The Bulilding For Defense

Castle Defense

The basic principal of castle defense was to maximize the danger and exposure of any attackers while minimizing the same for defenders. A well-designed castle could be defended effectively by a small force and hold out for a long period. A stout defense allowed well-supplied defenders to hold out until the besiegers could be driven away by a relief force or until the attacker was forced to fall back by lack of supplies, disease, or losses.

Keep

The keep was a small castle often found within a large castle complex. This was a fortified building that often served as the castle lord's residence. If the outer walls fell, the defenders could withdraw into the keep for a final defense. In the case of many castles, the complex began with the keep, which was the original fortification on the site. Over time, the complex might have been expanded to include an outer wall and towers as a first line of defense for the keep.

Walls

Stone walls were fireproof and protection against arrows and other missiles. An enemy could not climb sheer walls without equipment such as ladders or siege towers. Defenders on top of the walls could shoot down or throw objects down against attackers. Attackers wholly exposed in the open and shooting up were at a great disadvantage against defenders largely protected and shooting down. The strength and protection value of castle walls was increased where possible by building on cliffs or other elevations. Gates and doors in castle walls were minimized and given heavy protection.

Towers

At the corners of and perhaps at intervals along a long wall, towers were placed as strong points. Towers extended out beyond the vertical plane of the wall face, allowing defenders in a tower to shoot along the face. From a corner tower, defenders could shoot along two different wall faces. A gate might be protected by towers on each side. Some castles began as simple towers and evolved into a greater complex of walls, an inner keep, and additional towers.

Battlements

Walls and towers were often improved to provide greater protection for defenders. A platform behind the top of the wall allowed defenders to stand and fight. Gaps were built into the upper wall so defenders could shoot out or fight while partially covered. These gaps might have wooden shutters for additional protection. Thin firing slits might be placed in the upper walls from which archers could shoot while almost completely protected.

During an assault, covered wooden platforms (called hourds) were extended out from the top of the walls or from towers. These allowed defenders to shoot directly down on enemies below the walls, or drop stones or boiling liquids on them, while being protected. Hides on top of the hourds were kept wet to prevent fire. Stone versions of hourds, called machicolations, might be built over gates or other key points.

Ditches, Moats, and Drawbridges

To accentuate the height advantage of the walls, a ditch might be dug at their base, completely around the castle. Where possible, this ditch was filled with water to form a moat. Both ditches and moats made direct assaults against walls more difficult. Armored men risked drowning if they fell into even relatively shallow water. Moats made undermining a castle's walls difficult because of the risk of the mine collapsing during construction and drowning the miners. In some cases, attackers had to first drain the moat before moving forward with an assault. Then the ditch had to be filled in places to allow siege towers or ladders to go up against the wall.

Drawbridges across a moat or ditch allowed the castle occupants to come and go when necessary. In time of danger, the drawbridge was raised, reestablishing the ditch and sealing the walls. Bridges were raised by a mechanism within the castle that was protected from the attackers.

Portcullis

A portcullis was a strong grating that slid down the walls of the castle gate passageway to block the entrance. The gate of a castle was inside a gatehouse, which was a strong point in the castle defense. The passageway of the gate might be through a tunnel in the gatehouse. The tunnel was blocked by one or more portcullises, in the middle or at the ends. The winding mechanism that raised the portcullis was in the top of the gatehouse and heavily guarded. The portcullis itself was usually a grating of heavy timbers or iron. Defenders and attackers could both shoot or stab through the grating.

Barbican

A strong castle had both an outer gate and inner gate. Between the two was an open area called the barbican. This was surrounded by walls and designed to be a trap for any attackers who got through the outside gate. Once inside the barbican, attackers could only go back out the outer gate or fight their way through the inner gate. In the meantime they would be targets for arrows and other missiles in the open.

Defenders

A relatively small number of men could guard a castle in peacetime. At night any drawbridge was raised and the portcullis was lowered, effectively locking the door. Under threat of an assault, a much larger force was needed to defend a castle.

Competent archers and crossbowmen were needed to shoot from the walls and towers at attackers making an assault or just preparing for one by attempting to drain the moat or fill the ditch. Each attacking casualty lowered the morale and fighting power of the attackers. Heavy losses from missile fire could cause the attackers to break off.

If the attackers managed to actually close for hand-to-hand fighting, a strong fighting force of swordsmen was needed to hold them off. Men were needed to throw down rocks or pour hot liquids from the hourds. Men were needed to make repairs to damaged wall sections or put out fires started by flaming missiles. An aggressive defense looked for opportunities to sortie out from the castle and raid the besieging army. A quick raid that burned a siege tower or trebuchet under construction delayed an assault and lowered the morale of the attackers.

In times of emergency, local peasants were enlisted to help with the defense. Although untrained as soldiers and not skilled usually with the bow or sword, they could help with many of the other tasks.

Read More..

The Armies Organization

Organization

The organization of feudal armies was kept simple in comparison to the large national armies of more modern time. There were no permanent regiments, divisions, or corps until the very end of the age. When a feudal army was summoned, each vassal traveled to the meeting point with any knights, archers, and footmen that he was required to bring. At the meeting point, the contingents would be reassembled by role. The knights and their squires kept and marched together, as did the archers and footmen.

Special units, such as engineers and the operators of siege artillery, were usually professionals hired for the campaign. Christian mercenaries, for example, operated the artillery employed by the Turks against Constantinople.

Being a mercenary soldier was a respected profession in the late Middle Ages. Warrior entrepreneurs formed mercenary companies that allowed a rich lord or city to hire a ready-made competent fighting force. Mercenary companies existed that were all of one skill. For example, 2000 Genoese crossbowmen served in the French army at the Battle of Crécy in 1346. Other mercenary companies were mixed forces of all arms. These were often described in terms of the number of lances they contained. Each lance represented a mounted man-at-arms plus additional mounted, foot, and missile troops. A company of 100 lances represented several hundred fighting men. This system was the origin of the word "freelance."

Command hierarchy within a feudal army was flat. Not much maneuvering was anticipated so there was little provision of large staffs to support the commander and pass orders.

In 1439 Charles VII of France raised Royal Ordinance Companies. These companies were filled with either knights or infantry and were paid from tax revenues. Each company had a fixed complement of men; their armor and weapons were chosen by the king rather than left to personal choice. This was the beginning of modern standing armies in the West.

Supply

There was little provision for food and medical supplies. Medieval armies lived off the land, to the detriment of everyone residing in an area they occupied or passed through. Having a friendly army march through was no better than having the enemy pass. Medieval armies did not linger in one area for long because local supplies of food and forage were quickly exhausted. This was a particular problem during sieges. If an army laying siege did not make arrangements to have food and supplies brought in, it might have to lift its siege to avoid starvation long before the defenders had to surrender.

Sanitation was also a problem when an army stayed in one place. A medieval army brought along many animals, in addition to the horses of the knights, and sewage problems led to dysentery. Feudal armies tended to waste away to disease and desertion. During his campaign in France, Henry V of England lost an estimated 15 percent of his army to disease at the siege of Harfleur and more on the march leading up to Agincourt. At the battle itself, he lost only 5 percent. Henry V died of disease related to poor sanitation at another siege.

Deployment for Battle

Most battles were set-piece affairs where the two sides arranged themselves before the fighting began. Campaigns of maneuver and meeting engagements were rare.

Prior to battle, commanders divided their forces into contingents with specific tasks in mind for each. The first separation might be into foot soldiers, archers, and cavalry. These groups might be divided further into groups to be given individual missions or to be held in reserve. A commander might arrange several "battles" or "divisions" of knights, for example. These could be launched individually as desired or held in reserve. Archers might be deployed in front of the army with blocks of infantry in support. Once the army had been arranged, the only major decisions were when to send in the prearranged pieces. There was little provision for pulling back, reforming, or rearranging once the fighting started. A force of knights, for example, could rarely be used more than once. After they had been committed to action, they were usually reinforced or withdrawn. A full charge by heavy cavalry caused such disruption, lost equipment, and loss of horses that the force was essentially spent. The Norman knights at Hastings were reformed for further attacks, but they did not launch a full charge because they could not penetrate the Saxon shield-wall.

Superior commanders made use of the terrain to their advantage and conducted reconnaissance to evaluate the enemy's strength and weaknesses.

Ransom

The ultimate rewards from successful battle included honors and grants of fiefs. The proximate rewards included booty from looting bodies, ransacking captured towns and castles, selling the armor and weapons of the dead, and ransoming high-ranking prisoners. Knights were expected to pay ransoms to save their lives. One of the highest recorded ransoms was more than US $20 million paid to a German prince for the release of Richard I of England, captured during his return from the Crusades.

At Agincourt the English were holding a large group of French knights at the rear for ransom. During the battle, a French contingent raided toward the rear of the English and briefly panicked Henry V. He ordered the execution of the held French knights to prevent their release, thereby forgoing a fortune in ransoms.

The capture of knights was recorded by heralds who kept a tally of which soldiers were responsible and thereby due the bulk of the ransom. The heralds then notified the prisoner's family, arranged the ransom payment, and obtained the prisoner's release.

The popularity of ransoms seems remarkably civil but masks a darker story. Low-ranking prisoners of no value might be killed out-of-hand to eliminate the problem of guarding and feeding them.

Read More..

Armies of the Middle Ages

The first medieval armies were tribal war bands carried over from ancient times. These evolved into feudal armies made up of a lord's vassals and their respective retainers. Fief holders were required to provide a period of military service each year. This began as weeks or months of service by the vassal accompanied by professional soldiers he retained personally. The armies of later kings and wealthy lords consisted of a higher proportion of professionals and mercenaries. Late in the period, vassals sent money instead of actually serving in armies, and this "martial tax" helped kings to support armies year-round.

Service in feudal armies was a matter of duty and honor for the knights. In a warrior society, knights lived for the opportunity to fight. Success in battle was the main path to recognition and wealth. For professional soldiers, often the sons of the aristocracy left with little when the eldest began inheriting everything, fighting was a job. It was duty for peasants also, when they were called up, but certainly not an honor.

By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, many commoners joined the ranks for pay that was often much better than that for more peaceful employment. A strong attraction for a commoner to become a soldier was the prospect of loot. Tribal warriors stayed loyal to their warrior chief and fought for him so long as he provided them with a living and loot. These ideals of the war band carried over into the feudal age. Low-ranking knights and professional foot soldiers longed for the opportunity to take part in the assault against a rich town or castle because strongholds that resisted were traditionally looted. A soldier could gather up many times his year's pay during the sack of a city. Pitched battles also offered opportunities for gain. The armor and weapons of the dead could be sold and captured knights could be ransomed.

Read More..