Castles

1. Castles By Ethan N. & Trenten M.

2. The importance of castles. • Castles were well built by brick which made it a well fortified place. • Castles served as a home for kings and queens and etc. • Castles also served as a place of protection at a time of an invasion in which it would protect the people of the land.

3. What is a castle? • Often called a fortress, a large fortified building normally with tall, strong, brick walls equipped with battlements and garrison of troops. Without a castle the land could be very vulnerable to invasions.

4. How castles were first built. • Castles where originated in the 9th and 10th centuries. • They where built by mud and dirt and wood. But later they found out that stone was much stronger so they replaced them with stone. • After that stone became the most used throughout the middle ages because of its sturdiness .

5. Short Steps of Building a Castle • First a castle needs well thought out planes like blueprints and an architect. Most likely built on a defensive land form. • Then they’ll need workers most likely slaves or peasants to do the job. • After that they need lots of stone brick because it gives the most protection against iron weapons. • Lastly, after they put it all together and decorate it all they need is a king and queen with lots of solders. Then they have a castle!

6. Layers of defense. • There are 5 layers of defense lets look at them. • #1 location: is the first defense they have because making invaders fight up hill can make it very hard for them. • #2 Moat: this method was not used to drown the enemy but to make it not possible for invaders to dig tunnels under the castle and wreck havoc. • #3 Outer wall: this was very strong and thick as stated before. There were towers put a certain points of the castle as well. This is where the defenders would shoot arrows at the enemy. • #4 Inner wall this was used when the outer wall gets breached and from there the defender can continue their defense. • #5 This is the defenders last stand its called the keep it was the heart of the defense this is where the king and queen live.

7. Where were castles built? • Castles were built for defense and when ever possible it was built near defensive land forms like a river or a hill. • Castles were some times built surrounded by ditches for defense. • Some castles had what was called a killing field because attackers had no where to hide.

8. Layers of defense layout

9. Castle walls • Castles would be built with thick brick walls. • Battering rams would have a hard time breaking into these thick castle walls. • Often called battlements these were made of stone as well, and looked like small walls around the top of the castle. These battlements gave protection to castle defenders when not firing what ever weapon they had.

10. Murder Holes • Murder Holes were for a castles defenses against the enemy. Above the main entrance solders would throw boiling water down the Murder Hole and would burn the enemy making it very hard for invaders to get in the castles.

11. Round towers • Round towers on a wall helped defense on a castle because it was believed that if any missile like object was thrown at a round tower it would deflect off of the tower because it was a round surface. • Also it was thought that if attackers were to dig under a castle with a weak corner, with a round tower it would be nearly impossible because there are no corners in a round tower because its round.

12. The Keep • A keep was big tower in the center of a castle built to be taller than the castle walls which allowed the defenders to see what was happening around the castle, this also allowed castle defenders to fire at enemies that were on the ground.

13. Parts of a castle.

14. Siege the Castle! • There were six ways to siege a castle this is how… • #1 Spies were used at night to break into the castle and open the gates and wreak havoc inside the castle. • #2 Treachery which means that someone that is in the castle that is trusted by the people could give false information like saying there are more troops that are attacking the castle than there really are and out of fear the people could surrender. • #3 They could starve the people by stationing them selves around the castle and not letting any imports come to the castle and after months the people would surrender. • #4 Disease, they have the ability to do this by launching rotting corpses into the castles causing diseases and death. • #5 Storming, this is just a simple all out attack on the castle hopefully this would collapse the castle. • #6 Finally mining, the army would dig a tunnel under the castle and would try to collapse the castle walls and defenses.

15. 5 Questions about castles. • Q.1 What were castles made of? • Q.2 What are murder holes? • Q.3 What is a castle? • Q.4 What did a castle serve at times of war? • Q.5 Between what centuries were castles built?

16. History of castles. You’ll find out about the history of castles in the middle ages.

17. Warwick castle • Warwick castle built in 1208 to defend the Anglo Saxon people it has seen some of the most bloodiest wars of all time!

18. Famous medieval castle Krack des Chevaliers Krak des Chevaliers means Fortress of Knights. This is a very famous castle because of its role in the crusades. This represents a well built castle because of a well defended location and has had many battles in its lifetime!

19. A different kind of castle. • Castles are not only castles in Europe because of war in China and Japan there have been many castles built over the years many of the castles that were built still stand today. The castle in the bottom picture may look different than a regular castle in Europe but it isn't lets look further into this.

20. How Japanese castles are similar to regular European castles. Strong walls for protection. Often used defenses like moats. Main gate would often used as a trap. They use layers of wall for extra protection. They would both build their castles from a good terrain like a mountain or a hill. Stairways were narrow for invaders difficulty. They both had stations for weapons like arrows and catapults. Comparing castles.

21. Special thanks to… • Wikipedia • Castle wals .com • Medieval castles .com • Guide to castles in Europe .com • Medieval castles .net • History learning site .com • Medieval castles. storm the castle .com

22. THANKS FOR WATCHING!!!