1.
Doorwerth Castle
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Doorwerth Castle is a medieval castle situated on the river Rhine near the city of Arnhem, Netherlands. The original castle, probably wooden, is first mentioned in 1260 when it was besieged and burned to the ground, in 1280 this second castle was again besieged and this time the bailey was burned down. This castle probably consisted of a simple hall-keep, two stories high with 1.20 meter thick walls, and featured a moat which was fed by the nearby river Rhine. During the 14th century the castle was continually enlarged, Doorwerth Castle was originally the property of the Van Dorenweerd family. In 1402 Robert van Dorenweerd dedicated the castle to the Count of Gelre, in return Robert was granted the castle and its land in fief. Around the middle of the 15th century the castle was enlarged again, this time by knight Reinald van Homoet, the 10th Lord of Dorenweerd, who was also the owner of Doornenburg Castle. Doorwerth Castle reached its largest form just after the middle of the 16th century under Daem Schellart van Obbendorf and he made the castle and the group of buildings on the bailey into a unity and adjusted them for more space and comfort. By 1560 Doorwerth Castle had almost reached its present appearance, around 1637 the bailey was rebuilt to its present appearance and a dike was built around the castle to protect it from flooding of the river Rhine. Shortly after, the castle changed ownership due to problems and was granted in fief to a German Count. His successors did not alter the castle or bailey but did acquire more land, at the end of the 18th century the castle was no longer inhabited, but was looked after by a steward for its owners who now lived in England. As a result, the castle was in a state when it was bought, in 1837. He carried out a restoration and a complete modernization of the castle. This revival of the castle only lasted for a short time and it remained neglected until 1910, when it was bought by retired artillery officer Frederic Adolph Hoefer. Again the castle was restored, undoing some of the 19th century alterations and additions. After 1913 it was used as a Dutch Artillery Museum, the castle suffered heavily in 1944 as a result of German destructiveness and Allied shelling during World War II. Directly after WW II a lengthy restoration began that lasted until 1983, by then the castle was back into its 18th-century state and was owned by the Friends of the Castles of Gelderland foundation who now maintain the castle as a museum. In 1969-1970, Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema wrote his famous book Soldaat van Oranje in the restaurant Beaulieu, Dutch film director Stephan Brenninkmeijer was born at Doorwerth castle in 1964 and lived there until 1970. In 2004, the Castle was investigated for the ghosts allegedly haunting it by the British paranormal television show Most Haunted
2.
Bodiam Castle
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Bodiam Castle is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, England. It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II. Of quadrangular plan, Bodiam Castle has no keep, having its various chambers built around the defensive walls. Its corners and entrance are marked by towers, and topped by crenellations and its structure, details and situation in an artificial watery landscape indicate that display was an important aspect of the castles design as well as defence. It was the home of the Dalyngrigge family and the centre of the manor of Bodiam, possession of Bodiam Castle passed through several generations of Dalyngrigges, until their line became extinct, when the castle passed by marriage to the Lewknor family. During the Wars of the Roses, Sir Thomas Lewknor supported the House of Lancaster, and when Richard III of the House of York became king in 1483 and it is unrecorded whether the siege went ahead, but it is thought that Bodiam was surrendered without much resistance. The castle was confiscated, but returned to the Lewknors when Henry VII of the House of Lancaster became king in 1485, descendants of the Lewknors owned the castle until at least the 16th century. By the start of the English Civil War in 1641, Bodiam Castle was in the possession of Lord Thanet and he supported the Royalist cause, and sold the castle to help pay fines levied against him by Parliament. The castle was dismantled, and was left as a picturesque ruin until its purchase by John Fuller in 1829. Under his auspices, the castle was restored before being sold to George Cubitt, 1st Baron Ashcombe. The castle is protected as a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Monument and it has been owned by The National Trust since 1925, donated by Lord Curzon on his death, and is open to the public. Edward Dalyngrigge was a son and thus deprived of his fathers estates through the practice of primogeniture. By 1378, he owned the manor of Bodiam by marrying into a land-owning family, from 1379 to 1388, Dalyngrigge was a Knight of the Shire for Sussex and one of the most influential people in the county. By the time he applied to the king for a licence to crenellate, Edward III of England pressed his claim for the French throne and secured the territories of Aquitaine and Calais. Dalyngrigge was one of many Englishmen who travelled to France to seek their fortune as members of Free Companies – groups of mercenaries who fought for the highest bidder and he left for France in 1367 and journeyed with Lionel, Duke of Clarence and son of Edward III. It was as a member of the Free Companies that Dalyngrigge raised the money to build Bodiam Castle, the Treaty of Bruges ensured peace for two years, but after it expired, fighting resumed between England and France. In 1377 Edward III was succeeded by Richard II, during the war, England and France struggled for control of the English Channel, with raids on both coasts. With the renewed hostilities, Parliament voted that money should be spent on defending and fortifying Englands south coast, there was internal unrest as well as external threats, and Dalyngrigge was involved in suppressing the Peasants Revolt of 1381
3.
Mespelbrunn Castle
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It is a popular tourist attraction and has become a famous Spessart landmark. The first precursor of Mespelbrunn Castle was a simple house, on 1 May 1412, Johann gave the site, a forest clearing next to a pond, to Echter, a knight, who constructed a house without fortifications. It was a reward for Echters services against the Czechs, the Echter family originates from the Odenwald region. Their name presumably means der die Acht vollstreckt, the executor of the ostracism, in the 15th century the Spessart was a wild and unexploited virgin forest, used as a hideout by bandits and Hussites, who despoiled the regions nearby. Therefore in 1427 Hamann Echter, the son of the first owner, began to rebuild his fathers house to a castle with walls, towers. Only the Bergfried, the tower, remains from the 15th century. The following generations changed the defense structures to a typical manor-house, todays fundamental appearance is the result of reconstruction done between 1551 and 1569 by Peter Echter of Mespelbrunn and his wife, Gertrud of Adelsheim. The most famous member of the family was Julius Echter, Prince-bishop of Würzburg, a prominent proponent of the Counter-Reformation, he founded the Juliusspital, a hospital, in Würzburg, in 1576, and re-founded the University of Würzburg in 1583. Due to its location in a side valley of the Elsava, surrounded by forests. In 1665, the last male member of the Echter family died, in 1648, Maria Ottilia, Echterin of Mespelbrunn, had married Philipp Ludwig of Ingelheim, a member of a family of barons, later made Grafen of Ingelheim. By permission of the emperor, the name of the Echter family was preserved, in 1875, a Romanesque Revival chapel was built as a burial place for the Ingelheim family overlooking the Elsava valley. The main building of Mespelbrunn Castle is built on an almost square base on the side of a lake. On the whole northern, western and southern side, the court is surrounded by two storied houses, on the northeastern and southwestern corner, towers of similar height are added to the houses. These are decorated with stepped gables on the western side, the main entrance is on the left side of the southern building. On the western side, the court is limited by two framed transits to the water and the tower in center, which surmounts the castle. In the 1930s, economic pressures forced the Ingelheim family to open the site to the public, today, Mespelbrunn Castle is still owned by the family of the Counts of Ingelheim, who live in the southern wing of the castle, having moved out of the main rooms. In 1957, Mespelbrunn Castle was one of the locations of the German film Das Wirtshaus im Spessart, based on the novella by Wilhelm Hauff
4.
Castle
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A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. Usage of the term has varied over time and has applied to structures as diverse as hill forts. Over the approximately 900 years that castles were built, they took on a great many forms with different features, although some, such as curtain walls. A European innovation, castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. Although their military origins are often emphasised in castle studies, the structures served as centres of administration. Many castles were built from earth and timber, but had their defences replaced later by stone. Early castles often exploited natural defences, lacking features such as towers and arrowslits, in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a scientific approach to castle defence emerged. This led to the proliferation of towers, with an emphasis on flanking fire, many new castles were polygonal or relied on concentric defence – several stages of defence within each other that could all function at the same time to maximise the castles firepower. These changes in defence have been attributed to a mixture of castle technology from the Crusades, such as concentric fortification, not all the elements of castle architecture were military in nature, so that devices such as moats evolved from their original purpose of defence into symbols of power. Some grand castles had long winding approaches intended to impress and dominate their landscape, while castles continued to be built well into the 16th century, new techniques to deal with improved cannon fire made them uncomfortable and undesirable places to live. As a result, true castles went into decline and were replaced by artillery forts with no role in civil administration, and country houses that were indefensible. From the 18th century onwards, there was a renewed interest in castles with the construction of castles, part of a romantic revival of Gothic architecture. The word castle is derived from the Latin word castellum, which is a diminutive of the word castrum, meaning fortified place. The Old English castel, Old French castel or chastel, French château, Spanish castillo, Italian castello, the word castle was introduced into English shortly before the Norman Conquest to denote this type of building, which was then new to England. In its simplest terms, the definition of a castle accepted amongst academics is a fortified residence. Feudalism was the link between a lord and his vassal where, in return for service and the expectation of loyalty. Castles served a range of purposes, the most important of which were military, administrative, as well as defensive structures, castles were also offensive tools which could be used as a base of operations in enemy territory
5.
Moat
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A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams. In older fortifications, such as hillforts, they are referred to simply as ditches. In later periods, moats or water defences may be largely ornamental and they could also act as sewerage. Some of the earliest evidence of moats has been uncovered around ancient Egyptian castles, one example is at Buhen, a castle excavated in Nubia. Other evidence of ancient moats is found in the ruins of Babylon, and in reliefs from ancient Egypt, Assyria, and other cultures in the region. Evidence of early moats around settlements has been discovered in archaeological sites throughout Southeast Asia, including Noen U-Loke, Ban Non Khrua Chut, Ban Makham Thae. The use of the moats could have been either for defensive or agriculture purposes, moats were excavated around castles and other fortifications as part of the defensive system as an obstacle immediately outside the walls. In suitable locations they might be filled with water, a moat made access to the walls difficult for siege weapons, such as siege towers and battering rams, which needed to be brought up against a wall to be effective. A water-filled moat made the practice of mining, digging tunnels under the castles in order to effect a collapse of the defences, segmented moats have one dry section and one section filled with water. Dry moats cut across the part of a spur or peninsula are called neck ditches. Moats separating different elements of a castle, such as the inner and outer wards are cross ditches, the shared derivation implies that the two features were closely related and possibly constructed at the same time. The term moat is also applied to natural formations reminiscent of the artificial structure, the walls were further protected from infantry attack by wet or dry moats, sometimes in elaborate systems. When this style of fortification was superseded by lines of forts in the mid-19th century. The Walls of Benin were a combination of ramparts and moats, called Iya and it was considered the largest man-made structure lengthwise, second only to the Great Wall of China and the largest earthwork in the world. With more recent work by Patrick Darling, it has established as the largest man-made structure in the world. It enclosed 6,500 km² of community lands and its length was over 16,000 km of earth boundaries. It was estimated that earliest construction began in 800 and continued into the mid-15th century, the walls are built of a ditch and dike structure, the ditch dug to form an inner moat with the excavated earth used to form the exterior rampart
6.
Island castle
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The island castle is a variation of the water castle. It is distinguished by its location on an artificial or natural island and it is a typical lowland castle. Such castles could therefore be easily and cheaply built. Many island castles in lakes were, however, relatively easily captured in winter if there was an ice sheet thick enough to support attacking troops, the best-known island castle in Germany is Pfalzgrafenstein Castle near Kaub. The only Gothic water castle in Europe is Trakai Castle in Lithuania, crusader Castles of the Teutonic Knights, The Red-brick Castles of Prussia, Osprey, Oxford
7.
Lowland castle
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The term lowland castle or plains castle describes a type of castle based that is situated on a lowland, plain or valley floor, as opposed to one built on higher ground such as a hill spur. The classification is used in Germany where about 34 percent of all castles are of the lowland type. Where such natural obstacles do not exist, artificially similar obstacles take on added significance and these include water-filled or dry moats, ramparts, palisades and curtain walls. In order to increase the height of the castle above the terrain, artificial earth mounds may be built. Castles of the Early Middle Ages often had a narrow, deep ditch and high, lowland castles are naturally found on plains such as the North German Plain or in the Netherlands. But they may also be encountered occasionally in highlands, for example in a valley as an island castle on an island in a river. Water castle, Overarching term for all types that use water as a defensive obstacle. Depending on their topographic situation these castles may be subdivided into, River castles, as a rule, they are also surrounded by moats filled with water supplied by the river. Shore castle, castle by a lake or the sea, like river castles, shore castles usually have artificial ditches with a link to the waterbody. Island castle, castle on a natural, more rarely on an artificial, marsh castle, castle in marshy or boggy terrain. It uses the natural inaccessibility of the terrain to its defensive advantage, valley castle, Castle on a valley bottom. An example are the Castles of Bellinzona, sub-types according to function, Bridge castle, a castle built to watch over and protect a river crossing. Harbour castle, a castle that is built to protect a harbour, wörterbuch der Burgen, Schlösser und Festungen. Reclam, Stuttgart, p.156, ISBN 3-15-010547-1 Krahe, Burgen und Wohntürme des deutschen Mittelalters. Vol.1, Thorbecke, Stuttgart,2002, pp. 21–23, ISBN 3-7995-0104-5
8.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
9.
Pond
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A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or artificial, that is usually smaller than a lake. They may arise naturally in floodplains as part of a river system, usually they contain shallow water with marsh and aquatic plants and animals. In the countryside farmers and villagers dig a pond in their backyard or increase the depth of a pond by removing layers of mud during summer season. A wide variety of bodies of water are classified as ponds. Some ponds are created specifically for restoration, including water treatment. Others, like gardens, water features and koi ponds are designed for aesthetic ornamentation as landscape or architectural features. Fish ponds are designed for commercial breeding, and solar ponds designed to store thermal energy. Standing bodies of such as puddles, ponds, and lakes are often categorized separately from flowing water courses, such as brooks, creeks. Nutrient levels and water quality in ponds can be controlled through natural process such as growth, or through artificial filtration. The technical distinction between a pond and a lake has not been universally standardized, each of these definitions has met with resistance or disapproval, as the defining characteristics are each difficult to measure or verify. Accordingly, some organizations and researchers have settled on technical definitions of pond, even among organizations and researchers who distinguish lakes from ponds by size alone, there is no universally recognised standard for the maximum size of a pond. The international Ramsar wetland convention sets the limit for pond size as 8 hectares. Other European biologists have set the size limit at 5 ha. In practice, a body of water is called a pond or a lake on a basis, as conventions change from place to place. There are numerous examples in other states of bodies of water less than 10 acres being called lakes, as the case with Crystal Lake shows, marketing purposes may be the driving factor behind some names. Ponds can result from a range of natural processes. Rivers often leave behind ponds in natural flood plains after spring flooding, retreating glaciers can leave behind landscapes filled with small depressions, each developing its own pond, an example is the Prairie Pothole Region of North America. Some ponds are created by animals, beaver ponds are the best known example, but alligators also excavate ponds as well
10.
Siege
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A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. This derives from sedere, Latin for to sit, Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static defensive position. Consequently, an opportunity for negotiation between combatants is not uncommon, as proximity and fluctuating advantage can encourage diplomacy, a siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that cannot be easily taken by direct assault and refuses to surrender. Failing a military outcome, sieges can often be decided by starvation, thirst, or disease and this form of siege, though, can take many months or even years, depending upon the size of the stores of food the fortified position holds. During the process of circumvallation, the force can be set upon by another force of enemies due to the lengthy amount of time required to starve a position. During the Warring States era of ancient China, there is textual and archaeological evidence of prolonged sieges and siege machinery used against the defenders of city walls. Siege machinery was also a tradition of the ancient Greco-Roman world, during the Renaissance and the early modern period, siege warfare dominated the conduct of war in Europe. Leonardo da Vinci gained as much of his renown from the design of fortifications as from his artwork, Medieval campaigns were generally designed around a succession of sieges. In the Napoleonic era, increasing use of more powerful cannon reduced the value of fortifications. In the 20th century, the significance of the classical siege declined, with the advent of mobile warfare, a single fortified stronghold is no longer as decisive as it once was. Modern sieges are more commonly the result of smaller hostage, militant, the Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples, and defensive walls. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified, by about 3500 BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus River floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets, mundigak in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun-dried bricks. City walls and fortifications were essential for the defence of the first cities in the ancient Near East, the walls were built of mudbricks, stone, wood, or a combination of these materials, depending on local availability. They may also have served the purpose of showing presumptive enemies the might of the kingdom. The great walls surrounding the Sumerian city of Uruk gained a widespread reputation, the walls were 9.5 km in length, and up to 12 m in height. Later, the walls of Babylon, reinforced by towers, moats, in Anatolia, the Hittites built massive stone walls around their cities atop hillsides, taking advantage of the terrain. In Shang Dynasty China, at the site of Ao, large walls were erected in the 15th century BC that had dimensions of 20 m in width at the base and enclosed an area of some 2,100 yards squared
