The elements of the castle
En la arquitectura castelar pueden señalarse los siguientes componentes como esenciales y característicos:.
The castral speck
A mote was a mound of earth with a flat top. It was often artificial, although sometimes it was incorporated into a pre-existing feature of the landscape. The excavation of the earth to make the mound left a ditch around the motte, called a "moat" (from which the word "mote" is derived from "motte" in Old French and "moat" as a moat), indicating how these interdependent features were associated with each other in the original construction. Although the mote is commonly associated with the patio (or "bailey") to form what was called "Mota and Bailey castle", this was not always the case and there are cases in which a mote existed by itself.[4].
"Mota" refers to the mound alone, but it was often topped by a fortified structure, as a tribute, and the flat top would be surrounded by a palisade.[4] It was common for the mound to be reached by a drawbridge (a bridge over the ditch from the counterscarp of the moat to the edge of the top of the mound), as shown in the Bayeux Tapestry's description of Dinan Castle.[5] Sometimes, a mote covered an old castle or "hall", whose rooms became underground storage areas and prisons under a new fortress "Fortress (architecture)").[6]
Near
The entire enclosure is surrounded by a high and thick wall, generally passable by the coastal path, a path that runs along its upper part. From time to time, cubes or towers are interspersed in the wall to diversify the shooting angles and better defend the curtains. All canvases are usually topped by battlements for the protection of defenders. It is also common to have machicolations and blown sentry boxes to improve the shooting conditions on the assailants. At the foot of the wall and surrounding it on the outside, a ditch is sometimes opened to prevent the approach of the enemy; It is saved with drawbridges. There may be more than one walled defensive ring.
keep
It is the main tower, which serves as the lord's residence and fulfills the most important functions of the castle, housing the main rooms and, sometimes, the food warehouses. It is located in the most sheltered position in relation to a possible external attack, so that if the rest of the defenses succumb, this tower would provide a last refuge.
It is generally higher than the rest of the complex, its dimensions can be up to 40 meters. The tallest keep in Spain is that of the Sotomayor Zúñiga Castle "Castillo de los Sotomayor Zúñiga y Madroñiz (Belalcázar)") in Belalcázar (Córdoba).
parade ground
Also called the parade ground, it constitutes a central space that in some cases recalls monastic cloisters. Certain rooms are distributed around the patio, such as the chapel (when there is one), the reception room, the warehouses for quartering the troops, the armory "Armeria (armament)"), etc. The entrance to the castle is through the parade ground; From it you can access the rest of the rooms such as access corridors to the dungeons or even secret escape passages, which are usually reserved for the lord. It is used for military training of the garrison. In Latin America the term is used as a synonym for the main square.
First Walls
What function do these first walls have for these prehistoric societies. The main function was to contain the community and its resources preserved within solid limits, with access and exit areas for the population, obviously it also had a strong role in the defense of the city seeking to prevent the entry of people and animals which were not welcome, which led them to be of great solidity and resistance, later monumentality was gained for the protection of major invasions. The construction of these required a great mobilization of the population, to transport materials, feed labor and their layout and structure design.
curtain wall
Curtain walls were the walls that enclosed a courtyard. They had to be tall enough to make climbing walls difficult to construct ladders and tall enough to withstand the bombardment of siege engines which, from the century onwards, included heavy gunpowder artillery. A typical wall might be 3 meters (10 feet) thick and 12 meters (39 feet) high, although sizes vary greatly between castles. To protect them from falling, curtain walls were sometimes made with a stone skirt around their bases. Walkways along the top of the curtain walls allowed the defenders to rain missiles on the enemies below, and the battlements gave them greater protection. The curtain walls were dotted with towers to allow fire to be fired along the wall.[7] Loopholes in walls did not become common in Europe until the 19th century, for fear that they might endanger the strength of the wall.[8]
Fortified gate or Gatehouse
The entrance was often the weakest part of the defense circuit. To overcome this, the gatehouse was developed, allowing those within the castle to control the flow of traffic. In earth and wood castles, the entrance door was usually the first section to be rebuilt in stone. The front of the gatehouse was a blind spot and to overcome this, protruding towers were added to each side of the gate in a style similar to that developed by the Romans.[9] The gatehouse contained a series of defenses to make a direct assault more difficult than breaking down a simple gate. Typically, there were one or more portcullises (portcullis (architecture))—a metal-reinforced wooden grate to block passage—and loopholes to allow for defenses. The passage through the front door was lengthened to increase the amount of time an attacker had to spend under fire in a closed space and could not retaliate.[10]
It is a popular myth that the so-called meurtrière, which were the openings in the roof at the entrance through the door, were used to pour boiling oil or molten lead on the attackers; since the price of oil and lead and the distance from the front door showed that the notion is impractical. But they were possibly used to throw objects on attackers, or to allow water to be poured during fires.[11] On the upper floor of the gatehouse, accommodation was provided so that the door was never left undefended, although as time went by the accommodation became more comfortable at the expense of defense.[12]
During the 2nd centuries, the barbican developed.[13] This consisted of a wall, moat, and possibly a tower, in front of the entrance gate,[14] which could be used to further protect the entrance. The purpose of a barbican was not only to provide another line of defense, but also to dictate the only approach to the gate.[15].
Other elements
This is the name given to an additional defensive fortification, on the most advanced side of the moat. It protected doors, bridgeheads or any other place that was a weak point. It is also called ravelin.
The more or less wide space that one finds as soon as one crosses the drawbridge, to the right and left, between the wall that surrounds the castle and the building. It is at ground level, while the walkway is high.
The cistern or well is the tank to store the water almost always obtained with hauling contributions; Sometimes the system also allowed rainwater to be stored. It was generally built underground.
The battlement, also called merlon, is a typical architectural element of medieval military architecture. These are each of the vertical and rectangular projections arranged at regular intervals that crown the perimeter walls of the castle, to protect the defenders.
Soldiers fighting from the top of the castle's steep walls cannot shoot or otherwise attack enemies at the base of the wall without exposing themselves to arrows. The castles were improved with ladroneras, which were cubicles that protruded from the high walls, on the floor of which there were machicolations and in whose front wall there were loopholes.
At the bottom of the thieves there were trapdoors called machicolations. They could be opened and the defenders could shoot arrows and throw stones, boiling water or very hot sand.
Holes in the roof, through which boiling water, hot sand or rocks could spill. These holes also allowed soldiers to convey orders or put out flames if the door was set on fire.