The Little Castles That Could
by Sharron Gunn
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Windsor Castle |
William the Conqueror knew that it was one
thing to win a battle and that it was quite another to hold the conquered land.
Controlling people from a stronghold is what does the trick. The bigger the
castle the stronger, and a bigger, stronger castle could hold a larger garrison,
and that should be what won England for William. Right? Nope. Not at first.
The castle William used to solidify his
hold on England and Wales was called a motte-and-bailey: a pudding bowl turned
upside down with a wooden tower on top and a palisade around the base of the
bowl. The palisade looked like the forts of the Old American West (and Canadian
too). Later one or two baileys, enclosed by palisades extended the amount of
men a castle could accommodate. A more comfortable residence for the noble or
monarch and was usually constructed in one of the baileys.
William built
his first motte in England in the ruins of a Roman fort at Pevensey, then he
moved to Hastings which was closer to a Roman road, and built another before
the battle of Hastings. The advantage of the motte was that it could be built
quickly and cheaply--less than 15 days for Hastings Castle--and provide a
defensive structure on flat land which could easily withstand a cavalry attack.
The English
chronicler Odericus Vitalis gives the lack of castles in England as a reason
for the success of the Normans. 'For the fortresses which the Gauls (French)
call castella had been very few in
the English provinces: and on this account the English, although warlike and
courageous, had nevertheless shown themselves too weak to withstand their
enemies.' And he complained that they [the Normans] 'sorely burdened the
unhappy people with forced labour on the castles, And when the castles were
made they filled them with devils and wicked men'. (Rowley 1983: 59)
After the
Conquest, William carefully controlled the distribution of land; only his most
loyal followers received grants of land and permission to build a
fortification. Hundreds of motte-and-bailey castles were built
in Britain in the 11th-12th centuries. Many weren't long used, but they served
their purpose admirably. The Normans preferred to fortify a hill if one were
available. However, they made a motte, an artificial mound, when they wanted a
defensive structure on flat land.
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Building a motte from the Bayeux Tapestry |
The Bayeux
Tapestry (actually an embroidery) shows the construction of a motte on flat
ground. The image shows men digging out a ditch and heaping the earth in the
centre to make an artificial mound. The top of the mound was flattened, and a
wooden tower or donjon was built on top.
It could be used as a lookout tower or the last refuge in an overwhelming
attack. The bailey was an enclosure
which contained the residential buildings: a great hall, a separate kitchen
building, chapel, stables and barns, a chamber block and at least one well--very
important that last. Both motte and bailey were surrounded by a palisade of
wooden posts, connected by a wooden bridge or gangway.
Seven hundred
motte-and-bailey castles show that most of Britain was conquered; they are
found all over England and are particularly dense in Wales as resistance to the
Norman invasion was fierce. In Scotland, the Normanised David I gave land to
Anglo-Normans in the Lowlands and the north-east of Scotland.
Chroniclers
record an enormous flurry of building by the Normans. Odericus mentioned how
castles were raised at Warwick, Nottingham, York, Lincoln, Cambridge and
Huntingdon. Castles weren't meant to protect the inhabitants of English towns;
they were meant to intimidate the English. They were:
…a forward base
and refuge, the fighting the hub of an appropriated estate. Every castle in
later years would have functions other than military; it would be a residence,
a treasury, a centre of administration, and a prison. (Platt 1994: 1)
Motte-and-bailey
castles were built until the 13th century and, by then, they were seriously
out-dated. The disadvantages were many: the palisades could be pulled apart
with picks or rammed; heaps brushwood could be piled up by its palisade and set
on fire. They were
abandoned or the wood was replaced with stone. At Duffus Castle, near Inverness
in Scotland, a stone tower replaced a wooden one, resulting in a little problem
with settling. One corner of the castle cracked open like an egg and is sliding
down the motte to this very day. Oops.
The stone
towers built on top of the artificial mounds were called shell keeps. They
often required a stone wall or revetement built around the base to keep the
ground from settling and
the castle from falling apart. The picture of Windsor Castle shows a shell keep
in the centre, the oldest part of the castle, and the upper bailey to the right
and the lower bailey to the left.
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Berkhamdsted Castle -- Motte |
Once replaced
with stone, some continued to be used. Berkhamstead was given to Edward the
Black Prince in 1339. There were newer, better designed castles by the 14th
century, but the prince did not say, "Uh, no thanks. It's a bit out-of-date."
He gladly accepted it as his first command. And at Windsor Castle, the shell
keep is used to house the Royal Archives. While visitors may prefer to view
grander stone castles, the motte-and-bailey was William's equivalent to the
Roman camp, and he successfully conquered England with them.
Note: The word
motte (mound) shifted in meaning to become 'moat', the water-filled ditch
surrounding a fortified structure.
Hearts Through HistoryRomance Writers will sponsor Castles ofBritain taught by Sharron, from 4 February to 5 March
2013. The course describes the development of castles from the 11th to the 13th centuries and gives much
information about life in a medieval castle. The writer has
a degree in Scottish history and Celtic Studies and has lived in Europe for
eight years.
Sources:
Bates, David, William the Conqueror, 2004
Hogg, Ian, The History of Forts and Castles, 1989
Kaufmann, J.E.
& H.W.Kaufmann, The Medieval
Fortress: Castles, Forts, and Walled Cities of the Middle Ages, 2004
Platt, Colin, The Castle in Medieval England & Wales, 1982
Rowley,
Trevor, The Norman Heritage 1066 - 1200,
1983
Wilson, David
M, The Bayeux Tapestry, 1985, 2004
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