posted 10-17-2004 07:05 AM            

I found this nice answer from some one else on http://bb.castles.org/Post00326.php

" The main difference is defense. Castles, which usually date from an earlier time period, were built mainly with the idea of keeping other people out. Although they could sometimes be very lavishly decorated, particularly the keep, which was the castle holder's private residence and the last hold out in invasion, castles were primarily millitary instillations. They were hugely expensive to build, and so became quite a status symbol, but they were primarily military.

As gun powder became more common in Europe (what I've been talking about is European castles--my degree is in Medieval European history--non-European castles are a whole other thing) it became a waste of money to build thick walls and high towers, only to have them brought down with an explosion. By that time, armies were becoming larger and borders were better defended, royalty was becoming more powerful, and were able to enforce the peace so their nobles didn't have to worry about defending against EACH OTHER. The aristocracy was also becoming more wealthy and wanted to show it. Palaces really reappeared with the Renaissance. Earlier, people who had had palaces were the most powerful--Emperors, Popes, during the Classical period, Roman Senatores and generals. Basically people who could afford some other line of defence, so they could show their wealth--and security, because wealth BOUGHT security--by opulence.

By the way, palaces aren't exactly the decendents of castles. Weathly medieval people tended to favor manor houses, which were often fortified, unless they were near a castle where the family could evacuate to in case of war, or town houses, which didn't need to be fortified if it were in a walled town. By the Renaissance, there was getting to be less and less difference between the landholding class and the wealthier merchants. As the class lines blurred, the homes of the two started to be more and more alike."

Also it is nice to know that the word castle derives from the word "castellum", Latin for small fortress. And that palace derives from Palatium, the Latin name for the hill in Rome where the palace stood of the Roman emperors.