
How to Build a Medieval Castle (2016) - SEJeff
http://www.historyextra.com/article/premium/how-build-medieval-castle
======
rihegher
For those who are really interested in how to build a mediaval castle, there
is one building at the moment in the french countryside called Guedelon. It is
modeled from french castle of century XIII. Using tools from middle age. the
goal is to validate, correct or invalidate archeoligist theories aboyt
medieval building techniques. By the way you can go there, participate and
learn a ton. Myself i really enjoyed the experience.

~~~
timthorn
The BBC made a series showing the techniques in use there:
[https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00PYMP7WA](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00PYMP7WA)

~~~
pbhjpbhj
The BBC are supposed to have an online shop now for past shows that aren't on
iPlayer .. but that show isn't available, which I find amusing-annoying
considering you can get it on Amazon.
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04xshqd](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04xshqd)
has some clips.

~~~
Jaruzel
I've just found it on the BBC download shop thingy:

[https://store.bbc.com/secrets-of-the-castle-with-ruth-
peter-...](https://store.bbc.com/secrets-of-the-castle-with-ruth-peter-and-
tom)

Cheaper by half compared to buying the DVD.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Cool. That price differentiation is really grating. I understand they can
charge more for HD (38%), but when it's a supposed non-profit enterprise ...

~~~
NTripleOne
> but when it's a supposed non-profit enterprise ...

...that's already paid for by the British public...

~~~
meigwilym
Sales like these are a huge revenue generator for the BBC, and help keep the
licence fee down.

As you say, it's already paid for by the British public, I see no reason to
give it away overseas.

~~~
NTripleOne
But it's not just about overseas. I as a British citizen who has paid his
(last) TV license have quite literally already paid for this content - yet to
watch it outside of the iplayer window, I still need to buy it.

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Nomentatus
That castles are best situated near communications routes (water or land) is
mentioned, but not quite why. The purpose of castles was primarily
interdiction of supplies. Armies could bypass them, true - but then sorties
from the castle later would cut their supply line. In a time when disease and
pestilence were the greatest enemies of every army, and good roads and
convenient navigable rivers rare (before canal locks got to the West), castles
were very effective cripplers of enemy armies.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Also, you need a butt-ton of supplies to build a castle. Back then, it was
probably impractical to build them anywhere but a river or land trade route.

~~~
arethuza
"...anywhere but a river or land trade route"

Or on top of the plug of an ancient volcano!

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flopp
Here's the French castle building project in Guédelon:
[http://www.guedelon.fr/en/](http://www.guedelon.fr/en/) Since 1997, they are
constructing a castle from the grounds up using medieval techniques. Quite
impressive...

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Haven_Monahan
If nobody's brought it up, "Castle" by David Macaulay:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_(book)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_\(book\))

(also made into a PBS program in the '80s)

Very nice book; also he has ones about building Cathedrals, Pyramids, Roman
cities and New England water-mills.

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CaptSpify
There's a castle that someone built in Tennessee of all places:
[http://www.tnhomeandfarm.com/tn-living/castle-
gwynn/](http://www.tnhomeandfarm.com/tn-living/castle-gwynn/)

It wasn't done with nearly any of the requirements listed in the article, nor
one the scale required for an actual castle, but it was pretty cool to visit
and see.

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ENTP
Wales has some amazing Castles. Edward the 1st almost bankrupted England
building them. Come visit!

~~~
SEJeff
Got any in specific you'd like to name? I'll have two weeks to see the english
countryside coming up soon and was going to make a point to visit
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. I'd love to add
some actual castles to that trip to wales.

~~~
ENTP
Check out Harlech, Conwy and Caernarfon. They're pretty epic.

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clock_tower
Pro tip they forgot to mention: if you expect to need a medieval castle at
some point in the foreseeable future, build it now, while concrete's available
and cheap (and while construction efforts don't involve impressing a quarter
of the skilled laborers in the country).

And don't use reinforced concrete; steel, even stainless steel, rusts over
time, and the goal is to have something still serviceable a millennium later
with ordinary maintenance.

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flurdy
Prompted me to play some Citadels this morning.
[http://store.steampowered.com/app/238870/](http://store.steampowered.com/app/238870/)

Thanks... broke my no gaming before 11pm or kids asleep whichever comes first
rule... Good thing I'm on a mini-sabbatical. (ie between contracts)

~~~
andrewrice
Ouch -- only 13% favorable reviews on Steam?

~~~
flurdy
Yes, I think it was very very buggy when it launched. And at a much higher
price then today. I bought it on a steam sale recently for only a few quid and
it has had many patches over the years so it is now quite playable.

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TKAB
There's also one being built in the southern part of Austria:
[http://burgbau.at/burgbaufrie/?page_id=428](http://burgbau.at/burgbaufrie/?page_id=428)
(unfortunately not every part is translated to English but only available in
German).

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nraynaud
Be really weary of what you see: most castles were made entirely at first,
then partially of wood. A lot of castles were rebuilt and embellished with
stones at the end or after the middle ages. It's one instance were we have to
trust the documentation but not our eyes.

~~~
azernik
Depends on the period. Part of the problem is that the popular imagination
tends to see the Middle Ages as a uniform period of technological stagnation,
when in fact there was great change and progress throughout the period. Early
medieval castles were indeed wood-and-earthworks fortifications, but stone
castles were active fortifications for a long time that would be considered
"middle ages".

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pcunite
Here's a short writeup on James Sachs' (game programmer) attempt to build his
own custom home.

[http://castleonthecheap.blogspot.com](http://castleonthecheap.blogspot.com)

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ju-st
If you want to know more about castles watch this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhzsM2SFoeQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhzsM2SFoeQ)

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mmanfrin
This is a treat. I'm currently reading a book about Longshanks (Edward I); so
many of these castles, places, and people are relevant to me.

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strongcore
What was this all about? Didn't found anything new in it. It just listed every
widest ideas in an order, that's all. I don't think this one would help
anybody in building a castle!

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Tokkemon
How to Build a Medieval Castle 1\. Start up Stronghold: Crusader 2\. Build a
massive edifice to handle your ginormous army! 3\. ??? 4\. Profit.

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brudgers
Very disappointing. I reached the bottom of the page and there was no
solicitation for Medieval Castle Building services.

~~~
steanne
try [http://www.castlemagic.com/](http://www.castlemagic.com/)

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koevet
This would make a great game!

~~~
Paul_S
It has already been made: Stronghold. Also Castles is an old but fun one.

~~~
Tokkemon
Wonderful series of games!

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dovdovdov
Very vague article, barely describes the steps.

Didn't give up on my dream though!

(geez, some don't get jokes)

