Encastellation

Last updated

Encastellation (sometimes castellation, which can also mean crenellation) is the process whereby the feudal kingdoms of Europe became dotted with castles, from which local lords could dominate the countryside of their fiefs and their neighbours', and from which kings could command even the far-off corners of their realms. The ubiquity of the castle is iconic of the Middle Ages.

Contents

The process was rather quick once the castle, as a distinct type of fortress, was introduced. However, it took different forms in different lands. The methods and reasons of encastellation differed based on law (who could legally build a castle), necessity (who needed a castle), and geography (where could castles be effectively built). The stone castle originated probably in the north of France in the tenth century. Older wooden castles, of the motte-and-bailey variety are probably older, though they were far more common until well into the twelfth century.

France

In France, encastellation began in the north, in Normandy and Anjou, under the direction both of local barons as well as the Duke of Normandy and the Count of Anjou. Most of these castles were of the motte-and-bailey type, which could be constructed with ease in a few months. Stone castles, however, were built before the end of the tenth century in Anjou. [1] These were originally nothing more than towers, donjons (from whence dungeon) or keeps. The reason for this proliferation was to provide oneself with protection in times of war, primarily as a place of refuge, but also as a strategic headquarters: a place from which to sally forth to raid and plunder before retreating to safety (again, the castle). For example, in Normandy:

Because [Hugh of Abbeville's peers] were not all lords of castles, [he] became more powerful than the rest of his peers. For he could do what he liked without fear, relying on the protection of the castle, while others, if they tried anything, were easily overcome as they had no refuge. [2]

From Normandy and Anjou, encastellation spread to the Loire Valley. In Poitou, there were thirty nine castles by the eleventh century, the constructions primarily of local magnates. Fortification had briskly increased in Gaul during the Viking Age (see Edict of Pistres) and this merely continued apace while the Carolingian dynasty declined in importance and regional control devolved to regional lords.

In Languedoc and the south of France, there were more serious attempts, the Peace and Truce of God movements, to curb feudal warfare. But with the spread of heresy came the spread of castles as fortresses to which heretic barons could flee, such as the "five sons of Carcassonne."

Italy

In Italy, the process of encastellation is known as incastellamento. It has a specific notion, as the incastellamento describes less the building of castles than the change towards fortified settlements, in which the castle proper (rocca) is a separate part. The term 'incastellamento' for this process was coined by Pierre Toubert. [3] As in France, it was a different process in the north and the south.

In the north, the castles were originally the seats of the barons. They spread quickly after the disruption of royal authority in Italy in the mid-tenth century. By the eleventh century, the territorial magnates, like the margrave of Tuscany, were supreme and castles dotted the landscape. With the rise of the city-states after the collapse of Tuscan power in the early twelfth century, the powerful merchant families began to construct fortress and towers as residences in the cities. Well-preserved San Gimignano was the result of the struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines.

In the centre of the peninsula, the Papal States, the agents of encastellation were not large territorial magnates, but the petty nobles who belonged to various families and factions usually associated with Rome in some way. The Crescentii and the Tusculani constructed fortresses throughout Latium to dominate the roads leading to the Eternal City and the Vatican. During the papal nadir of the tenth and eleventh centuries, their hilltop fortresses gave these minor lords far more power than their territories would otherwise permit. In Rome itself, encastellation often led to the fortifying of the ancient monuments which had fallen into disuses, such as the Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum. These fortresses were usually in the hands of one of the powerful lay families, but sometimes of the popes.

In the Mezzogiorno, the independent principalities of the Lombards and the Italian city-states, which distanced themselves from any central authority, formed an opportune place for the proliferation of castles. Indeed, the nominally Byzantine duchies of Gaeta, Naples, and Amalfi grew around what were originally small coastal fortresses. The decline of ducal authority in these places has been blamed on the tendency to give outlying regions to younger sons (e.g. Docibilis II of Gaeta granting Fondi to Marinus), who then built their own fortresses and thus became independent in fact. Historian G. A. Loud considers incastellamento as one of the chief reasons for the decline in princely influence in Benevento and Capua (especially the former) during the late tenth century. [4] Historian Barbara Kreutz notes the encastellation of the monastic estates which dominated south Italian politics and contributed to the constant confiscation and invasion of monastic estates as lay barons sought to increase their power against their foes during the war-filled eleventh and twelfth centuries. [5] The arrival of the Normans, adept castle-builders, in the early eleventh century only exacerbated the tendency toward fortification of every hilltop. Together with the Prince of Salerno, they subdued Calabria and encastellated its mountainous territory, leading to the inevitable invasion of Sicily.

Spain

The encastellation of Spain is inextricably linked to the Reconquista. That said, encastellation occurred mostly in the centre of the peninsula. This region, originally a county of the Kingdom of León, even adopted the name Castile because of its many castles. The castles first began to spread quickly in the tenth century, in light of the increasing power of the Castilian counts vis-à-vis the king. During the long reign of Count Fernán González, Castile became de facto independent and its castles multiplied.

Britain

True medieval castles were a somewhat later arrival in Britain than in continental Europe. The process of encastellation in Britain is as inextricably linked to Normanisation (which is, of course, linked to the Norman Conquest) as the encastellation of Spain is to the Reconquista.

England

Normanisation began in England before the Conquest primarily through the Norman sojourn of Ethelred II and the influence of his Norman queen Emma. During the reign of Edward the Confessor (10421066), definite strides were taken in spreading Norman ideas to England. Castles were first built in England in his reign under the direction especially of his Norman marcher lord Ralph the Timid.

Encastellation began in earnest under William the Conqueror in the years immediately following the Battle of Hastings. Castles of the motte-and-bailey were erected quickly all over the country to subdue the locals and prevent foreign invasions by rival claimants to the throne. Within a matter of years, England was fully castled. Most of these castles belonged to the king or one of his tenants-in-chief. The construction of numerous castles by minor lords was a feature, as in most places, of the reign of weaker kings.

Wales

The Welsh Marches had been encastellated from an early date, beginning even before the Conquest. However, the proliferation of castles in Wales dates only from its English conquest, though a few stone castles date from the reign of Llywelyn the Great.

Motte-and-bailey castles existed from before the thirteenth century in those parts of Wales which fell under English authority and they spread in south Wales after its conquest, but the most famous encastellation of Wales occurred in the north under Edward I of England (12721307). His famous Edwardian concentric castles, large stoneworks with multiple rings of defences, grew up at strategic locations throughout the north and the local populace was placed securely under English authority. In this case, encastellation was the result, not of weak central authority, but of a strong royal hand and direction.

Scotland

In Scotland, the spread of castles came with the Normans who, in the twelfth century, began constructing castles of the motte-and-bailey type in the south, where they received royal support, especially in Galloway. At about the same time, the first stone castles appeared in the north, in Orkney, built not by Normans but by the Norse.

Ireland

In Ireland, as in Britain and most of Europe, encastellation was primarily a Norman venture. The first castles were motte-and-baileys built on the expanding frontier of the English Pale and within it to control the local population, according to Gerald of Wales. Stone castles were slow to develop, appearing in the late thirteenth century.

Germany

As in France, so in Germany: the impetus for encastellation was provided, not by a strong monarch, but by the weakening of royal authority. During the eleventh-century Investiture Controversy in Germany and the resulting decline of the royal power, castle-building exploded as local warlords staked claims to formerly royal prerogatives in their petty states.

In Prussia, during the Drang nach Osten and the Northern Crusades of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, encastellation was the result of the Margraves of Brandenburg and the Teutonic Knights, who, among others, conquered the land from the pagan Prussians. The construction of castles to control territories occurred at a late point in the development of the castle and these fortresses were large and complex. They were called Ordensburgen and they served as headquarters and training grounds for initiates into the knightly orders.

Notes

  1. Painter, p ?.
  2. Hariulf.
  3. Pierre Toubert: Les structures du Latium médiéval. Le Latium méridional et la Sabine du 9e siècle à la fin du 12e siècle, Rom 1973.
  4. Loud, p 481.
  5. Kreutz, pp 134-5.

Sources

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle</span> Fortified residential structure of medieval Europe

A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a castle to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion, palace and villa, whose main purpose was exclusively for pleasance and are not primarily fortresses but may be fortified. Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-century homes built to resemble castles. Over the Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were commonplace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcher lord</span> English noble appointed to protect the border with Wales

A marcher lord was a noble appointed by the king of England to guard the border between England and Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maine (province)</span> Place in France

Maine is one of the traditional provinces of France. It corresponds to the former County of Maine, whose capital was also the city of Le Mans. The area, now divided into the departments of Sarthe and Mayenne, has about 857,000 inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motte-and-bailey castle</span> Medieval fortification

A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to build with unskilled labour, but still militarily formidable, these castles were built across northern Europe from the 10th century onwards, spreading from Normandy and Anjou in France, into the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the Low Countries it controlled, in the 11th century, when these castles were popularized in the area that became the Netherlands. The Normans introduced the design into England and Wales. Motte-and-bailey castles were adopted in Scotland, Ireland, and Denmark in the 12th and 13th centuries. By the end of the 13th century, the design was largely superseded by alternative forms of fortification, but the earthworks remain a prominent feature in many countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">France in the Middle Ages</span> France from the 10th to 15th centuries

The Kingdom of France in the Middle Ages was marked by the fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and West Francia (843–987); the expansion of royal control by the House of Capet (987–1328), including their struggles with the virtually independent principalities, and the creation and extension of administrative/state control in the 13th century; and the rise of the House of Valois (1328–1589), including the protracted dynastic crisis against the House of Plantagenet and their Angevin Empire, culminating in the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), which laid the seeds for a more centralized and expanded state in the early modern period and the creation of a sense of French identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman architecture</span> Styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans

The term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used for English Romanesque architecture. The Normans introduced large numbers of castles and fortifications including Norman keeps, and at the same time monasteries, abbeys, churches and cathedrals, in a style characterised by the usual Romanesque rounded arches and especially massive proportions compared to other regional variations of the style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keep</span> Fortified tower built in the Middle Ages

A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the castle fall to an adversary. The first keeps were made of timber and formed a key part of the motte-and-bailey castles that emerged in Normandy and Anjou during the 10th century; the design spread to England, Portugal, south Italy and Sicily. As a result of the Norman invasion of 1066, use spread into Wales during the second half of the 11th century and into Ireland in the 1170s. The Anglo-Normans and French rulers began to build stone keeps during the 10th and 11th centuries, including Norman keeps, with a square or rectangular design, and circular shell keeps. Stone keeps carried considerable political as well as military importance and could take a decade or more to build.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angevin Empire</span> Medieval dynastic union of states in present-day England, France, Ireland, and Wales

The term Angevin Empire describes the possessions held by the House of Plantagenet during the 12th and 13th centuries, when they ruled over an area covering roughly all of present-day England, half of France, and parts of Ireland and Wales, and had further influence over much of the remaining British Isles. It may be described as an early example of a composite monarchy. The empire was established by Henry II of England, who succeeded his father Geoffrey as Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou. Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, acquiring the Duchy of Aquitaine, and inherited his mother Empress Matilda's claim to the English throne, succeeding his rival Stephen in 1154. Although their title of highest rank came from the Kingdom of England, the Plantagenets held court primarily on the continent at Angers in Anjou, and at Chinon in Touraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catepanate of Italy</span> Province of the Byzantine Empire in the Italian Peninsula (965–1071)

The Catepanateof Italy was a province of the Byzantine Empire from 965 until 1071. At its greatest extent, it comprised mainland Italy south of a line drawn from Monte Gargano to the Gulf of Salerno. North of that line, Amalfi and Naples also maintained allegiance to Constantinople through the catepan. The Italian region of Capitanata derives its name from katepanikion.

Walcher was the bishop of Durham from 1071, a Lotharingian and the first Prince-bishop. He was the first non-Englishman to hold that see and an appointee of William the Conqueror following the Harrying of the North. He was murdered in 1080, which led William to send an army into Northumbria to harry the region again.

Herbert I, called Wakedog, was the count of Maine from 1017 until his death. He had a turbulent career with an early victory that may have contributed to his later decline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Château de Gisors</span>

The Château de Gisors is a castle in the town of Gisors in the department of Eure, France. The castle was a key fortress of the Dukes of Normandy in the 11th and 12th centuries. It was intended to defend the Anglo-Norman Vexin territory from the pretensions of the King of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman conquest of southern Italy</span> Historical event in the European Middle Ages

The Norman conquest of southern Italy lasted from 999 to 1194, involving many battles and independent conquerors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">England in the High Middle Ages</span> 1066–1216 period in English history

In the history of England, the High Middle Ages spanned the period from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the death of King John, considered by some historians to be the last Angevin king of England, in 1216. A disputed succession and victory at the Battle of Hastings led to the conquest of England by William of Normandy in 1066. This linked the Kingdom of England with Norman possessions in the Kingdom of France and brought a new aristocracy to the country that dominated landholding, government and the church. They brought with them the French language and maintained their rule through a system of castles and the introduction of a feudal system of landholding. By the time of William's death in 1087, England formed the largest part of an Anglo-Norman empire, ruled by nobles with landholdings across England, Normandy and Wales. William's sons disputed succession to his lands, with William II emerging as ruler of England and much of Normandy. On his death in 1100 his younger brother claimed the throne as Henry I and defeated his brother Robert to reunite England and Normandy. Henry was a ruthless yet effective king, but after the death of his only male heir William Adelin, he persuaded his barons to recognise his daughter Matilda as heir. When Henry died in 1135 her cousin Stephen of Blois had himself proclaimed king, leading to a civil war known as The Anarchy. Eventually Stephen recognised Matilda's son Henry as his heir and when Stephen died in 1154, he succeeded as Henry II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castles in South Yorkshire</span>

While there are many castles in South Yorkshire, the majority are manor houses and motte-and-bailey which were commonly found in England after the Norman Conquest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County of Anjou</span> Medieval French county (861–1360)

The County of Anjou was a French county that was the predecessor to the Duchy of Anjou. Its capital was Angers, and its area was roughly co-extensive with the diocese of Angers. Anjou was bordered by Brittany to the west, Maine to the north, Touraine to the east and Poitou to the south. Its 12th century Count Geoffrey created the nucleus of what became the Angevin Empire. The adjectival form is Angevin, and inhabitants of Anjou are known as Angevins. In 1360, the county was raised into the Duchy of Anjou within the Kingdom of France. This duchy was later absorbed into the French royal domain in 1482 and remained a province of the kingdom until 1790.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waytemore Castle</span> Medieval fortress in Hertfordshire, England

Waytemore Castle is a ruined castle in the town of Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, England. The remains are a Grade I listed structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Château de la Motte</span>

Château de la Motte is a chateau located in the commune of Joué-du-Plain (Orne) in Normandy, France. The chateau began as a Viking motte-and-bailey castle and evolved into the 18th- and 19th-century chateau seen today. The two most noted families who owned the site were the Gabriel Montgommerys and the Nicolas Angos, but its role as a Resistance center in World War II may be its most notable episode.

The integration of Normandy into the royal domain of the Kingdom of France is the process of conquering and integrating the Duchy of Normandy into the domain directly under the French crown. Normandy, created in 911, was dominated by the Duke of Normandy, vassal of the King of France. This marked the beginning of a struggle between the kings of France and the dukes, the latter paying only symbolic homage to their suzerain. In 1066, William the Conqueror, then Duke of Normandy, seized the crown of England and became more powerful than the King of France. The Angevin Empire would later represent a threat to the stability of the French kingdom, which the kings of France would endeavor to break up.