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Lowland Castles
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] |
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of Provinces of the Netherlands, twelve provinces; it borders Germany to the east and Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to the north and west. It shares Maritime boundary, maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium. The official language is Dutch language, Dutch, with West Frisian language, West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland. Dutch, English_language, English, and Papiamento are official in the Caribbean Netherlands, Caribbean territories. The people who are from the Netherlands is often referred to as Dutch people, Dutch Ethnicity, Ethnicity group, not to be confused by the language. ''Netherlands'' literally means "lower countries" i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Groß Raden
Gross or Groß in German is the correct spelling of the surname under German orthographic rules. In Switzerland, the name is spelled Gross. Some Germans and Austrians also use the spelling with "ss" instead of "ß". It is a surname of German, Prussian, and Yiddish (Ashkenazi Jewish) origin. The word means "big", "tall" or "great", and was likely adopted in Europe over the 15th to 19th centuries during the times of the House of Habsburg when monarchs of the royal families (Emperor or Empress) were called "the Great" (der Große). Descendants of this House may have adopted the name ''Gross'' from their ancestors. German-speaking Christian hymns use references to Jesus as "Mein Herr ist Groß" (''My Lord is Great'') or "So Groß ist der Herr" (''So Great is the Lord''). Composer Franz Schubert (1797–1828) wrote several songs referring to Jesus or God as ''groß'', such as D 757, a quartet called "Gott in der Natur" (''Groß ist der Herr!'') in 1822 and D 852, "Die Allmacht" (''G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harbour
A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a man-made facility built for loading and unloading Watercraft, vessels and dropping off and picking up passengers. Harbors usually include one or more ports. Alexandria Port in Egypt, meanwhile, is an example of a port with two harbors. Harbors may be natural or artificial. An artificial harbor can have deliberately constructed breakwater (structure), breakwaters, sea walls, or jetties or they can be constructed by dredging, which requires maintenance by further periodic dredging. An example of an artificial harbor is Long Beach Harbor, California, United States, which was an array of salt marshes and tidal flats too shallow for modern merchant ships before it was first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bridge Castle
Bridge Castle is an L-plan castle, dating from the 16th century, standing on a rocky site north west of Bathgate in West Lothian, Scotland,Maurice Lindsay (1986) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Constable. p97 on the west of the Barbauchlaw Burn. The former name of the castle was Little Brighouse. History The castle was sold by Alexander Stewart of Scotstounhill to William Livingstone, 6th Lord Livingston in 1588.John Maitland Thomson, ''Register of the Great Seal of Scotland'', vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1888), p. 525 no. 1531. Lord Livingston probably added the castle wing. After the Livingstones supported the Jacobite rising of 1715 they forfeited their land and titles. The Hopes acquired the property which remains in their possession. The architect James Maitland Wardrop altered the property internally and enlarged it to form a Victorian mansion. The building was listed at category B in 1971, at which time it was a hotel. Structure The castle was a rectangular building, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castles Of Bellinzona
The Castles of Bellinzona are a group of fortifications located around the town of Bellinzona, the capital of the Swiss canton of Ticino. Situated on the Alpine foothills, the group is composed of fortified walls and three castles named Castelgrande, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro. Castelgrande is located on a rocky peak overlooking the valley, with a series of walls that protect the old city and connect to Montebello. Sasso Corbaro, the highest of the three castles, is located on an isolated rocky promontory south-east of the other two. The Castles of Bellinzona with their defensive walls have been an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. History Pre-History and Roman era Bellinzona has always occupied an important geographic location in the Swiss Alps. It is situated a few kilometres south of Arbedo, where the Ticino and Moesa meet. Several key Alpine pass routes, connecting northern to southern Europe, including the Nufenen, St. Gotthard, Lukmanier and San Bernardino, all c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hilltop Castle
A hilltop castle is a type of hill castle that was built on the summit of a hill or mountain. In the latter case it may be termed a mountaintop castle. The term is derived from the German, ''Gipfelburg'', which is one of a number of terms used in continental castellology to classify castles by topology. The chief advantage of such a strategically selected site was its inaccessibility. The steep flanks of the hill made assaults on the castle difficult or, depending on the terrain, even impossible. In addition, it often commanded excellent fields of view and fire over the surrounding countryside. The sheer height of the castle above the local area could also protect the occupants of the castle from bombardment. In addition, the prominent location of such a castle enhanced its status as a residence. Nevertheless, hilltop castles presented their logistic difficulties. Without sufficiently strong pumps, water supply could be problematic if there was no well in the vicinity. The tran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hillside Castle
A hillside castle is a castle built on the side of a hill above much of the surrounding terrain but below the summit itself. It is thus a type of hill castle and emerged in Europe in the second half of the 11th century. As a result of the particular danger to the site from attacks on the castle from the rising ground above it, this weak point is usually strongly protected by a shield wall (fortification), shield wall or a ''Bergfried''. Often a combination of these two passive defensive works were used. The advantage of a hillside castle was that its water well, well was much less deep than that of a hilltop castle. The boring of the well was often the most expensive and time-consuming element in the overall construction of a castle. Often, however, its water supply was ensured with the additional help of donkeys as pack animals, entailing the construction of special donkey tracks. There are numerous hillside castles in the German Central Uplands, especially in stream and river v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marshy
In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in general, the word can be used for any low-lying and seasonally waterlogged terrain. In Europe and in agricultural literature low-lying meadows that require draining and embanked polderlands are also referred to as marshes or marshland. Marshes can often be found at the edges of lakes and streams, where they form a transition between the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are often dominated by grasses, rushes or reeds. If woody plants are present they tend to be low-growing shrubs, and the marsh is sometimes called a carr. This form of vegetation is what differentiates marshes from other types of wetland such as swamps, which are dominated by trees, and mires, which are wetlands that have accumulated deposits of acidic peat. Marshes pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marsh Castle
A marsh or marshland castle () is a type of lowland castle that is situated in marshy or boggy countryside. It uses the natural inaccessibility of the terrain to its defensive advantage. In contrast to a moated castle, with a marsh castle, an area of marsh or bog was used or incorporated as an obstacle to the approach. Marsh castles were mostly built on mounds within these landscapes, in a similar way to a Wallburg. In some places, however, an adjacent area of marsh or bog was simply used for protection on one or more sides and the castle itself was built on solid land, as was the case with the first castle in Danzig (modern Gdansk), for example. Most castles of this type were built in the lowlands of rivers flowing into the East and North Sea between Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg. Marsh castles are historically one of the oldest types of castle and were built as early as the Early Middle Ages by the Slavic peoples in the aforementioned areas. The distinction between them and m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Island Castle
The island castle, or insular castle, is a variation of the water castle. It is distinguished by its location on an artificial or natural island. It is a typical lowland castle. Because the island on which the castle was erected is separated from the shore by at least two bodies of water, artificial defences such as moats or shield walls were usually unnecessary if the castle was surrounded by flowing water. Such castles could therefore be very easily and cheaply built. Many island castles in lakes were, however, relatively easily captured in winter if there was an ice sheet thick enough to support attacking troops, because they were often rather poorly fortified. European island castles * The best-known island castle in Germany is Pfalzgrafenstein Castle near Kaub, Rhineland-Palatinate * The Chateau d'If is situated on the southern coast of France * The English counterpart to Mont-Saint-Michel is St Michael's Mount in Cornwall * Piel Castle was built on Piel Island o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Castle
A water castle, sometimes water-castle, is a castle which incorporates a natural or artificial body of water into its defences.Forde-Johnston (1979), p. 163. It can be entirely surrounded by water-filled moats (moated castle) or natural waterbodies such as island castles in a river or offshore. The term comes from European castle studies, mainly German ''Burgenkunde''. Some interpretations of the category emphasise that the use of water extends beyond a defensive purpose.Plowman (2005), p. 44. When stately homes were built in such a location, or a Wasserburg was later rebuilt as a residential manor, the German term becomes Wasserschloss, lit. "water palace/manor". Description Forde-Johnston describes such a site as "a castle in which water plays a prominent part in the defences." Apart from hindering attackers, an abundant supply of water was also an advantage during a siege. Topographically, such structures are a type of low-lying castle. Such a castle usually had only one e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
