A castle (from Latin castellum) is a defensive structure symbolic of the Middle Ages. The term has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its precise meaning, but a castle is usually considered to be the "private fortified residence" of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a fortress, which was not a home, or a fortified town, which was a public defence. Over the extended period of time that castles were built they took on a great many forms...
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A castle (from Latin castellum) is a defensive structure symbolic of the Middle Ages. The term has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its precise meaning, but a castle is usually considered to be the "private fortified residence" of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a fortress, which was not a home, or a fortified town, which was a public defence. Over the extended period of time that castles were built they took on a great many forms with many different features, but some, such as the curtain wall and arrow slits, were commonplace.
Castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries, when the fall of the Carolingian Empire in Europe and the rise of feudal society led to the territory of the collapsing empire being divided between individual lords and princes, and an emphasis on personal defence. Castles controlled their immediate areas, and were both offensive and defensive structures; they provided a base from which raids could be launched as well as protection from an...
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