Watching in 2019, I really was expecting "MACHICOLATIOOOOONNNNSSSSS" when it came to light, but you haven't invented it yet. love your videos man, cheers!
@@thibomeurkens2296 @Thibo Meurkens I don't see it as smaller, but as bold. But anyway, I added a * before and after the word, so * word * with no spaces = *word*
Very good and informative video. However, there's a mistake concerning the use of murder holes. Indeed :, "boiling hot oil", even if it is a common place in popular culture wasn't used to kill opponents. It was way too expensive and would only be used in such a case in extremely desperate cases. Middle Age people were just as intelligent and thrifty as we are and would rather use boiling hot water or sand (which would enter the gaps of an armour and burn the guy inside alive). I felt forced into making this comment in order to break one of the many myths revolving around Middle Age.
Boiling oil or water was never launched, because it was inefficient : it cool down very quickly. Sand was used to block the movements of late medieval armors. They simply launched stone
What was usually on top of castle towers and turrets and shit? Was there just an open staircase or was there a trapdoor of some sort? How do they avoid rain from just pouring in and collecting in it ???
@@alchemicalalek7535 Thats... Why I'm here, certified Tolkien fan building a first age noldorin defensive wall (think elf version of great wall of china) and want to know what to call the things, got machicolations and didn't have clue what they were called, its really quite beautiful... If I can remember how I made the towers before my worlds got deleted
An idea for your castle design video: In general all paths leading UP a castle should be consturcted CLOCKWISE. That way attackers climbing up the stairs can't conveniently use their shields and swords, and the relatively more defensless righthand side of an attacker is facing the defender. Just think where the shield of the attacker is and when placing stairs and such. Greetings from a new German subscriber.
Except for one of the Scottish clans, who were predominantly left handed. Their staircases went the other way. McLeod or possibly Campbell I think. Also, during sieges, some armies assembled small units of left handers whose job it was to take stairwells.
wow kieranh2005 but these small units of left handers had a problem because as soon as they were on the highest floor they had walk the stairs back down but counterclockwise Greetings from another German castle maniac ;)
Great video! My love for Castle started at the age of 4, and basically because of what you talk about here. I'll give some feedback on your question. - concentric castle - bastion - oriel window - brattice - chemise wall - buttress - batter - yett
Came here for research on a personal project. Stayed for the complete castle masterclass! Gotta love that feeling when someone's passion for a topic bleeds onto you
it is kinda wrong, though. The 'donjon' refers to the entire keep, including it's basement, hence: dungeon. the word 'keep' is kinda analogus to donjon in french or 'burgfried' in German ('castle-peace') on the one hand, where it is the most central and defensive tower (and potentially the ONLY tower) but also the word 'wohnturm' or 'living-tower' this is where the central living quarters were found.
Learned more on this model, and your descriptive terms definition, than any visual iv'e seen so far. Takes guts to ask for comments that might further strengthen this said reality. Here is what little i understand of them... Spiral stairs should be in a clockwise turn upon the ascend, in order to afford the defender, use of his right hand sword ability... thus putting to disadvantage that of the intruder's. A simple solution perhaps, would be to mirror the image of the stair model area. Laid bricks for 8 years and am fascinated by any and all masonry. When Quoin corners were required on the homes i'd bricked... it always brought me a sense of pride to know that the intent of the quoin was to strengthen the castle's corners against the attacker's cannon can opener agenda. Few were the builders and owners who knew of this. They had just thought of them to be as decorative as the many other parts of the castle you have pointed out. Very much obliged to you, for bringing to fruition this fabulous model, and the sharing of your passion, for the mechanisms of the Castle. -gilpin 7-9-16
That's the beauty of TH-cam. It's closest cousin in my opinion, is Create a Space self publishing offered by Amazon. They only send out your book as they are ordered. Like your model, i was able to change many a discrepancy when found. Can't do that with a publisher after the work is on the bookstore shelves. Like our States 3 Blood Baptized Texans Crockett,Bowie & Travis... They too couldn't afford to stand around waiting on success... so they decided to go on ahead without it. Same thing in my book's case, with editors and publishers. -gilpin 7-9-16
I am dedicating my swords and horses book to you because I've used your videos so much for research. Between you and Jean Johnson, I think I have my experts in place.
What an excellent, informative video! :D After a long evening of watching this channel I feel like an expert on medieval stuff! Keep up the interesting topics man! :)
Getting the feeling this could be fun to make in minecraft, at least now I know I need to make crenels high enough to call them merlons. I also completly forgot crenellations. You would not mind if I copy the design in this video for minecraft build?
@@shadiversity, I know this is an OLD comment I'm replying to. But I think you'd like the ideas I've had for good castle placement around the landscape of Cyrodiil in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Well, I forgot how to spell the M-word, but their absence is slightly annoying when there are beveled ramparts that look perfect for their placement. But there are also some perfect locations for walled townships that I've ran into, before. Like that little island next to Skingrad's County surrounded by the river and joined to the road with two bridges, on the road to Anvil.
People have a tendency to take topics like this and call them "geeky" or whatever adjective they have for it, in the material (non-digital) world. I thank modern Internet for TH-cam, because it allows fans, that have exhaustively researched and poured their heart into topics such as this, to find audience members that are not only interested, but fascinated, and truly appreciative of the energy you put into videos such as these. Unlike a pre-prepared lesson plan, or even a docent, your videos carry a certain enthusiasm to them, that shows that you truly love your work.
Any long talk has to be preprepared. Have you ever tried giving one? Even though video can be editted, if the person has not prepared pretty extensively, it would be a disaster that editing can't fix. You usually also have to give it two full practise runs right through, from beginning right to the end, to find the rough spots that just don't work, and correct them. You have to do that before the actual presentation, to have it come off this smoothly, even if you are an experienced speaker. Without one practise run at the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM, again, it will be a mess. One can still inject as much enthusiasm as they like into it, and improvise parts of it. They actually should, because without it, as you said, it can become deadly boring without it! Edit: I'm sorry. I only noticed now that your comment is a whole SIX years old! But now that this reply is already posted, I will leave it up, as a perfect example of lack of preparation! LOL! 😉 ✌🏼
THANK YOU! I had been looking for a video on "how to make a castle" for my 5 year old and yours was the perfect hit! He now knows all the parts of a castle (thanks from Toronto, Canada).
my D&D group will eventually build a fortification at some point most likely a castle. Thank you for the information so i can bombard them with this information.
Phenomenal video. One small addendum: the section of exterior wall that rises in front of the rampart is called a parapet. Crenelations are then placed into the parapet. Parapets continue to be used for both decorative and practical purposes in Western buildings well into the 21st century (as small barriers on roofs, for example). And corbels have made their way into modern Western architecture with the cornice, a decorative motif which also takes inspiration from an Ancient Greek architectural motif of the same name.
I love castles too :) can you do one about castle wall construction? like everything from how they mined the stones, the materials, to the assembly and internal construction.
I remember seeing another defensive technique - a walled-in corridor leading to the entrance of a castle (or a city wall). The walls would have staggered buttresses on the inside so that when approaching the gate, you had to go in a slight zig-zag path. This was to slow down a charge of horses (or perhaps chariots) - they couldn't just charge the gate at full speed, because they had to keep making slight turns left and right. I remember seeing these in Israel.
Dont know if you read these comments still, but I have to thank you for this video. Im writing a book that will involve several castle in great detail and this, so far, alongside your other castle videos has been the greatest of help to me in that effort. Thank you very much for the education.
Thank you so much for posting this video!!! I'm working on a book series and was struggling to clearly define the early history of my world, and this video gave me the spark to get my mind rolling on defining my world's history. This video got me studying castle development in detail. And now in my stories I can use the different castle styles to indicate the age of different cities or fortifications based on the design of the fortifications. All of your videos are awesome!!!!
i don't know if this is weird at all but I'm actually trying to use this video (and the related one defining castles) to figure out how to build my own castle....within the constraints of the game minecraft... i don't think this was at all worth saying..but this video should be of great help
Nice work - Love the Castle! :) My thoughts on Ward vs. Bailey: Ward: more German. Ward something off. A member of another family you have taken in. An area you are protecting... Bailey: more French. An enclosure. An area you are administering or managing. A Bailiff might look after a Bailey... Both relate to administration and protection... To refer to your Ward is almost like referring to your responsibility - might be an area of a castle, but could be a person... To refer to your Bailey is more specifically to the enclosure in a castle... Other thoughts?
Bailiff was the term used by the Normans for what the Saxons had called a reeve. A reeve was an officer of the court that governed over any given municipality such as a village or shire; thus the shire reeve or "sheriff". The term Bailiff may have originated from the reeve of a bailey. He probably would have governed over the castle and the supporting village or manor but his home and office was located within the castle bailey. Interestingly the phrase "Ward of the court" come to mind...
@@JustJimus In classic movies, rich old men often had wards, who were usually beautiful young girls about to be women. Though in reality both people could be of either sex. The older man was like a foster parent to the usually orphaned child. A ward of the court is usually a person, most often a child, for whom the govt has taken on the responsibilties that a parent usually has. I was a ward of the court when I was in foster homes and group homes as a child.
They did. Also, it occasionally rains. But seriously, people used to toss sewage out of their windows in towns and cities, nothing to stop them doing the same in a castle.
It sounds like you like castles! This was really fun, you inspired me to look through some old books and pull out my castle cross-section book. I'm so glad I still have it!
Thank you so much for this well made and informative video. I will be going back to it numerous times. There's a lot there to absorb but I feel like I know more about castles than I dd 30 minutes ago. Much appreciated.
Some castles like to have access to circle around to the right. The reason is most soldiers were trained with their weapon in their right hand. This force their left to be on the outside with respect to the access were that person is carrying their shield.
True. Though when it comes to circle clear to say clockwise to go up. The direction 'right' side depends on your point of view. There was one family with a tendency for left handed so their stairs spiralled the other way. So the legend goes.... *sighs at books being buried*
good on ya Shad ! i have been following you since the beginning of KCD, and someone on a facebook KCD page mentioned a very enthusiastic Aussie guy who had a youtube on castles, love ya style mate especially how you enthuse almost over the top, but full of good information !!!
+MalletMann i would say a castle has more prestige... as in a lord or king would live in a castle... a fort is just thrown together for military personnel... it won't be as fancy or as strong
Both words are rooted in Latin. Casa = house, forte= strong. A castle is a place where people live a fortress is just a strong point for soldiers it may or may not have any barracks. Hadrian's wall had fortresses but no castles. As far as castles though I have read stories from the middle ages where just a tower was called a castle.
I have read also that fortress were build near borders full with soldiers to rest/heal while they are on campaign in enemy territory or place that need to be defended against invaders.
It's not just living space, fortresses have barracks for soldiers, it living space set aside for the owner of the structure. Some wealthy English Earls had more that one castle with private family rooms in each.
Robert Schuster: actually, Castle comes from the latin word "castellum", akin to the latin word "castrum" which is a fortified camp. "Casa" means "hut", and has little to nothing to do with a castle (even on an etymological point of view). "Fortress" comes from medieval french "Forterece" which meant "Strength".
Interesting. On your model you might change the orientation of the gate. Set it up so invaders have their shields on their left side away from the wall. Makes it harder for them to defend from missiles.
+kleinjahr This is a very good point. I'd say most castles would be designed to match the land they were built on and if that meant the most functional design put attacker's left side to the walls then so be it. The attackers would make sure to defend themselves no matter which side faced the walls too, but you're point is still valid. The advantage I have is that I can simply reverse the model ^_^ but that does seem like a cheat. Maybe I'll leave it as a flaw in design, after all, no castle can be perfect.
I am Shad True, it would be built to take advantage of the site.Point is to make it as difficult as possible for the attackers.Dogleg entrances help, as do mantraps, and a glacis.
I like castles a lot too!! They are very beautiful as well as functional. Thanks for the video, Shad; I learned many details about castles that I didn't know before watching this clip.
hey shad the base of your walls are wrong. the protrusions at the bottom of the wall, called taluses, shouldn't be there. the point of a castle wall is to be as hard to scale and as easy to defend as possible. with the talus, you'll notice the battlements above no longer look down on where the defender are attacking or undermining the wall, rendering them ineffective. taluses are notably added only in later castles, note *added*. in castles with taluses, the stone used is clearly different from the stone of the walls proper, showing that they were added much later. the were only added reluctantly to shore up walls suffering from foundation movement after hundreds of years, not to enhance defense.
Question: Where does the term "citadel" fit into this concept? Does Citadel mean the castle plus walls, or is it something that encompasses space beyond the castle + walls?
Andrew Fralinger I think it refers to the raised part/ platform of a settlement, typically including important parts like the lord/king's home, public buildings, barracks etc. Harappa and Mohenjodaro in India had some of the earliest examples of a citadel.
I am glad to see there's so much correct information being told here. But I want to make a point about the terms don jon and keep. Don jon is a term going back to the early fortifications of Motte and Bailey, where Don Jon was the structure, often in the form of a tower, built on top of the motte. At this stage, the Don Jon was the only building inside the fortification, or castle if you will. As castles grew in size and became built in stone, other buildings began to appear inside the walls. The term Donjon then was used to describe one of the buildings inside the castle. Shad has it almost right. The donjon is not the tallest tower, but the most defendable structure inside the castle walls. And that isn't nesseccarily the tallest structure, as we find in several castles. What made it defendable was wall thickness, angles of approach, fields of fire and the door defences. The main purpose of the donjon was as a last resort. If the attackers breached the outer walls and entered the bailey, the defenders would retreat to the donjon and try to fend off the attackers for long enough time for a relief army to arrive. The term keep was first used about fortified houses and solitary towers, with much the same purpose as the later blockhouses. But in the late medieval period the term started getting used about structures inside a castle. But here lies the misconseption. The keep is not the central structure of the castle. As the term donjon became assosiated with prisons and prison cells were moved underground and took the name of donjon with it as in dungeon, the term keep replaced the old meaning of the term donjon, as the most defendable structure of the castle that the defenders can fall back to if the outer defences were breached. Sure, at some castles the keep will be the central structure, but for many castes the keep was a seperate structure from the main building. In many castles the dining halls, living quartes, kitchens etc. have easy access to be comfortable to use in peace time. Thus they needed a keep to retreat to as a last stand. And the entrance to the keep was often not on the ground floor but on the 1st floor to make breaching it more difficult. So Shad's definitions are just slightly off and will name the structures correctly in many instances, but not every time.
+Grier Belter Sit around it and wait until the defenders run out of food or water. Maybe try to bribe them to surrender the castle. I guess you could try assaulting it, but that's just foolish.
Shad, I don't want to tell you your business, but why does the entry path have its left side to the castle walls? Usually you'd want to have the non shield bearing side of the attackers facing the castle, making it easier to turn them into pincushions. Awesome castle design!
The other problem I see, is that the inside of the curtain walls shouldn't have crenellations. If the wall is breached (attackers climbing the walls) you don't want to give them cover, you want to be able to shoot them from the Keep, or inner wall. Something I noticed about Dover Castle, is that the walls aren't straight. They bulge in just a bit. That means you can't see how many men are along the wall you've just climbed. The view along the wall is about 10 meters or so. It gives an attacker some advantage, but that's removed because the entire wall can be viewed from the Keep, or Inner Wall, and defenders on either side can be warned, and attack from both sides.
@@kenbiles4582 separating stretches of rampart with towers is useful. It means you have to enter a tower and exit it on the other side as you progress along the battlements. Fit stout doors on those entrances and each tower now becomes a castle of its own that attackers who have climbed the wall need to breach. Notice how machicolations completely encircle the tower, allowing it to be defended from all directions.
Normally there would be wooden covers that would be removed in time of war. Those you only 'opened' the Machicolation that you needed to use right now, then closed it again to deny your enemy another hole to shoot at you through.
@@kevinsullivan3448 a shame that none of those wooden covers have survived that I know of. I would make them as decorated shields which could all be mounted on the ramparts to "dress" the castle for special occasions.
Really interesting video. Thank you- very helpful in understanding a bit more about the layout and terminology, no matter on the exact pronunciations! Your 3-D model is very clear and uncluttered. One small pedantic point- you don't fire an arrow, you shoot it...because it doesn't have any fire in it (that came later, with gunpowder!)😁
Damn! I use sketchup quite often. Did you have a solid plan beforehand (measurement inputs etc) or did you just wing it? Sketchup can be horribly unforgiving if you mess up a single thing. If youre an amateur like myself anyway.
There are crenellations on the bailey side of the wall. Are these just for aesthetic or do they have functional purpose? Maybe like railings to prevent accidental falling off or for archers to shoot into the bailey in the event of a breach.
The inside facing crenellations are there if the bailey is breached. There's no free access to the walls from inside the bailey, the attackers either have to get through sealed doors to the internal staircases or scale them, all the while getting shot at from the defenders on the walls. Each section of wall is self contained, so if one part is breached, there's doors blocking access to the other parts.
+Citizen Gamer Challenge accepted ^_^ I'll do a whole video on the definition of a castle as opposed to a fortress, stronghold, citadel, fort and chateau. All you need to do is keep an eye out for it.
Shad, I recently watched this. Honor Guard is magnificent, I'm honestly inspired by it. Thus I want to ask your permission to build and exact replica of it in minecraft to post on the planet minecraft website.
Looked up "Castle parts" to make a good-looking castle in minecraft. Ended up being his majesty's trusted lord. And even favoured by the people. Cheers m8.
Thank you for making this informative video, particularly as I know little about castles. At about 14:30, you mentioned the hoard and hoardings was "most often temporary," and added before sieges. My question is, why wouldn't they just leave the hoarding in place? It seems like a lot of work to install, and you might not have a lot of time before a siege occurs. Constructive help is appreciated!
Maybe I'm not getting this, but doesn't the design of machicolations render crenelations largely useless, since it provides an open hole which can be shot up into, and the holes seem to tend to be directly in front of the crenelations, where you'd typically take cover? They also seem like a great place to fall while moving towards the crenels to fire arrows.
seigeengine Dude, don't be an ass. You don't need to stand right up next to a Merlon to be protected. And since it's not the easiest thing in the world to charge right up next to a wall, shooting up through the hole would be fairly rare. Plus it's easier to shoot downward. and in cases like a gatehouse, you're likely right about some soldiers being able to shoot up through a machicolation. However, most soldiers were either melee or ranged and rarely both, especially with bows and arrows. No archer would charge the castle wall unless the formation was moving forward to an already captured position. And we can obviously see that the structure was effective, because the technique was A. dated after hoardings and B. widespread.
KheptlaxaXonu I'm going to be an ass if morons keep wasting my time being too stupid to even think before replying. I never said you need to be right next to merlons _to be protected._ Also, an appeal to tradition is not a valid argument. Fuck off.
seigeengine It's not an appeal to tradition to say "the most successful techniques had a longer and more numerous lifespan." If a technique is good than those that know of it want to emulate it. That's not even close to an appeal to tradition. And since you have nothing to refute the other statements I made and all you are nitpicking isn't even there, the only logical conclusion I can come up with is that you either don't actually want your question answered because all you want is to be a provocateur. In which case I respond with saying I'm not attacking you, I'm not insulting you, there is no reason for you to respond with insults. Good day.
KheptlaxaXonu It is an appeal to tradition to say that something makes sense because it was done, traditionally. I get it. You don't actually know enough to answer my question. Next time consider fucking off instead of making an ass of yourself and wasting everyone's time.
Watching in 2019, I really was expecting "MACHICOLATIOOOOONNNNSSSSS" when it came to light, but you haven't invented it yet. love your videos man, cheers!
It was such a relief to hear the word said normally...
2020, still expected it :D
@@davidclegg7874 it was a sad time, before MACHICOLATIOOOOOOOOONNNNNSSS!!!
It was quite disappointing
2021 and i expected the same
Takes a shot everytime Shad says "castle."
5 minutes later
*dies*
That's What Xi Said how did you make the word “dies” smaller?
@@thibomeurkens2296 @Thibo Meurkens I don't see it as smaller, but as bold. But anyway, I added a * before and after the word, so * word * with no spaces = *word*
@@DatsWhatXiSaid yeah i found that out to. I think its a thing with my ipad
That would be if you drank vodka instead of milk as a baby cause a normal person would die sooner
Wrong choice of drug.
Very good and informative video. However, there's a mistake concerning the use of murder holes. Indeed :, "boiling hot oil", even if it is a common place in popular culture wasn't used to kill opponents. It was way too expensive and would only be used in such a case in extremely desperate cases. Middle Age people were just as intelligent and thrifty as we are and would rather use boiling hot water or sand (which would enter the gaps of an armour and burn the guy inside alive).
I felt forced into making this comment in order to break one of the many myths revolving around Middle Age.
I was going to say the same thing. Oil is 'spensive!
Especially if you have a well and a pot nearby. :)
Supertapis Boiling water helps plenty!
I didn't know about the hot sand.. thanks!
Boiling oil or water was never launched, because it was inefficient : it cool down very quickly. Sand was used to block the movements of late medieval armors. They simply launched stone
Hey guys, who want to play DonJon & Dragons ? It takes place in a era before the invention of dungeons.
So Ice Age AD&D? That is so 1986.
DonJon vs Dungeons the new Marvel movie
Machiculations and Manticores.
that would the prequel series. lol
That part about the Don Jon is interesting as fuck.
Now I know where the cliché of the princess trapped in a tower comes from.
Same here. Pretty cool.
I could not agree more!
+John Saf Which is still a tower.
John Saf Totem pro parte, tower = the highest part of the tower in this case.
or where the sufferings of Chateaubriand comes from
What was usually on top of castle towers and turrets and shit? Was there just an open staircase or was there a trapdoor of some sort? How do they avoid rain from just pouring in and collecting in it ???
They could adjust the slope so that the water runs towards drainage cracks. After that, a simple wooden hatch would work.
@@Father-Fitness Imagine opening the hatch on a heavy monsoon...
I use your videos to build stuff in minecraft, thanks for your help!!
@@alchemicalalek7535 Thats... Why I'm here, certified Tolkien fan building a first age noldorin defensive wall (think elf version of great wall of china) and want to know what to call the things, got machicolations and didn't have clue what they were called, its really quite beautiful... If I can remember how I made the towers before my worlds got deleted
@@daenor7807 Thats so cool :O
An idea for your castle design video: In general all paths leading UP a castle should be consturcted CLOCKWISE. That way attackers climbing up the stairs can't conveniently use their shields and swords, and the relatively more defensless righthand side of an attacker is facing the defender. Just think where the shield of the attacker is and when placing stairs and such. Greetings from a new German subscriber.
+Merc They did that in castles didn't they?
And uneven steps
Except for one of the Scottish clans, who were predominantly left handed. Their staircases went the other way. McLeod or possibly Campbell I think.
Also, during sieges, some armies assembled small units of left handers whose job it was to take stairwells.
wow kieranh2005 but these small units of left handers had a problem because as soon as they were on the highest floor they had walk the stairs back down but counterclockwise
Greetings from another German castle maniac ;)
+Jakob Scharf LOL. They just spearheaded the charge... plenty of right handed troops following.
One thing overlooked was the water supply. All castles needed a safe well or spring or sometimes a cistern that the emery can't poison.
enemy*
@Hart Poole So true, im writing that in my notes now. thanks!
I think some castles had gutters in the battlements to collect rainwater in cisterns
Great video! My love for Castle started at the age of 4, and basically because of what you talk about here.
I'll give some feedback on your question.
- concentric castle
- bastion
- oriel window
- brattice
- chemise wall
- buttress
- batter
- yett
Came here for research on a personal project. Stayed for the complete castle masterclass!
Gotta love that feeling when someone's passion for a topic bleeds onto you
*Waiting for him to scream MATICULATIOOOONS*
15:50 *Machicolations :-B
I was thinking thee exact same thing 😂
His accent is so thick, I had no idea what he was saying until they spelled it out.🤣
The donjon dungeon blew my FUCKING MIND
fucking same over here, i was like: "HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT AN EPIPHANY"
Kevin Lobos ;)
HELL YEAH IT DOES
it is kinda wrong, though.
The 'donjon' refers to the entire keep, including it's basement, hence: dungeon.
the word 'keep' is kinda analogus to donjon in french or 'burgfried' in German ('castle-peace') on the one hand, where it is the most central and defensive tower (and potentially the ONLY tower) but also the word 'wohnturm' or 'living-tower' this is where the central living quarters were found.
thats where the princess in the tower thing comes from lol
Learned more on this model, and your descriptive terms definition, than any visual iv'e seen so far. Takes guts to ask for comments that might further strengthen this said reality. Here is what little i understand of them... Spiral stairs should be in a clockwise turn upon the ascend, in order to afford the defender, use of his right hand sword ability... thus putting to disadvantage that of the intruder's. A simple solution perhaps, would be to mirror the image of the stair model area. Laid bricks for 8 years and am fascinated by any and all masonry. When Quoin corners were required on the homes i'd bricked... it always brought me a sense of pride to know that the intent of the quoin was to strengthen the castle's corners against the attacker's cannon can opener agenda. Few were the builders and owners who knew of this. They had just thought of them to be as decorative as the many other parts of the castle you have pointed out. Very much obliged to you, for bringing to fruition this fabulous model, and the sharing of your passion, for the mechanisms of the Castle. -gilpin 7-9-16
Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge, I truly do appreciate it. When I get back into working on my model I'll make those corrections.
That's the beauty of TH-cam. It's closest cousin in my opinion, is Create a Space self publishing offered by Amazon. They only send out your book as they are ordered. Like your model, i was able to change many a discrepancy when found. Can't do that with a publisher after the work is on the bookstore shelves. Like our States 3 Blood Baptized Texans Crockett,Bowie & Travis... They too couldn't afford to stand around waiting on success... so they decided to go on ahead without it. Same thing in my book's case, with editors and publishers. -gilpin 7-9-16
Huh. So maybe there really is an advantage to being left handed after all.
Always There is an advantage to being left handed lol
This guy is obsessed with castles just like me... Good to know there's someone who has brought back our history alive
2:41 Thats Schloss Lichtenstein in Germany, a beatiful castle. I live near it!
This is the FIRST video with machicolations! Kudos!
I love how you say donjon, and i love the fact that you said it about 40 times in the next minute after introducing it
I am dedicating my swords and horses book to you because I've used your videos so much for research. Between you and Jean Johnson, I think I have my experts in place.
What an excellent, informative video! :D After a long evening of watching this channel I feel like an expert on medieval stuff! Keep up the interesting topics man! :)
I will certainly endeavour to do so, and I'm very glad you've been enjoying yourself so much ^_^
Getting the feeling this could be fun to make in minecraft, at least now I know I need to make crenels high enough to call them merlons.
I also completly forgot crenellations.
You would not mind if I copy the design in this video for minecraft build?
have you thought about up loading these models to the 3d warehouse ... id love to get my hands on them :)
Roy Wardenaar iÅæÆæ
@@shadiversity, I know this is an OLD comment I'm replying to. But I think you'd like the ideas I've had for good castle placement around the landscape of Cyrodiil in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Well, I forgot how to spell the M-word, but their absence is slightly annoying when there are beveled ramparts that look perfect for their placement. But there are also some perfect locations for walled townships that I've ran into, before. Like that little island next to Skingrad's County surrounded by the river and joined to the road with two bridges, on the road to Anvil.
People have a tendency to take topics like this and call them "geeky" or whatever adjective they have for it, in the material (non-digital) world. I thank modern Internet for TH-cam, because it allows fans, that have exhaustively researched and poured their heart into topics such as this, to find audience members that are not only interested, but fascinated, and truly appreciative of the energy you put into videos such as these. Unlike a pre-prepared lesson plan, or even a docent, your videos carry a certain enthusiasm to them, that shows that you truly love your work.
Any long talk has to be preprepared. Have you ever tried giving one? Even though video can be editted, if the person has not prepared pretty extensively, it would be a disaster that editing can't fix.
You usually also have to give it two full practise runs right through, from beginning right to the end, to find the rough spots that just don't work, and correct them. You have to do that before the actual presentation, to have it come off this smoothly, even if you are an experienced speaker. Without one practise run at the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM, again, it will be a mess. One can still inject as much enthusiasm as they like into it, and improvise parts of it. They actually should, because without it, as you said, it can become deadly boring without it!
Edit: I'm sorry. I only noticed now that your comment is a whole SIX years old! But now that this reply is already posted, I will leave it up, as a perfect example of lack of preparation! LOL! 😉 ✌🏼
You're so cute with your "I love castles!" :D
Really nice video and channel in general. Just stumbled over it and already spent half a day here :D
Pleasantly surprised having stumbled upon you. I have designed castles for decades. Brilliant. GER
He loves castles!
Gotta admire a man with such enthusiasm.
That was actually amazing. Excellent delivery!
Greatest castle terminology video I've ever seen.(and I've seen Many) Bravo sir.
THANK YOU! I had been looking for a video on "how to make a castle" for my 5 year old and yours was the perfect hit! He now knows all the parts of a castle (thanks from Toronto, Canada).
my D&D group will eventually build a fortification at some point most likely a castle. Thank you for the information so i can bombard them with this information.
Phenomenal video. One small addendum: the section of exterior wall that rises in front of the rampart is called a parapet. Crenelations are then placed into the parapet. Parapets continue to be used for both decorative and practical purposes in Western buildings well into the 21st century (as small barriers on roofs, for example). And corbels have made their way into modern Western architecture with the cornice, a decorative motif which also takes inspiration from an Ancient Greek architectural motif of the same name.
I love castles too :) can you do one about castle wall construction? like everything from how they mined the stones, the materials, to the assembly and internal construction.
One of the best channels ever! Really interesting and informative! And the greatest thing is that 10-15min and I fell asleep as a child
I remember seeing another defensive technique - a walled-in corridor leading to the entrance of a castle (or a city wall). The walls would have staggered buttresses on the inside so that when approaching the gate, you had to go in a slight zig-zag path. This was to slow down a charge of horses (or perhaps chariots) - they couldn't just charge the gate at full speed, because they had to keep making slight turns left and right. I remember seeing these in Israel.
Dont know if you read these comments still, but I have to thank you for this video. Im writing a book that will involve several castle in great detail and this, so far, alongside your other castle videos has been the greatest of help to me in that effort. Thank you very much for the education.
So.....Do you play a lot of Stronghold?
I guess he is more of a minecraft guy :)
Which Stronghold? ;3
Has to be crusader, or the first one.
I liked all of the ones I played (all of them but Stronghold 3, have not played that). With my favourite being Stronghold 2 ;3
"With my favourite being Stronghold 2 ;3".
The end of your sentence looks like an enumeration (Stronghold 2, 3) because of your smiley ";3". =)
You should be declared to be a National Treasure! Thanks for a dynamite presentation! Lot's great information!
Shad you really need to play Medieval Engineers.
What's that?
Why?
Yeah what is that?
Thank you so much for posting this video!!! I'm working on a book series and was struggling to clearly define the early history of my world, and this video gave me the spark to get my mind rolling on defining my world's history. This video got me studying castle development in detail. And now in my stories I can use the different castle styles to indicate the age of different cities or fortifications based on the design of the fortifications. All of your videos are awesome!!!!
Amazing video Shad!
+Benni Bodin Jagell Thanks heaps ^_^
i don't know if this is weird at all but I'm actually trying to use this video (and the related one defining castles) to figure out how to build my own castle....within the constraints of the game minecraft... i don't think this was at all worth saying..but this video should be of great help
Thixus hey, I'm doing the exact same thing! Use the vertical halfslab formed by stairs facing each other as arrow slits, they actually work very well
Thixus if it means something - ANYTHING - to YOU, then it was worth saying, imho :)
Your gay
A fine basic coverage, full of supplementary material. Thanks for posting.
Nice work - Love the Castle! :)
My thoughts on Ward vs. Bailey:
Ward: more German. Ward something off. A member of another family you have taken in. An area you are protecting...
Bailey: more French. An enclosure. An area you are administering or managing. A Bailiff might look after a Bailey...
Both relate to administration and protection...
To refer to your Ward is almost like referring to your responsibility - might be an area of a castle, but could be a person...
To refer to your Bailey is more specifically to the enclosure in a castle...
Other thoughts?
Bailiff was the term used by the Normans for what the Saxons had called a reeve. A reeve was an officer of the court that governed over any given municipality such as a village or shire; thus the shire reeve or "sheriff". The term Bailiff may have originated from the reeve of a bailey. He probably would have governed over the castle and the supporting village or manor but his home and office was located within the castle bailey. Interestingly the phrase "Ward of the court" come to mind...
@@JustJimus In classic movies, rich old men often had wards, who were usually beautiful young girls about to be women. Though in reality both people could be of either sex. The older man was like a foster parent to the usually orphaned child.
A ward of the court is usually a person, most often a child, for whom the govt has taken on the responsibilties that a parent usually has. I was a ward of the court when I was in foster homes and group homes as a child.
Wow. That castle model you've made is really spectacular. Great work and I hope we will get a full tour once it's totally finished.
+ARR0WMANC3R Absolutely! thanks heaps for liking my model, I'm very proud of it.
Do not forget to add a cistern. Its important.
And privy. Though you gotta do your business somewhere there are accounts of castles being lost by building digging up the *cough* outlet.
just shit over the wall. in times of war, shit in a bucket and pour it out through a slit or something.
Try living in a wall dump site for 20 years... or inheriting your grandpa's wall streak
They did. Also, it occasionally rains.
But seriously, people used to toss sewage out of their windows in towns and cities, nothing to stop them doing the same in a castle.
throwing shit at the enemy, Surely a shitty defense
Your enthusiasm is very contagious. Very informative video, and the 3d model you created to use at the end of the video looks awesome.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who makes models of castle in google sketch up :D
also im a 3d modeller and can really appreciate the effort you put into designing everything yourself.
does anyone know if castles ever had people living in the bailey's? As in, a small village within the walls of the castle
That's where you start blurring the lines between a lord's private castle and fortified town.
@Markus Nelson I appreciate you’re reply but that comment is 4 years old my guy ✊👍
It sounds like you like castles!
This was really fun, you inspired me to look through some old books and pull out my castle cross-section book. I'm so glad I still have it!
Hey what program did you use to create that castle model?
Sketchup ^_^
thanks
you should take a look at something more sophisticated like Blender (free) or 3Ds Max/Maya
+Shadiversity your really good with it I struggle to make a modern looking house
Maya is an excellent program. They use it at Ringling School of Art.
Thank you for this video,I love castles,and I learned so much from this one video. Looking forward to seeing more videos about castles!!!
I thought that bailey/ward was called a courtyard, am I wrong to use that term?
Bailey can be between the wall and the keep, while the courtyard is inside the keep.
Thank you for clearing that up for me.
Thank you so much for this well made and informative video. I will be going back to it numerous times. There's a lot there to absorb but I feel like I know more about castles than I dd 30 minutes ago. Much appreciated.
I love how you made this into a story, rather than just summing up a lot of definitions quickly
Your enthusiasm of castles is contagious. When I become president of the planet (one day) I will hire you to build my monumental dream castle. 😉
Some castles like to have access to circle around to the right. The reason is most soldiers were trained with their weapon in their right hand. This force their left to be on the outside with respect to the access were that person is carrying their shield.
True. Though when it comes to circle clear to say clockwise to go up. The direction 'right' side depends on your point of view. There was one family with a tendency for left handed so their stairs spiralled the other way. So the legend goes.... *sighs at books being buried*
good on ya Shad ! i have been following you since the beginning of KCD, and someone on a facebook KCD page mentioned a very enthusiastic Aussie guy who had a youtube on castles, love ya style mate especially how you enthuse almost over the top, but full of good information !!!
I listened to this before bed. I feel my IQ while asleep will be raised.
+Sitric Brave IQ raised like a drawbridge; by a wench or counterweight?
Much closer to counterweight. I believe it was done efficiently, however room this information may have taken up.
My mind was blown when you explained about the Don Jon and Dungeon, awesome video
What would you consider the difference between a castle and a fortress?
+MalletMann i would say a castle has more prestige... as in a lord or king would live in a castle... a fort is just thrown together for military personnel... it won't be as fancy or as strong
Both words are rooted in Latin. Casa = house, forte= strong. A castle is a place where people live a fortress is just a strong point for soldiers it may or may not have any barracks. Hadrian's wall had fortresses but no castles. As far as castles though I have read stories from the middle ages where just a tower was called a castle.
I have read also that fortress were build near borders full with soldiers to rest/heal while they are on campaign in enemy territory or place that need to be defended against invaders.
It's not just living space, fortresses have barracks for soldiers, it living space set aside for the owner of the structure. Some wealthy English Earls had more that one castle with private family rooms in each.
Robert Schuster: actually, Castle comes from the latin word "castellum", akin to the latin word "castrum" which is a fortified camp. "Casa" means "hut", and has little to nothing to do with a castle (even on an etymological point of view). "Fortress" comes from medieval french "Forterece" which meant "Strength".
It's videos like these that make me one satisfied subscriber. Great content Shad!
Interesting. On your model you might change the orientation of the gate. Set it up so invaders have their shields on their left side away from the wall. Makes it harder for them to defend from missiles.
+kleinjahr This is a very good point. I'd say most castles would be designed to match the land they were built on and if that meant the most functional design put attacker's left side to the walls then so be it. The attackers would make sure to defend themselves no matter which side faced the walls too, but you're point is still valid. The advantage I have is that I can simply reverse the model ^_^ but that does seem like a cheat. Maybe I'll leave it as a flaw in design, after all, no castle can be perfect.
I am Shad
True, it would be built to take advantage of the site.Point is to make it as difficult as possible for the attackers.Dogleg entrances help, as do mantraps, and a glacis.
I like castles a lot too!! They are very beautiful as well as functional. Thanks for the video, Shad; I learned many details about castles that I didn't know before watching this clip.
will you talk about decorations and interiors?
+AdoraBell I most certainly could. I'll probably share what I know in the making video of my castle model
Oh my word, your castle is amazing!! And this video!! Good golly gosh, I needed this in my life, thank you!! Keep up the amazing work!!
hey shad the base of your walls are wrong. the protrusions at the bottom of the wall, called taluses, shouldn't be there. the point of a castle wall is to be as hard to scale and as easy to defend as possible. with the talus, you'll notice the battlements above no longer look down on where the defender are attacking or undermining the wall, rendering them ineffective. taluses are notably added only in later castles, note *added*. in castles with taluses, the stone used is clearly different from the stone of the walls proper, showing that they were added much later. the were only added reluctantly to shore up walls suffering from foundation movement after hundreds of years, not to enhance defense.
Thanks for making this. It was both informative and entertaining.
Question: Where does the term "citadel" fit into this concept? Does Citadel mean the castle plus walls, or is it something that encompasses space beyond the castle + walls?
Andrew Fralinger I think it refers to the raised part/ platform of a settlement, typically including important parts like the lord/king's home, public buildings, barracks etc. Harappa and Mohenjodaro in India had some of the earliest examples of a citadel.
I am glad to see there's so much correct information being told here. But I want to make a point about the terms don jon and keep.
Don jon is a term going back to the early fortifications of Motte and Bailey, where Don Jon was the structure, often in the form of a tower, built on top of the motte. At this stage, the Don Jon was the only building inside the fortification, or castle if you will. As castles grew in size and became built in stone, other buildings began to appear inside the walls. The term Donjon then was used to describe one of the buildings inside the castle. Shad has it almost right. The donjon is not the tallest tower, but the most defendable structure inside the castle walls. And that isn't nesseccarily the tallest structure, as we find in several castles. What made it defendable was wall thickness, angles of approach, fields of fire and the door defences. The main purpose of the donjon was as a last resort. If the attackers breached the outer walls and entered the bailey, the defenders would retreat to the donjon and try to fend off the attackers for long enough time for a relief army to arrive.
The term keep was first used about fortified houses and solitary towers, with much the same purpose as the later blockhouses. But in the late medieval period the term started getting used about structures inside a castle. But here lies the misconseption. The keep is not the central structure of the castle. As the term donjon became assosiated with prisons and prison cells were moved underground and took the name of donjon with it as in dungeon, the term keep replaced the old meaning of the term donjon, as the most defendable structure of the castle that the defenders can fall back to if the outer defences were breached. Sure, at some castles the keep will be the central structure, but for many castes the keep was a seperate structure from the main building. In many castles the dining halls, living quartes, kitchens etc. have easy access to be comfortable to use in peace time. Thus they needed a keep to retreat to as a last stand. And the entrance to the keep was often not on the ground floor but on the 1st floor to make breaching it more difficult.
So Shad's definitions are just slightly off and will name the structures correctly in many instances, but not every time.
you should talk about how one would going about taking a castle
+Grier Belter Sit around it and wait until the defenders run out of food or water. Maybe try to bribe them to surrender the castle. I guess you could try assaulting it, but that's just foolish.
Wow Shad, what an impressive video. Thanks for sharing!
Shad, I don't want to tell you your business, but why does the entry path have its left side to the castle walls? Usually you'd want to have the non shield bearing side of the attackers facing the castle, making it easier to turn them into pincushions.
Awesome castle design!
Garret LeBuis this castle is built in the country of Sethpaw (Southpaw) - a predominantly left-handed folk. ;)
The other problem I see, is that the inside of the curtain walls shouldn't have crenellations. If the wall is breached (attackers climbing the walls) you don't want to give them cover, you want to be able to shoot them from the Keep, or inner wall.
Something I noticed about Dover Castle, is that the walls aren't straight. They bulge in just a bit. That means you can't see how many men are along the wall you've just climbed. The view along the wall is about 10 meters or so. It gives an attacker some advantage, but that's removed because the entire wall can be viewed from the Keep, or Inner Wall, and defenders on either side can be warned, and attack from both sides.
@@kenbiles4582 separating stretches of rampart with towers is useful. It means you have to enter a tower and exit it on the other side as you progress along the battlements. Fit stout doors on those entrances and each tower now becomes a castle of its own that attackers who have climbed the wall need to breach. Notice how machicolations completely encircle the tower, allowing it to be defended from all directions.
Great program, very concise & explained properly. TY for posting this
What program did he use to create the castle?
SketchUp
I love castle, too. I felt such enthusiasm from you! and I'm happy about that! Thanks for the amazing video!
What about both a moat and a hill?
This channel has made this work week a lot of fun. Coding is easier while listening to you explain donjons :)
all i want is a medeival castle that has its own grotto, staff and is completely self sufficiant. Is that too much to ask??
Yes, yes please! I love castles too.
Looking forward to more castle videos!
did people ever fall through machicolations?
cuz, I think if you were behind the crenelations then you'd be very likely to...
Normally there would be wooden covers that would be removed in time of war. Those you only 'opened' the Machicolation that you needed to use right now, then closed it again to deny your enemy another hole to shoot at you through.
@@kevinsullivan3448 a shame that none of those wooden covers have survived that I know of. I would make them as decorated shields which could all be mounted on the ramparts to "dress" the castle for special occasions.
Really interesting video. Thank you- very helpful in understanding a bit more about the layout and terminology, no matter on the exact pronunciations! Your 3-D model is very clear and uncluttered. One small pedantic point- you don't fire an arrow, you shoot it...because it doesn't have any fire in it (that came later, with gunpowder!)😁
What did you use to design you castle, like software?
SketchUp
Thanks, and good design and video!
Damn! I use sketchup quite often. Did you have a solid plan beforehand (measurement inputs etc) or did you just wing it?
Sketchup can be horribly unforgiving if you mess up a single thing. If youre an amateur like myself anyway.
at 20.01 he says "the example I have here on AutoCAD" wich both easier and more difficult to work with than sketchup. I love your castle by the way
He says Honour Guard, the name of the castle. Not AutoCad.
There are crenellations on the bailey side of the wall. Are these just for aesthetic or do they have functional purpose? Maybe like railings to prevent accidental falling off or for archers to shoot into the bailey in the event of a breach.
The inside facing crenellations are there if the bailey is breached. There's no free access to the walls from inside the bailey, the attackers either have to get through sealed doors to the internal staircases or scale them, all the while getting shot at from the defenders on the walls. Each section of wall is self contained, so if one part is breached, there's doors blocking access to the other parts.
now that you explain what is a castles and keeps, now i challenge you to explain between castle and a citadel. :)
+Citizen Gamer Challenge accepted ^_^ I'll do a whole video on the definition of a castle as opposed to a fortress, stronghold, citadel, fort and chateau. All you need to do is keep an eye out for it.
Best TH-cam channel
Very interesting
Don Jons & Dragons. A friendly game where you sit in a high tower enjoying the impressive view and occasionally dragons flying by.
what an awesome video, i suscribed recently and i have been enjoying this channel a lot. Great stuff in here, congratulations Shad!
Quiz time:
how many time did Shad say "Castle" in this video?
too many
Drinking game? lol
Great video Shad...looking forward to more on design and functionality.
+Philbrush Ooooh yeah, that's going to be a fun video, but I need to finish the interiors as that plays just as an important role ^_^
you should make that castle model in minecraft
Thanks for the video. I needed a quick tutorial to help my son with a school project building a castle.
Watching this in 2024 bc I'm gonna build a castle in minecraft
SAME 😂
I like how Cardiff Castle (@10:26 and some other points) has all of the parts from different invaders and their styles.
Also; am I the only one who laughed at him saying Don Jon?
And thus the machicolations meme was born
Great video! Thanks so much, this terminology will help me to describe castles when I’m running D&D!
Shad, I recently watched this. Honor Guard is magnificent, I'm honestly inspired by it. Thus I want to ask your permission to build and exact replica of it in minecraft to post on the planet minecraft website.
This video answers so many questions!!! Oh my god! Your content is so freaking interesting!!!!
Holy shit, I just had a mid-life crisis as I know now where the word "Dungeon" comes from...
Looked up "Castle parts" to make a good-looking castle in minecraft. Ended up being his majesty's trusted lord. And even favoured by the people. Cheers m8.
No, you don't understand. He really loves castles.
Will you respond 2 years later??
Thank you for making this informative video, particularly as I know little about castles. At about 14:30, you mentioned the hoard and hoardings was "most often temporary," and added before sieges. My question is, why wouldn't they just leave the hoarding in place? It seems like a lot of work to install, and you might not have a lot of time before a siege occurs. Constructive help is appreciated!
Maybe I'm not getting this, but doesn't the design of machicolations render crenelations largely useless, since it provides an open hole which can be shot up into, and the holes seem to tend to be directly in front of the crenelations, where you'd typically take cover? They also seem like a great place to fall while moving towards the crenels to fire arrows.
MinutemanSam You need to to use the, as crenellations. If you're too stupid to actually figure out what I'm asking about, don't reply, kay?
seigeengine Dude, don't be an ass. You don't need to stand right up next to a Merlon to be protected. And since it's not the easiest thing in the world to charge right up next to a wall, shooting up through the hole would be fairly rare. Plus it's easier to shoot downward. and in cases like a gatehouse, you're likely right about some soldiers being able to shoot up through a machicolation. However, most soldiers were either melee or ranged and rarely both, especially with bows and arrows. No archer would charge the castle wall unless the formation was moving forward to an already captured position. And we can obviously see that the structure was effective, because the technique was A. dated after hoardings and B. widespread.
KheptlaxaXonu I'm going to be an ass if morons keep wasting my time being too stupid to even think before replying.
I never said you need to be right next to merlons _to be protected._
Also, an appeal to tradition is not a valid argument. Fuck off.
seigeengine It's not an appeal to tradition to say "the most successful techniques had a longer and more numerous lifespan." If a technique is good than those that know of it want to emulate it. That's not even close to an appeal to tradition. And since you have nothing to refute the other statements I made and all you are nitpicking isn't even there, the only logical conclusion I can come up with is that you either don't actually want your question answered because all you want is to be a provocateur. In which case I respond with saying I'm not attacking you, I'm not insulting you, there is no reason for you to respond with insults. Good day.
KheptlaxaXonu It is an appeal to tradition to say that something makes sense because it was done, traditionally.
I get it. You don't actually know enough to answer my question. Next time consider fucking off instead of making an ass of yourself and wasting everyone's time.
i have zero attention span and i watched the whole way through . that tells me, you sir, made a good one.