The First Castles

Long before men built such imposing structures as Harlech Castle, they constructed other simpler fortifications. In fact, men have always built some kind of fortification to protect themselves, their families, and their tribes against danger, whether from animals or from other men. The caveman's cave could be used for defense. In prehistoric times, as scientists can tell from ruins they have discovered, men used hills or ledges, and piles of earth and stone to make fortified places to defend themselves against their enemies. Usually they did not live in such places, but only gathered there when danger threatened.

The first great civilizations, around 6,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, protected themselves with fortifications. There, in the Near East, the cities had walls of sun-dried brick. Around 1200 B.C., the city of Troy in what is now Turkey was besieged by the Greeks. As Homer tells the story in the Iliad, the Greeks were unable to capture the city because of its strong walls and brave, although outnumbered, defenders. The Greeks finally succeeded by trickery when they constructed an enormous wooden horse which was filled with soldiers. The Trojans, not knowing what was inside, took the horse into their city and were surprised and defeated. Then there is the Bible story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho. The people under Joshua shouted so loud that, as the song says, "the walls came tumbling down" and the town was captured.

The Great Wall of China is perhaps the largest and certainly the longest fortification ever built. It was first constructed over 2,100 years ago and was reconstructed many centuries later. This great stone wall runs for about 1,500 miles across north China, averages 25 feet in height and is from 15 to 30 feet wide. One can judge from this how much material and how much labor, especially in those days before modern machinery, it took to erect the wall. A somewhat similar wall, although not as long, was built by the Romans about 121 to 127 B.C. across the narrow part of the island of Great Britain. It is 73 1/2 miles long and much of it is still preserved today as one of the most impressive remains of the Roman conquest of Britain. It is called Hadrian's Wall after the emperor who had it built. Both the Great Wall of China and Hadrian's Wall were built for protection against invading enemies. From the forts and watch towers placed at intervals along the wall, soldiers could watch for any enemy approaching with the idea of attacking of getting over the walls. The guards on watch could then summon help from other soldiers stationed at various places near the wall.

Fortifications and walled cities have also been built in China, India, and Japan. In the southwestern United States, before the white man came, Indians such as the Pueblos built their communities on mesas and on canyon shelves in order to protect their tribes against others.

Perhaps the best engineers and builders of all time, considering that they did not have the tools, machinery, or means of transportation that we do, were the Romans. Their empire at one time included almost all of Western Europe, and Hadrian's Wall was but one of their many feats. They built bridges, roads, aqueducts, and walls around cities. They also built permanent military camps for their legions which they called castra. In the late Roman Empire castra were constructed with masonry walls and enclosed about 50 acres. When the Romans built a smaller military strong point of about ten acres, they called it a castellum and it is from that Latin word that we get our word castle and the French word chateau, which means the same thing.

In the fifth century, barbarians from the eastern and northern parts of Europe began to overrun the Roman Empire. A.D. 476 is the year usually given as the final fall of the Roman Empire After that there was no longer any one strong, central government that could keep peace and order over a large area. The conquerors of the Romans neede fortified places for protecting themselves, in their own towns or other local areas. But they did not have the skill, experience, or knowledge of the Romans they had defeated and so their forts were not as strong or impressive. They would take an area of about 30 acres, dig a ditch around it, and build up an earthen embankment on the inside of the ditch with a wooden palisade, or wall, on top of it. This might be the headquarters of a prince or an official appointed by him, but no one else lived in it. It was a refuge for the people of the neighborhood, and they all fled to it when an attack was threatened.

Nearly 400 years after the Roman Empire collapsed, there was once again for a short time a fairly strong government in Western Europe. This was when the Emperor Charlemagne ruled, but even he had to rely on many less important princes and nobles to help him. Charlemagne died in A.D. 814, and within 150 years his empire was split up among several of his descendants so that there was no strong power ruling alone over a very large area. This took place mostly in what we now call France and it is there that the first structures that can be called castles were erected.

At that time, 1,000 years ago, small areas, like counties or states, were ruled by nobles. They might be attacked by other nobles, or they might decide they didn't want to do what the king, whom they legally should obey, wanted them to do. So they built a structure that was both a home and a fort. This fortified dwelling place, a private fortress of a noble or a king, was called a castle. The exact date and the place where such a fortification was first built is not known, but it was about 1,000 years ago. The first castles were not very strong or impressive compared with the later castles such as Harlech. They were much smaller in area than the Roman army fortifications, and they were made of earth and wood since the people of those days had not recaptured the engineering and building skill of the Romans These early castles are called mott-and-bailey castles.

In building such a castle, the first step was to dig two ditches, more or less circular, and with one larger than the other. The smaller ditch joined into one part of the larger one. The earth that was dug out of the ditches was used to make an earthen embankment on the castle side. Some of the earth was also used to make a high mound in the center of the smaller ditch's circle. If there was a convenient place where the ground was already higher than the surrounding area, that would be the location of this mound, or motte. A wooden wall, or stockade, was built around the whole castle, and the area in the larger circle was called the bailey. Sometimes there would be more than one bailey. There was a bridge across the ditch, leading to a gate into the bailey.

There was also a bridge over the ditch at the rear of the bailey. This led to the motte, and to a flight of steps up the high earthen bank to the wooden structure on top of the motte. This building, called the keep, was both living quarters for the lord of the castle and the fort that provided the last defense if attackers broke into the bailey. A motte-and-bailey castle had both advantages and disadvantages. It could be built fairly easily and quickly. It gave the people in it an advantage over those attacking because of the protection of its ditch and wall. On the other hand, since the stockades and buildings were of wood, they could be set on fire with torches, and knocked down easier than the later stone walls.

At the Battle of Hastings, William defeated King Harold and the English and soon conquered all of England. The final submission of the English to the Normans came at Berkhampstead, and there William built another castle of which some ruins can be seen today. The motte was about 45 feet high and about 60 feet across at the top. Here the bailey was oblong in shape and measured about 450 by 300 feet. The ditch, or moat, was filled with water. At some castles the motte was higher than this, the one at Thetford Castle, in Norfolk, being 80 feet high.

Duke William was soon crowned King William of England and proceeded to reward his followers. He gave them land and manors that had belonged to the English so that each, subject to the king's direction, ruled over a certain area. To control the still angry and disgruntled Englishmen, William made sure that these lords of his built castles to protect themselves and to house soldiers who could keep order in the surrounding countryside. No one is not sure just how many mott-and-bailey castles were erected in England, but there may have been as many as 500.

One of the most interesting records of the life of William the Conqueror is also a beautiful work of art. It is the Bayeux Tapestry, still preserved at Bayeux in Normandy. According to tradition it was made by William's wife, Queen Matilda, and her handmaidens, but it may actually be of somewhat later origin and have been done by English embroiderers. The tapestry is a strip of coarse linen, 230 feet long and only 20 inches wide. It is embroidered in worsteds of eight colors, and the scenes on it make a valuable historical record. It shows Duke William capturing the castles of Dol, Rennes, and Dinant, and depicts the building of Hastings Castle.

By the twelfth century castles were common in England and on the continent of Europe, and were an important part of the feudal system of government. They were a result of the development of this system, and they were one of the things that kept the system going. Like any system of government, feudalism affected the way people lived, the way they made a living, and their relations with other people and other countries. Castles were a part of this way of life and to understand the part they played, it is necessary to know something about feudalism, with its deals of chivalry and knighthood.