Medieval castles

• Tasks
• Teachers' notes
• External links
• Connections to Curriculum

The castle as we know it today was introduced into England in 1066 during the Norman invasion led by William the Conqueror. After their victory at the Battle of Hastings, the Normans settled in England. They constructed castles all over the country in order to control their newly-won territory, and to pacify the Anglo-Saxon population. These early castles were mainly of motte and bailey type. The ‘motte’ was made up of a large mound of earth with a wooden tower on top, while the ‘bailey’ was a large ditch and bank enclosure which surrounded the motte.

These timber castles were quite cheap and very quick to build. However, the timber castles did have disadvantages. They were very vulnerable to attacks using fire and the wood would eventually start to rot. Due to these disadvantages, King William ordered that castles should be built in stone. Many of the original timber castles were replaced with stone castles.

Over time, stone castles were built in different architectural styles as builders experimented with castle-building techniques. In their infancy, castles were primarily military fortifications used to defend conquered territories from attack. The strategic location of the castle was paramount. However, once the Normans began to consolidate their control over England, castles began to take on a variety of different roles. Castles could serve as a centre for local government, administration and justice. They were also used by powerful lords to display their wealth and power through lavish architectural styles and decoration. Castles were not only built and used by the crown. In fact, the majority of castles were granted by the king to his loyal lords and nobles along with large areas of land. In return for these grants, the king expected his nobles to control and administer these lands on his behalf. The castle itself also represented a whole group of people who contributed to its function from constables, masons, blacksmiths and servants to name a few.

Use this lesson with original documents to find out more about the role of Framlingham, Portchester, Stokesay, Berwick, Alnwick, and Pevensey castles in medieval society.

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Tasks

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Teachers' notes

The purpose of this enquiry is to allow students to explore documents relating to the general function of castles. Did some people find them intimidating?  Did a king view a castle in the same way as a peasant? Did a queen think about a castle in the same way as a builder?

The questions provided with each source act as prompts for students to answer the overarching question: What was the purpose and significance of castles?

The records used cover a range of material including royal grants, extracts from pipe rolls and the Calendar of Patent Rolls, royal orders, licences and pardons. We hope that these documents will offer students a chance to develop their powers of evaluation and analysis. All sources have been provided with a transcript and, as the language may prove challenging, we have also provided a simplified version with more difficult words defined within the text. Each source is captioned and dated to provide a sense of what the document is about. Alternatively, teachers may wish to use the sources to develop their own lesson in a different way or combine with other sources.

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External links

Images of historic sites

An overview of the ‘Middle Ages’

Connections to Curriculum

Key Stage 4

AQA GCSE History
Britain: Power and the people: c1170 to the present day

OCR GCSE History
Castles Form and Function c1000-1750. Framlingham Castle was the first named site for the Historic Environment module, this is now Kenilworth Castle from 2019. The set site will be reviewed after three years and may be subject to change.

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