Antique castles still amazenot only romantics and dreamers, but also people quite pragmatic. Next to these magnificent buildings, you feel the breath of the past and you unwittingly marvel at the craftsmanship of the architects. After all, even centuries of wars and sieges did not level their walls with the ground. And the safest place of each castle, its heart, was the donjon - this is the most fortified inner tower.
At the time of William the Conqueror (XI century)One of the most important types of construction was the construction of castles, which belonged to the Norman nobility. Perhaps the most famous and ancient donjon was erected by this very king - this is the white building of the Tower of London (completed in 1078). It was one of the most impregnable strongholds of Europe, built by the Normans to strengthen their rule over the Anglo-Saxons. This is where the term donjon comes from - it is the man’s tower, literally translated from French. Of course, among other nationalities, this type of structure has its own name, but the essence remains the same.
Despite external diversity, all locksbuilt on roughly the same plan. Most often they are surrounded by a strong wall with massive square towers at each of the corners. Well, inside the protective belt is the donjon tower.
Изначально они имели четырехугольную форму, over time, however, polygonal or round structures began to appear in order to increase their stability. Indeed, one of the few ways to take an impregnable fortress was undermining followed by undermining the foundation at the corner of the building.
Some towers have a dividing wall.in the middle. Access to various levels and parts of the castle is provided by passages and spiral staircases embedded in thick walls. This form of stairs is due to the fact that they are twisted clockwise, which means it will be convenient for the defenders to hold the sword in their right hand, and the attacks of the attackers will be constrained.
Старинные зодчие знали, что их творение рано или late will be attacked by the enemy. Therefore, they intentionally made uncomfortable passages, protruding stones on the stairs, steps of different heights and depths, as well as other "surprises". The defenders of the castle were accustomed to them, and the attacker could stumble that in the heat of the fight would have been worth the life. An additional level of protection was the lattice, powerful doors and strong locks. Donjons were very carefully thought out.
Такие башни возводили из камня.Wooden fortresses could no longer provide adequate protection from fire, missile and siege weapons. In addition, the stone structure was much better suited to the nobility - the opportunity to make large and safe rooms that were well protected from the weather. They could make huge fireplaces that would heat the cold stone rooms. A wooden building allowed to make only a small hearth.
Architects have always taken into account the terrain whenconstruction and choose the most advantageous places to defend the future castles. Donjons, in turn, rose high even above the level of the fortress, which not only improved visibility and gave an advantage to archers, but made them almost inaccessible to wooden siege stairs. As a rule, the construction of the fortress began with the main tower, and only then it became overgrown with other structures.
There was only one entrance to the tower.He was raised above the ground and made a ladder or even a moat with a drawbridge so that the attackers could not use the ram. The room immediately after the entrance was sometimes used to disarm visitors, because the donjon is the holy of holies of the castle, it was impossible to allow the penetration of an armed enemy into it. Here is the guard. An alcove was arranged on the side of the wall with a small through hole, which was used as a toilet. A similar device was on each floor. Products were stored in the basement of the tower, and it was also one of the safest places to store the treasures of the nobility. However, he also had more prosaic functions - there were also prisoners' cells and a drain hole.
On the second floor they arranged a hall for meetings andpeers. Since the areas of the rooms were small, the kitchen was most often located outside the dungeon. Also here or above the floor was a small chapel. As a rule, the territory of each fortress had its own church, but the castle owners and their titled guests could pray separately.
On the very top floor there were rooms of the lord of the castle and his entourage. That is, they were as far as possible from the entrance to the tower, to provide them with the best protection.
Above the bedroom of the gentlemen there was a roof directly, around the circumference of which there was a gallery for the guards, sometimes additional small turrets were attached.
But despite their obvious advantages, suchThe fortress had two huge flaws. The first was that the donjon is an extremely expensive structure. Only kings and very rich nobles could afford building the castle, and the destruction or loss of a fortress could lead to a financial collapse of a noble house. And even with such costs, castles were built for 5–10 years. Their content was also not cheap.
Well, the second, no less important flaw - no matter how sophisticated the builders of the castles, sooner or later, defensive innovations were inferior to the new weapons or strategies of an experienced attacker.
