Medieval Castle Research Paper 
1
Logan Tarkowski
English III
Mrs. Dewar
2/17/2014
Medieval Castles
Throughout the Medieval Era there was a need for castles to fit all of the family and royalties that lived in these areas. Medieval castles have been around for a long time and are now apart of our history. They are historical evidence of the past, something that can be examined to find out new details about the past. Leftover items in these castles gives us evidence of how they lived inside the castle, the architecture shows how they defended and attacked castles, and writing on the walls tells how they survived. As time went on castles became more and more advanced. Castles were first created in the 10th century in Normandy. The first types were motte and bailey castles; these castles were surrounded by ditches often filled with water, moats, to defend the mounds. There often was a drawbridge to go over the moat and walls around the castle itself. These walls were thick; some of them were up to 2030 feet thick, which helped defend the castle. The reason castles were built was that the people needed more space for the court of justice, the storehouse refuge, entertainment held there, their king, and of course, a home. War was a big part of life in the Medieval Era, so castles were built in a way to be hard to attack; however, most castles had the same tactic so they knew how to attack one another. There were three main ways to attack: starvation tactic, mining, and treachery. The starvation tactic was surround the castle they were attacking so that the people inside would eventually have to
2
come out and fight or starve to death because there was no way out since they were surrounded; the mining tactic was when the attacker would tunnel under the walls and set the ground on fire making the ground unstable and allowing the walls to fall, this was prevented by the moats most of the time; the last tactic, treachery, was basically a surprise attack on a vulnerable
Logan Tarkowski
English III
Mrs. Dewar
2/17/2014
Medieval Castles
Throughout the Medieval Era there was a need for castles to fit all of the family and royalties that lived in these areas. Medieval castles have been around for a long time and are now apart of our history. They are historical evidence of the past, something that can be examined to find out new details about the past. Leftover items in these castles gives us evidence of how they lived inside the castle, the architecture shows how they defended and attacked castles, and writing on the walls tells how they survived. As time went on castles became more and more advanced. Castles were first created in the 10th century in Normandy. The first types were motte and bailey castles; these castles were surrounded by ditches often filled with water, moats, to defend the mounds. There often was a drawbridge to go over the moat and walls around the castle itself. These walls were thick; some of them were up to 2030 feet thick, which helped defend the castle. The reason castles were built was that the people needed more space for the court of justice, the storehouse refuge, entertainment held there, their king, and of course, a home. War was a big part of life in the Medieval Era, so castles were built in a way to be hard to attack; however, most castles had the same tactic so they knew how to attack one another. There were three main ways to attack: starvation tactic, mining, and treachery. The starvation tactic was surround the castle they were attacking so that the people inside would eventually have to
2
come out and fight or starve to death because there was no way out since they were surrounded; the mining tactic was when the attacker would tunnel under the walls and set the ground on fire making the ground unstable and allowing the walls to fall, this was prevented by the moats most of the time; the last tactic, treachery, was basically a surprise attack on a vulnerable