Medieval Castles Essay, Research Paper

Medieval Castles

Medieval Castles were huge protection camps made to

protect the king. They had every kind of defense known to

medieval man. From murder holes, to arrow-loops, a castle had it.

Medieval castles were usually built on a high rocky cliff

located by water. Castle locations were very hard to find and

sometimes months were spent looking for one. A moat was built

around the castle and was usually filled with sewage and bathroom

goodies. All these things played an important part in keeping

the castle strong and ready to fight.

A couple other defenses the castle had were murder holes;

soldiers would dump many things on the sieging warriors. Another

tactic was the arrow-loops; a small slender cut in the castle wall

that arrows could be shot out from but not in to. See Diagram.

Castles also had huge 20-foot walls to be protected from.

Only two-ways in or out from the wall were present. One in the

front of the castle where two iron gates had to be broken. Another

gate was located somewhere towards the back of the castle. It was

a secret gate that was very hard to find, and only the king knew

where the gate had been hidden. The gate was used during an

attack to escape from the siege.

In the middle of the castle there was a huge building called

the keep. This is where the king and queen slept, the kitchen and

armory was also located inside. The dinning quarters (the largest

room inside) was used very frequent and many employees were

assigned to it.

The castle was the heart and soul of the country. The king

and queen and all of their loyal servants were inside, running the

country. That s why villains would raid the castles for land or

money, knowing that they could hold the king and queen for

ransom.

A interesting fact about castles were the kids who s job was

to go to a certain spot inside the castle and place the ear on the

ground listening for any sound that represented men digging. This

helped the soldiers inside the castle to dig and meet the digging

siegers.