How far does the site of Dover Castle and the supporting sources help you to understand the way that castles changed and developed between the 11th and 16th centuries?

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Nathan Mayer 11E2

  1. How far does the site of Dover Castle and the supporting sources help you to understand the way that castles changed and developed between the 11th and 16th centuries?

After the Battle of Hastings in 1066 William marched around the East Coast on his way to London going through Dover. He attacked the village and then to keep the peace and protect his men, he built a simple earth and timber castle. Eight days after arriving in Dover, he left and headed on for London.

Source 1 shows a map of all the castles that were built with Williams’s permission. There does not seem to be much to do about how castles changed and developed but there is a definite concentration in the southeast when William was still establishing his authority over England. So these would have been simple and quickly built castles while the later ones would have been more carefully built and strengthened. This shows after some thoughts the different types of castles that were built starting with the hastily motte and bailey castles and then to the stronger towers. Otherwise this source is not really much help when assessing how the source helps me to understand the way that castles changed and developed.

Source 2 shows William’s soldiers building Hastings castle, which shows how the style may have been built not specifically how the castle changed after it was built or how other castles were built. Also, it does not show the plan of the castle, only people digging. It does show the tools that were used to build it and that it was the soldiers that built the castle and not locals forced to build it for them although they could have been used and just not shown as the Bayeux tapestry was sown by Norman weavers.

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Source 3 is moderately useful as it is a timeline for Dover Castle and it shows at what dates that the castle was updated and in some cases what it was used for, but it does not show what the improvements were. It shows that in the early stages it was used as a traditional castle with the defenders inside and the attackers outside trying to get in, but it seems that later on after the time period in the question, the castle changed roles to prison and then eventually as an headquarters. On the other hand the only ...

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