Photos of the Best Medieval Castles & Fortifications Sites

Photos of the Best Medieval Castles & Fortifications Historic Sites

Photos of Medieval Castles & Fortifications – Churches, Cathedrals & Catle Sites. From 500 AD to 1500 AD.

To modern minds, now used to war by missile and drone, the stone medieval castles and fortifications of the Medieval Era look like a poor means of protection against an enemy. When looking at Medieval castles it must be remembered that to Medieval Man there wall stood between life and death during troubled times. They might not look like state of the art military installations today but thats what they were 1000 years ago.

Medieval Lords Castles

Usually Medieval castles were the stronghold of a local lord or king from which he ruled the people who were his surfs or tenants. Medieval castles also protected the Lords from his neighbours. In the medieval period in most of Europe the way the nobility made money or increased their power was by raiding their neighbours lands. It is from the bootey taken during these raids that a medieval lord paid his Kinights.

Medieval Fortified Houses

When merchants wanted to protect their goods and households and create some autonomy from local lords, houses were fortified with towers. Medieval “Manhattans,” like San Gimignano can be seen in Tuscany, where medieval high towers were built. These were to signified the power of feuding families as much as for rtheir protection.

Svanetti Tower Houses

In frontier areas like the remote Svaneti region of Georgia in the high Caucasus Mountains, a lack of castles to retreat to in times of trouble meant that the houses were fortified with towers like those of Tuscany.

Medieval Fortified Cities

As medieval settlements grew it became important to fortify whole towns and cities against the frequent wars of the medieval world. Lords of cities needed to protect their citizens against attack so that they could pay him their tithes. A poorly fortified city was a poor investment and open to attack and looting. Many medieval city walls still stand like those at Carcasonne in France

Cave Castles of Cappadocia

Where building materials were hard to come by and the underlying rock permitted, fortified cave citadels were created. Some of the most spectacular can be seen in Cappadocia, Turkey, The underlying rock of the Cappadocian plateau is soft volcanic tufa rock hundreds of metres thick. Uchisar castle was made by tunnelling into a high tufa outcrop and making an underground city which housed thousands of people. Earthquakes and erosion has cause the outer tufa to collapse in places and a honeycomb of underground rooms has been exposed.

Medieval Fortified Churches

Medieval Europe was a dangerous place with the threat of raids an ever present danger. In many parts of Europe the church was a major land owner and employer of peasants. In Transylvania in present day Romania, the Saxon villages built fortified churches. Inside the high walls that surrounded a central church they created store rooms, one for every family in town, in which they stored their grain and meat. In times of trouble the whole town retreated into these fortified church compound and could easily sit out a long siege.

Sahara Fortified Ksars & Casbahs

To protect cross Saharan camel trains that were loaded with valuable produce, the Berbers of North Africa built Ksar’s which were mud brick fortifications. Ait Ben Haddou in Morocco is an example of a Medieval Ksar that was a protected citadel and trading post.

In Tunisia the cross Saharan traders built Ksar’s, like Ksar Ouled Soutane, with small rooms inside their walls in which the Berbers stored food. This meant that they had supplies waiting for them on their return from long winter trading trips across the Sahara. Today some Tunisian Ksars are famous as the locations used in Star Wars films.

The end of Castles as a stronghold

With the advent of the cannon that could blow holes in defensive walls the golden age of the castle slowly came to an end. Many castles and fortifications survive today as ruins that have become picturesque reminders of a lost past. Some castles like the Tower of London have survived in tact.