What is a curtain wall of a castle?

A curtain wall is a defensive wall between two fortified towers or bastions of a castle, fortress, or town.



A curtain wall is a defensive, fortified wall that encloses the internal courtyard or "bailey" of a castle and connects its various towers and gatehouses. In medieval architecture, the curtain wall served as the primary line of defense against attackers once they had crossed the moat or outer ramparts. These walls were typically constructed from massive stone and mortar and were often very thick to withstand siege engines. At the top of the curtain wall, there was usually a "battlement" or "crenellation," which featured a walkway for sentries (the wall walk) and protective stone sections called "merlons" alternating with gaps called "crenels" for archers to fire through. Some curtain walls also featured "machicolations"—openings at the top that allowed defenders to drop stones or boiling liquids on anyone at the base of the wall. Famous examples, such as those at Beaumaris Castle or the Tower of London, show how multiple layers of curtain walls could be used to create a "concentric" defense system.

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A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals to allow for the launch of arrows or other projectiles from within the defences.

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At the time of Chr tien de Troyes, the rooms where the lord of a castle, his family and his knights lived and ate and slept were in the Keep (called the Donjon), the rectangular tower inside the walls of a castle. This was meant to be the strongest and safest place.

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The spires are essentially just big spikes atop the turrets; they may have lighting rods, weather vanes, radio antennae, flags or other decorative features attached. Or they can be just big spikes - what makes them spires is that they are above the roof of the turrets and pointy.

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moat, a depression surrounding a castle, city wall, or other fortification, usually but not always filled with water. The existence of a moat was a natural result of early methods of fortification by earthworks, for the ditch produced by the removal of earth to form a rampart made a valuable part of the defense system.

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In the Middle Ages the great chamber was an all-purpose reception and living room. The family might take some meals in it, though the great hall was the main eating room.

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The curtain wall surrounded and protected the interior courtyard, or bailey, of a castle. These walls were often connected by a series of towers or mural towers to add strength and provide for better defense of the ground outside the castle, and were connected like a curtain draped between these posts.

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