A very instructive example of 12th-century work is the Chateau Gaillard,
built by Richard Coeur-de-Lion in 1196. This great castle, with ditches
and escarpments cut out of the solid rock, and extensive outworks, was
completed in one year. In the article CASTLE will be found the plan of
the main work, which is here supplemented by an elevation of the donjon
(or keep). The waved face of the inner or main wall of the castle,
giving a divergent fire over the front, is an interesting feature in
advance of the time. So also is the masonry protection of the
machicolation at the top of the donjon, a protection which at that time
was usually given by wooden hoardings. After the death of Richard,
Philip Augustus besieged the chateau, and carried it after a blockade of
seven months and a regular attack of one month. In this attack the tower
at A was first mined, after which the whole of that outwork was
abandoned by the defenders. The outer enceinte was next captured by
surprise; and finally the gate of the main wall was breached by the
pioneers. When this happened a sudden rush of the besiegers prevented
the remains of the garrison from gaining the shelter of the donjon, and
they had to lay down their arms.
Chateau Gaillard, designed by perhaps the greatest general of his time,
exemplifies in its brief resistance the weak points of the designs of
the 12th century. It is easy to understand how at each step gained by
the besiegers the very difficulties which had been placed in the way of
their further advance prevented the garrison from reinforcing strongly
the points attacked.
In the 13th century many influences were at work in the development of
castellar fortification. The experience of such sieges as that of
Chateau Gaillard, and still more that gained in the Crusades, the larger
garrisons at the disposal of the great feudal lords, and the importance
of the interests which they had to protect in their towns, led to a
freer style of design. We must also take note of an essential difference
between the forms of attack preferred by the Roman soldiery and by the
medieval chivalry. The former, who were artisans as well as soldiers,
preferred in siege works the certain if laborious methods of breaching
and mining. The latter, who considered all manual labour beneath them
and whose only ideal of warfare was personal combat, affected the tower
and its bridge, giving access to the top of the wall rather than the rat
and battering-ram. They were also fond of surprises, which the bad
discipline of the time favoured.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Donjon, Chateau Gaillard.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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