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Hill Castles
A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles are thus distinguished from lowland castles (''Niederungsburgen''). Hill castles may be further subdivided depending on their situation into the following: * Hilltop castle (''Gipfelburg''), that stands on the summit of a hill with steep drops on all sides. A special type is the rock castle or ''Felsenburg''. * Ridge castle (''Kammburg''), that is built on the crest of a ridge. * Hillside castle (''Hangburg''), that is built on the side of a hill and thus is dominated by rising ground on one side. * Spur castle (''Spornburg''), that is built on a hill spur surrounded by steep terrain on three sides and thus only needs to be defended on the one remaining side. When in the 10th and 11th centuries castles lost their pure fortress characte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified house, fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion, palace, and villa, whose main purpose was exclusively for ''pleasance'' and are not primarily fortresses but may be fortified. Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-century homes built to resemble castles. Over the Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain wall (fortification), curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were commonplace. European-style castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries after the fall of the Carolingian Empire, which resulted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schachenstein Castle
The ruins of Schachenstein Castle () are located in the municipality of Thörl, above the village not far from the Thörlbach stream and north of Bruck an der Mur in the Styria, Austria. Schachenstein Castle was the last hill castle to be built in the Styria. Its primary role was as a fortified, lordly residence, thus no subjects were in service to the castle captains. The castle was never besieged, despite serious unrest such as the Baumkircher feud and Turkish raids. Location The site of castle was an outstanding choice: some 640 above sea level on rocks forming the southern spur of the ''Schöckelberg''. It is situated on an easily defended constriction of the road from Einodgräben to Mariazell, which was originally also guarded by a fortified gateway. Purpose The main purpose of the fortification was as a home and summer residence of the abbots of St. Lambrecht's Abbey as evinced by a large number of historic records. Subsequently, it was used to seal off the Mariazel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castles By Type
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion, palace, and villa, whose main purpose was exclusively for ''pleasance'' and are not primarily fortresses but may be fortified. Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-century homes built to resemble castles. Over the Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were commonplace. European-style castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries after the fall of the Carolingian Empire, which resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. These nobles built castle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rocca (architecture)
A ''rocca'' () is a type of Italian fortified stronghold or fortress, typically located on a hilltop, beneath or on which the inhabitants of a historically clustered village or town might take refuge at times of trouble. Generally under its owners' patronage, the settlement might hope to find prosperity in better times. A ''rocca'' might in reality be no grander than a fortified farmhouse. A more extensive ''rocca'' would be referred to as a '' castello'' (). The ''rocca'' in Roman times would more likely be a site of a venerable cult than a dwelling, like the high place of Athens, its Acropolis. Though the earliest documentation is not earlier than the eleventh century, it was during the Lombard times that farming communities, which had presented a Roman pattern of loosely distributed farmsteads or self-sufficient Roman villa, moved from their traditional places on the fringes of the best arable lands in river valleys, where they were dangerously vulnerable from the Roman roads ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lowland Castle
The term lowland castle or plains castle () describes a type of castle that is situated on a lowland, plain or valley floor, as opposed to one built on higher ground such as a hill spur. The classification is extensively used in Germany where about 34 percent of all castles are of the lowland type.Krahe, pp. 21-23 (2002) Because lowland castles do not have the defensive advantage of a site on higher ground, sites are chosen that are easy to defend, taking advantage, for example, of rivers, islands in lakes or marshes. Where such natural obstacles do not exist, artificially similar obstacles take on added significance. These include water-filled or dry moats, ramparts, palisades and curtain walls. In order to increase the height of the castle above the surrounding terrain, artificial earth mounds may be built (such as mottes), and fortified towers also fulfil this purpose. Castles of the Early Middle Ages (including Slavic and Saxon castles) often had a narrow, deep ditch a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Montechino Village
Montechino is a hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ... of forty inhabitants. It is a frazione of the comune of Gropparello, in the province of Piacenza, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Geography Montechino lies in the Val Riglio, part of the Val Nure. The village is above sea level, from Gropparello and from Piacenza. History For centuries, the feudalism, feudal lords of the Nicelli family ruled much of the Val Nure. However, Montechino and its defensive fortress Montechino Italian Castle Piacenza, castle were controlled by the Confalonieri family, vassals of the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti. Visconti had guaranteed the autonomy of the "Magnificent University of Val Nure", located near Montechino, in an effort to offset the power of the Nicelli. Further ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
