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Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

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BEYOND THE BATTLEFIELD: THE KNIGHT IN MEDIEVAL SOCIETY -•<br />

From its very earliest days, then, the castle was designed as a form of defence, a shelter<br />

for the lord <strong>and</strong> his retinue <strong>and</strong> a means of securing control of a region. On his l<strong>and</strong>ing<br />

at Pevensey in 1066, William's first act was to have a castle built, <strong>and</strong> from his victory<br />

at Hastings a rash of motte <strong>and</strong> bailey castles spread across the l<strong>and</strong> as the incoming<br />

Norman lords took hold ol their new possessions <strong>and</strong> stamped their authority on them.<br />

Castles continued to be an essential <strong>and</strong> regular aspect of medieval warfare. As we<br />

have suggested above, sieges were more prevalent than pitched battles <strong>and</strong> the<br />

campaign strategies of medieval generals invariably had to take into account the<br />

location <strong>and</strong> strength ol fortifications, both castle <strong>and</strong> walled town. In border regions,<br />

such as along the Welsh <strong>and</strong> Scottish March or in the Vexin, the debatable l<strong>and</strong><br />

between the Duchy of Norm<strong>and</strong>y <strong>and</strong> the French royal l<strong>and</strong>s of the lie de France,<br />

<strong>and</strong> in the minor <strong>and</strong> factional lordships of the Low Countries <strong>and</strong> Rhine valleys,<br />

castles proliferated. Some remained little more than temporary timber structures like<br />

the motte <strong>and</strong> baileys hastily thrown up by William's forces, designed to act as refuges<br />

against raiders <strong>and</strong> bases from which a small garrison might harass their lines, whilst<br />

others grew in size <strong>and</strong> complexity, their timber palisades being replaced by stone<br />

walls <strong>and</strong> their tower-topped mottes replaced by massive keeps like the White Tower<br />

in London or the great keep at Rochester.<br />

<strong>The</strong>se gr<strong>and</strong>er structures were more than military reluges, however, <strong>and</strong> their<br />

design <strong>and</strong> architecture was not wholly focused on the needs ol defence <strong>and</strong> the threat<br />

of the siege. <strong>The</strong> castle served as a political <strong>and</strong> administrative base for the king, baron<br />

or lord. It provided a residence for him <strong>and</strong> his household, on a more or less permanent<br />

basis, <strong>and</strong> served as the caput or head ol his lordship. It was in the castle that the<br />

manorial <strong>and</strong> shire courts were held, where dues <strong>and</strong> taxes were delivered <strong>and</strong> paid,<br />

where complaints were brought <strong>and</strong> justice delivered. <strong>The</strong> architecture ol the castle<br />

inevitably reflected these functions.<br />

<strong>The</strong> size of the castle <strong>and</strong> the complexity of its defences were as much about<br />

projecting an image of the power <strong>and</strong> strength of its owner as they were about<br />

defending that owner from attack. <strong>The</strong> castles that Edward I caused to be built after<br />

his campaigns <strong>and</strong> subjugation of the Welsh were not just bases from which his<br />

garrisons could prevent a resurgence ol the Welsh princes, or bases from which to<br />

launch further campaigns. In their scale <strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>eur, they were statements ol his<br />

power <strong>and</strong> royal authority. Caernarfon Castle's walls were built with great angled<br />

towers <strong>and</strong> b<strong>and</strong>ed stonework that mimicked that of the walls of Constantinople <strong>and</strong><br />

reflected that city's symbolism of imperial <strong>and</strong> ancient power.<br />

A complex series of gateways winding up towards the keep might well make for a<br />

defence in depth, channelling an attacker through a series of kill-zones <strong>and</strong> under<br />

murder holes <strong>and</strong> arrow slits. Equally, however, it took the petitioner on a procession<br />

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