At its simplest, this new fortress consisted of an earthen mound, or “motte,”
surrounded by a ditch and a wooden rampart, the “bailey.” Often a tower of wood or
stone, called the “donjon” (Lat. dungio), appeared on the mound. It was designed to
provide both a residence and a defense for the lord of the castle. Remains of mottes are
especially numerous in France, with one modern département alone having seventy-
seven. While most of the construction was originally of wood, stone became the most
common material in the late 11th and early 12th centuries.
Function rather than appearance distinguished the castle from other fortifications. The
castle’s military and political role can best be illustrated by the career of Count Foulques
Nerra of Anjou (r. 987–1040), sometimes called “the Builder” because of his innovative
use of stone castles. In his strategy, castles were built to ensure communications with far-
flung possessions threatened by enemies. His interlocking network of fortifications, each
constructed a day’s ride from the next, created a “defense in depth” for the Angevin
heartland. Although it ensured the external security of Anjou, the system generated an
internal danger: the growing power of the castellans entrusted with the castles. After
1060, many Angevin castles slipped from the count’s control into that of castellans acting
as independent seigneurs. Of diverse origins, the seigneurs used their castles to establish
their own authority over the neighboring territory. For them, the castle was not
exclusively a military installation. The birthplace of the lineage, castles gave their
possessors a particular place in the feudal hierarchy. Seigneurs exercised power that had
once pertained to kings and royal officials over the people of the surrounding
countryside. The growth of rural population and trade often focused on the location of
castles and parish churches, thoroughly disrupting the settlement pattern inherited from
late antiquity.
Tension between counts seeking to maintain public authority and fortified seigneurs
seeking to enhance their own independence was typical of much of France. As in Anjou,
the princes of the great territorial principalities had to struggle, not always successfully,
to reestablish their control over the seigneurs. Castle architecture became increasingly
complex from the 12th to 13th centuries. The donjon was no longer a residence but now
had several stories with thicker walls. Eventually, it became merely one of the towers of
the enclosing wall. Inner walls were added, as well as massive defenses to protect the
gates. Elaborate crenellations, machicolations, and turrets to aid the defenders gave the
appearance most often associated with medieval castles. All of these precautions became
obsolete with the widespread use of gunpowder in the 14th and 15th centuries, and
castles became simply country residences for the nobility. As such, they remained
symbols of seigneurial rights until the French Revolution.
Scott Jesse
[See also: CASTELLAN/CHÂTELAIN; CHÂTEAU-GAILLARD; MILITARY
ARCHITECTURE]
Babelon, Jean-Pierre, ed. Le château en France. Paris: Berger-Levrault, 1986.
Bachrach, Bernard S. “The Angevin Strategy of Castle-Building in the Reign of Fulk Nerra, Count
of the Angevins, 987–1040.” American Historical Review 88 (1983):533–60.
Fournier, Gabriel. Le château dans la France médiévale. Paris: Aubier Montaigne, 1978.
Salch, Charles-Laurent, et al. L’atlas des châteaux forts en France. Strasbourg: Publitotal, 1977.
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