Defensive Architecture -resource to present to Primary students

1. Medieval
Castles
Defensive architecture

2. Do you know?
Why did they need castles?
Why were castles built on top
of hills?
Why did many castles have a
moat?
Why were the windows so
thin?

3. Why castles?
 Castle comes from the roman word for military
forts where Roman soldiers lived: castra.
 Rich Romans didn't live in castles. They lived in
villas.
 After the collapse of the Roman Empire in
Europe, there was a lot of trouble with pirates
and bandits and invasions. Rich people began
to build their villas more like forts, for safety, or
they moved into old Roman forts. These were
called castles.

4. Original castles
 At first, most castles had just one
central tower, called the keep.
A keep usually had two or three
floors, with one big room on each
floor.
 There was one big chimney
running up the side, so each room
had one giant fireplace to heat it.

5. To make it easier to defend these
castles, they had only very small
slits for windows, and very thick
walls.

6. Stopping the enemy.
 Around the keep there was
often a deep, wide moat
full of water, and you could
only cross the moat by going
over a drawbridge.

7. The end of the Medieval Ages
 Later on, the countryside got safer. The kings
were stronger and could control the bandits
better.

8. The end of castles
 So rich people began to be less worried about
safety and more interested in comfort in their
houses.
 They started to add on rooms around the keep,
and to make bigger windows with glass in them,
and they put permanent stone bridges over the
moats instead of drawbridges.

9. The end of castles
 Then in the 1200's, people in Europe learned
about gunpowder from China, and by the
1400's they built cannons that could blow up
even thick castle walls, so castles became
pointless.
 By the end of the Middle Ages, people weren't
really living in castles anymore.

10. Project Build your own castle.

11. Medieval Castle Project
Castle Rubric
* You must have a one full page written or typed report with your castle including the
following information about REAL CASTLES :
1. The parts and uses of REAL castles
2. Methods of defense of REAL castles
3. Descriptions of the living areas inside REAL castles
* NO LEGO Castles,
* NO plastic, toy castle, prefabricated parts used to create
the castle building, drawbridge, flags, pennant, or base
* The castle must have a solid/firm, colored base (including the floor of the castle) with neat edges
* Size of castle with base = 18" x 24" (not much bigger than your desktop, please)
* Have at least 4 walls and 4 towers (each tower taller than the walls )
(each tower with 3 carefully drawn or cut windows)
* Paint or color the towers and outside and inside walls of the castle (or cover it
in aluminum foil to give it a Camelot effect.) - white is ok
* Draw neatly or imprint blocks of stone on the towers and inside and outside the walls
including the offset stone blocks on the top of the walls and towers (called
crenellations)
* Have a homemade colored flag and over the drawbridge put a homemade colored banner with a colored design
* Have a blue colored moat which goes completely around all walls
* Have a drawbridge which is secure at one end to the walls or the base that can open and close
and is connected using 2 strands of chain or string
* Put greenery around the outside. (moss is ok, preferably a few trees)
Note - I do NOT recommend making a sugar cube castle. It is easily damaged.
If you must build one, build it strong -reinforce the walls & towers
with cardboard! (you don't have to paint a sugar cube castle)
Note - For extra credit -
1. Put action figures inside
(Drawn characters mounted on cardboard)
2. Put buildings, ramps, staircases, ledges, or a well inside the castle
3. Have a battle raging outside the castle, or a Prince Charming waiting outside for his Princess