Rochester’s Motte and Bailey castle was made in 1067-1070 and Dover’s Motte and Bailey castle was made stronger in 1066. This makes Warwick typical of the development.
By 1260 all the wood had been replaced by stone. Stone was harder to break down and couldn’t be set on fire. Motte and Bailey castles of that time were either replaced by stone or fell into disrepair. During the reign of King Stephan (1135-1154) England was torn apart by civil war. This meant that any old style Motte and Bailey castles got destroyed or if they survived the civil war they were replaced by stone. The Motte and Bailey castles had to change dramatically over this time period to be of any use in battle or war. The development of Motte and bailey had to happen mainly because of the development of weapons.
The wooden fence around the bailey had been converted into a 7.6m tall curtain wall. High thick walls stopped the enemy climbing over the wall or breaking it down. The north was strengthened by two flanking or mural towers which were built into the wall, also the east and the west sides both had on flanking or mural towers. The towers allowed archers to fire at attackers hiding against the wall (blind spot before the towers were introduced). The drawbridge and the moat were the only thing that stayed exactly the same. The entrance was strengthened by a gatehouse, because the entrance was the weakest part of the castle. The gatehouse was also given a portcullis to further strengthen it. The chapel and the hall were now made out of stone. The wooden stockade was replaced by a ‘shell keep’, this was a circular tower with thick crenulated walls and fighting platforms for soldiers.
Towards the end of the 12th century most castles had changed from wood to stone. Rochester was one of the first castles to change to stone, it changed in 1088. Dover changed to stone much later than Rochester (in 1188), but because it added so many towers it became the ‘giant among castles’. Warwick castle developed into stone later than these castles, it was 1260 that Warwick castle finally changed to stone. The fact that Warwick castle developed so late meant that it wasn’t the finest castle of that time.
In some castles, in the 12th century, the ‘shell keep’ was taken out and replaced by a large rectangle square-keep which was placed on the top of the Motte. Sometimes these were so large that the mound couldn’t take the weight therefore being partly demolished or completely taken out. It was now so strong that it became the strongest part of the castle.
The thickness of the walls helped protect against battering rams. The entrance to the square-keep was on the second floor, which made battering rams pointless against the entrance to the square-keep because they couldn’t get enough momentum to break down the door. A second drawbridge was added, which made it even more difficult to penetrate the square-keep. They were introduced to some castles purely as protection against any attackers. The stone square-keep was the last line of defence, this meant that the attackers had to exude most of their energy just to get to the square-keep, and then they had to take on the strongest part of the castle. The spiral staircase inside the square-keep was also designed with defensive purposes in mind, the way the stair case was set up gave advantages to the person fighting downwards. The person fighting downwards could fight easily with their right hand and the person fighting upwards would find it difficult to fight with their right hand. This was useful as most people are right handed.
Warwick castle fell behind the other castles as it didn’t have a square-keep castle. Many other castles had a stone square-keep castle so Warwick began to fall behind them. These are the castles that had a stone square-keep and when they were built; Rochester in 1127, Dover in 1180s and Corfe castle in 1189. The fact that other castles were improving their strength and Warwick castle wasn’t means that I think that Warwick castle wasn’t the finest castle at this point in time.
In 1264 Simon de Monfort successfully attacked Warwick’s and Rochester’s castles. The lack of improvements had induced this breaching of the castle, Mauduit was captured and held to ransom. This attack showed just how weak Warwick castle was and this led to further improvements. Rochester unlike Warwick did nothing to repair the damage the siege had caused. However this proved that Warwick castle wasn’t the finest at this point in time.
This led to further improvements. Towards the end of the 13th century is when the castles got strengthened. Round keeps were introduced because they could see round the corners whereas the old square keeps could only see straight in front of them. Also round keeps got introduced because they have round bricks rather than square ones which can be chipped away at the corners. Round towers (usually D-shaped or semi-circular) were built into walls to strengthen them. The curtain wall improved dramatically. The curtain wall had battlements positioned along it, these gave the defenders some protection as they fired down at the enemy. The walkway allowed the defenders of the castle to move along the wall, this helped protect the wall as the defenders could move to where the wall was under attack. Arrow loops improved to give archers more freedom and protection to fire their arrows. Machicolations were added to the battlements, this gave defenders the ability to throw missiles through gaps without retaliation. Curtain walls also became taller and thicker, this meant that the attack against the wall had to be extremely effective to have any point. The fact that the curtain walls became taller and thicker meant the keep became less important. The entrance was the weakest part of the castle so the gatehouse and a barbican were added. A killing ground was also formed in the space between the barbican and the gatehouse where attackers were unlikely to survive the hail of fire from above.
The first of these improvements at Warwick happened around 1450, which was the gatehouse being enlarged as well as the killing ground and the barbican being added. The next improvement took place around 1540, this was two towers being added to the walls. The curtain wall gained machicolations, a wall walk and improved arrow loops. Compared to most other castles of this time Warwick was typical as it had made many of the improvements
Trying to attack Warwick castle at this point in time would take an enormous effort to succeed with a lot of luck as well. The entrance isn’t so much of a weak point anymore because of the killing ground, barbican and gatehouse. Of course, even though the entrance had been improved lots, it still was the weak point of the castle. The tall and thick walls with towers joined to it made it extremely effective against any onslaught. Machicolations, wall walks, battlements and improved arrow loops made defending the castle easier.
By the end of the fourteenth century most castles had improved dramatically and Warwick was no different. Rochester had reached its peak strength, Dover was still improving its defensive strength as well as its size was getting bigger. Warwick wasn’t the finest castle at this time, but it was still up there with the best. Dover was now one of the finest castle because it had never been successfully attacked.
Concentric castles were introduced to be a maze for any attackers, if they breached the entrance, they would have to go all the way to the other side to breach into the next ring of stone. The concentric castle was developed in the 12th century, however the concentric castle was mainly built in the late 13th century and the early 14th. The concentric castle usually had 2 or 3 rings of stone wall. The inner walls were always built taller than the outer walls so the archers can fire outwards. The space between the walls was known as the ‘death hole’ where attackers were unlikely to survive.
Warwick castle didn’t develop into a concentric castle, this meant that Warwick wasn’t typical of castles at that time, but there were also some other castles that didn’t turn into a concentric castle so Warwick castle wasn’t along in this.
Dover was one of the earliest castles to turn into a concentric castle. However Rochester was like Warwick in that it didn’t turn into a concentric castle. Warwick was not the finest castle at this point in time as its defence wasn’t strong enough to withstand a serious attack.
The Tussards may have used this statement that their castle is the ‘finest Medieval in England’ to bring more money via the fact that it makes the castle seem more attractive, which in turn will bring in more tourists. By using England rather than Britain it is easier to claim. They could think that the statement is actually true or they could just be biased and nothing else could be possibly true.
Rochester was besieged twice, once in 1215 and again in 1264. Rochester was severely damaged, but still managed to hold out. Dover can to the brink of falling in 1216 but it managed to hold out when it was besieged. Warwick was the only one out of the three to be successfully attacked and to have fallen. This shows that Warwick wasn’t the best fortress.
Throughout the time in history (1068-1485) that castles were useful as a fortress in battle Warwick castle followed many of the new ideas used to develop the castle. Warwick was both typical and untypical of castles throughout different times in history. The main change that Warwick castle never made was turning the castle into a concentric castle.
The claim the guidebook makes that Warwick castle is the ‘finest Medieval castle in England’. This claim would attract more tourists, whether they actually believe the statement is true or not is another matter. Warwick castle in my opinion is the most attractive looking castle in England, this is probably because they spent more money on looks rather than especially when Mauduit was in charge and done very little to prepare for the siege that was coming in the near future. The castle also spent a fair sum of money on the living conditions. I think to be the finest castle in England you have to do more than just look attractive so this is why I disagree with the statement that Warwick castle is the ‘finest Medieval castle in England’.
