Castles; Their Construction and History

New York: Dover Publications, Inc, 1985. Dover Reprint Edition. Trade paperback. Very good. xiv, 241, [1] pages. With 199 Illustrations. Index. This is a corrected republication of Castles: A Short History of Fortifications from 100 B.C. to A.D. 1600 published by William Heinemann, Ltd. London, 1939. This concise, scholarly volume traces the history of the castle from its ancient roots in the Levant, through Roman times and the Middle Ages, to the fanciful chateaux of the sixteenth century. This work explores innovations in castle design, siege operations, artillery and other weapons, living conditions within the castle, and clearly explains intriguing features of construction: moats, baileys, keeps, donjons, barbicans, double curtains, loopholes, and many others. A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages by predominantly the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a palace, which is not fortified; from a fortress, which was not always a residence for royalty or nobility; and from a fortified settlement, which was a public defence - though there are many similarities among these types of construction. Usage of the term has varied over time and has been applied to structures as diverse as hill forts and country houses. Over the approximately 900 years that castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls and arrowslits, were commonplace.