How To Attack A Castle: And How To Defend It

✍ Scribed by Trevor Yorke

• Publisher: Countryside Books
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 97
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Decaying animals catapulted over battlements, flaming arrows raining from the sky and red-hot sand poured down ladders to repel advancing bloodthirsty hordes. Castle warfare was a grim and grisly business, and every aspect of it is brought to life in this book. Through colorful illustrations and accounts of actual sieges in every chapter, you’ll discover how armies from medieval times up to the English Civil War attacked and besieged British castles and how changing weaponry shaped the defenses we see the remains of today. As castle design developed, attackers had to change their tactics and introduce new siege methods to bring the walls down. The weapons, siege engines and mining techniques used are described in detail here, alongside diagrams showing how they worked and details of the defensive structures erected to counter them.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Copyright......Page 3
Contents......Page 4
Introduction......Page 5
1. Medieval Siege Warfare: Kings, Knights and Castles......Page 7
2. Motte and Bailey Castles: Timber, Fire and Arrows......Page 15
3. The Great Stone Keeps: Battlements, Mining and Mangonels......Page 25
4. Curtain Walled Castles: Towers, Moats and Trebuchets......Page 39
5. Concentric Walled Castles: Ballista and Machicolations......Page 49
6. Tower Houses and Coastal Forts: Gatehouses, Gunpowder and Cannon......Page 62
7. The Castle Refortified: The English Civil War......Page 76
Place to Visit......Page 85
Glossary......Page 92
Index......Page 95

✦ Subjects

Architectural Drafting & Presentation, Defence Strategy & Research, Medieval Military History