Medieval Castle facts
While investigating facts about Medieval Castles and Medieval Castle Layout, I found out little known, but curios details like:
The French have been building a castle for 20 years using medieval techniques and building material, anyone can participate in the project, which will be completed in 2023.
how medieval castles were built?
In medieval castles, stairwells ran clockwise, so attackers coming up the stairs had their sword hands (right hand) against the wall's interior curve which made it hard for them to swing their swords. Defenders had their swords on the outside wall, which meant more room to swing.
What was life like in a medieval castle?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what is priority castle access at medieval times. Here are 49 of the best facts about Medieval Castles For Sale and Medieval Castles Facts I managed to collect.
what were medieval castles made of?
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In 1997 an experiment to build a castle, using only medieval tools began, and twenty one years later they're more than half way finished.
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Medieval Castles went up in a clockwise spiral to give defenders a sword fighting advantage
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People have been building a medieval castle near Treigny, France, using only medieval techniques and materials, according to an architectural model from the 13th century. They're in their seventeenth year.
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Spiral staircases in medieval castles were deliberately made clockwise because it diminished the ability of attackers to properly swing their swords, since right-handed fighters would have had to to contend with the walls while making their striking motions.
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That, on 16 november 1949, students in Ghent (Belgium) stormed the medieval castle, lowered the portculis and threw fruit from the walls at the police to protest a new tax on beer. The event is still commemorated yearly by the city as the greatest student prank in its history.
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The reason behind spiral stairs being clockwise: In medieval times, they were designed this way in castles, so that attackers running up the stairs had their sword-arm near the center column, while the defenders had more room to swing their sword.
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In the final days of WWII, German Wehrmacht soldiers fought alongside US Army troops to defend a medieval castle from the Waffen SS
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In 1944, a small militia of 30 men in Luxembourg defended a medieval castle successfully against the onslaught of 250 Waffen SS, killing 18 nazis and forcing the rest to retreat. The castle proved to be a useful Allied watchtower into German territory for months to come.
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American and German soldiers teamed up against the Nazis in a battle for a medieval castle
Why was medieval life centered around the castle?
You can easily fact check why were castles built in medieval europe by examining the linked well-known sources.
In 1949 in Ghent, Belgium, students took over a medieval castle and fended off police with fruits and vegetables because they were unhappy with a price increase on beer.
A team of French volunteers is rebuilding an entire medieval castle from scratch and doing it only with medieval instruments. Château de Guédelon is the largest project of its kind in the world. - source
In the early 1900s, rich American robber barons like Hearst would buy entire medieval European castles and transport them, stone by stone, back to America to be rebuilt. They're all over the country now. - source
Early Medieval castles often had small windows which made the interior dark. In the 1200s larger windows began to be included to allow for more light.
Sometimes sharp spikes were set in place in the moats so that invaders that were not turned away by the sewage would still be fought off (or killed) by the spikes.
When were medieval castles built?
It wasn"t until the middle of the Medieval times that fireplaces were invented. Up until then castles were very cold.
How medieval castles were defended?
Medieval castles often had gatehouses that provided access to the castle for its inhabitants but also provided protection against invaders. These gatehouses made it possible to stop unwanted visitors from gaining entry.
The tower of a castle was referred to as a "donjon".
Originally castles were built of wood and earth but stone was later used as it provided more protection from invaders.
There are more than 10,000 medieval castles still in existence today in Europe and in Asia.