Castle

a fortified residence of a feudal lord, usually built in a well-protected area (for example, surrounded by water or in the mountains). Access to the donjon (known as the keshk in Middle Asia), the main tower which housed the living quarters and served as the last stronghold of defense, was made difficult by palisades, ramparts, moats, and, later, massive turreted walls. Eventually the walls were surrounded by ramparts and moats over which drawbridges were built.

Castles have been preserved in Middle Asia (fifth to eighth century), Armenia (fifth to seventh century), Jordan (eighth century), France (ninth to 11th century), Spain (11th to 14th century), Germany (12th and 13th centuries), and other European countries. The castles’ thick blank walls designed for passive defense create an air of severity. The rectangular plans of these castles, as well as their structural and design features, combine local, Hellenistic, and ancient Roman traditions of defensive architecture in varying proportions. With the transition to active defense, machicoloations for high angle fire were built into the walls and towers (for example, in the 11th- and 12th-century castles of the Crusaders in Syria and Palestine). The lines of the walls pierced by these firing slots lost their regularity and followed the relief of the sur-rounding area. Castles became increasingly picturesque with their expressive three-dimensionality, and they began to blend in with the landscape.

Gradually, castles comprised a complex of buildings for defensive, housing, religious, and service purposes; they formed completely self-sufficient units. Examples are the Coucy Castle in France (13th century), the Harlech Castle in Wales (13th century), and the castle in the Mir settlement in Byelorussia (16th century). With the development of artillery, the castle no longer was important as a fortress, becoming more like a palace in composition. The features of castle architecture were preserved, but the trim of the towers and the jagged walls with their embrasures became decorative (for example, the Chateau de Pierrefonds in France, 1390–1420). Castles were ultimately replaced by urban and rural palace-park complexes.