Www.WorldHistory.Biz
Login *:
Password *:
     Register

 

5-09-2015, 22:08

Challenges and Architectural Solutions

Great towers looked imposing, but after a time they proved to be not very practical either for living or for fighting. During a siege, comfort and convenience were irrelevant, but during peacetime, living in the tower could be unduly complicated. Stacked rooms in the towers made movement through the building difficult, and the narrow spiral staircases in the corner turrets weakened the masonry at its most vulnerable spot. Furthermore, with the defense concentrated in a single tower, no matter how strongly built, the garrison had little flexibility during the siege. The rectangular building had a further disadvantage: a straight wall was difficult to defend because of the blind spots, especially at the base of the wall. Defenders had to risk their lives when they leaned out over the wall to see what was happening. The crenels on the wall-walk were not sufficient, and wooden galleries (hoardings) had to be built out at the top of the wall to defend the wall. Windows were needed for light and air, but they weakened the wall and so were often reduced to slits on the exterior. Used as arrow slits, they did not permit the archers to see the ground. By the end of the twelfth century, the builders of castles at Pembroke and Kenilworth perfected arrow slits by making sloping embrasures that permitted archers to shoot down at attackers on the ground.

A very wide moat, such as the artificial lake and swamp (the “Great Mere”) created at Kenilworth, or a natural water barrier, such as the river Thames in London, effectively defended walls and countered attempts at mining. A good moat or ditch had to be too wide and deep to jump, wade, fill, or bridge. To reach the entrance, drawbridges were used, although the size of available timbers limited the size of the gap that could be bridged. Since doors were vulnerable places, elaborate defenses concentrated there. A sliding portcullis was an effective deterrent, but it required space for a counterpoise or windlass. Gatehouses solved this problem. Finally, a small semisecret back door or postern was usually built into the bailey walls. Also known as a “sally port,” the gate permitted the defenders to exit, engage in a brief battle, and return to the safety of their castle.

The Great Tower Becomes Obsolete

The last of the great tower castles may be Richard the Lionhearted’s French castle Chateau-Gaillard, built after his capture and ransom in 1192-93. In spite of the terrible strain that Richard’s ransom had placed on the English treasury, the castle was built rapidly. After Richard’s death, the strength of the tower, the double walls and ditches, and the complex forebuildings did not save the garrison at Chateau-Gaillard. The castle fell to the French king in 1204.

As castle design evolved, the great tower was eventually replaced by walled enclosures, which permitted more effective use of troops and better living conditions. The future of castle design lay with the curtain wall—a wall “hung” like a curtain between towers, each of which functioned like a keep. The builders of the walls of Constantinople had seen the virtues of wall towers and curtain walls centuries earlier, and Western crusaders who passed through Constantinople had the opportunity of studying these ancient fortifications.



 

html-Link
BB-Link