posted 11-26-2002 07:25 PM            

A point to note, the military 'structure' in the middle ages was very different from what developed later, and in fact most castles were, amongst many other functions, primarily the fortified home of the local lord. The castle may have had one or more knights living there also, and often a small garrison of castle guards, but they were rarely used solely to house a large garrison of men, this development came later. It had already happened earlier also. The Romans had professional armies and housed them in camps during campaign, sometimes wooden, sometimes stone.
Many castles were, after the 15th century, converted to house soldiers, and soldiers were often stationed in cannon forts, and therefore it was the garrison that reappeared with the changing military structure. It was simply convenient and safer to house them within new or existing stone fortifications.

Erik