A BRIEF HISTORY OF FORTIFIED CASTLES IN FRANCE

A fortified castle is so evocative with its stones burnt by time or by war that it forces our imagination. It has always been there, will always be there, this silent and terrible ruin, mingling battlements, machicolations, keeps, drawbridges underground passages and... ghosts... It is an integral part of our countryside whether it is perched on a hill watching over a plain, or protected by a steep cliff shutting off a valley, a village at its foot.From the first IXth century timber keeps until the appearance of iron cannon-balls which heralded their disappearance, a historical synthesis of the defence systems and life in fortified castles. The originality of the work resides in its dealing with the subject by periods and by the systematic explanation of the evolutions through each period. General Timeline, maps, plans, cross-section views and glossary make for a clear, easy reading of the rext.CONTENTS : Introduction – Milestones - The origins (of earth and wood) – The first fortified castles built in stone (Xth-XIIIth century) – The XIIIth century – Bird’s eye view and plan of an imaginary castle – The Hundred Years’ War – The end of fortified castles (1450-1520) – Siege machines – The ruin of the fortified castles – The seigniorial living-quarters – Glossary – Main fortified castles in France and periods of construction.