- I am King Arthur, and this is the knight Lancelot, We decided to create a Reality for romantic men. We're fed up with gunfights and planet travel with talking mushrooms and stupid silent beauties, and most of all we're fed up with vulgar love stories. But I think there's been a mistake and we should apologize to the lady for the false call. We need a male decorator, don't we, Lance?

“Do not rush to answer, valiant Lancelot of the Lake: haste in such a serious matter can lead to an error just as serious. Remember the sad story of the no less brave knight Tristan: if on one hot afternoon he had not hurried to drink from the first goblet that came across, how many troubles would have been avoided by him, and the noble King Mark, and the incomparable Isolde the Blond.

Clattering with iron, they both jumped up from the brocade-covered garden benches.

Lance, are you listening? She knows your full name!

- And the reason for Tristan's love for Isolde! How do you know this? Were you specially trained for this?

“Yes, I was taught that,” I said modestly, referring not to college at all, but to my grandmother:

The fact is that my grandmother constantly read books and believed that a person cannot be considered educated if he has not read all the famous books of antiquity. I categorically refused to read for reasons of hygiene - to take books with my bare hands! Then my grandmother began to retell me the contents of the books that she considered indispensable for the full education of a young lady. But I will say that it was not interesting to me, rather the opposite. Books - what! She also forced me to watch films on the art of past eras on an antediluvian electronic device. Of course, both helped me a lot in my work. To be honest, I learned a lot more during the last four years of vacation than I did during my college years. Along the way, she taught me the Russian language, reading aloud to me from the redistribution of Russian classics. But, of course, I never told anyone about it. I kept silent even then.

- Beautiful Sandra, you are coming to us! Lancelot said importantly.

“Are you saying that you are not refusing my help in renovating the interior of your castle?”

- No, not only. Until now, we have not invited girls into our Reality, but it seems to me, Arthur, it is time for us to make an exception. What will my king say?

Arthur cleared his throat, drew himself up, and said with the grandeur appropriate to the moment:

“Would you like, beautiful Lady Sandra, to enter our Reality and take part in the adventurous life of the Knights of the Round Table?”

- I don't mind trying. But where are all the other knights?

- And they fled. Our Reality is not successful. Sometimes someone will look at us, attracted by an unusual name, spin around, get bored and run away to other Realities.

- What are you doing?

- Well ... we fight with swords and swords, however, mostly with each other. We are also at war with giants, dragons and evil wizards. But these are all phantoms. We have never been able to call a real wizard.

Yes, it's terribly boring. Do you want to see a real wizard?

- Certainly! Can you call?

- I was taught this. It is only necessary to correctly set the main features, then Bank Real finds characters previously created by realists of high categories using ancient sources of information. Such characters no longer depend on the finished program or our fantasies, but have their own personal qualities: appearance, character, history, language and manners. They obey not the whims of the Reality players, but the personal logic of behavior, while acquiring and accumulating their own experience in the Realities where they are called. That's why they are called "characters" and not "phantoms". But we will start, perhaps, not by calling a wizard, but by correcting the interior: I have only two hours of working time for you, and I cannot work for free. Your costumes are still nothing, but this hall and the whole castle as a whole are in need of reconstruction. As I understand it, you are concerned not so much with the meticulous following of history as with the general spirit of the era, otherwise you would have called a decorator of the first category.

My customers looked at each other, and I realized that the decorator of the first category is simply beyond their means. And, perhaps, until now, the only thing I know about the life of Arthur and Lance outside of Reality is that both of them are not rich.

Let's start with heating. This bulky structure is called the “Russian stove”. It absolutely does not fit any of the knightly eras: there were no knights in Russia.

– Really? King Arthur was surprised. – I heard that Russians are very warlike.

- There were heroes in Russia, and so they sometimes used the Russian stove as a means of transportation.

- Wow, what an interesting technology!

“In any case, we will remove it.” With a wave of my hand, I dismissed the oven. “According to the true era of King Arthur, this would have been a huge open hearth, but the smoke and soot will quickly bore you and overshadow the value of historical accuracy in your eyes. Therefore, I propose a fireplace made of rough stone, with a chimney, of course, which is heated by large logs. Here is one, for example.

I quickly created a suitable fireplace, and both Arthur and Lancelot immediately liked it.

Once approved, I set to work. Persian carpets gave way to faded tapestries, and oil portraits gave way to coats of arms, antlers and boar heads. Firearms disappeared, instead spears, swords, shields appeared on the walls, and I placed knightly armor in those halls. I suggested creating some large phantom dogs and feeding them leftover meat from the table. The dogs liked it too.

Then we went out into the courtyard of the castle, and instead of a cast-iron fence, I erected a high sloping wall with battlements and towers, built a ditch around the wall and filled it with water, and arranged a drawbridge in front of the gate. She settled two phantom herald boys on the towers, who were supposed to blow trumpets, announcing danger or the arrival of guests. On one side of the yard, I placed a well with a gate, and on the other, a huge oak hitching post. The roof and corners of the donjon, as well as the corner towers of the wall, were literally plastered with turrets with spiers and weather vanes, on the highest spire she hoisted the standard of King Arthur - a golden dragon on an azure field. When the paid time of my work came to an end, the castle had almost its current appearance. The king and his knight rejoiced like boys.

Having finished my work, I left the Reality, reported to the Department of Labor, and then returned to the castle again. Arthur and Lancelot this time greeted me with sincere joy, and I summoned the real wizard Merlin to them. A huge old man with a big beard, in a linen shirt to the heels and a foul-smelling leather cloak looked at us gloomily and asked:

“Who are you, my lords, and what do you want from old Merlin?” Why did you disturb my peace?

“I am King Arthur, and this is my faithful knight, Sir Lancelot of the Lake.

Merlin put his hips on his hips, threw back his head, gaped his bad-toothed mouth, and laughed loudly, insultingly.

“And you dare, you furious rabbit, to call yourself King Arthur?” Or do you think I do not remember my pupil and master, the son of the great Pendragon? For this insolence it is worth turning you into a flea and running into the skin of your own dog. If you, you jerk, even have your own dog, besides these clockwork toys!

Arthur was taken aback, and Lancelot, with a trembling hand, began to draw his sword from its scabbard. I stopped him with a gesture.

"Very wise Merlin!" I turned to the magician. “Forgive us mortals for disturbing your soy, and temper your anger, though it is just. But it is true only at first glance! Of course, this young man is not a "mad bear", but he is not a "mad rabbit" either. These worthy young men are indeed not the King Arthur and Sir Lancelot you knew. But they are not impostors, as you thought. They came here from another time, one might say, from another world, where lovers of antiquity highly revere the courage of the real Arthur and Lancelot who once lived on earth, in their honor, and not in reproach, as it seemed to you, they took their names for themselves, hoping future exploits at least partly justify such audacity. And you, the glorious wizard Merlin, we wanted to see only because the glory of your wisdom and magical power has reached our world. Merlin looked at me intently.

- Beautiful and reasonable Lena, I sense in you strength and your special destiny. These,” he nodded towards Arthur and Lancelot, “are your associates, as I understand it?”

“Yes, wisest Merlin. He gave a slightly casual bow to the king and knight.

At the mention of the castles of the Middle Ages, picturesque walls entwined with ivy, beautiful ladies in high towers and noble knights in shining armor come to mind. But it was not these lofty images that motivated the feudal lords to build impregnable walls with loopholes, but harsh reality.

Who owned castles in the Middle Ages?

During the Middle Ages, Europe experienced many changes. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the processes of migration of peoples began, new kingdoms and states appeared. All this was accompanied by constant conflicts and strife.

feudal nobleman, who had a knighthood, to protect himself from enemies, and even the closest neighbors could become them, was forced to strengthen his home as much as possible and build a castle.

Wikipedia offers to distinguish between a castle and a fortress. Fortress - walled area land with houses and other buildings. The castle is smaller. This is a single structure, which includes walls, towers, bridges and other structures.

The castle was the private fortress of a noble lord and his family. In addition to the direct function of protection, it was an indicator of power and wealth. But not all knights could afford it. The owner could be a whole knightly order - a community of warriors.

How and from what materials were medieval castles built?

Construction of a real castle was a laborious and costly process. All work was carried out by hand and sometimes lasted for decades.

Before construction began, a suitable site had to be selected. The most impregnable castles were erected on the cliffs of steep cliffs. However, more often they chose a hill with an open view and a river nearby. The water artery was necessary to fill the ditches, and was also used as a way to transport goods.

A deep ditch was dug on the ground and a mound was formed. Then, with the help of scaffolding, walls were erected.

The challenge was building a well.. I had to dig deep down or gouge the rock.

The choice of material for construction depended on many factors. Of decisive importance were:

• terrain;
• human resources;
• budget.

If there was a quarry nearby, the structure was built of stone, otherwise wood, sand, limestone or bricks were used. For the outside, we used facing materials, for example, processed stone. The elements of the walls were connected with lime mortar.

Although glass was known in those days, it was not used in castles. Narrow windows were covered with mica, leather or parchment. Inside the living quarters of the owners of the castle, the walls were often covered with frescoes and hung with tapestries. In the rest of the rooms, they limited themselves to a layer of lime or left untouched masonry.

What elements did castles consist of?

Precise lock configuration depended on local traditions, landscape, wealth of the owner. Over time, new engineering solutions appeared. Previously built structures were often completed and rebuilt. Among all Medieval fortifications, several traditional elements can be distinguished.

Moat, bridge and gate

The castle was surrounded by a moat. If there was a river nearby, it was flooded. Wolf pits were arranged at the bottom - depressions with stakes or sharp rods.

It was possible to get inside through the moat only with the help of a bridge. Huge logs served as supports. Part of the bridge rose and closed the passage inside. The mechanism of the drawbridge was designed in such a way that 2 guards could handle it. In some castles, the bridge had a swing mechanism.

The gate was double-leaf and closed transverse beam that slides into the wall. Although they were knocked together from several layers of durable boards and upholstered with iron, the gate remained the most vulnerable part of the structure. They were protected by a gate tower with a guard room. The entrance to the castle turned into a long narrow passage with holes in the ceiling and walls. If the enemy was inside, a stream of boiling water or resin poured on him.

In addition to wooden gates, there was often a lattice, which was closed with a winch and ropes. In an emergency, the ropes were cut off, the barrier fell sharply.

An additional element of the protection of the gate was the barbican - the walls coming from the gate. Opponents had to squeeze in into the passage between them under a hail of arrows.

Walls and towers

The height of the walls of the medieval fortification reached 25 meters. They had a powerful base and withstood the blows of battering rams. The deep foundation was designed to protect against undermining. The thickness of the walls to the top decreased, they became sloping. At the top, behind the battlements, was a platform. Being on it, the defenders fired at the enemies through slot-like holes, threw down stones or poured resin.

Double walls were often built . Overcoming the first hurdle, opponents fell into a narrow space in front of the second wall, where they became easy prey for archers.

At the corners of the perimeter there were watchtowers that protruded forward in relation to the wall. Inside, they were divided into floors, each of which was a separate room. In large castles, the towers had a vertical partition for strengthening.

All the stairs in the towers were spiral and very steep. If the enemy penetrated the inner territory, the defender had an advantage and could throw the aggressor down. Initially, the towers had a rectangular shape. But this interfered with the review during the defense. Replaced by round buildings.

Behind the main gate was a narrow courtyard, which was well shot through.

The rest of the interior space the castle was occupied by buildings. Among them:

In large knightly castles, there was a garden inside, and sometimes a whole garden.

The central and most fortified structure of any castle is the donjon tower. In the lower part there was a storehouse with food supplies and an arsenal with weapons and equipment. Above was the guard room, the kitchen. The upper part was occupied by the dwelling of the owner and his family. A throwing weapon or catapult was installed on the roof. The outer walls of the donjon had small ledges. There were restrooms. Holes opened outward, waste fell down. From the donjon, underground passages could lead to a shelter or neighboring buildings.

Mandatory elements of a castle in the Middle Ages was a church or chapel. It could be located in the central tower or be a separate building.

The castle could not do without a well. In the absence of a source of water, the inhabitants would not have held out for several days during the siege. The well was protected by a separate building.

Living conditions in the castle

The castle provided the need for security. However, other benefits of its inhabitants often had to be neglected.

Little light penetrated inside the premises, since the windows were replaced by narrow loopholes, which were covered with dense materials. Living rooms were heated with fireplaces, but this did not save them from dank dampness and cold. In the harsh winter, the walls froze through through. Using the latrines during the cold season was especially uncomfortable.

Residents often had to neglect hygiene. Most of the water from the well went to maintain life functions and care for animals.

Over time, the structure of castles became more complex, new elements appeared. However, the development of gunpowder guns deprived the castles of the main advantage - impregnability. They were replaced by fortresses with more complex engineering solutions.

Gradually, the castles of the Middle Ages, many of which have survived to this day, turned into architectural monuments and remind of the era of chivalry.

You write about the baron in the castle - if you please, at least roughly imagine how the castle was heated, how it was ventilated, how it was lit ...
From an interview with G. L. Oldie

At the word "castle" in our imagination there is an image of a majestic fortress - the calling card of the fantasy genre. There is hardly any other architectural structure that would attract so much attention from historians, experts in military affairs, tourists, writers and fans of “fabulous” fantasy.

We play computer, board and role-playing games where we have to explore, build or capture impregnable castles. But do we know what these fortifications really are? What interesting stories are associated with them? What are the stone walls hiding behind them - witnesses of entire eras, grandiose battles, knightly nobility and vile betrayal?

Surprisingly, it is a fact - the fortified dwellings of feudal lords in different parts of the world (Japan, Asia, Europe) were built according to very similar principles and had many common design features. But in this article, we will focus primarily on medieval European feudal fortresses, since it was they that served as the basis for creating a mass artistic image of the “medieval castle” as a whole.

The birth of a fortress

The Middle Ages in Europe was a turbulent time. The feudal lords, for any reason, arranged small wars among themselves - or rather, not even wars, but, in modern terms, armed “showdowns”. If a neighbor had money, they had to be taken away. Lots of land and peasants? It's just indecent, because God ordered to share. And if knightly honor is hurt, then here it was simply impossible to do without a small victorious war.

Under such circumstances, the large aristocratic landowners had no choice but to strengthen their dwellings with the expectation that one fine day their neighbors might come to visit them, whom you don’t feed with bread - let someone slaughter.

Initially, these fortifications were made of wood and did not resemble the castles known to us in any way - except that a moat was dug in front of the entrance and a wooden palisade was erected around the house.

The lordly courts of Hasterknaup and Elmendorv are the ancestors of castles.

However, progress did not stand still - with the development of military affairs, the feudal lords had to modernize their fortifications so that they could withstand a massive assault using stone cannonballs and rams.

The European castle has its roots in the era of antiquity. The earliest structures of this kind copied the Roman military camps (tents surrounded by a palisade). It is generally accepted that the tradition of building gigantic (by the standards of that time) stone structures began with the Normans, and classical castles appeared in the 12th century.

The besieged castle of Mortan (withstood the siege for 6 months).

Very simple requirements were imposed on the castle - it must be inaccessible to the enemy, provide observation of the area (including the nearest villages belonging to the owner of the castle), have its own water source (in case of a siege) and perform representative functions - that is, show the power, wealth of the feudal lord.

Beaumarie Castle, owned by Edward I.

Welcome

We are on our way to the castle, which stands on a ledge of a mountain slope, on the edge of a fertile valley. The road goes through a small settlement - one of those that usually grew up near the fortress wall. Common people live here - mostly artisans, and warriors guarding the outer perimeter of protection (in particular, guarding our road). This is the so-called "castle people".

Scheme of castle structures. Note - two gate towers, the largest stands separately.

The road is laid in such a way that the aliens always face the castle with their right side, not covered by a shield. Directly in front of the fortress wall there is a bare plateau, lying under a significant slope (the castle itself stands on a hill - natural or artificial). The vegetation here is low, so that there is no shelter for the attackers.

The first barrier is a deep ditch, and in front of it is a rampart of excavated earth. The moat can be transverse (separates the castle wall from the plateau), or sickle-shaped, curved forward. If the landscape allows, the moat encircles the entire castle in a circle.

Sometimes dividing ditches were dug inside the castle, making it difficult for the enemy to move through its territory.

The shape of the bottom of the ditches could be V-shaped and U-shaped (the latter is the most common). If the soil under the castle is rocky, then ditches were either not made at all, or they were cut down to a shallow depth, which only hindered the advancement of infantry (it is almost impossible to dig under the castle wall in the rock - therefore, the depth of the moat was not decisive).

The crest of an earthen rampart lying directly in front of the moat (which makes it seem even deeper) often carried a palisade - a fence of wooden stakes dug into the ground, pointed and tightly fitted to each other.

A bridge over the moat leads to the outer wall of the castle. Depending on the size of the moat and bridge, the latter supports one or more supports (huge logs). The outer part of the bridge is fixed, but its last segment (right next to the wall) is movable.

Scheme of the entrance to the castle: 2 - gallery on the wall, 3 - drawbridge, 4 - lattice.

Counterweights on the gate lift.

Castle gate.

This drawbridge is designed so that in a vertical position it closes the gate. The bridge is powered by mechanisms hidden in the building above them. From the bridge to the lifting machines, ropes or chains go into the wall holes. To facilitate the work of people servicing the bridge mechanism, the ropes were sometimes equipped with heavy counterweights that took part of the weight of this structure onto themselves.

Of particular interest is the bridge, which worked on the principle of a swing (it is called “overturning” or “swinging”). One half of it was inside - lying on the ground under the gate, and the other stretched across the moat. When the inner part rose, closing the entrance to the castle, the outer part (to which the attackers sometimes managed to run) fell down into the moat, where the so-called “wolf pit” was arranged (sharp stakes dug into the ground), invisible from the side, until the bridge is down.

To enter the castle with the gates closed, there was a side gate next to them, to which a separate lifting ladder was usually laid.

Gates - the most vulnerable part of the castle, were usually made not directly in its wall, but were arranged in the so-called "gate towers". Most often, the gates were double-leaf, and the wings were knocked together from two layers of boards. To protect against arson, they were upholstered with iron on the outside. At the same time, in one of the wings there was a small narrow door, which could be entered only by bending over. In addition to locks and iron bolts, the gate was closed by a transverse beam lying in the wall channel and sliding into the opposite wall. The transverse beam could also be wound into hook-shaped slots on the walls. Its main purpose was to protect the gate from their landing attackers.

Behind the gate was usually a drop-down portcullis. Most often it was wooden, with iron-bound lower ends. But there were also iron gratings made of steel tetrahedral rods. The lattice could descend from a gap in the vault of the gate portal, or be behind them (on the inside of the gate tower), descending along the grooves in the walls.

The grate hung on ropes or chains, which, in case of danger, could be cut off so that it quickly fell down, blocking the way for the invaders.

Inside the gate tower there were rooms for guards. They kept watch on the upper platform of the tower, asked the guests for the purpose of their visit, opened the gates, and, if necessary, could hit all those who passed under them with a bow. For this purpose, there were vertical loopholes in the vault of the gate portal, as well as “tar noses” - holes for pouring hot resin on the attackers.

Resin noses.

All on the wall!

The most important defensive element of the castle was the outer wall - high, thick, sometimes on an inclined plinth. Worked stones or bricks made up its outer surface. Inside, it consisted of rubble stone and slaked lime. The walls were placed on a deep foundation, under which it was very difficult to dig.

Often double walls were built in castles - a high outer and a small inner one. An empty space appeared between them, which received the German name “zwinger”. The attackers, overcoming the outer wall, could not take with them additional assault devices (bulky ladders, poles and other things that cannot be moved inside the fortress). Once in the zwinger in front of another wall, they became an easy target (there were small loopholes for archers in the walls of the zwinger).

Zwinger at Laneck Castle.

On top of the wall was a gallery for defense soldiers. From the outside of the castle, they were protected by a solid parapet, half the height of a man, on which stone battlements were regularly arranged. Behind them it was possible to stand at full height and, for example, load a crossbow. The shape of the teeth was extremely diverse - rectangular, rounded, in the form of a dovetail, decoratively decorated. In some castles, the galleries were covered (wooden canopy) to protect the warriors from bad weather.

In addition to the battlements, behind which it was convenient to hide, the walls of the castle were equipped with loopholes. The attackers were firing through them. Due to the peculiarities of the use of throwing weapons (freedom of movement and a certain shooting position), the loopholes for archers were long and narrow, and for crossbowmen - short, with expansion on the sides.

A special type of loophole - ball. It was a freely rotating wooden ball fixed in the wall with a slot for firing.

Pedestrian gallery on the wall.

Balconies (the so-called “mashikuli”) were arranged in the walls very rarely - for example, in the case when the wall was too narrow for the free passage of several soldiers, and, as a rule, performed only decorative functions.

At the corners of the castle, small towers were built on the walls, most often flanking (that is, protruding outward), which allowed the defenders to fire along the walls in two directions. In the late Middle Ages, they began to adapt to storage. The inner sides of such towers (facing the courtyard of the castle) were usually left open so that the enemy who burst onto the wall could not gain a foothold inside them.

Flanking corner tower.

The castle from the inside

The internal structure of the castles was diverse. In addition to the mentioned zwingers, behind the main gate there could be a small rectangular courtyard with loopholes in the walls - a kind of “trap” for the attackers. Sometimes castles consisted of several "sections" separated by internal walls. But an indispensable attribute of the castle was a large courtyard (outbuildings, a well, premises for servants) and a central tower, also known as a donjon.

Donjon at the Château de Vincennes.

The life of all the inhabitants of the castle directly depended on the presence and location of the well. Problems often arose with him - after all, as mentioned above, castles were built on hills. Solid rocky soil also did not make it easier to supply the fortress with water. There are known cases of laying castle wells to a depth of more than 100 meters (for example, the Kuffhäuser castle in Thuringia or the Königstein fortress in Saxony had wells more than 140 meters deep). Digging a well took from one to five years. In some cases, this consumed as much money as all the interior buildings of the castle were worth.

Due to the fact that water had to be obtained with difficulty from deep wells, personal hygiene and sanitation issues faded into the background. Instead of washing themselves, people preferred to take care of animals - first of all, expensive horses. There is nothing surprising in the fact that the townspeople and villagers wrinkled their noses in the presence of the inhabitants of the castles.

The location of the water source depended primarily on natural causes. But if there was a choice, then the well was dug not in the square, but in a fortified room in order to provide it with water in case of shelter during the siege. If, due to the peculiarities of the occurrence of groundwater, a well was dug behind the castle wall, then a stone tower was built above it (if possible, with wooden passages to the castle).

When there was no way to dig a well, a cistern was built in the castle to collect rainwater from the roofs. Such water needed to be purified - it was filtered through gravel.

The combat garrison of castles in peacetime was minimal. So in 1425, two co-owners of the Reichelsberg castle in the Lower Franconian Aub entered into an agreement that each of them exposes one armed servant, and two gatekeepers and two guards are paid jointly.

The castle also had a number of buildings that ensured the autonomous life of its inhabitants in conditions of complete isolation (blockade): a bakery, a steam bath, a kitchen, etc.

Kitchen at Marksburg Castle.

The tower was the tallest structure in the entire castle. It provided the opportunity to observe the surroundings and served as a last refuge. When the enemies broke through all the lines of defense, the population of the castle took refuge in the donjon and withstood a long siege.

The exceptional thickness of the walls of this tower made its destruction almost impossible (in any case, it would take a huge amount of time). The entrance to the tower was very narrow. It was located in the courtyard at a significant (6-12 meters) height. The wooden staircase leading inside could easily be destroyed and thus block the way for the attackers.

Donjon entrance.

Inside the tower there was sometimes a very high shaft going from top to bottom. It served as either a prison or a warehouse. The entrance to it was possible only through a hole in the vault of the upper floor - “Angstloch” (in German - a frightening hole). Depending on the purpose of the mine, the winch lowered prisoners or provisions there.

If there were no prison facilities in the castle, then the prisoners were placed in large wooden boxes made of thick boards, too small to stand up to their full height. These boxes could be installed in any room of the castle.

Of course, they were taken prisoner, first of all, for a ransom or for using a prisoner in a political game. Therefore, VIP-persons were provided according to the highest class - guarded chambers in the tower were allocated for their maintenance. This is how Friedrich the Handsome spent his time in the Trausnitz castle on Pfaimd and Richard the Lionheart in Trifels.

Chamber at Marksburg Castle.

Abenberg castle tower (12th century) in section.

At the base of the tower there was a cellar, which could also be used as a dungeon, and a kitchen with a pantry. The main hall (dining room, common room) occupied an entire floor and was heated by a huge fireplace (it spread heat only a few meters, so that iron baskets with coals were placed further along the hall). Above were the chambers of the feudal lord's family, heated by small stoves.

At the very top of the tower there was an open (rarely covered, but if necessary, the roof could be dropped) platform where a catapult or other throwing weapon could be installed to fire at the enemy. The standard (banner) of the owner of the castle was also hoisted there.

Sometimes the donjon did not serve as living quarters. It could well be used only for military and economic purposes (observation posts on the tower, dungeon, provisions storage). In such cases, the feudal lord's family lived in the "palace" - the living quarters of the castle, standing apart from the tower. The palaces were built of stone and had several floors in height.

It should be noted that the living conditions in the castles were far from the most pleasant. Only the largest carpets had a large knight's hall for celebrations. It was very cold in the donjons and carpets. Fireplace heating helped out, but the walls were still covered with thick tapestries and carpets - not for decoration, but to keep warm.

The windows let in very little sunlight (the fortification character of the castle architecture affected), not all of them were glazed. Toilets were arranged in the form of a bay window in the wall. They were unheated, so visiting the outhouse in winter left people with simply unique sensations.

Castle toilet.

Concluding our “tour” around the castle, one cannot fail to mention that it always had a room for worship (temple, chapel). Among the indispensable inhabitants of the castle was a chaplain or priest, who, in addition to his main duties, played the role of a clerk and teacher. In the most modest fortresses, the role of the temple was performed by a wall niche, where a small altar stood.

Large temples had two floors. The common people prayed below, and the gentlemen gathered in the warm (sometimes glazed) choir on the second tier. The decoration of such premises was rather modest - an altar, benches and wall paintings. Sometimes the temple played the role of a tomb for the family living in the castle. Less commonly, it was used as a shelter (along with a donjon).

Many tales are told about underground passages in castles. There were moves, of course. But only very few of them led from the castle somewhere into the neighboring forest and could be used as an escape route. As a rule, there were no long moves at all. Most often there were short tunnels between individual buildings, or from the donjon to the complex of caves under the castle (additional shelter, warehouse or treasury).

War on earth and underground

Contrary to popular belief, the average military garrison of an ordinary castle during active hostilities rarely exceeded 30 people. This was quite enough for defense, since the inhabitants of the fortress were in relative safety behind its walls and did not suffer such losses as the attackers.

To take the castle, it was necessary to isolate it - that is, to block all the ways of supplying food. That is why the attacking armies were much larger than the defending ones - about 150 people (this is true for the war of mediocre feudal lords).

The issue of provisions was the most painful. A person can live without water for several days, without food - for about a month (in this case, one should take into account his low combat capability during a hunger strike). Therefore, the owners of the castle, preparing for the siege, often went to extreme measures - they drove out of it all the common people who could not benefit the defense. As mentioned above, the garrison of the castles was small - it was impossible to feed the whole army under the siege.

The inhabitants of the castle infrequently launched counterattacks. This simply did not make sense - there were fewer of them than the attackers, and behind the walls they felt much calmer. Food outings are a special case. The latter were carried out, as a rule, at night, in small groups that walked along poorly guarded paths to the nearest villages.

The attackers had no less problems. The siege of castles sometimes dragged on for years (for example, the German Turant defended from 1245 to 1248), so the question of logistical supply for an army of several hundred people was particularly acute.

In the case of the siege of Turant, the chroniclers claim that during all this time the soldiers of the attacking army drank 300 fouders of wine (a fuder is a huge barrel). This is about 2.8 million liters. Either the scribe made a mistake, or the constant number of besiegers was over 1,000.

The most preferred season for taking the castle by starvation was summer - it rains less than in spring or autumn (in winter, the inhabitants of the castle could get water by melting the snow), the harvest has not yet ripened, and the old stocks have already run out.

The attackers tried to deprive the castle of a source of water (for example, they built dams on the river). In the most extreme cases, "biological weapons" were used - corpses were thrown into the water, which could provoke outbreaks of epidemics throughout the district. Those inhabitants of the castle who were taken prisoner were mutilated by the attackers and released. Those returned back, and became unwitting freeloaders. They might not have been accepted in the castle, but if they were the wives or children of the besieged, then the voice of the heart outweighed considerations of tactical expediency.

No less brutally treated the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, who tried to deliver supplies to the castle. In 1161, during the siege of Milan, Frederick Barbarossa ordered the hands of 25 citizens of Piacenza, who were trying to supply the enemy with provisions, to be cut off.

The besiegers set up a permanent camp near the castle. It also had some simple fortifications (palisades, earth ramparts) in case of a sudden sortie by the defenders of the fortress. For protracted sieges, a so-called “counter-castle” was erected next to the castle. Usually it was located higher than the besieged one, which made it possible to conduct effective observation of the besieged from its walls and, if the distance allowed, to fire at them from throwing guns.

View of the castle Eltz from the counter-castle Trutz-Eltz.

The war against castles had its own specifics. After all, any more or less high stone fortification was a serious obstacle for conventional armies. Direct infantry attacks on the fortress could well have been successful, which, however, came at the cost of heavy casualties.

That is why a whole range of military measures was necessary for the successful capture of the castle (it was already mentioned above about the siege and starvation). Undermining was one of the most time-consuming, but at the same time extremely successful ways to overcome the protection of the castle.

Undermining was done with two goals - to provide troops with direct access to the courtyard of the castle, or to destroy a section of its wall.

So, during the siege of Altwindstein Castle in Northern Alsace in 1332, a brigade of sappers of 80 (!) People took advantage of the distracting maneuvers of their troops (periodic short attacks on the castle) and for 10 weeks made a long passage in solid rock to the southeastern part of the fortress .

If the castle wall was not too large and had an unreliable foundation, then a tunnel broke through under its foundation, the walls of which were reinforced with wooden struts. Next, the spacers were set on fire - just under the wall. The tunnel collapsed, the base of the foundation sagged, and the wall above this place crumbled into pieces.

Storming of the castle (miniature of the 14th century).

Later, with the advent of gunpowder weapons, bombs were planted in tunnels under the walls of castles. To neutralize the tunnel, the besieged sometimes dug counterdigs. Enemy sappers were poured with boiling water, launched into the tunnel of bees, poured feces into it (and in ancient times, the Carthaginians launched live crocodiles into Roman tunnels).

Curious devices were used to detect tunnels. For example, large copper bowls with balls inside were placed throughout the castle. If the ball in any bowl began to tremble, this was a sure sign that a mine was being dug nearby.

But the main argument in the attack on the castle were siege machines - catapults and battering rams. The first ones were not much different from those catapults that were used by the Romans. These devices were equipped with a counterweight, giving the throwing arm the greatest force. With proper dexterity of the “gun crew”, catapults were quite accurate weapons. They threw large, smoothly hewn stones, and the combat range (on average, several hundred meters) was regulated by the weight of the shells.

A type of catapult is a trebuchet.

Sometimes barrels filled with combustible materials were loaded into catapults. To deliver a couple of pleasant minutes to the defenders of the castle, catapults threw the severed heads of captives to them (especially powerful machines could throw even whole corpses over the wall).

Assault the castle with a mobile tower.

In addition to the usual ram, pendulum ones were also used. They were mounted on high mobile frames with a canopy and were a log suspended on a chain. The besiegers hid inside the tower and swung the chain, forcing the log to hit the wall.

In response, the besieged lowered a rope from the wall, at the end of which steel hooks were fixed. With this rope, they caught a ram and tried to lift it up, depriving it of mobility. Sometimes a gaping soldier could get caught on such hooks.

Having overcome the shaft, breaking the palisades and filling up the moat, the attackers either stormed the castle with the help of ladders, or used high wooden towers, the upper platform of which was on the same level with the wall (or even higher than it). These gigantic structures were doused with water to prevent arson by the defenders and rolled up to the castle along the flooring of the boards. A heavy platform was thrown over the wall. The assault group climbed up the internal stairs, went out onto the platform and with a fight invaded the gallery of the fortress wall. Usually this meant that in a couple of minutes the castle would be taken.

Silent glanders

Sapa (from the French sape, literally - a hoe, saper - to dig) - a way of extracting a moat, trench or tunnel to approach its fortifications, used in the 16-19 centuries. Flip-flop (quiet, secretive) and flying glanders are known. The work of the throwing glanders was carried out from the bottom of the original ditch without the workers coming to the surface, and the flying glanders were carried out from the surface of the earth under the cover of a pre-prepared protective mound of barrels and bags of earth. In the second half of the 17th century, specialists - sappers - appeared in the armies of a number of countries to perform such work.

The expression to act "on the sly" means: sneak, slowly, imperceptibly go, penetrate somewhere.

Fights on the stairs of the castle

It was possible to get from one floor of the tower to another only through a narrow and steep spiral staircase. The ascent along it was carried out only one after another - it was so narrow. At the same time, the warrior who went first could only rely on his own ability to fight, because the steepness of the turn of the turn was chosen in such a way that it was impossible to use a spear or a long sword from behind the leader. Therefore, the fights on the stairs were reduced to single combat between the defenders of the castle and one of the attackers. It was the defenders, because they could easily replace each other, since a special extended area was located behind their backs.

In all castles, the stairs are twisted clockwise. There is only one castle with a reverse twist - the fortress of the Wallenstein counts. When studying the history of this family, it turned out that most of the men in it were left-handed. Thanks to this, historians realized that such a design of stairs greatly facilitates the work of the defenders. The strongest blow with the sword can be delivered towards your left shoulder, and the shield in your left hand covers the body best from this direction. All these advantages are available only to the defender. The attacker, on the other hand, can only strike to the right side, but his striking arm will be pressed against the wall. If he puts forward a shield, he will almost lose the ability to use weapons.

samurai castles

Himeji Castle.

We know the least about exotic castles - for example, Japanese ones.

Initially, the samurai and their overlords lived on their estates, where, apart from the watchtower “yagura” and a small moat around the dwelling, there were no other defensive structures. In the event of a protracted war, fortifications were erected on hard-to-reach areas of the mountains, where it was possible to defend against superior enemy forces.

Stone castles began to be built at the end of the 16th century, taking into account European achievements in fortification. An indispensable attribute of a Japanese castle is wide and deep artificial ditches with steep slopes that surrounded it from all sides. Usually they were filled with water, but sometimes this function was performed by a natural water barrier - a river, a lake, a swamp.

Inside, the castle was a complex system of defensive structures, consisting of several rows of walls with courtyards and gates, underground corridors and labyrinths. All these structures were located around the central square of the honmaru, on which the feudal lord's palace and the high central tenshukaku tower were erected. The latter consisted of several rectangular tiers gradually decreasing upwards with protruding tiled roofs and gables.

Japanese castles, as a rule, were small - about 200 meters long and 500 wide. But among them there were also real giants. Thus, Odawara Castle occupied an area of ​​170 hectares, and the total length of its fortress walls reached 5 kilometers, which is twice the length of the walls of the Moscow Kremlin.

The charm of antiquity

Castles are being built to this day. Those of them that were in state ownership are often returned to the descendants of ancient families. Castles are a symbol of the influence of their owners. They are an example of an ideal compositional solution that combines unity (defense considerations did not allow picturesque distribution of buildings across the territory), multi-level buildings (main and secondary) and the ultimate functionality of all components. Elements of the castle's architecture have already become archetypes - for example, a castle tower with battlements: its image sits in the subconscious of any more or less educated person.

Saumur French castle (14th century miniature).

And finally, we love castles because they are simply romantic. Knightly tournaments, ceremonial receptions, vile conspiracies, secret passages, ghosts, treasures - in relation to castles, all this ceases to be a legend and turns into history. Here, the expression “walls remember” fits perfectly: it seems that every stone of the castle breathes and hides a secret. I would like to believe that medieval castles will continue to retain an aura of mystery - because without it they will sooner or later turn into an old pile of stones.

Exercise 1.
a) Designate with numbers and sign the main parts of the knight's castle.
1. Castle citadel, 2. Donjon (main tower), 3. Watchtower, 4. Fortress wall, 5. Defensive towers, 6. Courtyard, 7. Gate and gate tower, 8. Bridge, 9. Moat, 10. Shaft.

Click to enlarge

b) Imagine: you are the owner of the castle, your home is going to be attacked by enemies. How would you defend your castle? Where would his defenders be stationed?
Place archers and crossbowmen on walls and towers. On the walls, prepare gazebos with stones, logs, boilers for resin or water. Place the knights and squires in the towers. When attacking, first fire, if the enemy uses a siege tower, then try to set it on fire. Ladders attached to the walls, repel from the walls, chop. Drop stones, logs, pour resin and boiling water on the attackers.

Task 2. Sign what the knight's battle dress consisted of. What are the differences between the equipment of the 11th and 15th centuries?

Click to enlarge

The main difference is the appearance of plate armor (armor), which was worn over chain mail and had a complex design. The shield becomes more compact, and therefore convenient in cavalry combat.

Task 3. What medieval rites are depicted in ancient miniatures? What do they symbolize? What would the heroes of the miniatures (of your choice) tell about themselves?
Figures 1 and 2 depict the knighting ceremony (accolade). Fig. 1 - the earliest version, which had ancient Germanic roots, and consisted in girdling the initiate with a sword. Rice. 2. - a later version - a sword strike on the initiate. Rice. 3. - bringing a vassal oath. The hero of the first miniature, a young man being knighted, could tell about his difficult path to his cherished goal, service as a squire, participation in battles and an obligatory military feat, thanks to which his knighting became possible.

Task 4.
a) According to the text of the textbook, draw up a code of knightly honor.
Be faithful to the vassal oath; perform feats; fight the enemies of the Christian faith; defend the honor of the ladies and be gallant; protect the weak, offended and be fair; be brave and noble; despise death, prudence and thrift; be generous and generous; do not engage in trade, usury and crafts.
b) What works of medieval literature do you know whose heroes are endowed with the traits of ideal knights?
The Song of Roland, King Arthur, Tristan and Isolde, Perceval, Lancelot, Yvain, or the Knight with the Lion, Romance of the Grail, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Death of Arthur ".

Task 5. Read the lines of poetry that appeared in the 12th century and try to draw a verbal portrait of the person who wrote them. Who was he by origin, what kind of life did he lead, can anything be said about his character?
The protagonist is a knight, serving his overlord. He leads a lifestyle typical of feudal lords, where military service was of paramount importance. Of the character traits, one can note courage, courage, determination, contempt for death, honesty, love of risk, recklessness and some irresponsibility (wealth, castles - everything is a mortgage).

Ready-made homework for the workbook on History of the 6th grade "History of the Middle Ages." Kryuchkova E. A.
Answers to tasks from § 11. In the knight's castle
By solving history homework with us, you can get good grades when the teacher checks the notebook.

Task number 1.
a) Designate with numbers and sign the main parts of the knight's castle.
1. Donjon (main tower). 2. Fortress wall. 3. Defense towers. 4. Courtyard. 5. Gate and gate tower. 6. Bridge. 7. Ditch. 8. Shaft.

b) Imagine: you are the owner of the castle, your home is going to be attacked by enemies. How would you defend your castle? Where would his defenders be stationed?
Archers and crossbowmen should be placed on the walls and towers. On the walls, prepare gazebos with stones, logs, boilers for resin or water. Place the knights and squires in the towers. When attacking, first fire, if the enemy uses a siege tower, then try to set it on fire. Ladders attached to the walls were pushed aside, chopped or simply thrown onto the attacking stones, the logs were poured with tar and boiling water.

Task number 2.
Sign what the knight's battle dress consisted of. What are the differences between the equipment of the 11th and 15th centuries?

The main difference is the appearance of plate armor (armor), which was worn over chain mail and had a complex design. The shield becomes more compact and therefore convenient in cavalry combat.

Task number 3.
What medieval rites are depicted in ancient miniatures? What do they symbolize? What would the heroes of the miniatures (of your choice) tell about themselves?
Figures 1: and 2 depict the knighting ceremony (accolada). Rice. / - the earliest version, which had ancient Germanic roots, and consisted in girdling the initiate with a sword. Rice. 2. - a later version - a sword strike on the initiate. Rice. 3. - bringing a vassal oath. The hero of the first miniature, a knighted young man, could tell about his difficult path to his cherished goal, service as a squire, participation in battles and an obligatory military feat, thanks to which his knighting was possible.

Task number 4.
a) According to the text of the textbook, draw up a code of knightly honor.
Be faithful to the vassal oath; perform feats; fight the enemies of the Christian faith; defend the honor of the ladies and be gallant; protect the weak, offended and be fair; be brave and noble; despise death, prudence and thrift; be generous; do not engage in trade, usury and crafts.
b) What works of medieval literature do you know whose heroes are endowed with the traits of ideal knights?
The Song of Roland, King Arthur, Tristan and Isolde, Perceval, Lancelot, Yvain, or the Knight with the Lion, Romance of the Grail, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Death of Arthur ".

Task number 5.
Read the lines of poetry that appeared in the 12th century and try to draw a verbal portrait of the person who wrote them. Who was he by origin, what kind of life did he lead, can anything be said about his character?
The protagonist is a knight, serving his overlord. He leads a lifestyle typical of feudal lords, where military service was of paramount importance. Of the character traits X / one can note courage, courage, determination, contempt for death, honesty, love of risk, recklessness and some irresponsibility (stuff, castles - everything is a mortgage).