How to build yourself SEPTEMBER 17th Castle, 2016

In 1997, two masters began to erect in the historical region in the east of France, namely in Burgundy, a real medieval castle of the 13th century. Construction is carried out using methods and materials that have been available 800 years ago.

There you and Kamnetos, and all accompanying staff: Kuznets, potters, Welter Rods, Carpenters ... There is even a small farm with "medieval" pigs.

When will the castle be ready and whether there will be ghosts there - read about it in today's report.

1. Perhaps this is the only construction in the world, which is conducted by medieval methods. At its construction, there are no excavators and tower cranes, everything is as 800 years ago. (Photo Jacky Naegelen | Reuters):

2. France is famous for medieval castles. This idea arose from some Michel Guillau, the owner and restorers of another Castle of Saint-Fargo in the Jonna Department. In 1979, he purchased him a couple with a brother and restored 20 years. (Photo Jacky Naegelen | Reuters):

3. During this time, love for castles did not weaken, and Michelle Giyo decided to build another castle from scratch - the medieval castle of the XIII century, and to do it on the technologies of the time to better understand how the builders of that era worked. The second companion, and at the same time Marilyn Martin became the director of the project. She dreamed of making the region attractive for tourists, and this castle could be here as it is impossible by the way. (Photo Jacky Naegelen | Reuters):

4. The Gondelon Castle model is so called - it was completely invented by its creators who were inspired by architectural canons laid by the King of France Philip II August in the XII-XIII centuries. (Photo Jacky Naegelen | Reuters):

5. According to the standards of that time, in the future the castle will be dry ditch, one angular tower, which is more than the rest, two identical towers, protecting the entrance, loopholes on the steels of the towers. (Photo Jacky Naegelen | Reuters):

6. About 40 workers work at the construction site. Volunteers have huge help - every year several hundred volunteers actively help and take part in the construction of a medieval castle.

The blacksmith, it works here since 1999, and the picture was taken on October 29, 2013. (Photo Jacky Naegelen | Reuters):

7. When erecting the castle, rely on the preserved entries and illustrations of that time, and to be confident in the "medieval" of their technologies, the creators have long studied the existing castles of the XIII century.

8. The design of the castle Gedelon will allow to study many medieval masters. One of the most difficult tasks was the revival of stone production technologies. Tools, by the way, also homemade, and not from Lura, June 25, 2005. (Photo Jacky Naegelen | Reuters):

11. The construction date of construction is 2023, ahead of another 7 years of fascinating work. (Photo Jacky Naegelen | Reuters):

12. This will look like a bedroom inside the castle Gedelon, August 29, 2013. (Photo Jacky Naegelen | Reuters):

13. On the construction of the Gondelon Castle there are no cars, and workers drive around in the territory in the carts. (Photo Jacky Naegelen | Reuters):

14. Inside the lock of the castle. (Photo Jacky Naegelen | Reuters):

16. View of the construction site of Gedelon Castle, September 13, 2016. (Photo Jacky Naegelen | Reuters):

Not any castle is actually a castle. Today, the word "castle" we call almost any significant structure of the Middle Ages, whether there are a palace, a large estate or fortress - in general, the dwelling of feudal medieval Europe. Such household use of the word "castle" diverges with its initial value, because the castle is primarily a fortification strengthening. Inside the castle territory there could be a structure of various purposes: both residential, and religious, and cultural. But nevertheless, first of all, the main lock function is defensive. From this point of view, for example, the famous Romantic Palace of Ludwig II - Nosvstin is not the castle.

Location And not the features of the structure of the castle - the key to its defensive power. Of course, the planning of strengthening is important for the defense of the castle, but really impregnable does not make it the thickness of the walls and the location of the boothnitz, but a properly chosen construction site. The steep and high hill, to which it is almost impossible to get to get, a steep rock, a winding road to the castle, which is perfectly shot out of the fortress, determine the outcome of the battle to a much greater extent than the rest of the equipment.

Goal - The most vulnerable place in the castle. Of course, in the fortress was to be a central entrance (in peaceful moments, it happens, I want to fit beautifully and solemnly, not all the time the castle is defended). When capturing it is always easier to break through into that entrance, which is already there than creating a new, destroying massive walls. Therefore, the gate was specially designed - they were to be wide enough for the cart and quite narrow for the enemy's army. Cinema often sin, depicting a lock entrance with locking big wooden gates: such would be extremely impractical in defense.

The inner walls of the castle were color. The interiors of medieval castles are often depicted in gray-brown tones, without any cladding, just like the inner side of naked cold stone walls. But the inhabitants of medieval palaces loved bright colors and generously decorated the inner decoration of their residential premises. The inhabitants of the castles were rich and, of course, wanted to live in luxury. Our ideas are related to the fact that in most cases the paint has not sustained the test of time.

Large windows - big rarity For medieval castle. As a rule, they were absent at all, giving way to multiple small window "slits" in the castle walls. In addition to a defensive goal, narrow window openings defended the privacy of the inhabitants of the castle. If you meet the castle facility with luxurious panoramic windowsMost likely, they appeared at a later time, as, for example, in Rocktad Castle in the south of France.

Secret moves, secret doors and dungeons. Walking on the castle, know - somewhere under you the corridors hidden from the eyes (perhaps someone wanders on them today?). Lossed - underground corridors between the buildings of the fortress - allowed to move imperceptibly along the fortress or leave it. But trouble, if the traitor opened the secret door to the enemy, as it happened during the Corf Castle siege in 1645.

Sturm Castle It was not such a vehicle and light process, as they depict the movie. The massive attack was quite an extreme solution in an attempt to capture a castle, subject to unreasonable risk of basic military power. Castle sieges thoughtfully thought out and long implemented. The most important thing was the ratio of the need, throwing machine, with wall thickness. To break through the gap in the castle wall, it requested from several days to several weeks, especially since the hole in the wall did not guarantee the tick of the fortress. For example, the siege of the castle of Harlech by the future king by Henrich V lasted about a year, and the castle fell only because the stocks of provisions were over in the city. So the rapid attacks of medieval castles are the element of film fantasy, and not historical realities.

Hunger - The most powerful weapon when taking the castle. In most castles there were tanks that were collecting rainwater, or wells. The chances of the castle inhabitants depended on the stocks of water and food to survive during the siege: the option to "overheet" was the least risky for both parties.

For the castle defense Not required so many people as it seems. The locks were constructed in such a way as to allow those inside calmly fight back from the enemy, going around with small forces. Compare: Harlech Castle garrison, which kept practically whole year, consisted of 36 people, while the castle was surrounded by an army numbering hundreds, or even thousands of warriors. In addition, an extra person on the territory of the castle during the siege is an extra mouth, and how we remember, the issue of provisions could be decisive.

Functions

The main functions of the feudal castle with the foreclosers were:

• military (center of military operations, means of military control over the district),
• administrative-political (administrative center of the district, the place where concentrated political life countries),
• cultural and economic (craft-shopping center of the district, the place of the highest elite and folk culture).

Defining characteristics

There is a wide idea that the castles existed only in Europe, where they arose, and in the Middle East, where they were transferred to the Crusaders. Contrary to this point of view in Japan of the XVI and XVII century, similar structures appear, where they are developing without direct contact and influence from Europe and have a completely different history of development, they are built differently from European locks and are designed to confront attacks of a completely different nature.

Composite elements

Hill

A bulk hill from the ground, often mixed with gravel, peat, limestone or a twig. The height of the mound in most cases did not exceed 5 meters, although it sometimes reached 10 or more meters. The surface is often covered with clay or wooden flooring. The hill was round or approximate to the square at the base, the diameter of the hill was at least twice the height.

A wooden one was built on top, and later a stone, defensive tower surrounded by a palisade. Around the hill was filled with water or dry ditch, from the ground of which was formed mound. Access to the tower was carried out through a flipped wooden bridge and arranged on a staircase hill.

Courtyard

A large courtyard area (with rare exception) is no more than 2 hectares surrounding or adjacent to the hill, as well as a variety of residential and outbuildings - Housing of the master of the castle and its warriors, stables, forge, warehouses, kitchen, etc. - inside it. Outside, the courtyard was protected by a wooden panelies, then the moat, which was filled from the nearest reservoir, and an earth shaft. The space inside the courtyard itself could be divided into several parts, or near the hill was built a few jams adjacent to each other.

Donzhon

Actually, the castles appeared in the Middle Ages and were the housing of the noble feudalists. Due to feudal fragmentation and, as a result, frequent internecine wars, the dwelling of feudal should have been performed and a defensive task. Typically, the locks were built on the elevations, islands, rock led and other hard-to-reach places.

With the end of the Middle Ages, the castles began to lose their original - defensive - the task that gave way to the living place now. With the development of artillery, the defensive task of the locks disappeared completely; The features of the castle architecture were stored only as decor elements (French Pierfon Castle, end of the XIV century).

Regular layout with a clearly pronounced symmetry, the main building acquired a palace character (Madrid castle in Paris, the XV-XVI century) or Nesvizhsky Castle in Belarus (XVI century) In the XVI century, the castle architecture in Western Europe was finally supplanted by the palace. The defensive task was preserved for the longest castles of Georgia, which were actively built up to the XVIII century.

There were castles that belonged to not one feudal, and the Knight's Order. Such locks differed in large sizes as an example can be brought by Konigsberg castle.

Castles in Russia

The main part of the medieval castle was the central tower - donzhon, which performed the functions of the citadel. In addition to its defensive functions, Donjon was the immediate housing of the feudal. Also in the main tower were often residential Rooms Other inhabitants of the castle, well, household premises (food warehouses, etc.). Often there was a major front hall for receptions in Duzon. The elements of donzhon can be found in the castle architecture of Western and Central Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, etc.

Wassershlos in Schwerin

Usually the castle had a small courtyard, which surrounded massive gear walls with towers and well-reinforced gates. Then followed the outer courtyard, which included economic buildings, as well as the castle garden and the garden. The entire castle was surrounded by the second number of walls and the moat, through which the lifting bridge was thrown. If removed the terrain, then the ditch was filled with water and the castle turned into a castle on the water.

The centers of the castle walls of the castle were protruding for the plane of the walls of the tower, allowing you to organize the flank shelling going to the attack. In Russian fortification, the walls of the walls between the towers were called springs. In this regard, the castles were in terms of a polygon, the walls of which followed the terrain relief. Numerous examples of such structures have reached our days in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Ukraine and Belarus (for example, a worldly castle in Belarus or Lutsk Castle in Ukraine).

Over time, the structure of the locks became more complicated; The barracks, the court, the church, the prison and other facilities (Cousse Cousi in France, the XIII century are already included in the castles, the Cousse in France, the XII century, the castle of Harlek in the UK, the XIII century).

Castle Rosenberg in Kronach. Ditch and ventilation turrets hearing gallery

With the beginning of mass use of gunpowder begins the sunset of the construction of castles. So, the deposits began to conduct if it allowed the soil, improper work - imperceptibly digging the saules, which allowed the high charges of the explosive (assault on the Kazan Kremlin in the XVI century). As a measure of the struggle, the underground gallery was departed in advance at a noticeable distance from the walls from the walls, from which listening to the detection of subcoops and their timely destruction.

However, the development of artillery and an increase in its destructive action in the end was forced to abandon the use of castles as the foundations of defensive strategies and tactics. The time of fortresses came - complex engineering structures with a developed system of bastions, rasters, etc.; The art of constructing fortresses has developed - fortification. A recognized authority of the fortification of this era was the chief engineer of Louis XIV, Marshal of France Sebastien de Vaoban (1633-1707).

Such fortresses, sometimes developed over time from the castles, were used and in the second world war for the design of the enemy forces and the delay of its offensive (see: Brest Fortress).

Building

The construction of the castle began with the choice of place and building materials. The castle from the tree was cheaper, and it was easier to build it than a castle of stone. The cost of construction of most castles has not reached our days; Most of the preserved documents on the topic refers to the royal palaces. The castle from the tree with Mott and Bailey could be built by an unqualified workforce - dependent on the feudal peasants who have already possessed the skills necessary for the construction of a wooden castle (able to kill forest, dig and work with a tree). Forced to work on the feudal workers, most likely nothing paid, so the construction of a castle from wood was cheap. According to experts, to build a high-value hill - 5 meters high and 15 meters wide - 50 workers were required and 40 days. The famous architect en: James Of Saint George, responsible for the construction of the Bolomaris castle, described the costs associated with the construction of the castle:

If you think where so much money can spend in a week, we report that we needed and will be required in the future of 400 masonry, as well as 2,000 less experienced women, 100 carts, 60 carts and 30 boats for the supply of stone; 200 workers on the quarry; 30 blacks and carpenters to put cross beams and floors, as well as to perform another necessary work. This is not taking into account the garrison ... and the purchase of materials. Which are required a large number of... Payments to workers are still delayed, and we experience great difficulties while holding the workers, because they simply have nowhere to live.

A study was conducted, studied the costs associated with the construction of Lange Castle, built in 992 in France. The stone tower is 16 meters in height, 17.5 meters wide and 10 meters long with walls of 1.5 meters. Walls contain 1200 square meters of stone and have surface 1600 square meters. It was estimated that 83,000 people needed for the construction of the tower, most of which demanded a unskilled labor force.

Stone locks were expensive not only to build, but also maintain in good condition as they contained a large amount of wood, which was often unbearable and needed constant care.

Medieval machines and inventions were indispensable during construction; Antique wooden frame construction methods have been improved. Search for a stone for construction was one of the main problems; Often the decision became a quarry near the castle.

Due to the lack of stone, alternative materials were used, for example, a brick, which was also used from aesthetic considerations, as it was in fashion. Therefore, even despite the sufficient number of stone, some builders chose a brick as the main material for the castle building.

Material for construction depended on the terrain: in Denmark a little Kamenolomen, because most of her castles made of wood or brick, in Spain, most of the castles from the stone, while in Eastern Europe Castles were usually built using wood.

Castles today

Nowadays, the locks perform a decorative function. Some of them turn into restaurants, others become museums. Some restore and rent or rent.

Medieval castles In fact, were not easy big fortresses with massive stone walls. These were brilliantly designed fortifications in which many witty and creative ways were used to protect the inhabitants of the castle from attacking enemies. Literally everything - from the outer walls to the shape and location of the stairs - it was very carefully planned to ensure maximum protection of the inhabitants of the castle. In this review about little-known secrets, hid in the design of medieval castles.

Almost every castle surrounded the ditch filled with water. It is usually assumed that it was an obstacle to the storming troops, but in fact it was not the main function of the RVA.

Castle Vissering in Germany. The castle consists of an external defensive courtyard, protective gateways, a lifting bridge, perched through ditch, the main building and chapel.

One of the biggest problems of the inhabitants of the medieval castle or fortress was that the invasion army could proceed the tunnels under the fortifications. Not only that the enemy could get inside the castle under the ground, so tunnels could also lead to the collapse of the castle walls. I also prevented this, because the tunnel, punked under the moat, inevitably poured with water and it collapsed.

Nesvizh Castle. Belarus.

It was a very effective deterrent against laying tunnels. Often darts were laid around the outer wall of the castle, but between the outer and the inner walls.

Concentric circles defense

It was extreme effective method Protection for residents of a medieval castle, which looked like a number of obstacles surrounding the castle.

Castle Gorosterwitz. Austria.

As a rule, there were such obstacles (as far as the castle), the scorched and switched field, outer Wall, ditch, interior Wall, Dongon Tower. The attacking army had to overcome each of these obstacles in turn. And it took a lot of time and effort.

Main Gate.

The main goal of the castle was often the most dangerous place of the entire structure, because if necessary, they could turn into a deadly trap.

Castle ELTC in Germany.

They often led to a small courtyard, at the other end of which there were also more gates equipped with an iron-loving grille. If the strikers broke out through the first gate and turned out to be in the courtyard, the lattice was lowered, after which the aggressors were trapped.

Swirzhsky castle in the village of Svirt Lviv region. Main goal.

At the same time, in the walls of the courtyard there were small holes through which the defenders could shoot from the onions and crossbows in the opponent's warriors trapped.

Hidden secrets of stairs

Staircases in medieval castles were actually very thoughtful. First, they were almost always screw, very narrow and built clockwise.

Banding staircase in a worldly castle. Belarus.

This meant that attacking opponents that climbed up the stairs (and one by one, because the stairs were narrow), it was very difficult to fight, because they had a sword in his right hand. And since the wall was always located on the right hand, they did not have opportunities for Zamaha. The defenders of the wall of the spiral staircase were on the left hand, so they had more opportunities for Zamaha.

Staircase with reverse reverse and uneven steps in Vallenstein Castle in Germany.

Another original feature of the stairs was that they were uneven steps: some were very high, and others - low. Defenders of the castle, being familiar with the local stairs, could quickly rise and go down on them, and the attackers often stumbled and fell, substituted under the blow.

Secret moves

Many castles were secret moves that served various purposes. Some of them were made so that the inhabitants of the castle could escape in the event of a defeat, as well as that during the siege, the defending were not cut off from food supplies.

Koretsky castle in Ukraine.

Secret passages were also led to secret cameras, where people could hide, the food was stored and (which was quite often) an extra water well was pulled out.

Primary castle in Slovenia.

Therefore, the medieval castle was much more than just a big glamorous palace with massive stone walls around him. It was a building developed up to the smallest details, in order to protect the inhabitants. And in every castle was full of their little secrets.

As already mentioned above, medieval castles and each of their components were built according to certain rules. The following main structural elements of the castle can be distinguished:

Courtyard

Fortress Wall

Consider them in more detail.

Most towers were erected on natural hills. If there were no such hills in the area, the builders resorted to the arrangement of the hill. As a rule, the height of the hill was 5 meters, but there were more than 10 meters high, although there were exceptions - for example, the height of the hill, on which one of the castles of Norfolk near Tetford was delivered, achieved hundreds of feet (about 30 meters).

The form of the castle of the castle was different - some had an oblong shape, some - square, there were yards in the form of the eight. Variations were the most diverse depending on the value of the state of the owner and the configuration of the site.

After the construction site was chosen, he was the first thing to be pv. The removal land was thrown on the inner bank of the RVA, as a result of which the shaft was obtained, the mound called the scarp. The opposite bank of the RVA was called, respectively, counterskarp. If it was possible, the ditch dug around a natural hill or other elevation. But, as a rule, the hill had to pour out what required a huge amount of earthworks.

The hill included land mixed with limestone, peat, gravel, a rush, and the surface was covered with clay or wooden flooring.

The first fence of the castle was protected by all kinds of defensive structures, intended to stop the enemy's too rapid attack: alive hedges, slingshots (placed between pillars driven into the ground), earthy mounds, hedges, various protruding structures, for example, traditional barbican, who defended access to Lifting bridge. At the foot of the wall was ditch, he was trying to make it as deeper (sometimes more than 10 m deep, as in trematone and lass) and wider (10 m - in the horse, 12 - in Durdan, 15 - in Tremvors, 22 m - - in Kushi). As a rule, Uva ripped around the locks as part of the defensive system. They made access to the fortress walls, including siege tools, such as a ram or a siege tower. Sometimes they even filled with water. In shape, it often resembled the letter V than U. If the ditch was pulled out right under the wall, the lower shaft was erected above it, the lower shaft was erected, to protect the railway outside the fortress. This plot of land was called the Palisade.

The important property of water filled with water is to prevent the subcoops. Often rivers and other natural reservoirs connected with Rips to fill them with water. The piva was required to periodically clean from the garbage to prevent the crosses. Sometimes at the bottom of the moons, stakes were put on, making it difficult to overcome it. Access to the fortress, as a rule, was organized by means of lifting bridges

Depending on the width of the RVA, it supports one or more supports. While the outer part of the bridge is fixed, the last segment is moving. This is the so-called lifting bridge. It is designed so that its plate can turn around the axis attached at the base of the gate, breaking the bridge and closing the gate. To bring in the movement of the lifting bridge, the devices are served as on the gates themselves and from their inner side. The bridge rises manually, on ropes or chains going through blocks in wall slots. To facilitate work, counterweight can be applied. The chain can go on the gate blocks located in the room above the gate. This gate can be horizontal and rotated to handle, or vertical, and drive through horizontally extended beams through it. Another way to lift the bridge is a lever. Through the slots in the wall, the overtakes are swinging beams, the external end of which the chains connect with the front end of the bridge plate, and in the back inside the gates are attached counterweight. This design facilitates the quick rise of the bridge. And finally, the plane of the bridge can be arranged on the principle of the rocker.

The outer part of the plate turning around the axis at the base of the gate, closes the passage, and the inner, on which the attackers are already possible, go down in the so-called. Wolping pit, invisible until the bridge is omitted. Such a bridge is called tilting or swinging.

In Fig.1. A logging scheme is presented.

The fence itself was thick solid walls - Kurtin - part of the fortress wall between two bastions and various side facilities, generalizedly called

Fig.1.

towers. The fortress wall rose directly necessary by the moat, its foundations were deeply in the ground, and the bottom was made by the most gentle as possible to prevent possible subcoops from the attackers, as well as in order to recess from the height of the projectile from the height of it. The fence form depended on its location, but its perimeter is always significant.

The fortified castle did not resemble individual dwelling. The height of Kurtin ranged from 6 to 10 m, thickness - from 1.5 to 3 m. However, in some fortifications, for example, in the chateau-guyar, the thickness of the walls in places exceeds 4.5 m. Towers, usually round, less frequent square or polygonal , was built, as a rule, on the floor above Kurturt. Their diameter (from 6 to 20 m) depended on the location: the most powerful - in the corners and near the entrance gate. The towers were built with hollow, inside them were divided into floors overlap from wooden boards with a hole in the center or side, through which the rope was held in order to raise on the top of the projectile in the case of protection of the fortress. The stairs were hidden by partitions in the wall. Thus, every floor was a room where soldiers were located; In the fireplace arranged in the thickness of the wall, it was possible to dilute the fire. The only holes in the tower are loopholes for archery, long and narrow openings, expanding the inside of the room (Fig. 2).

Fig.2.

In France, for example, the height of such boys is usually 1 m, and the width is 30 cm outside and 1.3 m inside. Such a structure made it difficult to penetrate enemy arrows, but the defenders had the opportunity to shoot in different directions.

The most important defensive element of the castle was the outer wall - high, thick, sometimes on the inclined basement. Processed stones or bricks accounted for its outer surface. Inside it consisted of a boob stone and hated lime. The walls were put on a deep foundation, which was very difficult to make a subpople.

At the top of the fortress wall was the so-called configuration path, with the outer side protected by gear paw. He served to observe, reports between towers and protection of the fortress. A large wooden board, which kept on a horizontal axis, was sometimes attached to the teeth between two ambrusters, the crossbars were covered behind it to charge their weapons. During the wars, the sentient path was complemented by something like a folding wooden gallery of the desired form, mounted before the parapet. In the floor, holes were done to ensure that the defenders could shoot from above if the attackers were hidden at the foot of the wall. Starting from the end of the XII century, especially in the southern regions of France, these wooden galleries, not very durable and easily inflamed, began to replace real stone protrusions, built with parapet. These are the so-called machine, galleries with mounted braces (Fig. 3). They performed the same function as before, but their advantage was in greater strength and in the fact that they allowed to throw down the kernel, then ricastic then from the canopy wall slope.

Fig.3.

Sometimes in the serfstone, there were several secret doors for the passage of the infantrymen, but they always built only a big gate, invariably strengthened with special care, since it was at them the main strike of the attackers.

Most. early way The protection of the gate was their location between two rectangular towers. A good sample of this type of protection is the gate device in the exterer castle of the XI century, which is preserved to this day. In the XIII century, the square comradized towers are inferior to the place of the main garment tower, which is a merger of two former with additional floors in them. These are the notched towers in the castles of Richmond and Ladlow. In the XII century, a more common method of protecting the gate was the construction of two towers on both sides of the entrance to the castle, and only in the XIII century did not appear the gate towers in their completed form. Two flanking towers are now connected in one above the gate target, becoming a massive and powerful fortifications and one of the most important parts of the lock. The gate and entry are now turned into a long and narrow pass, blocked from each end porticuls. It was vertically sliding along the sash grooves along the grooves, made in the form of large lattices from a thick bar, the lower ends of the vertical bars were pointed and cooked with iron, thus the lower edge of the porticula was a number of pointed iron stakes. Such lattice gates opened and closed with thick ropes and winches, located in a special chamber in the wall above the passage. Later, the entrance began to protect with the "Moter", deadly holes drilled in the vaulted passage of the passage. Through these holes on anyone who tried to break through to the goal, the objects and substances - arrows, stones, boiling water and hot oil were poured and flew away in such a situation. However, more believable is another explanation - through the holes lily water in case the enemy tried to set fire wooden gate.since the most best way Pendant to the castle was to fill the passage of straw, lanes, pretty soaring the mixture with flammable oil and set fire; They killed two hares at once - the lattice gates were burned and the defenders of the castle in the noteworthy premises were burned. In the walls of the passage there were small rooms equipped with rifle slits, through which the protesters of the castle could hit the onions from the close distance a dense mass of the attackers, striving to break into the castle. In fig.4. The various types of rifle cracks are presented.

In the upper floors of the garment tower there were rooms for soldiers and often even residential premises. In special cameras were the gate, with the help of which they lowered and raised the recovery bridge on the chains. Since the gate was a place, which was most often attacked by the depositing castle of the enemy, they were sometimes supplied by another means of additional protection - the so-called barbacanis, which began at some distance from the gate. Usually, the barbican was two high thick walls that are parallel to outwardly from the gate, forcing the enemy, thus squeezed into a narrow passage between the walls, substituting under the arrows of the sprouting tower and hidden behind the top of the top of the barbachan. Sometimes, to make access to the goal even more dangerous, the Barbakan was installed at an angle to them, which forced the attackers to go to the gate on the right, and the parts of the body were not covered with shields turned out to be a target for archers. Barbakana's entrance and exit usually decorated very french.

Fig.4.

Each more or less serious castle had even two row of defensive structures (pvv, hedges, curtains, towers, parapets, gates and bridges), smaller in size, but built on the same principle. Between them left a rather significant distance, so each castle looked like a small fortified city. As an example, you can again bring Freyeval. Its fences have a round shape, the diameter of the first - 140 m, the second - 70 m, the third - 30 m. The last fence called the "shirt" was very close to the donjone to close access to it.

The space between the first two fences was the lower courtyard. There was a real village: houses of peasants who worked on the Lord's fields, workshops and dwellings of artisans (Kuznetsov, Carpenters, Mason, Kuznikov, Karetnikov), Khumeno and Hlev, bakery, community mill and press, well, fountain, sometimes a pond with live fish, Washbasal, merchant counters. A similar village was a typical settlement of that time with chaotic streets and houses. Later, such settlements began to go beyond the castle and justify in its surroundings on the other side of the RVA. Their residents, as well as the rest of the inhabitants of Señoria, were hidden behind the fortress walls only in case of serious danger.

Between the second and third fences there was also a top courtyard also with a lot of buildings: chapel, housing for warriors, stables, psarni, pigeon and falconry, pantry with edible supplies, kitchens, reservoir.

For the "shirt", that is, the last fence, the Donjon rummaged. It was usually built not in the center of the castle, but in its most difficult-reaching part, he simultaneously served and the housing of the feudal, and the military center of the fortress. DONZHON (FR. Donjon) - the main tower of the medieval castle, one of the symbols of the European Middle Ages.

It was the most massive structure that was part of the castle buildings. The walls were distinguished by the gigantic thickness and were installed on a powerful basis, capable of withstanding the blows of the conversations, drills and trumped tools precipitated.

Height, he was superior to all the rest of the construction, often exceeding 25 m: 27 m - in the enemy, 28 m - in life, 30 m - in Udan, Durdyan and Freyevale, 31 m - in Shatoden, 35 m - in Tonkinotek, 40 - in Horse, 45 m - in the province. He could be square (London Tower), rectangular (long), hexagonal (tourowel lock), octagonal (life), four-blade- (stamp), but more often there are round diameters from 15 to 20 m and wall thickness from 3 to 4 m.

Flat counterphorts, called pilasters, supported the walls at all and in the corners, on every corner such a pilaster was crowned from above the turret. The entrance has always been in the second floor, high above the ground. The external staircase was led to the entrance, located at a right angle to the door and covered with the front-seat tower, installed on the outside directly at the wall. For obvious reasons, the windows were very small. On the first floor they were not at all, they were tiny on the second and only on the next floors became a little more. These distinguishing features are the premises tower, an outdoor staircase and small windows - can be clearly seen in the Rochester Castle and in the Heding Castle in Essex.

Forms of donzhons are very diverse: four-degree towers were popular in the UK, but also there were round, octagonal, correct and incorrect polygonal donjons, as well as combinations of several of the forms listed. The change in the shape of the donzhonov is associated with the development of architecture and siege techniques. Round or polygonal in terms of tower better with the effects of shells. Sometimes, when building donzhon, the builders followed the terrain relief, for example, placing a tower on a rock incorrect form. This type of tower appeared in the XI century. In Europe, more precisely in Normandy (France). Initially, it was a rectangular tower, adapted to defense, but being simultaneously a feudal residence.

In the XII-XIII centuries. Feodal moved to the castle, and the donzhon turned into a separate structure, significantly decreased in size, but stretched vertically. The tower, from now on, was located separately behind the perimeter of the fortress walls, in the most unavailable enemy, sometimes even separated by the RV from other fortifications. Performed defensive and sentigible functions (at the very top there was a combat and sentiment, covered with teeth). It was considered as the last refuge during the defense of the enemy (for this purpose there were weapons and food warehouses inside), and only after the capture of Denzhon, the castle was considered conquered.

By the XVI century. The active use of the cannons turned the donzhons towers over the rest of the buildings into too convenient targets.

Donjon shared inside the floors by means wooden overlaps (Fig. 5).

Fig.5.

In defensive purposes, his only door was at the level of the second floor, that is, at an altitude of at least 5 m above the ground. Inside the stairs, forests or bridge connected to the parapet. However, all these facilities were very simple: after all, they should be very quickly removed in the event of an attack. It was on the second floor that there was a large hall, sometimes with a vaulted ceiling, - the center of life of the senor. Here he had dinner, entertained, took guests and vassals, and even in the winter even peak justice. The floor above was the rooms of the owner of the castle and his spouse; There climbed the narrow stone staircase in the wall. At the fourth and fifth floors - common rooms of children, servants and subjects. Guests slept there. The top of the donzhon resembled the upper part of the fortress wall with its gear pape and a sentiment, as well as additional wooden or stone gallery. A sentigious turret was added to this to observe the surroundings.

The first floor, that is, the floor under the big hall, did not have a single hole that came out. However, he was not a prison nor a stone bag, as the archaeologists of the last century assumed. Usually there was a storage room where firewood, wine, grain and weapons stored.

In some donzhons in the lower room, in addition, there was a well or an entrance to the dungeon, diverted under the lock and leading to an open field, which, however, was found quite rare. By the way, the dungeon, as a rule, served to storing edible supplies during the year, and not at all to facilitate the secret escape, romantic or forced Lapin R.I. Article "Donjon". Encyclopedic Fund of Russia. Access address: http://www.russika.ru/.

Of particular interest in the framework of the work also represents the interior of Denzhon.

Interior of Dazhon

The interior of the dwelling of the senor can be described in three features: simplicity, modesty of decoration, small number of furniture.

Whatever the main hall is high (from 7 to 12 meters) and spacious (from 50 to 150 meters), the hall has always remained one room. Sometimes it was divided into several premises with some kind of drapes, but always only for a while and due to certain circumstances. Trapezoidal window openings separated by such manner and deep niches in the wall served as small living rooms. Large windows, rather high than wide, with a semicircular riding, were arranged in the thickness of the wall similar to the tower bugs for the archery.

Whatever it is high (from 7 to 12 meters) and spacious (from 50 to 150 meters), the hall has always remained one room. Sometimes it was divided into several premises with some kind of drapes, but always only for a while and due to certain circumstances. Trapezoidal window openings separated by such manner and deep niches in the wall served as small living rooms. Large windows, rather high than wide, with a semicircular riding, were arranged in the thickness of the wall similar to the tower bugs for the archery. Before the windows, a stone bench served to talk or look out the window. The windows were rarely fledged (glass - expensive material used mainly for church stained glass windows), more often they were closed with a small grid of a rod or metal or was delayed by a cocned cloth or a washesized sheet of parchment nailed to the frame.

A folding wooden sash was attached to the window, more often internal, and not external; Usually it was not closed, unless they did not sleep in the big hall.

Despite the fact that the windows were a few and rather narrow, they still passed a sufficient amount of light to illuminate the hall in summer days. In the evening or in winter, sunlight replaced not only the fireplace fire, but also resin torches, salted candles or oil lamps, which were attached to the walls and ceiling. Thus, internal lighting always turned out to be a source of heat and smoke, but this still lacked to defeat the dampness - the real beach of the medieval housing. Wax candles, as well as glass, were intended only for the richest houses and churches.

The floor in the hall was laid out of wooden boards, clay or, less often, stone slabs, however, whatever he was, he never remained untouched. In winter, it was riveted with straw - or finely chopped, or woven into coarse mats. In the spring and summer - reeds, branches and flowers (lilies, gladiolus, iris). Along the walls put fragrant herbs and fragrant plants, such as mint and verbena. Woolen carpets and covered with embroidered fabrics, as a rule, were used for seating only in bedrooms. In the large hall, everything was usually located on the floor, the underlay skins and fur.

The ceiling, it is also the floor of the upper floor, often remained untreated, but in the XIII century already began to try to decorate it with beams and caissons, while creating geometric patterns, heraldic friezes or an ornament with an image of animals. Sometimes the walls are also sampled, but more often they were simply painted in some specific color (preference was given to red and yellow ocher) or covered with a pattern that imitated the look of a dashene stone or a chessboard. In the princely houses, frescoes appear with the image of allegorical and historical scenes borrowed from the legends, the Bible or literary works. It is known, for example, that the king of England Heinrich III loved to sleep in the room, the walls of which were decorated with episodes from the life of Alexander Macedonsky, the hero, who caused special admiration in the Middle Ages. However, such a luxury remained only to sovereign. An ordinary vassalue, the inhabitant of a wooden donzhone, had to be content with a rough bare wall, refined only by his own spear and a shield.

Instead of wall paintings, tapestries were used with geometric, vegetable or historical motifs. However, more often it is not real tapestries (which are usually brought from the east), but mostly embroidery in thick fabric, such as the so-called "Queen Matilda carpet," stored in Baye.

The tapestries allowed to hide the door or a window or divide the large room into several rooms - "bedrooms".

This word quite often marked not a room where they slept, but a combination of all tapestries, embroidered canvases and various fabrics intended for interior decoration. Going on the journey, the tapestries always took with them, because they constituted the main element of the decoration of the aristocratic housing, capable of giveing \u200b\u200bhim the features of individuality.

Furniture in the XIII century existed only wooden. It was constantly moving (the word "furniture" and comes from the word Mobile (Fr.) - mobile. (Note. Per.)), Since, with the exception of the bed, the rest of the furnishings did not have a single destination. So, the chest, the main type of furniture, served as a closet, table and seat. To fulfill the last function, it could have a back and even handles. However, the chest is just an extra seat. Basically sat on common benches, sometimes divided into separate seats, on small wooden benches, on small stools without a back. The chair was designed by the owner of the house or honored guest. The squires and women were sitting on the successes, sometimes covered with an embroidered cloth, or just on the floor, as servants and lackeys. Several boards laid on the goats were the table, during the meadow, it was arranged in the center of the hall. It was obtained long, narrow and slightly higher than modern tables. Sotrazniki sat on the one hand, leaving another free to feed dishes.

The furniture was a bit: besides the chests, in which they hit the dishes, homemade utensils, clothes, money and letters, sometimes there was a wardrobe or a buffet, less often - a servant, where the richest was placed precious dishes or jewelry. Often, such furniture replaced niches in the wall, wrapped with drape or closed with sash. Clothes were usually not folded, but rolled and flavored. Also, the diplivers written in parchment, before putting them in a linen bag that served something like a safe, where, in addition, one or more leather wallets were preserved.

To obtain a more complete idea of \u200b\u200bfurniture and decoration of the main hall of Dontaon, you need to add a few boxes, some baubles and some religious accessories (relics, crop filiers). As we can see, in this respect very far to abundance. In the bedrooms stood still less furniture: Men - bed and chest, in women - bed and something like a dressing table. No bench and chairs sat on a straw, covered with cloth, on the floor or on the bed. A huge square bed looked rather wide than long. One by one usually did not sleep.

Even if the owner of the castle and his wife had separate bedroomsThey still had one common bed. In the rooms of children, servants or guests of beds were also common. They slept together, four of them or a guide.

The bed of Sengor usually stood on an elevation, head - to the wall, legs - to the fireplace. From the wooden frame created a kind of semblance of the arch, where the canopy was hung to extinguish with the outside world. Bedding Almost no difference from modern. On the straw mattress or mattress put the perins, the bottom sheet was fine on top of it. It was covered with top sheets, which did not fill. From above lay a down or cotton blanket, faulty like modern. Roller and pillows in pillowcases are also similar to those we use today. White embroidered sheets were made of flax or silk, wool bedspreads walked to fur mountain or proteins. People have less wealthy instead of silk used burlap, and instead of wool - sarza.

In this soft and spacious bed (so wide that it was so wide that it was possible, only helping themselves with a stick) they usually slept completely naked, but with a cap on the head. Before going to bed, the clothes were hanging on the rod-drunk rod like hangers, who spoke almost to the middle of the room parallel to the bed, left only a shirt on him, but she was filmed already in bed and, rolling, put under the pillow to put on the early in the morning , Before getting up.

The fireplace in the bedroom was treated not all day. It was divorced only in the evening during a family voyage, held here in a more intimate setting than in the big room. In the room there was a truly giant fireplace, designed for large lamps; There were several shops in front of him, on which there could be ten, fifteen or even twenty people. The exhaust cap of the conical shape with protruding racks formed something like a house inside the hall. The fireplace was not decorated with nothing, the custom put on it a family coat of arms appeared only at the beginning of the XIV century. In some, more spacious halls were sometimes built two or three fireplace, but not from opposite walls, but together in the center of the room; For their hearth, a solid flat stone of huge sizes were used, and the exhaust cap was erected as a brick and wood pyramid.

Donjon could only be applied only in military-economic purposes (viewing posts on the tower, the dungeon, the provisions repository). In such cases, the feudal family dwells in the Palace - a residential room of the castle, standing apart from the tower. Palaces were built from stone and had several floors in height.

medieval castle residential interior