Monday Maps #12: Castles
Castles are a huge and complex subject. The European castles that inspire those of the Old World developed over a thousand years or more. They vary widely in size and shape, according to the time and place when they were built. They have a dizzying array of parts and features with strange-sounding names (this article is an excellent introduction) – but don’t panic.
All castles, whenever and wherever they were built, share a number of key characteristics, and when you understand those, you can design a castle of any size, in any place.
Concentric defense is the watchword. All castles are built around a fortified tower called a keep, which houses the family. The keep is an island, able to hold out against attackers even if the rest of the castle falls. In early medieval castles of the motte and bailey type, the keep stood on an artificial mount called the motte (not to be confused with “moat”).
The keep of Rochester Castle in England.
The keep is surrounded by a curtain wall, which is fortified with several towers. The area within is called the bailey, or ward. In the center is an open courtyard that can act as a killing zone, with attackers exposed to fire from multiple towers as well as from the keep. Around the edge of the bailey are non-essential buildings like the chapel (there is normally a private family chapel in the keep), the kitchens (even in stone castles, these were separate to minimize the risk of accidental fires spreading), as well as stables, a smithy, kennels, and the like. There may also be a postern gate, a small and sometimes hidden rear exit.
The bailey was entered through the gatehouse, which was the most heavily fortified part of the castle. Town and city gates, which were covered in an earlier post, had a similar design and function. A heavily-fortified gatehouse, or barbican, could become a small castle in its own right.
Goodrich Castle, England. Borrowed from British History Online; click for link. The keep is against one side to take advantage of the cliff. The barbican was built to create a killing zone by the adjacent cliffs
Larger castles may have two or more sets of curtain walls, creating an outer bailey which acted as a first killing zone where enemies assaulting the inner curtain wall would come under fire.
This castle is large, but has a simple design. It would probably have at least one more ring of fortifications. Notice the steps leading to the keep entrance: as well as looking impressive, they make it harder to use a battering ram and they limit the number of attackers who can approach the door. Image borrowed from TurboSquid. Click for link.
High ground is a good place for a castle, as Schloss Neuschwanstein in Germany demonstrates.
Water also provides a useful defense, whether it is natural, as at Olavinlinna Castle in Finland. . .
. . .or artificial, as at Bodiam Castle in England. Note the lack of a keep: the wide moat takes the place of a bailey and curtain walls, so the whole castle is effectively a keep.
Moats around castles were less common than movies would have us believe, and comparatively few were routinely filled with water. Instead, they were broad, steep-sided ditches intended to hamper attackers’s attempts to bring up heavy equipment to attack the walls and trap them in yet another crossfire zone as they tried to approach.
The dry moat at the Château de Vincennes in France has been lined with a vertical stone wall, making it even more challenging.
Castles are large building complexes, and a GM may feel intimidated when setting out to design one for the first time – but there’s no need. Once you understand the basic principles of how they work, a castle of any size is easy to lay out.
If you’ve enjoyed this, click here to check out the other #MondayMaps.
Have a good week, and next Monday I’ll be back with another map, or possibly something else.
Oh, and if you’d like a re-usable castle plan for WFRP, the 4th edition adventure collection Rough Nights and Hard Days includes a chapter set in Castle Grauenberg, overlooking the mighty River Reik.
I always found castle guidebooks invaluable for games. They usually had a plan of the rooms in the keep, the uses for each, a plan of the whole place and often “as it was in its heyday” illustrations. Also, having one meant you had visited the castle which also helps.
I am quite lucky because I can see Bolton Castle at this moment out of my window, Middleham is a couple of mile up the road and Richmond is 25min drive away.
I was similarly lucky. Every half-term and almost every summer weekend saw me at one of the castles or Roman villas across the south. Those DoE guide books were a fantastic resource. I used to have dozens of them, with the fold-out maps.
And before anyone asks, Middelham was not the inspiration for Middenheim. In fact, I never heard of it before today. :^)
Middleham, Bolton and Richmond would make a fantastic “Castle Weekend”. You have the conquest link, Richard III and Mary, Queen of Scots. If you are ever in these parts, let me know!
Nice, my wife and I went on a couple of vacations in Germany one of which was castles galore. Burg Eltz was the most evocative – built on top of an outcropping in a river valley, eventually split internally among 3 branches of family (you can google images etc.). There a loads of pictures if you search online (most better than the wikipedia entry).