet, paterell, pavise, pele, petrary, portcullis, postern, ram, rampart,

ravelin, rendability, ribaudequin, scaling, scorpion, sow, spur, talus, testudo, trebuchet,

ward.

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OUTLINE HISTORY

Castle warfare is a phase in the history of siege warfare. Fortification existed from early

times, as evidence of earthwork sites proves. Settlements have often been defended, by

earth ramparts or timber stockades, by wet and dry moats, or by walls. European

medieval siege warfare descended from Roman methods. Fortified towns and camps

existed in the earliest medieval period. Equally ancient were methods of attacking and

taking fortified places—

y agreement, trick, blockade, storm and various methods o

reaking in. Many siege weapons came from the Romans, including rams, bores and

throwing engines.

A major medieval development was the emergence of the castle, a residence as much

as a fortification, representing an exclusive element in society. Castles were built for

kings and lords and were relatively small. They appeared from about the 10th century,

robably modelled on town citadels. The first known European castles were noble

residences turned into fortifications in the Loire valley at Doué-la-Fontaine and Langeais.

Fulk Nerra of Anjou was an early castle builder. Over the next century such stone

fortifications became more common as residences and strongholds of kings and nobles.

A more basic type of castle emerged, of earthwork and timber—the motte and bailey.

It appeared first during the wars between the Carolingian Franks and the Vikings. Such

castles could be built relatively quickly and cheaply and during a campaign, as in the

Norman Conquest of England, or the English Conquest of Ireland.

By the 12th century the typical castle was a fortification with stone walls and a stone

keep. Earlier earthwork castles were often transformed into stone. The Crusades

influenced western castle architecture, from familiarity with Byzantine fortifications.

Great stone castles were built in the Holy Land. Castle defence brought changes in

methods of attack with powerful throwing engines and methods of breaking walls,

including boring, ramming, mining, belfries and Greek Fire.

The history of castle warfare is a tit-for-tat affair: improve the defences; improve the

weapons of attack. A major change in the 13th century was the introduction of round

towers along with improvements to gatehouses and moats. The result was the concentric

castle, with more than one surrounding wall. Edward I’s castles in North Wales are

excellent examples of concentric castles.

Then came an improvement in weapons of attack. Most throwing engines of the

period—catapults, mangonels, balistas and so on—were adapted from ancient weapons.

An original medieval machine was the trebuchet, using counterweights rather than torsion

or tension. Trebuchets could hurl enormous stones and demolish walls. An even more

owerful late medieval weapon was the cannon. Some cannons used in sieges were very

large. Defenders improved walls and widened moats against cannons, while making

platforms and loopholes to use cannons for defence.

Social change in Europe made the castle less desirable. Houses that were warmer,

righter and drier became preferred residences for the great and powerful. In England the

castle is medieval, the country house later. In France the term château, which had meant

castle, came to mean country house.

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A–Z OF MAJOR CASTLES

ABINGER, SURREY, ENGLAND

A Norman motte and bailey castle, excavated in 1949. On the flat top of the motte was

found a rectangle of postholes, remains of a timber keep. The castle dated from c.1100

though the keep was rebuilt in the 12th century. Other postholes showed that a timber

alisade surrounded the edge of the motte platform. The keep was on four main corner

posts like stilts, as at Dinan on the

Bayeux Tapestry

. A horizontal wooden bridge

connected the bailey to the motte.

AIGLE, SWITZERLAND

Fairytale castle with conical roofed towers set against the snow-capped Alps south-east

of Lausanne. The castle dates from the 11th century and was extended in the 13th

century. It was captured by Berne in 1475 and rebuilt in its present form. The curtain wall

is massive with round corner towers, one of which is the keep. There is a large

Castles and siege warfare 295

rectangular building in the courtyard. There is brattice-work above the entrance.

ALHAMBRA (THE RED FORT), GRANADA, SPAIN

A Moorish fort, part of the Alcazaba citadel of Granada. The citadel dates from the 9th

century, the Alhambra from the 13th. It is seen as a gem of European architecture. The

Justice Gate was built in 1348 with a vaulted passage. The Alhambra, held by the Nasrid

Sultan Boabdil (Muhammed XII), surrendered to the Christians in 1492, the climax of the

econquista

. The Alhambra became a palace for Ferdinand and Isabella.

AMBOISE, FRANCE

Near the Loire, between Tours and Blois. A Frankish fortress stood here. Fulk Nerra

captured it from Blois in the late 10th century. He passed it to his treasurer Sulpice who

uilt a new tower. Charles VIII of France was born here and rebuilt the castle in its

present form in the 15th century. It is more a Renaissance château than a medieval castle.

It became a prison and then the residence of the comte de Paris.

ARQUES-LA-BATAILLE, FRANCE

On a rocky coastal headland in northern Normandy, south of Dieppe, built by William

count of Arques from 1038. He rebelled against William the Conqueror, who besieged

Arques in 1052–3, accepting its surrender and suppressing the rebellion. From 1123 it

was rebuilt in its present form by Henry I, who added a rectangular keep with flat

buttresses. It was the last castle to resist Geoffrey V of Anjou’s conquest of Normandy,

1135–45, falling in 1145. Philip Augustus captured Arques in 1204 during his conquest

of Normandy after two sieges. It was taken by Henry V in 1419 and recovered by the

French in 1449. The north-west barbican was added in the 16th century. The castle was

damaged in the Second World War.

ARUNDEL, WEST SUSSEX, ENGLAND

By the River Arun, built by Roger of Montgomery earl of Shrewsbury soon after

Hastings, the stronghold for a Sussex Rape. He built a motte and bailey castle, with a

ailey on either side of the motte. It passed to the crown in 1101 after a siege by Henry I.

The motte was crowned by a 12th-century shell keep. It was the first base for the

Empress Matilda on her arrival in England. It was held by the Aubigny earls of Sussex,

the Fitz Alan earls of Arundel, and the Howard dukes of Norfolk. It underwent frequent

additions and alterations. The 19th-century work has left little of the original.

BEAUFORT, LEBANON

Crusader castle at Qalaat es-Shaqif south of Kefer Tibnit. The fortified site was

captured by King Fulk in 1139. He passed it to the Lord of Sidon who built a castle on

the precipice over the River Litani. The approach was protected by a ditch cut through the

rock. The keep is rectangular,

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incorporated in the western section of the curtain wall.

Saladin besieged it from 1189, starving it into submission by 1190. The Christians

recovered Beaufort in 1240 and it was sold to the Knights Templar in 1260. It

surrendered to the Muslims in 1268.

BEAUMARIS, ANGLESEY, WALES

The last castle Edward I built during his conquest of Wales. It stands on the island o

Anglesey. Beaumaris was designed by Master James of St George and built from 1295

after Madoc’s rising in 1294. There is a rectangular inner bailey. The outer bailey was

added later. The inner bailey wall has massive mural drum towers and two double-

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towered gatehouses. The outer bailey has an enclosing wall with towers, making

Beaumaris a concentric castle—though it was never completed. Beaumaris was never

attacked though royalists held it during the English Civil War, surrendering in 1646.

BLED, SLOVENIA

North of Ljubljana, on a cliff over Lake Bled. A fortification existed here from the 11th

century. Henry II (HRE) gave the castle to the bishop of Blixen. It remained an episcopal

castle until the 19th century. It has an upper and lower bailey and a curtain wall.

BODIAM, EAST SUSSEX, ENGLAND

A late medieval castle. Richard II granted a licence of crenellation to Sir Edward

Dalyngrigge in 1385 ‘for resistance against our enemies’. The coast was under threat

from French invasion—Bodiam is 15 miles inland but by the River Rother. It stands on a

rectangular platform surrounded by a wide moat. There are drum towers at each corner o

the ashlar curtain wall. Three sides have a central rectangular tower. On the fourth side

the central gatehouse has two rectangular towers, initially fronted by a barbican. The

gatehouse is machicolated with gunports in the walls. A 14th-century wrought iron

cannon was found in the moat and taken to Woolwich.

BODRUM, TURKEY

Sited on the Turkish coast opposite Kos. The site was given to the Templars in 1415 in

return for Smyrna. On the peninsula by Bodrum Bay they built two rectangular towers (o

France and Italy) and a high curtain wall. Heraldic Templar shields were carved on the

walls. A bastion for guns was added in the 16th century. The Templars abandoned

Bodrum for Malta in 1523.

BONAGUIL, FRANCE

In southern France west of Cahors, built in the 13th century with a thick wall and

rounded corner towers. The pentagonal keep makes a spur to the north. In the 15th

century was added machicolation, a buttressed artillery terrace, and towers with low-level

loopholes.

BOUILLON, BELGIUM

South of Dinant on the River Semois. The 11 th-century castle was held by Godfrey I

of Bouillon before he went on the First Crusade. The entrance was protected by a ditch.

Two 13th-century halls survive. The present building is largely late medieval with 17th-

century modifications.

BURGHAUSEN, GERMANY

In Bavaria north of Salzburg, consisting of six ditched enclosures. The early 12th-

century castle belonged to the counts of Burghausen and passed to the dukes of Bavaria.

Some interior buildings are 13th-century. The surviving exterior dates largely from the

late Middle Ages, when the region was threatened by the Turks.

BURWELL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, ENGLAND

Built to a rectangular plan by King Stephen in 1143 as a base against Geoffrey de

Mandeville. Excavation revealed a curtain wall and square tower gatehouse of stone. A

30-foot-wide moat surrounded the castle but was never filled. There were foundations for

a keep in the courtyard. In 1144 Geoffrey attacked Burwell. He was hit by a crossbow

bolt and later died. The king abandoned the unfinished castle.

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CAERNARVON, CAERNARVONSHIRE, WALES

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One of Edward I’s Welsh castles, built as his major base by James of St George from

1283 on a peninsula between the River Seiont and the Menai Strait. It replaced Hugh o

Chester’s 11th-century motte and bailey castle. A moat separated the castle from the

town. The castle formed a rough figure of eight. Building continued for 40 years and was

not completed. Facing the town, the main entrance is the King’s Gate. A second entrance,

the Queen’s Gate, faces east. Caernarvon reflected the imperial magnificence o

Constantinople, with a banded stone wall and polygonal towers. In Madoc’s 1294 rising

Caernarvon was taken and damaged though soon retaken. Edward’s son Edward II was

orn there and known as Edward of Caernarvon and Prince of Wales. Owen Glendower

besieged Caernarvon 1401–3 but failed to take it.

CARISBROOKE, ISLE OF WIGHT, ENGLAND

On a Roman site, the 11th-century motte and bailey castle was built by William fitz

Osbern. The crown took it over in 1077. In 1082 Odo of Bayeux was arrested here. It has

two baileys. It was strengthened in stone in the 12th century, the motte topped by a shell

keep. Baldwin de Redvers took refuge here against Stephen in 1136 but submitted when

the water supply ran dry. (The deep well using donkeys to draw the water is of later date.)

The French tried to take Carisbrooke in 1377 but failed. Charles I was imprisoned here.

CASTEL DEL MONTE, ITALY

On a hill south of Bari (Andria) in Apulia, built by Frederick II (HRE) to an unusual

octagonal plan with octagonal corner towers. The residential rooms are highly decorated

with coloured stone and marble. It reflected Frederick’s artistic and architectural

interests. It was called ‘the crown of Apulia’. A later lord was Charles of Anjou king o

Sicily.

CASTELLO SFORZESCO, MILAN, ITALY

A castle around three courtyards built by Galeazzo II Visconti from 1368, known as

Castello di Porta Gloria. The revolutionary

Repubblica Ambrogiana

attacked and

destroyed the castle. It was rebuilt by Francesco Sforza from 1450 and work continued

after his death in 1466. Leonardo and Bramante were among the artists to decorate this

Renaissance castle, and works by them survive. It has square towers to the north and

round towers facing south into the city, with an impressive brick gate tower designed by

Filarete and rebuilt in the 19th century.

CASTEL SANT’ANGELO, ITALY

Papal castle on the right bank of the Tiber in Rome, an urban citadel. It guards a bridge

to the left bank. At its heart is the massive Mausoleum of Hadrian, a round tower on

square foundations. Fortifications were added by the 6th century. In the loggia is a statue

of the angel that appeared to Pope Gregory I (the Great) in 590, to give the castle its

name. Pope Leo IV used it as a fortress in the 9th century. Italian families held it through

much of the Middle Ages. Cencius Stephani built a new tower in the 11 th century. Pope

Gregory VII took refuge there from Henry IV (HRE) in 1084. It returned to papal control

in the 14th century. Nicholas V in the mid-15th century added round towers to the

corners of the tomb. Alexander VI added polygonal towers at the end of the Middle Ages.

Further building in the 16th century turned it into an early modern fortress with angled

bastions.

CHÂTEAUDUN, FRANCE

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The site is north-west of Orléans on a plateau over the River Loire. Theobald le

Tricheur count of Blois is said to have built it in the late 10th century. The surviving

12th-century castle, with its round keep, was built by Philip Augustus. It was from

Châteaudun in 1194 that Philip marched against John at Le Vaudreuil. In the 15th century

the Bastard of Orléans made it

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more comfortable for residence, adding the Sainte-

Chapelle. The state took it over in 1939 and carried out restoration.

CHÂTEAU-GAILLARD, FRANCE

At Les Andelys in Normandy, south-east of Rouen, by the Seine. It stands on a clif

over the river. Richard the Lionheart built the castle on the frontier against Philip

Augustus. Its name, ‘cheeky castle’, reflects its object of provoking France. It was also

called Richard’s ‘beautiful daughter’. He poured in massive resources to complete the

castle in two years, 1196–8. Ditches were dug to defend the only approach. It was an

impressive and innovative structure, triangular in shape to fit the plateau. The inner

defences command the outer by height, as concentric castles would later do. Philip

Augustus besieged it against John’s garrison from 1203, taking it in 1204, after which

Normandy fell to him. It has a magnificent

en bec

round keep. The inner bailey is

defended by large semicircular bastions, almost touching each other. The outer bailey

forms a separate triangular enclosure, the point towards the direction of approach, cut of

from the rest of the castle by a gully. Because approach was from one direction the outer

ailey, middle bailey and inner bailey form consecutive obstacles to be breached in turn.

A bridge of natural rock led to the inner bailey. Henry IV of France ordered it dismantled

in 1603 but the ruins remain imposing.

CHEPSTOW (CASGWENT/STRIGUIL), MONMOUTHSHIRE, WALES

Beside the Wye, with a deep ravine (the Dingle) protecting the other side. A motte and

ailey castle was built by William fitz Osbern (Earl of Hereford) from 1067, known as

Casgwent or Striguil (from the Welsh for narrow vale), in the Norman invasion of Wales.

A rectangular stone keep was built soon afterwards. From 1120 the defences were rebuilt

in stone. Its famous lords included Richard de Clare (Strongbow) in the 12th century. In

the 13th century, under William the Marshal and Hugh Bigod, the barbican, middle

bailey, lower bailey and Marten’s Tower were added, and the keep enlarged. Some

damage occurred in the 17th century, when demolition was ordered though not fully

enforced. The Department of the Environment took it over in 1953.

CHILLON, SWITZERLAND

The most famous Swiss castle, on a small island in Lake Geneva (Leman) south o

Montreux. The fortification is probably 10th-century in origin. The earliest remaining

part is the Alinge Tower. The Duke’s Tower was added in the 11th century. The

surviving castle was built by Pierre Mainier for Peter II of Savoy. It has some

magnificent wall paintings commencing from this period. The outer walls and towers

have machicolation. Byron’s poem ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’ concerns François

Bonnivard, imprisoned here in the 16th century.

CHINON, FRANCE

Extended fortifications over a Roman site on a ridge over the River Vienne, consisting

west to east of the Château du Coudray, the Château du Milieu and Fort St-Georges. The

three enclosures are separated by moats. Coudray was built by the Count of Blois in the

Castles and siege warfare 299

10th century. Geoffrey Martel of Anjou took it in 1044. His descendant Henry II o

England added Fort St-Georges and died there in 1189. Philip Augustus took Chinon in

1205 after a siege, adding a new keep in Coudray. The Valois kings added the Tour de

l’Horloge. Here Joan of Arc met Charles VII in 1429.

COCHEM, GERMANY

On a rise beside the Moselle, south-west of Koblenz, controlling the passage of the

river, begun in c. 1020 with further work in the 12th century. The bishop of Trier

enlarged it in the 14th century. It possesses a cluster of conical-topped towers. The castle

was razed by the French in 1689.

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COLCHESTER, ESSEX, ENGLAND

One of the only two stone castles begun by William the Conqueror in England.

Colchester was built over a Roman temple. It is similar in plan to the Tower of London,

with apsidal-ended chapels inside a rectangular keep. Some Caen stone was used. Under

Henry II a bailey was added. Demolition in the 17th century reduced the height of the

towers. It was held for Prince Louis of France during the Magna Carta rebellion and

recovered by John in 1216.

CONWAY (CONWY), CAERNARVONSHIRE, WALES

The most expensive of Edward I’s Welsh castles, built by Master James of St George,

1283–7, beside the Menai Strait on the foremost point between the rivers Conway and

Gyffin. It was incorporated into the walls of the town built at the same time, separated

from it by a moat, making the castle virtually an island. It has two major wards divided

y a thick wall, with barbican extensions to east and west. The curtain wall incorporates

eight drum towers. Conway was besieged by the Welsh under Madoc in 1294 but resisted

successfully. Restoration was carried out in 1346. Richard II met Henry Percy here on his

return from Ireland in 1399, when betrayed and captured. The castle was taken briefly for

Owen Glendower in 1401. It decayed, passing into state hands in 1953, since when

restoration work has been accomplished.

CORFE, DORSET, ENGLAND

A magnificent site on a hill. Here Edward the Martyr was murdered in 978. The castle

was begun by William the Conqueror. Parts of the original curtain wall and hall survive.

The rectangular keep was built by Henry I. Baldwin de Redvers, who came to England

for Matilda against Stephen in 1139, shut himself in Corfe. Stephen besieged it but

abandoned the attempt because of other problems. Further works costing £1,400 were

added by King John, including La Gloriette. The outer bailey with an outer gate was built

in the 13th century. It was slighted by parliamentarians after the Civil War.

DOMFRONT, FRANCE

In southern Normandy, east of Avranches, over the River Varenne, begun by William

de Bellême in 1011. A ditch protected the only approach. William the Conqueror

esieged and captured it from the Count of Anjou. Henry I of England turned Domfront

into a major border castle. The surviving ruins date chiefly from this period, including the

rectangular keep. Geoffrey V of Anjou was handed the castle by its lord and it became a

ase for his conquest of Normandy. Henry II of England met the papal nuncio here to

settle the Becket dispute.

DOUÉ-LA-FONTAINE, FRANCE

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