Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/353

CASTLE. 301 CASTLE. TECTURE. ) The principal groups of such moim- iiienU are in Xorniandy anJ Englanii; in north- ern France; along the Rhine: in northern Italy and the Koraaii province; and in a large part of the East, in a series belonging both to the Ujzantinc and ilohauimedan Aliddle Ages. Castles dilFer from forts in being primarily the permanent residence of a feudal lord, his family and dependents, instead of merely a btronghold occupied by a garrison. They may be divided into two classes: castles built for the defense of cities and subordinate to them— as at Carcassonne; and castles cither entirely indepen- dent or connected with towns of little importance which often grew up around them. The class of indei)endent castles is the most numerous and most characteristic of the times; it is, in fact, the great outward sign of feudalism. They will, therefore, be here treated almost exclusively. Castle architecture ran its course from the Tenth to the Fifteenth Century, and is repre- sentative of a large part of the life of the times. In the Orient it may be studied in three princi- pal classes — Byzantine castles, Hohanuuedan castles, castles of the Crusaders. In the West its natural divisions are rather chronological — • pre-Xorman, Xornian, Crusading, Feudal, and Palatial Chateau periods. As a class, castles are even more important for what they represent than for «liat they are. In the form with which we are most familiar they are the creation of the nations of the Xorth, under early influences, typifying at first the stern, self-reliant individu- alism of feudal society, its absorption in one idea, self-sacrifice and isolation, and the foster- ing of strong men. In studying its history we can trace the gradual softening of these ideals until the self-indulgent life of the Renaissance chriteau is finally reached. But the Border Wars of Scotland, the feuds of Richard Cceur de Lion and Philip Augustus, the Barons and Magna Charta, and such events and atmospheres are not the only kind illustrated. The border wars of the Byzantiue emperors and the Mohammedan emirs, the struggles of the Knights Templars and those of Saint John, the vicissitudes of the Old -Man of the Mountain and his Assassins, also in their history crystallize around great castles in the East. A word of explanation as to their origin. In the north of Europe, where wood prevailed in place of stone, the old Roman castclhi or detached military posts were often at first used, reinforced by palisades and wooden towers. The Frankisli fortified villa was a quadrangle like a Roman camp, surrounded by ditch and palisade and having a mound in its centre as a final place of defense, surrounded bj' a trench and topjied by a circular or polygonal wooden donjon or keep from 10 to 30 meters in diameter and .3 to 1.3 meters high. This was the pre-Xorman castle of the north (e.g. at Saintc-Eulalie d'.mbar6s and at Freidberg) . Sometimes the circular form was preferred for the outer works, as in the Pipin Burg near Lehr (Germany). Such works have of course left few traces, except of the roughest ground plan of their earthworks. When the Normans settled down in the north of France in the Tenth Century, they began to build castles of a new type : their keeps, instead of being in the centre of a rectangular indosiire, were at one of its edges, so that direct communication with the outer country- could still be had in case the outer palisades were captured. The materials re- mained at first the same — earthworks with pali- sades and a bank: then an earthen mottc or mound, and wooden towers at the highest point. It was with such castles that the Xorman chiefs repelled the Hungarian hordes during the Tenth Century and kept the river courses open for their raids. They took advantage, however, of the natural strength of localities better than the Franks, who, like the Romans, had built usually on the plain. The X'orman castles in France and England even for a generation after the Conquest were of this kind; for example, at Euiltli in South ales, Longtown, and Kilpeck in Here- fordshire. The first advance was made late in the Eleventh Century, by building the keep or donjon of st(me-masonry instead of earth, and immeasurably increasing its importance in rela- tion to the outer line of earthworks. The keep at Mailing in Kent, and London's famous keep, the White Tower, are survivals of this stage, which lasted, for the majority of castles, well into the Twelfth Century. England was covered with them ; they were the principal means of firmly establishing the X'orman yoke. Thirty went up under illiam the Conqueror; many more under his sons, and under Stephen (1135-04) 1115 were built. Meanwhile a great innovation had begun, as usual not in England, but on the Conti- nent. Earthworks were discarded altogether and a comijle.v system of stone-wall defenses was connected with the stone keep. It is at Arques, in Xormandy, that William, uncle of Duke Wil- liam, erected on a strong rocky promontory an epoch-making castle^ with a square donjon at the upper end and with the entrance at the lower end protected by a double gate, two Hanking round towers, and advanced earthworks. The in- terior had two courts or bailies — lower and up- per — separated by a palisade. The circuit of walls was defended by eleven towers — all but two round. The donjon was against the outer wall. The natural rise toward the castle was defended by a palisade in front of a "vallum' — called a bailie, in its primitive sense — back of which a wide fosse was cut in the soft rock from the scarp of which rose the castle walls. Along this scarp, subterranean corridors were cut to detect and oppose mining approaches, and the whole sub-structure was honeycombed with subter- ranean passages for sallies and intercommunica- tion between the various parts. But Arques re- mained for a century a great exception in the imgortance of its outer circuit. .s soon as the improved methods reached England many castles were rebuilt, such as Dover and Rochester in Kent, X'ewcastle in Xorthumberland, Appleby and Carlisle in Cumberland, Brougham in West- moreland. Richmond and Coni-borough in York- shire, Portchester in Hampshire. Guildford in Surrey, Goodrich in Herefordsliire. Norwich and Castle Rising in X'orfolk, Hedingham and Col- chester in Essex." (Parker.) They vary but slightly in plan, the keep being a massive square tower, with a square turret projecting from each angle. The entrance was quite high up, by a temporary wooden staircase, removed in time of danger. The interior was often divided by a vertical wall into two equal sections without eoinmunication except through passages cut in the upper jiart of this heavy division-wall. The stories were divided by wooden floors; very sel- dom by vaults. These keeps were .small, dark,