Castles and Fortifications from Around the World (Hardcover)

Reconstructions of prime examples show how castles were built and organised.

Specially commissioned maps show the exact location of all castles discussed.

Neatly structured by country and region.

A single castle commanded a radius of about 10 miles – a day’s ride out and back. Rather than risk pitched battles, encroaching armies often sent soldiers to pillage, destroying the local economy while feeding their own men. A castle was a threat to this tactic, protecting the countryside and starving the enemy of supplies. An invader could not seize a land until he captured its castles, for their garrisons could cut off supply lines and harry his men, or act as a base for massing troops for counterattack. The more castles there are in an area, the more that area is likely to have been disputed.

Many castles housed only a small number of people on a day-to-day basis. Moreover, there is often little evidence for large numbers of prisoners or the torture of those whose presence is recorded. Since these were secure buildings, it made sense to house prisoners within their walls, a function often maintained after a castle’s military role ended.

This book is not a guide to every castle – a whole series would be required to catalogue them all – and many castles were small-scale affairs or survive chiefly as earthworks. It cannot do justice to all the worthy fortifications that can be found and which, again, have been excluded from this book purely due to lack of space. It does, however, provide an overview of castles and fortifications to demonstrate how regional diversity is found in the use of styles of defence and decoration. Equally, the intercourse in ideas from one area, or one culture, to another, has resulted in some breathtaking examples of fortification. The importance of terrain also plays a part in moulding the form of strongholds most common to certain areas.

Each country featured in this book is divided into sections, each of which deals with a type of castle. Many of the castles have features common to more than one section and are therefore relevant to two or three different areas.
Although this book mainly concerns castles, it looks both back to antiquity and forwards to the time after the decline of castles. The fortifications of antiquity, though not technically castles, were often vast and the technology of superior quality. The use of strong walls to protect a community continued in one form or another right through the era of the castle – indeed castles often have a history inextricably mixed with the fortified town beside it.

Castles themselves – which at the beginning of the period were often simple structures – grew in sophistication to become breathtaking strongholds with every defensive trick. At the same time as military ideas developed, older styles remained in use or were adapted.

After the demise of the castle, military architects did not cease to plan defensive structures, even with the advent of modern weapons capable of mass destruction. Across the world different cultures have built defences of various kinds. All these must be explored if the form and functions of the castle are to be understood and placed within the history of humankind.