Types of Castles

The earliest castles appeared in the 9th and 10th centuries when the empire created by Charlemagne in modern France, Germany and North Italy was collapsing as a result of raids by peoples as Vikings. Lords built castles for protection as bases for their soldiers. Most of these castles were built on earth and timber, with timber fences (palisades). In the 11th century, motte and bailey castles became popular: an earth mound (or motte) was built next to a yard (or bailey).

In the new stone castles, a large stone tower could become the main military and residential building of a castle. These large towers are often known as keeps or donjons and were very popular in the 12th century in England, after the Normans. They were stronger than walls of wood and did not burn, so attackers had to use other ways to destroy them, such as chipping away at the corners with picks or digging tunnels beneath the foundations to weaken them (undermining). To avoid that, the defenders started to build round or many- sided towers, with no sharp angles and a better field of fire.

From the mid-13th century, castles were built with rings of stone walls one inside the other. These are called concentric castles. The outer wall was fairly close to and lower than the inner, so the archers on the inner wall could shoot over the enemy. If besiegers broke through the outer wall, they would still be faced with the inner one.

With this information, the students had to identify the three main types of castles.