More Great Castles

Since the conditions of life and the system of government were much the same in all Western Europe in the Middle Ages, many castles were built in the countries on the continent as well as in England. Hundreds of castles of all different periods were erected in such countries as France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and Denmark. In each country there were certain differences because of history, or temperament, or the kind of government. On the whole, though, there is the same story of development and change, and the same imposing and romantic ruins can be seen, telling their stories of bygone times and long dead kings, and lords, and knights.

France is a land of many old and beautiful castles. The French word for castle, chateau, has in fact come to mean a large, handsome mansion or country house. Along the River Loire, in particular, are the remains of many castles, perched on hills, or located on river banks at strategic points.

At Angers, the capitol of Anjou, which was one of the great duchies of France in the Middle Ages, there is a powerful castle, reconstructed as it is now by King Louis IX about 1230. Its great bare walls rise from massive bases. The famed Fulk Nerra lived here, and after him the Plantagenets, who were then counts of Anjou and later kings of England. Fulk Nerra was Count of Anjou from 987 to 1040 and fought regularly with his neighbors of Brittany, Blois, and Touraine. He built castles and attacked and captured others. Although the tops of the towers were later changed, the great fortress of Angers once exhibited the typical French tower tops-the conical style that made them look like witches' hats. Angers Castle is five-sided like the Pentagon building.

Saumur Castle tops an isolated crag where, about a thousand years ago, the Count of Blois and Touraine, known as Thibaut the Trickster, first built a fortress. Fulk Nerra captured it in 1026, and it was reconstructed at the end of the fourteenth century in such a way that it took on a much more splendid appearance than it had had in the days when it was strictly a military stronghold. Saumur thus shows the changes from feudal to Renaissance architecture. Photographs of Saumur as it is today can be compared with a famous work of art that is over 400 years old. In the early fifteenth century three brothers, Pol, Hennequin, and Hermann de Limbourg, were employed by John, Duke of Berry. They made a great, handsome book called the Tres Riches Heures. It contained 39 illustrations of country life including Saumur Castle as it looked to them.

In northern France is Coucy Castle, which had a bad name in the twelfth century because of the kind of barons who held it. They were called robber barons because they used their castle and their power to hold up and rob travelers in their territory. Unfortunately for travelers, there were quite a few such castle-owning nobles in the Middle Ages. On the other hand, one of the lords of Coucy, Guy II who died about 1203, was a famous poet and singer-a troubadour. Coucy Castle was damaged in World War I.

In southern France, in Providence and on the Rhone River, are two interesting castles. One is at Tarascon, built by order of Good King Rene to keep guard over the river. The other is at Avignon which was the residence of the Popes from 1309 to 1377. They built a large structure on top of a hill which perhaps is not a castle in the strict sense of the word, but is a building well worth seeing-a residence, fortress, and place of worship all in one.

On the Aude River in southern France is another interesting example of medieval military building although, like Avignon, it is more than a castle. This is Carcassone. The structure, atop a hill, encloses a whole medieval city with walls a mile around. There is a twelfth-century castle within the walls. The outer walls were erected in the thirteenth century, but parts of the inner walls go back as far as the sixth century when the barbarian Visigoth invaders of France built defenses here. Carcassonne was captured in 1209 by Simon de Montfort. In the ninteenth century the French architect Viollet-le-Duc restored the old walled city to something like its medieval glory. Today it stands as one of the architectural marvels of France.

Spain has its handsome and imposing castles. Here the word Alcazar is often used and refers to strong, but not entirely fortress-like, structures that were built inside cities during the centuries of Moslem rule of the country. In addition, there was the palace-fortress type of structure such as the Alhambra, overlooking the city of Granada. Started in the thirteenth century and built chiefly between 1348 and 1354, the buildings of the Alhambra provided the Moorish kings, as the Moslem rulers were called in Spain, with a fortress for defense, a palace for luxurious living, and quarters for various nobles and officials. Alhambra comes from an Arabic word meaning "the red castle". A wall studded with towers surrounds the Alhambra, the greatest monument of Moorish art in Spain. On January 2, 1492, Boabdil, the last of the Moslem princes in Granada, surrendered the city and the Alhambra after a siege. His conquerors were King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella who that same year helped Christopher Columbus launch his sea adventure which resulted in the discovery of America.

There are famous alcazars at Cordoba, Segivia, Seville, and Toledo. The one at Cordoba is now in ruins. The alcazar at Segovia, possibly located on the site of a Roman fortress on steep cliffs, towers over the city where two rivers meet. It was begun in the eleventh century, constructed mostly in the fifteenth, and restored in the nineteenth. It was a favorite residence of the kings of Castile, and Isabella I was crowned here.

At Seville the alcazar, erected by the Moors in the twelfth century, was rebuilt and enlarged in the fourteenth century by a king known as Peter the Cruel. The alcazar of Toledo, standing on the highest peak of a city built on hills, is probably the best-known structure of its kind. Originally, it too was a Moorish structure. It was restored in the thirteenth century and then in the sixteenth was transformed again to serve as a regal residence for Charles V nad Philip II. The great strenght of such a fortress was demonstrated in modern times when, despite the power pf twentieth-century weapons, it withstood a siege of more than two months, the Loyalists attacking and the Insurgents defending it in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. It was largely destroyed in this battle.

Many other cities of Spain have castles, or ruins of castles, of interest. Alicante has two, the Castle of Santa Barbara and the Castle of San Fernando, each on a steep, isolated hill. La Mota Castle at Valladolid is a very powerful looking structure of the fifteenth century. At Cadiz are San Sebastian and Santa Catalina castles, and at Torija are the remains of a castle of the Knights Templars, famous for their exploits in the Holy Land.

Italy, considering its size and its lond history, has fewer real castles than might be expected. This came about because its government in the Middle Ages was organized around the "city-states" rahter than the idea of a national king and feudal lords. The Italian nobles ruled from walled cities, or fortress-castles within those cities. Still, there are some interesting examples of Italian contributions to the age of castles.

The troubled times Rome went through, first as a result of barbarian and Saracen invasions and then from internal conflict, resulted in the construction of towers and castles within the city. These were built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Instead of starting with new materials, the builders simply used stones from older structures dating from the time of the Roman Empire. The Casa di Rienzi is said to be the oldest remaining example of this medieval domestic architecture in Rome.

Much earlier the first steps were taken to build what is still today a landmark of Rome. It is called the Castel Sant' Angelo, on the right bank of the Tiber. It was originally built about 1800 years ago by the Emperor Hadrian as a tomb for himself and future emperors. It was first made into a fortress by the military commander Belisarius when the Goths besieged Rome. It has been much changed through the centuries and has frequently been a place of refuge for the Popes because it was connected to the Vatican by a secret passage. It was used as a fortress and prison until 1870.

At Verona the powerful Scaligeri family that ruled the city for more than 100 years in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries built a castle to help maintain their power. These rulers of Verona are good examples of the tough nobles who governed the city-states of Italy and fought with other noble families of other cities-or even within their own city. The Scaligeri family were leaders of the Ghibelline faction, which was at almost continuous war throughout much of Italy with other nobles who made up the Guelph party. This history of faction, city, and noble enmity was used by Shakespeare when he made Verona the setting for "Romeo and Juliet", although he changed the family names to Montague an Capulet.

Naples has three castles : dell'Ovo, Sant'Elmo, and Nuovo. Sant'Elmo was built in the fourteenth century on a dominating hill more than 800 feet high. Charles I of Anjou built Nuovo between 1279 and 1284. Leghorn began chiefly as a castle built as a defense against the Saracens and later, under the Medici, developed into a flourishing city. Milan has one of the most magnificent of Italian castles, the fifteenth century Castello Sforzesco, erected by the Sforza family after they became the rulers of the city. On the island of Sicily at Catania there is Ursino Castle, built in 1232 by the Emperor Frederick II, and the Palermo two castles, La Zisa and La Cuba, which show the work of those famous enemies, the Normans and the Saracens.

Among Germany's many impressive castles, the best known is probably Heidelberg, on the Neckar River in the western part of the country. Although now in ruins, it was a magnificent structure of red sandstone, started in the thirteenth century and enlarged considerably between the fifteenth and the seventeenth centuries. Heidelberg towers above the famous university city of the same name. In the castle cellar is the Heidelberg Tun, a gigantic wine cask that will hold 58,650 gallons.

At Cleves, also in western Germany, is the eleventh-century castle of Schwanenburg. Its name means "swan's castle" and it is associated with the legend of Lohengrin. In a German story of the Middle Ages, Lohengrin, a knight of the Grail, was sent to rescue a princess named Elsa. Led by a swan, he found her and married her. The princess had been warned that she should not ask her husband's name, but she did, and this meant he had to return to the castle of the Grail. Then the swan reappeared and turned out to be Elsa's brother. The great composer Richard Wagner used this story for his opera "Lohengrin", although the setting of the opera is Antwerp, Belgium.

In southern Germany near Lake Constance is the castle of the Hohenzollerns. From it a princely family, which can be traced back to the eleventh century, took this name. Over the centuries the area of their rule increased and from 1871 to 1918 they were the emperors of the Germany that was so powerful until the end of World War I.

At Schwangau are two castles, the one of this name having been built only about 100 years ago, which means that it isn't a true castle in the sense of such a structure erected in medieval times. The castle of Hohenschwangau, on the other hand, is an ancient and true castle. Kronberg Castle is old but was rebuilt and restored only 60 years ago. Harburg Castle is mostly a seventeenth century castle watchtower. Among the many other German castles are Falkenburg, Georghausen, Guttenberg, Munzenberg, Reichenberg, Schonburg, and Thierstein.

Most of the castles just mentioned are in western or southern Germany. As a result of the activities of one of the famous orders of knights, other castles and fortresses were built in eastern Germany and in Poland. This was not the organization known as the Teutonic Knights, a religious and military order founded in 1190 to help take care of the sick and wounded during the siege of Acre in the Third Crusade. About 1225 the Teutonic Knights moved to eastern Europe when they were called to crusade against the then heathen Prussians. They subdued them and built fortresses. By 1309 they established their headquarters in the castle of Marienburg, near the Vistula River in what is now Poland.

Austria is a small country, but it has a long history, and is another land in which castles played a prominent part for many centuries. Even today Austria claims about 1,000 castles well enough preserved to live in and another 600 crumbling strongholds and ruins. Hainburg Castle on the Danube is very ancient as a fortification. Prince Leopold V was able to develop it into the strongest fortress east of Vienna by using some of the ransom money the English paid to free their captive king, Richard the Lion-Hearted. Another great stronghold is Hochosterwitz Castle, near Klagenfurt. This castle was first built in the late ninth century, but its great period was from 1570 to 1586 when it was strengthened against the threatened onslought of the Turks. It had several rings of walls, 14 towers, and was on a high rocky hill. It was so strong that it was never besieged, let alone captured.

During the invasion of the Turks into Austria in the seventeenth century, 11,000 civilians took refuge in Starhemberg Castle, in addition to the several thousand soldiers there, showing how large and strong such a structure could be. Heidenreichstein Fortress, near the Czechoslovakia border, was begun in the twelfth century. It has very thick walls and towers almost bare of windows so that it reminds one of some of the concrete air-raid shelters erected in Europe during World War II.

In Austria, as in all countries, some castles boast of legends that have grown up around them. A t Schattenburg Castle, built in the first half of the twelfth century, there is said to be a ghost who walks at night-the ghost of a knight who is still being punished for some wrong he did hundreds of years ago. At Rabenstein Castle, on high rocks over the Mur River, legend has it that ravens once saved the life of the princess of the castle by eating some poisoned cakes sent her by a lover she had dismissed.

Forchtenstein, in the province of Burgenland, was not built until the sixteenth century and shows how defensive features could be combined with the improved and more comfortable living quarters of those days. It was the only castle in the area not captured during the Turkish invasion of 1683. Among other castles of Austria that bring back stories of the days of knighthood and feudalism are : Clam on the Danube River; Groppenstein; Kufstein in the Tyrol; Landsberg, built in the year 1,000; Laudegg on the InnRiver; Raab; and Riegersburg.

Another country that can boast of many castles and their ruins is Switzerland. Perhaps best known is the Castle of Chillon at Montreux because of the peots it has known as a result of one dramatic incident in its long history. Started in the ninth century and restored in the thirteenth, Chillon, built on a rock in Lake Geneva, is remembered today chiefly for its dungeon. It was here that the Swiss hero, Francois de Bonivard, was held prisoner from 1530 to 1536 as a result of his revolt against Charles III, Duke of Savoy. Finally, the men of the cities of Berne and Geneva stormed the castle in 1536 and released Bonivard. About 300 years later this inspired the poet Lord Byron to write "The Prisoner of Chillon", which includes these descriptive lines :

"There are seven pillars of Gothic mould, In Chillon's dungeons deep and old, There are seven columns, mossy and grey, Dim with a dull imprison'd ray..."

The castle of Beromunster housed the first printing press in Switzerland, in 1470, while the castle of Gruyere, a fine medieval structure in a perfect state of repair, is in the region famous for Gruyere cheese. Near Brugg is the Castle of Hapsburg, built about 1020, and the original birthplace of the House of Hapsburg whose kings and emperors ruled many parts of Europe for hundreds of years. Lenzburg Castle, over 800 years old, is now owned by an American family. The castle of the lords of Tarasp, dating back nearly 1,000 years, was completely renovated and luxuriously furnished as a residence only 50 years ago and now belongs to the former Grand Duke of Hesse. Among other castles still well worth seeing are Hallwyl, Neuchatel, Ortenstein, Sargans, and Spiez.

Belgium, another country with a long history, has its share of interesting castles. At Ghent the city grew around a castle started on a small island in the ninth century by the first Count of Flanders, Baldwin Bras-de-Fer (meaning "iron arm"). Rebuilt in 1180 by Philip of Alsace, it had 24 towers and was modeled after the Crusader's castles in Syria. It now houses a collection of instruments of torture.

Franchimont in Liege Province is believed to be the birthplace of Charles Martel (668?-741) of the powerful Carolingian family that ruled much of Western Europe for many years. Charled Martel was the grandfather of the most famous of the Caroligians, the Emperor Charlemagne. Charlemagne's father, by the way, was a king known as Pepin the Short and his mother was called Bertha of the Big Foot. The medieval castle at Frachimont was built in the twelfth century.

A castle first built in 1085 was Wynendale, once a favorite residence of the Counts of Flanders. It sheltered the Belgian royal family in 1940 when the Nazis invaded the country and it was here that King Leopold III informed high government officials that he had decided to remain in Belgium and share the fate of the army. Belgium is also famous for other ancient castles such as : Walzin and Spontin in Namur Province; Beersel and Gaasbeek near Brussels; and Bouillon and La Roche in Luxemburg Province.

Most of the castles now standing in Denmark are fairly new as castles go, but some of them are on the sites of much older fortresses. Best known is Kronborg Castle in the town of Elsinore. A castle was first erected here in the twelfth century at a strategically important spot on the coast. The present buildings, however, were put up between 1574 and 1585. Elsinore is world-famous as the scene of one of Shakespeare's most important plays, "Hamlet". Down under the ramparts of Kronborg Castle is the statue of Holger Danske (Ogier the Dane) who, according to legend, will awake and take up his sword to defend Denmark when the country is in danger.

This account of a few of the castles of Europe is by no means complete, but it does indicate how extensive the building of castles was and how important a part they played in history for many centuries. Castles were not erected for fun or for romantic reasons. Castles were built for practical purposes and they grew naturally out of the conditions of life and the kind of government of the Middle Ages. They changed as time passed, becoming bigger and stronger as men devised ways to make them so, and as other men found more powerful weapons and methods of attacking them.