Castle to Fortress: Medieval to Post-Modern Fortifications in the Lands of the Former Roman Empire

By J. E. Kaufmann and H. W. Kaufmann

The authors of Castrum to Castle trace the “evolution of defensive architecture at the turn of the late Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance.” —Old Barbed Wire Blog
 
Across western Europe, the long tradition of castle-building took on its most sophisticated form in the later Medieval period and then, in response to the development of gunpowder weapons, it underwent a fundamental change—from castle to fortress. This, the second volume of a highly illustrated new study of medieval fortification, gives a fascinating insight into the last great age of castles and the centuries of violence and conflict they were part of.
 
It traces the advances made between the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries, looking in particular at the form these fortifications took in contexts as different as Italy, Wales, France and the Iberian Peninsula. Many would regard this period in the history of castles as the classic age. It was followed by a phase of relative decline as the conditions of warfare changed and castles had to be adapted to cope with cannon. The conventional castle gave way to new styles of fortification. But, as the authors demonstrate, they were still essential factors in military calculations and campaigns—they were of direct strategic and tactical importance wherever there was an attempt to take or hold territory.
 
“A fascinating treatise on the way such buildings were modified to provide protection from growing threats.” —Books Monthly

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781526736888

Book preview

Castle to Fortress

Castle to Fortress

Medieval to Post-Modern Fortifications in the Lands of the Former Roman Empire

J.E. Kaufmann and H.W. Kaufmann

Frontispiece: Caen: Porte des Champs Gatehouse, the eastern entrance to the Château of Caen.

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

PEN & SWORD MILITARY

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire – Philadelphia

Copyright © J.E. Kaufmann and H.W. Kaufmann 2019

ISBN 978 1 52673 687 1

eISBN 978 1 52673 688 8

MobiISBN 978 1 52673 689 5

The right of J.E. Kaufmann and H.W. Kaufmann to be identified as

the Authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance

with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is

available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical

including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and

retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

by Aura Technology and Software Services, India

Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the Imprints of Aviation, Atlas,

Family History, Fiction, Maritime, Military, Discovery, Politics, History, Archaeology,

Select, Wharncliffe Local History, Wharncliffe True Crime, Military Classics,

Wharncliffe Transport, Leo Cooper, The Praetorian Press, Remember When, Seaforth

Publishing and Frontline Publishing.

For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact

PEN & SWORD BOOKS LTD

47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England

E-mail: [e-mail]

Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Or

PEN & SWORD BOOKS

1950 Lawrence Rd, Havertown, PA 19083, USA

E-mail: [e-mail]

Website: www.penandswordbooks.com

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1Iberia: Crusading for Conquest

Brief History of Iberia

The León/Castile Front

Fortifications of Medieval Iberia

Aledo and the Forgotten Fortresses

The Aragonese/Catalan Front

The Tide Turns

Córdoba and Islamic Iberia

The Last Islamic Bastion

Ávila and other Spanish Classics

Chapter 2The End of the Age of Castles, Part I

Fourteenth-Century Evolution

Paris Fortified

The Hundred Years War (1337-1453)

Fortifications and the Hundred Years War

War in Brittany: Succession and Sieges

Vincennes

Phase Two of the War: 1369 to 1396

Chapter 3The End of the Age of Castles, Part II

The French Civil War

The Hundred Years War Resumes: The Fifteenth Century

Population: Big vs. Small

Henry V Victorious and the French Resurgence

Conquest by Cannon

From Medieval to Renaissance Warfare

Chapter 4The Fringes

Border Lands

Castles of the Fringe West of the Rhine

Crossroads

Intimidate, Protect, or Impress?

Armies and Warfare in the Late Middle Ages and After

Chapter 5The Renaissance

End of an Era

Italy Transitions into the Renaissance

Italian Renaissance Architects and Military Engineers

Braye, Fausse-braye and Boulevards

Italian Wars in the Age of Machiavelli

New Walls for a New Era

Chapter 6Closing an Era

War Italian Style

The Turning Point

Evolving Fortifications

Bridges and Religious Structures

Conclusion

Appendix I: Weapons of Siege Warfare

Appendix II: Vitruvius’ Comments on Towers

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Preface

During the period covered in this volumes and its predecessor Castrum to Castle, thousands of forts, castles and city walls were built in Europe, many of which remain today either in ruins or intact, but heavily modified through the ages. It is not possible to cover all of them, or even only those of significant historical importance in a few hundred pages. This volume covers the fortifications of Iberia from the time of the Islamic invasion through the Reconquista. Next, it continues with France after the era of Philippe Augustus through the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) in which small castles were replaced by large castles and fortified cities. The age of gunpowder artillery brought dramatic changes to warfare and fortifications. However, long into the Renaissance, sieges continued to be more frequent than battles in the field as armies and fortifications grew in size.

During the latter part of the Middle Ages, fortifications retained archaic basic features such as the moat and the high wall, usually made of masonry. The advent of the cannon brought significant changes to the height and width of the walls and altered the role of towers, which were converted into or replaced with bastions. Siege methods such as mining or breaching walls became increasingly refined and complex. Rome, the ‘Eternal City’, continued to modernize its fortifications as it was a frequent target of invading armies. Many older fortifications throughout Europe were frequently updated, which makes it difficult to date them based on their present condition.

This work includes historical background associated with the fortifications in addition to their descriptions. The reader should have an atlas or maps of Western Europe available for finding certain locations referred to in the text since illustrations in the book may not have them all marked. For more detailed descriptions of medieval fortifications and a general survey that covers all of Europe we recommend our earlier publication titled Medieval Fortress, Sidney Toy’s Castles and E.E. Viollet-le-Duc’s Military Architecture. For the best description of warfare covering castles, military organization, logistics, technology, combat and strategy during the Middle Ages we recommend Bernard and David Bachrach’s Warfare in Medieval Europe c.400 -c.1453.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the following people and organizations for their assistance in preparing this project: Miguel Andújar (photo of model), Arnaud Bouis (photos), Pierre Etcheto (photos and data), Martyn Gregg (photos), Rupert Harding (photos), Lorenzo and Roberto Mundo (photos), Bernard Lowry (photos and data), and Wojciech Ostrowski (illustrations). Special thanks to Pierre Etcheto for providing us with a key reference book on French fortifications and other materials on castles in addition to his valuable assistance.

Chapter One

Iberia: Crusading for Conquest

Brief History of Iberia

After Tariq invaded and destroyed the Visigothic kingdom in 711, the Islamic forces swept across most of the Iberia Peninsula. Later, friction arose between Tariq’s Moroccan Berbers and two different Arab ethnic groups led by Musa ibn Nusayr that followed them.¹ In 714, the new Caliph in Damascus removed both Tariq and Musa. Musa’s son Abd al-Aziz seized Pamplona, Tarragona and Barcelona and crossed into Septimania. He remained in charge in Iberia until the Caliph had him assassinated in 716 to prevent him from becoming independent from the caliphate.² In 732, the Franks, led by Charles Martel, defeated Emir Abd al-Rahman at the decisive battle of Tours. Between 740 and 742, conflict broke out again between the Berbers, whose only reward had been the poorest Iberian lands, and the Arabs. In 750, the Abbasids seized the Caliphate and Abd al Rahman I escaped to Iberia where he founded the Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba in 755.

After stopping the Islamic northward advance in 740, Alfonso I, sovereign of the Christian kingdom of Asturias, launched the Reconquista. In 778, Charlemagne, in league with the Abbasids, crossed the Pyrenees, but met defeat at the hands of the Basques at Roncesvalles. By the end of the eighth century, even though the king of Asturias seized Lisbon for a short time, the Christians remained confined to the north. The Franks established the Spanish March, helping the Catalonians who had fled across the Pyrenees to return by driving the Moors from Gerona in 797 and Barcelona in 801. Rebellions fomented by the Christian kings shook the emirate. At the death of Alfonso III in 910, the kingdom of Asturias was divided among his three sons, creating León, Galicia and Castile. Abd al-Rahman III launched a punishing campaign against the new kingdoms in 920, but even though he returned home victorious, the Christians continued to resist. In 929, Abd al-Rahman III ended the emirate and claimed the title of caliph. The tide turned in favour of the Christians who forged an alliance with the governor of Zaragoza (Saragossa). The self-proclaimed caliph launched a new campaign during which he destroyed Zaragoza in 937. In 939, he suffered a major defeat in several days of battle at Alhandega (in front of the city walls of Simancas³) at the hands of Ramiro II of León. This battle secured the Duero river line for León.

The struggle between Christian and Islamic forces continued until a de facto Arab ruler, the Yemenite Almanzor, took over. Cordoba prospered and Al Andalus flourished. The high massive walls surrounded this most culturally sophisticated city in the West. A few kilometres to the north-west, Abd al-Rahman III built his exquisite city/palace of Medina al-Zahra (Madinat az-Zahira). Construction began in 936 and took over fourteen years. The complex endured until 1010 when it was ravaged during a civil war. Three of its four sides had double walls with three levels and with square towers.⁴ An alcázar was within the compound on its north side. Almanzor established a formidable military machine that dominated the peninsula and launched punishing assaults against the Christian kingdoms of the north and Catalonia. During his campaigns, he even took Barcelona, Pamplona and León. He brought down the massive walls and towers of León. On his last campaign, he razed the church of Santiago to the ground, but spared the shrine of St. James. He employed both Berber and Christian mercenaries to ravage the lands of those who resisted. His death in 1002 destabilized the caliphate as civil wars erupted against succeeding caliphs. In 1031, the caliphate broke up into about two dozen small states called taifas, which consisted of Berbers, Arabs and muwallad (mixed ancestry, i.e. Hispanic with Arab or Berber blood). Although they were relatively large, these taifas easily succumbed to Christian forces until 1086 when the Almoravids – Muslim Berber rulers of north-west Africa – crossed into Iberia under the leadership of Yusuf. By 1091, Yusuf had taken over all the taifas except Saragossa and restored order to Islamic Iberia.

During the European Dark Ages before the death of Almanzor, the Islamic world was culturally on the ascendant while the Christian world was in decline. In Iberia and throughout the Middle East, the Arabs advanced in mathematics, sciences, medicine, agriculture and even literature. They did not exclude people of other faiths from taking part in this intellectual flowering, which shows a greater deal of sophistication on the part of the Arabs than found in Christian Europe.

The León/Castile Front

The Iberian Peninsula, almost square like a boxing ring, became an arena where the Islamic world of the East and the Christian world of the West fought for control for almost 800 years. Since the Muslims failed to clean out the last pockets of resistance in Asturias in the Dark Ages, several Christian states slowly emerged and by the end of that period began reconquering the northern part of the peninsula relying on fortifications to maintain their hold. León, which led the way in the eleventh century, controlled the county of Castile (‘Land of Castles’) until they formally merged in the twelfth century. Catalonia and Aragon came together and held close connections with France. Islamic Iberia was not a homogenous unit since its population consisted of Berbers, several Arab ethnic groups,⁵ converted Christians and non-converted Christians known today as Mozarabs. The taifas emerged from the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031. At one time during the eleventh century, there were up to two dozen taifas in Al Andalus. Before 1080, however, constant warfare between them reduced their number as some of the larger taifas absorbed the smaller ones.⁶ The large taifas of Badajoz, Toledo and Zaragoza, and the smaller Tortosa faced the Christian kingdoms and counties. The larger taifas, however, occupied sparsely populated regions and could only field small armies. The smallest, mostly urban, taifas often could barely muster a guard force. The dominant taifas, which included Valencia, Almería, Granada, Córdoba, Seville, and Málaga, often fought each other. The Christian kingdoms in the north fought each other as well. Both sides employed Christian and Muslim mercenaries. The Christian monarchs often forced the taifas on their borders to pay tribute.

King Sancho III Garcés ‘the Great’ (1000–5) took the throne of Navarre before the break-up of the Caliphate of Córdoba and the creation of the taifas. He dominated both Aragon and Castile and proclaimed himself King of Spain. His united Christian kingdom only lasted until his death in 1035 whereupon it was divided among his sons, Garcia III of Navarre (1035–54), Fernando I of Castile (1035-65), Ramiro I of Aragon (1035–63), Vermudo III of León (1035–7), and Gonzalo (1035–43) who got the counties of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza, both of which were annexed to Aragon after Gonzalo’s assassination. Fernando I established Castile as the dominant power and he reunited it with León in 1037 after Vermudo died in a battle against him. Fernando dominated the neighbouring taifas. In the meantime, Ramón Berenguer I, count of Barcelona (1035–76) turned Catalonia into a formidable power, forcing tribute from the taifa of Zaragoza.

The large frontier taifas of Badajoz, Toledo, and Zaragoza with relatively small populations, were unable to prevent the Christians from raiding beyond their ribats – frontier outposts.⁷ King al-Muqtadir of Zaragoza (1046–81), whose taifa faced several Christian kingdoms and suffered the most, tried to play Castile against Aragon. By 1055, Fernando I of Castile had pushed south of the Duero River. In 1063, he campaigned against Seville, forcing its ruler to pay tribute. Next, his victory over the Moors in the six-month siege of the city of Coimbra in July 1064 led to the establishment of Portugal.

In 1065, when Zaragoza refused to pay tribute, Fernando launched a campaign that took him as far as the Júcar River, south of Valencia where he took ill and returned home to die at the end of the year. His son, Alfonso VI (1065-1109), inherited the crown of León upon his death. Fernando had left Castile to Sancho II, and Galicia to Garcia. Sancho II forced Zaragoza to pay tribute, which gave rise to friction with the Christian kings of Navarre and Aragon. He turned against his brothers, driving Garcia from Galicia and forcing Alfonso to flee to Toledo. When Sancho was assassinated in 1072, Alfonso VI returned to the north after nine months of exile to claim both Castile and León. Alfonso expanded his empire and forced the rulers of Seville, Granada, Badajoz and Toledo to pay tribute. In 1080, while the leaders of the taifas were at each other’s throats, al-Qadir, the ruler of Toledo, sought Alfonso’s help. Alfonso marched south and restored al-Qadir to the throne of Toledo in exchange for control of the castles that protected the city. In 1081, Alfonso banished his ablest lieutenant, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar – nicknamed ‘El Cid Campeador’(‘The Lord [Arabic] Campaigner [Spanish]’) and the military commander of Castile.⁸ El Cid offered his services to the Muslim king al-Muqtadir of Zaragoza and his son. Meanwhile in 1084, Alfonso VI raided so far south that he reached the coast while plundering the taifa of Seville. Next, late in the summer, he laid siege to Toledo. Finally, in May 1085, when Toledo, the key position on the Meseta (the large high plateau of central Iberia), surrendered, Alfonso established his capital there and proclaimed himself the ruler of Spain. He installed al-Qabir as ruler of Valencia, which he turned into a protectorate. Toledo was strategically located in the centre of Iberia and on the southern Meseta within range of key Islamic cities.

By the late eleventh century, conflict between the Christian kings had simmered down. As the Christians now threatened to overrun Muslim Iberia, the petty taifa monarchs turned for help to the Almoravid (al-Murabitun in Arabic) Berbers of North Africa who had conquered Morocco in 1069 and had advanced eastward along the North African coast during the following decade. Before they answered the appeals of the taifa kings, the Almoravids had to secure their own position and take Ceuta,⁹ the key port for crossing the straits where the Muslim governor of Gibraltar had built a fort in 1068, fearing an invasion from this radical sect. Finally, in 1085, after Alfonso took Toledo and threatened Seville, the leader of the Almoravids, Yusuf, crossed the straits and marched north to crush Alfonso’s army at the battle of Zallaca (Sagrajas) in October 1086. He returned from Morocco in 1089 to subjugate the taifas. By the end of the decade, he had checked the advance of León/Castile and withheld the tribute paid to the Christian king by the taifas.

Alfonso VI had brought El Cid out of exile before this change of fortune and appointed him protector of al-Qabir, the Muslin ruler of Valencia and former king of Toledo. Meanwhile in March 1091, Yusuf took control of Córdoba and threatened Seville’s Muslim ruler, al-Mu’tamid, who had helped him during the battle of Zallaca in 1085. Yusuf laid siege to Seville in June, and defeated Alfonso VI who tried to rescue al-Mu’tamid. Seville fell to Yusuf in September 1091. Later that year, El Cid joined forces with Alfonso in an attempt to stop Yusuf at Granada, but no battle resulted. Another rift emerged between El Cid and his lord. El Cid travelled north and negotiated a peace between Zaragoza and Aragon. Shortly after Badajoz fell to Yusuf in 1094, most of the remaining taifas succumbed as well. Meanwhile, the Moors of Valencia overthrew al-Qabir in October 1092 and awaited the arrival of the Almoravids. However, El Cid reacted quickly. He took Cebolla and refortified it to use it as a base against Valencia. He also used the fortified position of Benicadell to the south of the city in the foothills of the mountains, which he had taken in the abortive campaign against Granada in 1091. He ravaged the countryside from these two sites. His forces were not strong enough to attack Valencia, but he effectively blockaded the city during the winter of 1093–4. Negotiations began in May and El Cid occupied the city on 15 June taking up residence in the alcázar where he played the role of king. Yusuf who was still at Badajoz in the west, sent his nephew Muhammad against El Cid. In October 1094, the Almoravids appeared before Valencia, black kettledrums pounding and camels towering over the battlefield. The noise sent the Christians’ horses into a panic. Until this point, no Christian army had stopped them. According to an Arab geographer who wrote in 1085, ‘no city in Al-Andalus has more perfect or more elegant walls’ than Valencia, which had six gates (actually seven). There are no other descriptions of the fortress, but only Seville was said to rival it as a major fortified site in Iberia.¹⁰ El Cid, instead of waiting for the enemy to lay Valencia under siege, sallied forth in October, caught the Islamic army on the plain of Cuarte (16km [10 miles] west of Valencia), and dealt Muhammad a resounding defeat.¹¹ He also tried to create a defensive ring. To the north, he took the castle of Olocau to block the northern approaches. According to historian Richard Fletcher, the garrisons of these outlying castles were not only meant to protect Valencia but also to intimidate the population and confiscate their harvests and herds to support his occupation. Muhammad returned in 1096 and almost trapped El Cid and Pedro I of Aragon at the fortress of Benicadell,¹² which El Cid had rebuilt in 1091. However, El Cid and the king escaped the trap and soundly defeated the Almoravids again at the battle of Bairén later that year.

In 1097, El Cid learned that the city of Játiva had joined Muhammad’s forces as the Muslims cut through Valencian territory north of the city to the coast.¹³ When the Muslim forces approached Murviedro (the former Iberian town of Sagunto), El Cid drove them northward into Almenara where he put them under siege.¹⁴ They surrendered after three months, in the late autumn. El Cid next turned against Murviedro, the strongest natural fortress on the east coast, which included older Roman/Iberian fortifications along the heights above the town and against the coast. It included seven enclosures with Muslim-built walls. The Moors built cisterns to maintain a large water supply. El Cid laid siege to the city in 1098 and used psychological warfare against its Muslim defendants.¹⁵ They arranged a truce and agreed to surrender if a relief force did not arrive. Their appeals to Yusuf, Alfonso VI, al-Musta’in, and the ruler of the taifa of Albarracan fell on deaf ears. Only the count of Barcelona agreed to help by undertaking a siege of the castle of Oropesa in the north to divert El Cid. However, that castle belonged to King Pedro of Aragon, which complicated the situation. Since Yusuf did not show up, Murviedro surrendered. The Almoravids returned to besiege Valencia where El Cid remained until his death in July 1099. His wife, Jimena, held the city until 1101, when the Almoravids besieged the city for seven months, only lifting it when word reached them that Alfonso VI was on the march. Alfonso ordered the city evacuated and the Almoravids occupied it in May 1102. Only the taifa of Zaragoza kept its independence, as the Almoravids and Christians divided the Iberia Peninsula amongst them.

View of city of Toledo and the Alcázar courtesy of Bernard Lowry. Middle: 1572 painting of the city of Toledo. Bottom: Calatrava la Vieja was a Moorish fortress taken by the Christians and used to protect the south-west approach to Toledo.

Walls of Toledo and illustration from Codex of 976 ad. Top right: Moorish Gate photo by Bernard Lowry. Middle: Old photo of Alcântara Bridge and statue of El Cid. Bottom: Old photo of San Servando and Alcântara Bridge.

Fortifications of Medieval Iberia

When the Muslims invaded Iberia, the local fortifications left much to be desired. Some cities, like Zaragoza and Tarragona, relied on their old Roman walls for defence. Most fortifications consisted of towers and many small watchtowers located between forts. For centuries, Muslims and Christians added to the older works, modified them or built new ones. Detailed descriptions are few so it is impossible to describe many of the most important ones adequately because during and after the turbulent centuries of the High Middle Ages they were repeatedly repaired and modified.

For centuries, fighting in Iberia followed the same pattern. Most belligerents sent mobile raiding forces of up to a few hundred men into enemy territory, bypassing frontier defences and avoiding major battles and sieges, seeking only to plunder livestock, slaves or prisoners for ransom. The objectives of invading armies, on the other hand, were fortified towns and cities. As time passed, the number of castles and fortified towns grew to deter raiders and invaders and provide refuge from enemy armies. As heavily fortified towns and cities emerged in Muslim Iberia, they became greatly coveted prizes because they offered luxuries and sophisticated lifestyles not found in Christian Iberia. The Christian leaders developed a procedure for negotiating during sieges. If