THE MOTTE AND BAILEY CASTLES
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THE MOTTE AND BAILEY CASTLES |
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| The Castle consisted of two basic parts. The Motte, and the bailey, around both a defensive ditch would have been dug. They were simple to make and relatively easy to defend. |
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main enclosure was the bailey, defended by a ditch, bank and palisade,
with a timber gate or gate tower; the bailey contained all the residential
buildings, presumably timber-framed, required by a lordly household, at
least in the first generation.
To this was added the motte, usually to one side with direct access to the open country, the whole looking like a figure of eight, with the area of the bailey larger than that of the motte. The motte itself was a great mound of earth, usually artificial, though sometime part-natural, with its own ditch and bank about the base and thus separated from the bailey, from which it summit was reached usually by an inclined and stepped timber bridge. In the classic model a timber palisade with a gateway crowned the flattened summit of the mound and within this there rose a timber tower.
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The
Motte is hard to attack, as its sides are quite steep. On average a Motte
was no higher than 5 metres. The
ditches around both the Motte and the bailey would prove a difficult
obstacle to overcome for any attackers, with the fence and possibly a
drawbridge to overcome immediately after the ditch the castle becomes a
very strong fortress.
A Motte would be susceptible to collapse under the weight of a castle, whilst they were good in the short term the castle would require shoring up and possibly even rebuilding in the longer term. |
| Wooden fortifications are also susceptible to simple methods of attack. They burn for example and given time would rot due to inclement weather. Later stone structures on these sites would of course overcome this problem (although the Motte itself would be placed under greater strain). |
| STRENGTHS | WEAKNESSES |
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made of wood
· quick to put up · easy to repair · big enough to house soldiers in safety · had advantage of height as it was built on a motte; · a motte was a man-made hill · you could keep animals in one as a food supply · as they were high up, peasants could easily see them |
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wood weak building material; therefore
they cant be big
· wood can rot with the rain; it generally weakens with age · wood can burn · the motte can collapse with the weight of the castle on it · they were not big enough to house bigger groups of troops
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| Motte and Bailey castles were not known to be widespread in Germany, though variation of this style were used throughout , especially in border regions or marches. |
| VIRTUAL MOTTE AND BAILEY CASTLE Ó 1998 Mike Pringle |
