Transcript Slide 1

CASTLES
AND
CASTLE LESSON PLANS
BY
CAROLYN BROOKS
ST. STEPHEN MARTYR SCHOOL
LOUISVILLE, KY
Click on the topic you
want to read.
INDEX
To return to the Index,
click on the castle
PARTS OF THE CASTLE:
MOAT
DRAWBRIDGE
KITCHEN
GREAT HALL
CURTAIN
GATEHOUSE
KEEP
TOWERS
DUNGEONS
Lesson Plan 1: POP-UP 3-D CASTLE
Lesson Plan 2: CARDBOARD BOX CASTLE
Lesson Plan 3: Architecture:"Castles/Rubbings"
Castle Terminology Glossary
The first thing that distinguished a castle was the
moat or ditch. Most were filled with deep water to
prevent enemies from coming in, but even those
without water stopped intruders because the deep,
steep walls prevented the enemy from entering.
The only way to cross a
moat was on the
drawbridge. These
wooden structures
could be raised or
lowered depending on
whether or not the
people in the castles
wanted you to come in.
Ropes or chains were
attached to the end of
the bridge and then
rigged to a pulley so
that guards were able to
quickly raise it.
Upon crossing the drawbridge, you would reach
the curtain, or wall. This wall surrounding the
castle was strong enough to survive a battering
ram (a common weapon) and could be
anywhere between 8 and 20 feet thick.
(That's as wide as the height of a 2-story building!)
A gatehouse was
built into the curtain.
At first it was just a
simple door by
which to go in and
out of the castle, but
over time that
changed.
Because enemy
armies often came
to this area, an iron
grate was added
that could be put
down to block the
entrance, in addition
to heavy wooden
doors.
Small holes, called
murder holes, were
added to the ceiling
above the main
entrance to pour
boiling liquid down
on entering
enemies.
Towers were also a
part of the curtain.
They allowed people
to look about and
keep watch outside
the castles walls. In
addition, at times
they kept prisoners.
The Keep of the
castle was the
highest point and
the center of
defense, the
strongest and
most secure place
in a castle.
Inside the castles walls were many things. There was a kitchen
where the cooks made meals. The great hall was where
everybody ate and the servants slept. Court jesters often sang,
juggled, and told stories here to amuse the lord and his family.
The chapel sometimes served as a private church
for the lord and his family even when there was
another church in a nearby town. Castles also
had one or more houses built in for people to
stay. Often there was a lord's house and then one
or two others, depending on how many people
were living at that particular castle.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Castle Architecture
More Castle Architecture Pages
Stone, mortar, wood-these were the simple components used to construct some of
the most heavily fortified structures ever created.
Early castles relied on the surrounding landscape to provide much of the protection.
Early castles were made of wood and built on hills of "mottes". Surrounded by a high,
wooden palisade, motte and bailey castles were used widely until the Norman
invasion of 1066. These fortifications proved too easy to burn, and stone was then
used more frequently.
Castles were rarely the most comfortable place to live, with only the lord and his
family given adequate heat and other amenities. Medieval castles were built for
safety, not comfort. Windows were little more than slits in the wall. Cold, stone floors
and walls rarely kept in heat, and water had to be brought by the bucketful throughout
the castle. Walls were built high to protect from advancing armies, and to provide
needed lookout positions.
The simple stone and mortar architecture made repairs fairly easy to make. It was not
uncommon for stones to be used over and over with each successive castle built on
the same location. Cannons and gunpowder made the castle ineffective and these
large structures evolved in the later Middle Ages and Renaissance to become manor
homes and palaces.
More Castle Architecture Pages
The Great Hall
•
•
•
•
Medieval feasts, wedding celebrations, receiving visiting nobles, and holiday
festivities would all be celebrated in the castle's great hall. Elaborate tapestries and
silks would line the walls and while Middle Age castles could be rather dark, the
largest windows would be found here. Small wooden or stone benches were placed
underneath these windows so guests could enjoy the view.
Great Hall furnishings could be sparse, but they were very practical. Long wooden
tables and benches would be covered with white linen during feasts, but could be
taken apart easily for dancing and entertainment. Castle lords and their families
would be seated at a table on a raised wooden or stone dais at the far end of the hall.
Stone floors in the castle's Great Hall were rarely covered with carpets, though
wealthy lords might cover them with tapestries. Straw and rushes were the usual
coverings, but later in the Middle Ages herbs like marjoram, chamomile, basil, sweet
fennel, mint, germander and lavender would be added to help with the aroma. These
coverings were swept regularly, but new materials would be soon added to cover up
the more nasty fragments on the floor: bone fragments, spittle, animal excrement,
beer and grease.
Light for evening feasts and celebrations would be provided by candles and oil lamps.
It was not unusual for guests to sleep in the hall after a night of merrymaking.
Castle Dungeons
"Dungeon" is a corruption of donjon,
the French term for tower. Contrary to
popular belief of the dank, dark
basement pit, most prisoners were held
in the castle's highest tower, passage
to which was guarded by soldiers.
Basement or pit dungeons did exist
with famous prisoners immortalized in
literature.
Castle Kitchens
•
•
•
•
Medieval kitchens were placed outside the Great Hall to fire safety. Spits
roasting meat and large, iron cauldrons bubbling with soups and stews were
all part of the kitchen's daily routine. Lambs, cattle, pigs, and fowl were
tethered or penned nearby, some castles kept a pond stocked with fish, and
cooking herbs would be grown in nearby gardens. Castle kitchens could be
large enough to roast up to three whole oxen at a time!
Water would be supplied by a well, but castles during the later Middle Ages
began to pipe water right into the kithcen area. Utensils and whatever
dishes the lord might possess would be washed in large stone sinks.
Breakfast in the Middle Ages was usually a simple meal of bread and water.
Dinner would be served between 10 a.m. and noon and feature several
courses. Dinner, especially for celebratory feasts, would demand large
quantities of food be prepared. At the marriage of Henry III's daughter, sixty
cattle were slaughtered and prepared as the main course for the meal.
Bedrooms, Bathing,
•
and what did they do without indoor plumbing?Solars and SquintsCastle lords and ladies
generally lived in the upper stories of the keep in a room called a solar. These might be divided
with partitions, but the main feature of the room would be the bed. The lord's bed would be made
with a heavy wooden frame and have a canopy that would be pulled back during daylight hours.
Comfort was provided with feather mattresses and springs made from interlaced ropes or staps.
These beds would be dismantled taken with the lord when he traveled.Lords and ladies might
have kept separate chambers, each accompanied by their attendants who would sleep on
palettes, benches, or small mattresses on the floor. Medieval furniture included intricately carved
wooden chests for clothing and wall pegs to hang robes. A small stool might have been in the
room to be used while dressing. Armchairs became popular in the late Middle Ages.Castle guests,
the lord's eldest son and the castle steward would occupy chambers on higher levels. These
rooms would be equipped with peepholes calls squints that were used to monitor the activity
below.Tubs and the BathmanBathing was done in wooden tubs padded with cloth. Privacy
provided by tents or canopies. When the lord traveled, the tub traveled with him, maintained by a
bathman who was also responsible for heating the water. In warmer weather the tub might be
placed outside near the garden while during the winter the bathing would be done close to a
chamber fireplace.Some castles in the late Middle Ages engineered hot and cold running water to
certain rooms in the castle, but these were rare. Other castles had permanent "bath rooms" with
tiled floors.Medieval Garderobes and Gong FarmersEven the grandest castle didn't have
bathroom facilities. Usually latrines or garderobes would be built into a castle wall overhanging
the ground or water below. Some garderobes had wooden seats but many were simply carved
into the castle stone. These could be quite uncomfortable, especially in the winter! Iron bars were
placed on some garderobe chutes to keep invading armies from using them as a point of
entry.Garderobes would be placed near bedchambers and other parts of the castle, some
partitioned with screens for privacy, but many were rather exposed. Chamber pots were popular
throughout the Middle Ages and straw was used as Medieval toilet paper. Larger castles had
dedicated latrine towers, and the person with the unsavory job of emptying the latrine was called a
gong farmer.
Medieval Castle Chapels
• Mass was held every morning for the
castle lord and his family in a small chapel
built off the Great Hall. Services for the
rest of the castle inhabitants would be held
in chapels built on the bailey.
•
Castle Defense Architecture
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The medieval castle was used as a weapon unto itself and its defending garrison of soldiers exploited every possible advantage. The
castle's main weapon was obvious in its medieval architecture. Stone curtain walls that were constructed anywhere between 20 and 40
feet high and 7 to 20 feet thick were made more formidable with protecting. Curtain walls were raised even higher as improvements were
made in medieval siege engines, but enemy miners could then attack the castle's foundation.
Medieval engineers were used during castle construction to design the stronghold to better prevent attacks from any blind angles or
potential flanking positions. Attacking armies liked cover, so the surrounding land near the castle would often be cleared, and vulnerable
approaches would be heavily fortified.
Most castles had unique designs and exploited their natural surroundings, and most Middle Age fortifications used a variety of architecture
devices to improve their defense.
Towers were often the last section of a castle to fall during an attack, and defending garrisons protected them at all cost. Medieval castle
towers came in several shapes: circular, semi-circular, and square. In addition to being prime lookout posts and firing positions for
archers, these towers were used in other capacities, such as storehouses and prisons. Medieval towers were often constructed to include
merlons, which are hollow spaces through which archers could fire arrows. Other weapons of choice included stones and Greek fire
(which was a generic name for any burning liquid made from molten metal or oil), all of which could also be dropped on attackers.
Returning crusaders brought back designs influenced by Moorish architecture, and by the late 1100s towers incorporated curved, Arablike features. This curved architecture made it more difficult for miners to sabotage the foundation.
Castle moats could either be wet or dry. There were times when the unavailability of water or persistent droughts forced castle architects
to build dry moats. Moats were used defensively from the earliest medieval castles throughout the Middle Ages. Using strategic moats
were often the castle's first way of defending against an attacking army.
The castle's most vulnerable point was often the front door. Portcullises and castle drawbridges were used to provide defense. Made
almost exclusively of wood, drawbridges could be removed by hand before an attack or pulled up by soldiers using either ropes or chains.
Gatehouses were impressive, and often rose several stories high. They also contained both living quarters for soldiers and the devices
that controlled heavy, protective, grilled gates called portcullises. These sliding doors were usually made of thick timber, and when
available, covered with some kind of iron plating. Defending armies were able to shoot arrows through the holes. Larger castles might
feature several of these doors that would be used to trap attacking soldiers in narrow, winding hallways. From atop these passageways,
the defending army would be poised to drop stones or Greek Fire, and launch arrows through hard to see "murder holes" carved in the
ceiling.
LESSON PLAN 1
After the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century,
Europe underwent a series of cultural changes that
lasted a thousand years. This period of time has come
be known as "Medieval" or the "Middle Ages." It was time
of knights, battles, and castles. The romanticism of the
period is manifest in the literature, the history, and the
number and variety of castles that sprung up like wild
flowers in a field all across Europe. Castles, and the
remains of them, still dot the European landscape and
remind us of a time when chivalry , gallantry, and
courage were the order of the day.
http://www.dickblick.com/lessonplans/castles/
Grade Level
Elementary through
Junior High
Time Required
Two to five class
periods
(50 minutes a period)
Objective
To develop and promote an awareness of
history and geometry.
The PowerPoint provides a background for
the project and is a great way to get
students interested in history.
The skills developed in creating the castles
will help build an appreciation of spatial
relationships.
Procedure
• Discuss castle construction. As examples, use
an assortment of visual images from books or
pictures collected from the school library. Some
items of castle construction include battlements,
towers, gates, projections, flags, banners, arrow
slits, and landscaping. Details include brick,
stone, and wood. The finished castles will form a
Medieval diorama.
PROCEDURE
•
•
•
•
•
Fold one sheet of construction paper in half
horizontally.
Sketch a series of battlements (open spaces at the top
of a wall) horizontally from the fold about half way
across the folded sheet. Then cut along the sketched
lines.
Bend back and crease the paper from the end of the
cut line to the bottom of the sheet.
Open the sheet and lay it flat. Pull the "castle" upward
reversing the folds. The castle should protrude from
the sheet forming a central tower.
Other details can be added by closing the sheet and
cutting more towers along the new folds of the central
tower.
Assessment
•
•
•
•
Teacher reviews each student's work to
verify that each project meets with the
minimum lesson requirements.
The castle opens up correctly.
The folding and placement of windows,
walls, and doors makes sense.
Check craftsmanship, quality and
neatness of construction.
Extended Lesson
• At this point, elementary students can decorate the castles with
markers. Students can imply stone, brick, or block construction on
the surface of the central tower and background details on the area
behind.
• Junior high students can develop more detailed designs. Increase
the level of difficulty and challenge by having them cut the castles
from the background paper. Leave a flange along the sides of each
tower that will be folded under and used to glue the castle onto
another color of folded contruction paper. Details can me added with
colored markers and cut out colored paper shapes. Colored paper
pennants wrapped around tooth picks form banners. Background
details can include trees, hills, mountains, sky, clouds, etc.
• The finished castles are displayed standing upright. Ground details
in front of the castles can enhance the presentation (stone walks,
draw bridges, moats ,etc.).
LESSON PLAN 2
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Boxcastle.shtml
Cardboard Box Castle
Turn a plain cardboard box into an enchanted castle. The
cutting in this project is heavy-duty and should be done
by an adult. The child can help by supervising and by
designing where the towers and turrets should go.
Supplies needed:
•
•
•
•
a box - any size will do
heavy duty scissors or a craft knife
string
crayons, paint, and/or markers
1. Find a box and cut off the top flaps. Any type of
box will do: a large cardboard box makes a large
castle, a shoebox makes a fine, small castle. To
cut thick cardboard, try a craft knife. Poultry
shears work well for thinner cardboard.
2. Cut out a wide rectangle along the front, sides,
and the back to form towers (turrets) at the
corners.
3. Cut out rectangular crenellations along the
entire top (the battlement) of the castle.
4. Draw a drawbridge at the front of the castle.
Using the point of a scissors, poke 2 small holes
in the sides of the drawbridge and on both sides
of the wall next to it. Cut out the drawbridge.
5. Attach a string to each side of the drawbridge
and the adjoining wall.
6. Decorate the castle with paint, markers, crayons,
or decoupage (pictures that are cut from
magazines and pasted onto the castle).
LESSON PLAN 3
Architecture:"Castles/Rubbings"
Grades: K-5
MATERIALS:
12"x 18" newsprint
(cut to 9"x 15" or 10"x 16")
12"x 18" construction paper
glue
black markers
naked crayons
texture boards
visuals
OBJECTIVES: Students will...
learn about castles as historical
architecture.
learn about castle construction.
design and draw castles using
overlapping perspective.
use texture rubbings to add color to
castles.
VOCABULARY:
motte and bailey
moat
drawbridge
curtain wall
gatehouse
bailey
keep
merlon
crenel
texture
LESSON PLAN 3
Architecture:" Castles/Rubbings"
DISCUSSION:
Show examples of castles. Discuss development of
castle architecture as defense against attack: motte and
bailey, moat, drawbridge, curtain wall, gatehouse, bailey,
keep, merlon and crenel, etc.
ACTIVITY:
Castle may be drawn either horizontally or vertically on
newsprint. Begin with a ground line, add moat,
drawbridge, gate with bars or door, gatehouse, merlon
and crenel curtain wall, towers, keep, etc. Add
landscape, trees, vines, bushes, flags, clouds, people,
etc. to complete drawing. Use texture boards and naked
crayons to fill in different areas with texture. Glue
newsprint to construction paper backing.
Books you might like to add to your
library:
• Castle, by David Macaulay
• Eyewitness: Castle (Eyewitness Books)
by Christopher Gravett ,Geoff Dann
(Photographer) (2000)
• Make This Model Medieval Castle
(Usborne Cut-Out Models)
by Iain Ashman (1997)
Bibliography
• http://www.medieval-castles.net/
• http://www.castles.org/Kids_Section/Castle_Story/
• http://www.kidsonthenet.org.uk/castle/view.html
You can print out parts of a castle to put together from this one:
• http://www.yourchildlearns.com/megamaps/castle.html
• http://www.castles-of-britain.com/castle6.htm
• http://www.hsv.k12.al.us/schools/art/dixon/architecture.htm#Castle
Rubbing
Glossary of A Castle
Allure or Wall-walk: passage behind the parapet of a castle wall
Apse: circular or polygonal end of a tower or chapel
Arcading: rows of arches supported on columns, free-standing or
attached to a wall (blind arcade)
Arrow Loop: A narrow vertical slit cut into a wall through which
arrows could be fired from inside
Ashlar: blocks of smooth, squared stone of any kind
Bailey or Ward: courtyard within the walls of the castle
Ballista: engine resembling a crossbow, used in hurling missiles or
large arrows
Barbican: an outwork or forward extension of a castle gateway
Barrel vault: semicircular roof of stone & timber
Bartizan: overhanging corner turret
Bastion: a small tower at the end of a curtain wall or in the
middle of the outside wall
Battlement: a narrow wall built along the outer edge of the
wall walk to protect soldiers against attack
Belfry: tall, movable wooden tower on wheels, used in
sieges
Brattice: (see hoarding)
Buttery: room for the service of beverages
Concentric: having two sets of walls, one inside the other
Crenelation: a notched battlement made up of alternate
crenels (openings) and merlons (square sawteeth)
Cross-wall: an internal dividing wall in a great tower
Curtain wall: a castle wall enclosing a courtyard
Cut: assault tower
Corbel: stone bracket projecting from a wall or corner to
support a beam
Donjon: the inner stronghold (keep) of a castle
Drawbridge: a wooden bridge leading to a gateway,
capable of being raised or lowered
Drum Tower: a round tower built into a wall
Dungeon: the jail, usually found in one of the towers
Enceinte: an enclosing wall, usually exterior, of a
fortified place
Embrasure: the low segment of the altering high
and low segments of a battlement
Escalade: scaling of a castle wall
Finial: a slender piece of stone used to decorate
the tops of the merlons
Forebuilding: a projection in front of a keep or
donjon, containing the stairs to the main entrance
Garderobe: latrine
Gate House: the complex of towers, bridges, and
barriers built to protect each entrance through a
castle or town wall
Hall: principal living quarters of a medieval castle
or house
Hoarding: covered wooden gallery affixed to the
top of the outside of a tower or curtain to defend
the castle
Inner Ward or Inner Bailey: open area in the
center of a castle
Keep: the inner stronghold of the castle
Loophole: slit in wall for light, air, or shooting
through
Machicolation: a projection in the battlements of a
wall with openings through which missiles could be
dropped on besiegers
Mangonel: stone:throwing machine worked by torsion,
used as a siege weapon against castles
Merlon: part of a battlement, the square "sawtooth"
between crenels
Meurtriere: arrow loop, slit in battlement or wall to
permit firing of arrows or for observation
Moat: a deep trench usually filled with water that
surrounded a castle
Motte: an earthwork mound on which a castle was built
Murder Holes: a section between the main gate and a
inner portcullis where arrows, rocks, and hot oil could
be dropped from the roof though holes
Oilette: a round opening at the base of a loophole
Oriel or Oriel Window: projecting room on an upper floor,
later an upper-floor bay window
Oubliette: a dungeon reached by a trap door
Palisade: a sturdy wooden fence built to enclose a site
until a permanent stone wall could be constructed
Parapet: protective wall at the top of a fortification, around
the outer side of the wall-walk
Portcullis: vertical sliding wooden grille shod with iron
suspended in front of a gateway designed to protect the
gate
Postern Gate: a secondary gate or door often located at
the rear of the castle.
Putlog Hole: a hole intentionally left in the surface of a wall
for insertion of a horizontal pole
Ram: battering ram
Revet: face with a layer of stone, stone slabs etc.,
for more strength. Some earth mottes were
revetted with stone.
Sapping: undermining, as of a castle wall
Screens: wooden partition at the kitchen end of a
hall, protecting a passage leading to the buttery,
pantry, and kitchen
Solar: originally a room above ground level, but
commonly applied to the great chamber or a
private sitting room off the great hall
Springald: war engine of the catapult type, employing
tension
Trebuchet: war engine developed in the Middle Ages
employing counterpoise
Turning Bridge: a drawbridge that pivoted in the middle
Turret: a small tower rising above and resting on one of
the main towers, usually used as a look out point
Wall Walk: the area along the tops of the walls from which
soldiers could defend the castle
Ward: courtyard or bailey
http://www.castlewales.com/casterms.html
A pdf file with patterns for making a castle.
http://www.stormthecastle.com/papercastle/Paper%20castle.pdf