posted 06-22-2002 09:42 PM         

Well, castles were built for one main reason. To provide defence. They perform little else. in a fight if you have a wall to hide behind you usually have an advantage. So people started building walls around their cities to protect against sudden attacks. with the fudel system, it was the lords responsability to protect the people, so he would build a castle to do that. The city would generally be around the castle as it was the center of the life for the area.

Nobody kept a standing army at that time. It was too expencive. So when an enemy would come to attack, they wouldn't have time to build and organize an army to fight it. So with a castle they could hold off greater numbers with fewer.

Sorry this is short, but I have to go now, I am sure somebody else will pick up what I have missed.

posted 06-23-2002 06:17 AM            

As for the lord having a duty to protect the population, I'm not so sure. In some cases the castle served to protect the lord from the population, and it was mostly used to dominate them and keep control of the lord's estates.