Concentric Castles. Having a common center. At a glance: advantages of concentric castles. The only hope was to lay siege to the castle in the hope that the inhabitants would eventually starve and surrender. However, with the advent of gunpowder and the development of new weapons and tactics to overrun these fortifications, castles became increasingly difficult to defend and maintain. So, what was the reason that concentric castles emerged in the 12th and 13th centuries, when stone keep castles were such strong defensive structures? the next castle after the concentric castle was buckingham palace. There are in my view at least 10 Spanish (/Portugese) concentric castles which are in better condition and/or more significant most of the examples given here. This greatly increased the defensive capability of the fortification, as attackers would have to breach not one, but two sets of formidable stone walls in order to capture the castle. Castle designer's response was to build thicker walls or to pile an earthen bank behind a castle's curtain wall to absorb some of the shocks of impact. The castle was originally just a dirt/wooden fort but was transformed by Lithuanian Princes into a stone castle. During my travels I was fascinated by the history and beauty of castles and I created this space to share my passion with you. Furthermore, their very great cost meant that they represented a huge burden on royal treasuries, which could of course lead to political instability and reduce prestige. This was certainly one of the primary reasons behind Edward’s construction of his concentric castles in Wales, as he was able to stamp his authority on the landscape of this newly acquired territory. Arrow slits were small openings in the stone wall through which archers defending the castle would fire against enemies inside the gatehouse. The Concentric castle was developed in the 12th and 13th Centuries and offered the best protection against attack. A concentric castle (or multiple castle) is a castle within a castle. A stone… The earliest example of a concentric castle is the crusader castle of Belvoir (c 1168), whose regular rectangular layout has been described as one castrum nested inside another. Concentric castles appeared in Europe in the 13th century, with the castles built in Wales by Edward I providing some outstanding examples, in particular Beaumaris Castle, a "perfect concentric castle", [3] albeit unfinished. NEVER MISS A POST Even though concentric castles were easy to defend and sturdy, they weren’t cheap to construct. Primarily these castles emerged in the crusader states in the 12th century and spread to Europe in the 13th century. The word concentric does not imply that these castles were circular; in fact, most of them were either square or polygonal. Concentric castles were carefully constructed to put as many obstacles as possible in the path of an attacker, but like earlier motte-and-bailey and stone keep castles, they also acted as powerful statements of political authority, thanks primarily to the enormous cost of their construction. The late 13th century saw the development of elaborate concentric castles which had multiple layers of defence. A key point in the design was to build towers facing in all directions. Originally, the site was owned by a French nobleman by the name of Velos, who lived in Tiberias. In particular, castles in the Crusader States were suffering from attacks by Islamic armies using counterweight trebuchets. Concentric castles represented a high point for medieval military architecture, and they were arguably the most formidable castles to be built during the period. The great innovation of concentric castles, aside from the multiple layers of walls, was the fact that they rarely contained a keep – unlike the earlier motte-and-bailey and stone keep castle designs, which were based around a central keep. However, stone castles built until the late 12th-century had few defensive features: a high central keep, sometimes a water-fill moat that surrounded the castle and some square towers along the curtain wall and flanking the gatehouse that was often poorly defended. Luxurious homes were created inside fortified walls. In fact, at their peak-time, concentric castles were so formidable that attacking them directly was deemed hopeless. A distributor who needs a larger … Because of the symmetrical shape and the towers facing all directions, defenders had a much better view of the surrounding countryside. 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