3.10-3.12 Norman Castles

• What did Anglo-Saxons build instead of castles?

  burhs
• What were burhs like?


  • enclosed oval area about the size of football pitches

  • thegns lived inside - halls for feasting and house for family

  • some had impressive gatehouses

  • surrounded by two-metre deep ditch

  • some might of had wooden paliside (fencing)
• What did William use castles to do?

  • crush revolts by giving castle and to assert power

  • secure areas in which he had power over
• Why were Norman castles unpopular with English?

  • visible symbol of Norman rule

  • Norman soldiers living in castles treated local badly

  • English forced to build castles

  • hundreds of houses were demolished for castles

  • William rasied taxes to pay for the castles
• How come after rebellions stop castles were still built?

  • knights and barons given land

  • built castles to help control area
• What kind of castles did Normans build?

  motte and bailey
• Why do some historians think that casltes were a status symbol?

  • gatehouses faces city

  • many built from wood and earth not stone

  • build in centre of lords estate used fro administration (managing) town

  • often near Saxon settlement, church or in a burh

  • altered landscape around to make more impressive
• Why do some historians think that castles were used for military purposes?

  • often large keep to overlook Saxon settlement

  • double ramparts (earth banks metre high) deep ditches showing defensive technique

  • very few valulable items found