Concentric castles resemble one castle nested inside the other, thus creating an inner and outer ward. They are typically built without a central free-standing keep. Where the castle includes a particularly strong tower (donjon), such as at Krak or Margat, it projects from the inner enceinte.
What shape is a concentric castle?
The word concentric does not imply that these castles were circular; in fact, most of them were either square or polygonal. Because of the two separate walls, concentric castles would have had two separate wards: the outer bailey, between the inner and outer walls and the inner bailey, inside the inner wall.
What is in a concentric castle?
The definition of a concentric castle is a “stone castle with at least two rings of outer walls, one inside the other”. Another way of thinking about it is as “a castle within a castle”. The two castle walls in concentric designs were designed to be two separate obstacles in the path of any attacker.
What were concentric castles built out of?
Concentric castles had two or more surrounding walls around the central tower and were made of stone. The word ‘concentric’ means to ‘have a common center,’ such as a circle within another circle. So a concentric castle was like a castle within a castle. This made it very difficult for invaders to get inside.
How many walls did a concentric castle have?
Concentric Castles can be described as “a Castle within a Castle”. They had two or three walls around the keep. (N.B. some concentric castles didn’t have a keep. Instead, inside the outer wall, there was another wall connecting a series of towers.)
What are the 3 types of castles?
The three main types of castles are the motte and bailey castle, the stone keep castle, and the concentric castle.
What is the best shape for a castle?
round
Medieval Castles
According to the thinking so far, castles should all be perfectly round. There are however a few other points to take into consideration, affecting castle design. Later castles had an outer wall (with turrets) and a keep, such as at Harlech Castle.
What was so good about concentric castles?
Major advantages of a Concentric Castle: Round towers couldn’t be mined as easily. Larger Castles can house a greater number of defendants. Once inside the outer wall an attacker was still visible to defenders in a large number of towers.
What was bad about concentric castles?
While considered strong, concentric castles did have two major weaknesses: They were incredibly expensive to build and they made it hard for troops to engage from a safe position.
How many people lived in a concentric castle?
At one time 2,000 people lived in the castle, known for its beautiful Medieval paintings.
How long does it take to build a concentric castle?
Castle building employed about 3,000 workers (like carpenters, masons, diggers, quarrymen and blacksmiths) under the direction of a master builder (Master James of St. George built the Welsh castles of King Edward I). Castles generally took two to 10 years to build.
What is the difference between a stone keep castle and a concentric castle?
A stone keep castle was a single dwelling built of rocks, making it harder to burn or attack, and surrounded by a moat. A concentric castle was similar in design to the stone keep castle, but had two walls surrounding the dwelling in addition to the moat.
What was the strongest medieval castle?
What were the strongest castles ever built?
- Mehrangarh – Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.
- Hohensalzburg Fortress – Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
- Edinburgh Castle – Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Le Mont-Saint-Michel – Le Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy, France.
- Murud-Janjira – Murud, Maharashtra, India.
What is the strongest part of a castle called?
The castle gatehouse was one of the most defensive parts of any medieval fortress. It was a strong, fortified building positioned to defend the entrance to a castle.
What are mini castles called?
A motte-and-bailey castle was made up of two structures: a motte (a type of mound – often artificial – topped with a wooden or stone structure known as a keep); and at least one bailey (a fortified enclosure built next to the motte). The term motte-and-bailey is a relatively modern one, and is not medieval in origin.
What are the 4 main castles?
Use the links below to read through the information on each of the four different types of Medieval castles; Motte and Bailey, Concentric, Shell Keep and Square Keep.
What is a castles main room called?
great hall
A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great chamber for eating and relaxing.
What are 3 features of a castle?
Each castle had gates, often with a metal barrier called a portcullis and with doors made of a very strong wood. And sometimes they had a moat, which is a ditch filled with water to stop people from being able to get into the castle. You could cross the moat by using a special bridge, called a drawbridge.
What features make a good castle?
With this in mind, let’s look at the major features of a castle.
- Outer defenses.
- Moat.
- Walls (inner and outer)
- Towers (inner and outer)
- Gatehouses, drawbridges and barbicans.
- Inner defenses.
- Baileys or wards.
- Living quarters and support buildings.
What makes a castle a castle?
And now the Oxford English Dictionary defines a castle as ‘a large building, typically of the medieval period, fortified against attack with thick walls, battlements, towers, and often a moat‘. So here’s our first answer: a castle can be defined as being architecturally prepared for battle.
Who built the first concentric castle?
Gilbert de Clare
Outside of this was the outer bailey with another circular wall for protection. In order to provide further protection a moat was usually added. The first castle in Britain to be built in this style was Caerphilly in South Wales. It was built by Gilbert de Clare between 1268 and 1272.