Why did William build castles to keep control?

L.O: To know why William built castles. To know what the features of a motte and bailey and a Stone Keep castle have and what the advantages and disadvantages were of each castle

were.

Keep. This is whereThe Lord would stay.

Bailey: (this means enclosure)This was the courtyard. Housing the sheds and soldiers quarters.

Motte. ALarge earth hill

Palisade:A wooden fenceProtecting the Normans From the English.

Why did he need to build castles so quickly?

• The English were not happy that William was now king.

• The English were fighting with the Normans he had to show them that he was in charge.

• He wanted to show them that he was watching them in every town and village.

William needed to build castles _______. Many English people continued torebel against the ____. He needed to construct ________ along the coast andacross the _______________ in order to protect him and his followers fromthe angry locals. The first castles were built of ____ and stone, as thesebuilding resources were easy to find in _______ areas.There were two main parts to the castle. The ______, which was an earthmound where a small _______ fort was situated. The other part was called a________. Often livestock, horses and soldiers families lived in this enclosure.BAILEY, QUICKLY, WOOD, FOREST, LOOKOUT, MOTTE,KING, DEFENCES, COUNTRYSIDE

Advantages and Disadvantages of a motte and bailey castle

Advantages Disadvantages.

Let’s complete the sheet on motte and bailey’s

Let’s test what you have learnt already? Let’s play slap the

board. Boys V’s Girls

MotteMotte palisadepalisade

hillhill

stonestone

Battering ram

Battering ram slowslow

baileybailey

keepkeep

Stone keepsStone keeps

LordLordenclosur

eenclosur

e

How would you attack a castle like this?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PtAlUKX4PY

How can we tell about life in Motte and Bailey castles today?

Questions.

• 1) Why did William have to build castles?

• 2) Why did he choose the materials of wood and earth?

• 3) Did lots of people live in Motte and Bailey castles ? Explain your answer.

• 4) Why do we not know a great deal about Motte and bailey castles today?

A Stone Keep Castle

• Label your diagram of the stone keep castle:

• These are the labels you have to choose from:

• Well *solar *great hall

• Battlements *great fire

• Guard room *store room

• Garderobe * entrance

The Stone Keep Castle

The Stone Keep castles

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VhLzMnwqI0

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtaRI1UD0y0

Attacking a stone keep castle

Wood burnsCan be cut down

High upDitchFast to build

Motte and Bailey11th C

WeaknessesStrengthsCastleDate

Capture wall take whole building

Stone WallShell keep11th C

Corners can be mined or battered

Thick stone wallsEntrance above ground level

Square keep12th C

Only betrayal by someoneOrVery long siege

2 or 3 wallsInside wall higher than outerStrong gatehouseRound towers

Concentric Castle13th C

mangonel

trebuchet

Battering Ram

ballista

Penthouse

Siege tower

Battering ram

In pairs, discuss 3 things you would like to learn about attacking and defending a castle.

Remember to pose (ask) a question.

i.e. write down 3 questions you would like answered today.

ae

d

c b

Name each weapon labelled:

a

b

c

d

e

f

IndividualWork

f

Why were defences so important?• Had to be safe from attack

• Make it difficult for the enemy to break in

Wooden keep

motte

baileypalisadedrawbridge

Gate look-out

ditch

??

?

?

?

?

?

Existing castles were slowly improved

Stone Keep

Curtain wall

Inner bailey

Portcullis drawbridge

crenellation

Arrow loops

gatehouse

well

Outer curtain wall

Stone Castle Defences

high, thick walls

machicolations

battlements

drawbridge

gatehouse

hoardings

arrow loops

Towers & turrets

portcullis

moat

Battlements

crenellation

where fighting was done

crenel

merlonshutter

Gate Defences• Speed important –

had to close off castle quickly

• 2 portcullises could trap the enemy

•Murder holes could be used to pour throw hot tar or water, crush enemy with stones or fire at them with arrows

Why?

Methodsof

AttackImproved

Besieging a CastleAttacking

Siege tower

crossbowslongbow

mangonel

ladders

Types of catapults

mangonel

trebuchet

Fired missiles at or over wall

Fired missiles over wall:

•Stones

•Dead animals

•Heads of the enemy

Battering Ram

Attacking the Gate

Tortoise

Break down gates or smash the walls

Other Siege Weapons

ballista

Penthouse

For use on square keep or square towers

Sappers’ tent

ae

d

c b

Name each weapon labelled:

a

b

c

d

e

f

IndividualWork

f

Castle Defences1. How were soldiers protected on the

battlements?

2. Draw an arrow loop and explain its purpose.

3. Give 2 advantages of round towers in a curtain wall.

4. Describe 3 methods used to defend the castle gate. Include a picture of one of these defences.

IndividualWork

Quiz – what am I?

Identify each weapon from the cryptic clue:

• When the catch of my big spoon is released I fling out a huge stone with great force. What am I?

• I protect miners while they dig under a square keep. What am I?

• I use powder and flame to fire metal balls over the castle walls. I was not invented until the 13th C. What am I?

IndividualWork Siege Weapons

4. With my sling I throw stones or dead animals over the castle wall. What am I?

5. I can be wheeled up to the wall to allow attackers to climb onto the wall. What am I?

6. I am used to break down the gate? What am I?

7. I am made of metal and rope and help the soldiers climb up castle walls? What am I?

IndividualWork Siege Weapons

Quiz – what am I?

Identify each weapon from the cryptic clue:

• When the catch of my big spoon is released I fling out a huge stone with great force. What am I?

• I protect miners while they dig under a square keep. What am I?

• I use powder and flame to fire metal balls over the castle walls. I was not invented until the 13th C. What am I?

IndividualWork Siege Weapons

mangonel

Penthouse or sappers tent

cannon

4. With my sling I throw stones or dead animals over the castle wall. What am I?

5. I can be wheeled up to the wall to allow attackers to climb onto the wall. What am I?

6. I am used to break down the gate? What am I?

7. I am made of metal and rope and help the soldiers climb up castle walls? What am I?

IndividualWork Siege Weapons

trebuchet

siege tower

battering ram

grappling hook

Castle defence keywords

Barbican

Portcullis

Murder holes

The extra gatehouse at the front of the castle.

The strong oak and metal gate at the front of the castle (one pence coins carry an image of them).

Holes that soldiers could pour hot sand, water and lime through to kill and wound an enemy.

Harlech Castle

Location, location, location

The first defence a castle had was its location.

Harlech Castle was almost impossible to surround – why?

Other castles were built on hills, such as Guildford and Conisbrough. This meant they could easily observe any enemy force approaching!

The castle entrance

The castle entrance often had a barbican attached. This extra gatehouse protected the weakest part of the castle. There would be extra soldiers, and several heavy oak doors and portcullises to get past.

Barbican

Gatehouse

Three entrance gates

(portcullis) to get through

Defences before and at the main entrance

Why do you think the main entrance had so much defence?

Click on the murder holes, portcullis and drawbridge.

The castle battlements jutted out from the top of the wall so that soldiers could drop heavy stones and pour boiling tar onto the enemy below.

At the bottom of the curtain wall the walls were angled so that when stones were dropped they would bounce off the bottom and hit the attackers.

Castle defences

Castles were often built near rivers.

Why do you think this was?

There were a number of features which could be added to the castle to make it stronger. Most castles had round towers in their walls. This was so soldiers could fire in all directions along the front walls.

The strongest building was the keep. It had numerous defensive features including very thick walls, narrow staircases, big cellars for sieges. Even the entrance was raised and had drawbridges to stop an attack.

As castles were frequently under attack, they had to be as strong as possible.

Why did castles develop?

As the attackers improved their methods of attack, so the castle builders had to improve the castle’s ability to defend.

How do you think a battering ram was used

to attack a castle?

Castle attack

In this picture the attackers are tunnelling. They would mine underneath the castle hoping to collapse it!

What are the advantages of this method of attack?

How would this catapult have worked?

Do you think it would have been very effective? Why?

These siege towers had a drawbridge at the top. The soldiers would climb up the tower and rush across the drawbridge onto the castle hoarding (the bit jutting out at the top of the castle). They were often covered in animal skins to provide further protection from arrows.

What do you think were the main disadvantages with this method of attack?

Which of the methods of attack do you think would have been the most effective? Why?

Can you suggest any other methods attackers might have used?

Castles were sometimes so strong that the only method of attack was to wait. This was called laying siege. It was basically staying out of arrow range and surrounding the castle until it was starved into submission.

Sieges could take a very long time to work. Many castles had wells in the keep and large storerooms always prepared in case of a siege. The best time to attack would be spring as all the winter food would be used up by then and the defenders would have little supplies to last on.

Siege

Sometimes attacking a castle involved more gruesome methods. In the fourteenth century one castle was subjected to an attack by having plague victims catapulted over the walls to spread the disease.

Other attacks included throwing over rotten animal bodies to spread disease and also the heads of executed prisoners!

Biological warfare

Attack and Defence: multiple-choice questions