Castles and Knighthood

Castles

a) This is a typical castle, its name is Harlech.
a) Questions about the features of a castle

Q: What was the moat for?
A: The moat was mainly used to stop enemies from reaching the walls but its other use was to make a reflection of the castle in order to make it look bigger.

Q: What is a drawbridge?
A: A drawbridge was a defensive mechanism that allowed access to the castle by providing a temporary bridge across the moat. This bridge can be withdrawn in the case of an attacking force; this was done with a winch.

Q: What were castles made of?
A: Stone, mortar and wood. These were the simple components used to construct some of the most heavily fortified structures ever created.

Q: Where did the stone used to make the castle come from?
A: The stone came from local mines or quarries if possible. If stone was scarce they would carry it long distances by water or on land by oxen.

Q: What was the roof made of?
A: The roof was made from slate tiles and shale.

Q: Where were castles built?
A: Prime locations for castle construction include high, rocky ground, mountain passes, isolated peninsulas and lake islands.

Q: How big were castle walls?
A: To withstand besieging, castle walls were sometimes constructed to be up to 30 feet
(9 metres) thick. Stone curtain walls were constructed anywhere between 20 and 40 feet high.

Q: How high were the towers in the castles?
A: Some fortresses had towers soaring a hundred feet high.

Q: What was a portcullis?
A: A portcullis was a heavy, protective, grilled gate.

Q: What was a gatehouse?
A: the gatehouse housed the drawbridge winch, the portcullis and even living quarters for the soldiers. It also had slits in it, used to shoot arrows out of, there were walkways for soldiers to walk along and drop stones at the incoming enemies.

b) Plans and equipment to attack castle.

Trebuchet Ballista Battering Ram Catapult

Equipment:

Siege Engines to fire rocks and other ammunition into the walls.
Catapults to launch rocks over or into the walls, also to fire diseased cows over the walls in order to spread disease.
Trebuchets to launch things higher and faster than catapults.
Ballistas to launch six spear-sized arrows into the lines of defending soldiers.
Battering Rams to provide constant blows to a single spot.

Mobile Assault Towers to give attacking soldiers protection and sometimes a higher position than the defending walls allowing a perfect archer position.

Strategy:

Our plan will include both covert and overt action. While heavy weapons such as battering rams, catapults, trebuchets and towers are trying to breach the walls, the most devastating attacks will come from underneath. Our medieval miners will find a weak point in the castle's wall, and tunnel under the foundation, preferably at a corner. After they dig to their goal, loads of dry wood and brush will be used to fill the tunnel cavity. Everyone will exit, and the last miner will set the fuel on fire. The strategy is, the blaze will cause the tunnel to collapse causing castle walls to fall, or be damaged enough to further exploit the weakness. Defending armies will try to defect our miners' efforts using buckets of water while they do this we will break through the walls and capture the castle.

c) Website

• The website I have found is called www.medieval-castles.net. It is a really good site and I would recommend it to anyone, it is packed with info. This is a helpful site because it has a lot of information that is not too hard to understand and is right on the topic of medieval castles. Also the layout of the website is very good, it allows you get what you want under easy subtitles.

• The Tower of London, also known as the white tower, has a long and often bloody past, making this fortress one of the most famous medieval structures in the world. I consider this castle to be very important because William the conqueror himself built it. It was after the Norman Invasion when William began construction of the White Tower. This tower became the most awesome and frightening building the Anglo-Saxons had ever seen. The tower was improved throughout successive centuries to extend the towers and build walkways. Hundreds were imprisoned in the tower, names of whom can be viewed in the Book of Prisoners. It is very important today, because it houses the famous Crown Jewels. The headless ghost of Anne Boleyn, the ghost of Sir Walter Raleigh and others who died here are said to haunt the tower.

Knighthood and Chivalry

a) What did knights look like and act like?

Page to squire to knight:

When a boy born by a knight turns six or seven he is sent from his home to a near by castle. There he is trained by the lord of the castle to become a knight. He is a page. A page helps his lord dress and put on armor. He plays many training games that will help him on the way to being a knight. A page rarely ever learned how to read or write because it wasn't thought to be very knightly. The ladies of the manor (castle) taught him table manners. If the page showed promise, then at the age of fourteen, he became a squire. A squire is a Knight's personal servant. In battle, a squire would bring his knight replacements of lances, swords, horses, or any item lost or damaged in battle. The squire had to become accustomed to heavy armor. While he was a squire, he was allowed to carry a sword and a shield, which showed what rank he had achieved. If he got through all of that, he was knighted or "dubbed". He knelt before his lord. Then his lord would slap him with his hand or the flat of the sword. As his lord was doing that, his lord would say, "I dub thee Sir Knight." Then the new knight would receive his sword, lance, and golden spurs. Then the knight was free to roam. He usually rode off on quests of adventure. He either stopped by the road and challenged any knight that passed by, or he did battle for a damsel in need.

Armour: • The knight is encased in steel. His primary body armour consists of a solid breastplate and backplate. Prior to l42O A.D., the breastplate, backplate, and fauld would have been covered with fabric. Now, the gleaming steel is revealed, and we have our "Knight in shining armour". • Beneath the breastplate and backplate, the knight wears a type of aketon (called an Arming Doublet). Mail is sewn to the arming doublet at those points where the knight is still vulnerable (the armpits and the inside of the elbows). • A series of hoops (Fauld) is attached to the body armour to protect the abdomen. • At the base of the fauld, there are attachments called tassets, which provide thigh defence. • A helmet called the great bascinet protects the head. • A visor is attached to the great bascinet to protect the face. • The throat is protected by a plate-called a bevor. • Plates called spaulders protect the shoulders. • Circular plates called besagews protect the armpits. • The term "vambracell is often used to describe the entire defence of the arm (excluding the shoulder). A more specific set of terms (and there are many) could include: the rerebrace for upper-arm protection; the couter for elbow protection; and the vambrace for lower-arm protection, • Gauntlets with a series of plates protecting each separate finger protect the knight’s hands. • The thighs are protected by cuisses as well as the tassets. • The knee defences (Poleyns) are attached to the cuisses. • The lower leg is protected by the greave. • The feet are protected by sabatons.
Horses:
It is commonly believed that the great war-horses, also called destriers, were developed during the Middle Ages to support the great weight of the armoured knight. Actually, a good suit of armour was not over 70 pounds in weight; and therefore, the horse would only be expected to carry some 250 to 300 pounds. The real reason large horses were useful was because their weight gave greater force to the impact of the knight's lance, both in warfare and in the tournament. A destrier weighed twice as much as a conventional riding horse; and when the knight struck a conventionally mounted opponent, the impact could be devastating. The destrier was sometimes shod with sharp nail heads protruding so that he could trample foot soldiers in his path. The destrier was a very potent weapon, and yet his descendants are the mild mannered and docile workhorses of today who put their strength to less brutal use. The destrier was the horse of battle, but would not have proved a comfortable mount for the " off duty" knight. Instead, the knight rode the palfrey, a short-legged, long-bodied horse that had a gentle amble for a gait. The smooth ride afforded by the palfrey also made it a suitable mount for the wounded or aged that might have difficulty mounting and riding a taller horse.
Horse’s equipment:
Bit and Bridal: The mighty destrier required firmness for him to respond in the intensity of battle. Bits used on destriers had long cheeks or shanks and high ports since these would provide greater leverage on the curb, which exerted pressure on the horse's mouth. The reins were covered with metal plates to protect them from being cut by an opponent's sword.
Stirrups were essential to help the rider remain on the horse and also to give him greater leverage when swinging his sword or thrusting with his lance.
The Saddle: The high-backed saddle used by knights in warfare and jousting gave the knight greater leverage and kept him in his seat when he charged his opponent. The impact of the lance, which was up to 15 feet in length, could be immense due to the weight of the destrier propelling it forward.
In Battle:
Battles were usually small affairs, fought between the knights of individual lords. The object in a fight wasn't necessarily to kill an opponent, but to capture and ransom him. Your foe was worth more to you alive than dead.

b) Chivalry
Chivalry is the generic term for the knightly system of the Middle Ages and for virtues and qualities it inspired in its followers. The word evolved from terms such as chevalier (French), caballero (Spanish), and cavaliere (Italian), all meaning a warrior who fought on horseback. The term came to mean so much more during medieval times. 13th Century conventions of chivalry directed that men should honour, serve, and do nothing to displease ladies and maidens. c) Agincourt • Date: 25 October 1415 during The Hundred Years War. • Who: Henry V the King of England at that time and the throne of France • • The Hundred Years War was fought because of claims by English monarchs on the French throne. • French forces blocked the road to Calais and challenged Henry to battle. The lines were drawn in some recently ploughed fields between the villages of Agincourt and Tramecourt. English forces, weary and ill from the long march, were outnumbered by the French forces and appeared to be doomed. At first, the French waited; Henry ordered the English line to move forward to extreme longbow range and stop. The first round of arrows to strike the French ignited a cavalry charge and the battle was joined. The cavalry charge was blunted by concentrated English longbow firing, the muddy field, and wooden stakes the English archers had driven into the ground. The French nobles, knights, and men-at-arms advanced on foot towards the English infantry. By the time they reached the English line, most were exhausted by the struggle through the mud. The French ignored the English archers (who were firing constantly) so as to gain glory by defeating the English nobles. Those French men felled by arrows or pushed to the ground were helpless because their heavy armour kept them from standing. The English line held while the lightly armoured (thus nimble) archers killed prostrate French. The battle turned into a rout and the French departed the field. • The English won the day; it appears that the English lost a few hundred men while the French lost several thousand. The English longbow men certainly played a major role, but the primary reason the French were defeated was their lack of a unified command. The French were provoked into an attack on unfavourable terms and no commander on the field had the ability to stop the charge. The French eventually won the war and expelled the English from France. •

Bibliography

A Medieval Castle- Fiona Macdonald and Mark Bergin 1990 Salariya Book co. www.medieval-castles.net www.kyrene.k12.az.us www.imh.org victorian.fortunecity.com www.britainexpress.com www.medieval-life.net home.austin.rr.com By Max Fioretti ©

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