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European Castles had their origins dating back to around A.D. 900 to 1000 and played a great role in the then military system of feudalism. During the Middle Ages, Europe was a vastly divided continent to that which we have come to know today. She was made up of many tiny feudal states and local conflicts between neighboring states were common.Castles were first built for defense against attacking armies of war torn feudal Europe and were necessary to help protect the villages and their lords. As Europe grew and the states merged or were conquered, the castle was built as a place of government over the local populace. By 1500, castles became much less important in Europe. Cannons were invented, so it was easy to invade, capture and destroy a castle.The date indicated on the slides is when the construction was started. Many changes and additions were done during the years.There is some confusion between the difference between a castle and a palace. A castle formed the center of a county and was also its defense. In times of war people could seek refuge at the castle. It was also the dwelling of the lord of that particular county. A palace is a very luxurious home for wealthy people, built by anybody who had money enough to build and maintain it and had nothing to do with defense. Some palaces are wrongly named castles. For instance the Peles Castle from Romania is really a summer palace.The selection of the pictures for this presentation is far from complete. There are many more hundreds of castles in Europe that are not shown.The castles are shown in alphabetical order. To avoid boredom, by seeing too many pictures at one time, the presentation is divided in three parts. Enjoy!
