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Concentric Castle Design
Concentric castles were built with two or more concentric rings of walls and towers, the inner ring able to defend independently and lay crossing fir…
Timeline
- 1196–1198Château Gaillard · EureRichard I built Château Gaillard on a bend of the Seine, employing multiple inner and outer walls, bastions, and deep ditches to form mutually supporting concentric defensive rings; contemporaries praised it as an impregnable fortress.
- c. 1198–1200Anglo-French frontier · Anglo-French frontierThe success of Château Gaillard prompted both England and France to adopt concentric layouts on their frontiers and in the Welsh Marches; multiple towers and an independent inner defensive ring became common elements of new castle design in the early 13th century.
Sources
- Château Gaillard: And the Campaigns of Richard the Lionheart — John Goodall
- The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: A Political and Social History — Norman J. G. Pounds (1990)