Castle Quest - Reply to Topic

Forum:	Castles In General & Medieval History
Topic:	Changes in castles - 14-17th century

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T O P I C R E V I E W
Cal What were the most important changes in casles between the 1300's and the 1600's?
Erik Schmidt This relates very much to the other question you posted also.
True castles were in fact no longer built after the late 15th century, as the development of heavy artillery made that type of defence fairly redundant.
You should first make sure you know what a true castle is.
By the 17th century, nobles were building manor houses, palaces and so on, while the cannon fort and defences had evolved as a military defensive system. The two were not combined in the way defence(military) and domestic functions had been combined in the castle.
Many castles were in fact torn down and/or radically altered to build more comfortable and beautiful accommodations, with the military function mostly not maintained.
Where the castle was to maintain some defensive capability into the cannon age, the walls and towers were usually knocked down to a low height and made much thicker, often with the addition of earthen embankments.
In some cases, such 'upgraded' castles became the domestic accommodation of soldiers, the noble having built elsewhere.
Many pretty buildings that have no defensive capacity are called castles today, but strictly speaking, they are not.
Erik