the first motte and bailey castle was built in northern europe.
the first motte and bailey castle was built in northern europe.
where was the first motte and bailey castle built?
northern europe
having become well established in normandy, germany and britain, motte-and-bailey castles began to be adopted elsewhere, mainly in northern europe, during the 12th and 13th centuries. conflict through the low countries encouraged castle building in a number of regions from the late 12th century to the 14th century. in flanders, the first motte and bailey castles began relatively early at the end of the 11th century. the rural motte-and-bailey castles followed the traditional design, but the urban castles often lacked the traditional baileys, using parts of the town to fulfil this role instead. motte-and-bailey castles in flanders were particularly numerous in the south along the lower rhine, a fiercely contested border. further along the coast in friesland, the relatively decentralised, egalitarian society initially discouraged the building of motte and bailey castles, although "terpen", raised "dwelling mounds" which lacked towers and were usually lower in height than a typical motte, were created instead. by the end of the medieval period, however, the "terpen" gave way to "hege wieren", non-residential defensive towers, often on motte-like mounds, owned by the increasingly powerful nobles and landowners. on zeeland the local lords had a high degree of independence during the 12th and 13th centuries, owing to the wider conflict for power between neighbouring flanders and friesland. the zeeland lords had also built "terpen" mounds, but these gave way to larger "werven" constructions–effectively mottes–which were later termed "bergen". sometimes both "terpen" and "werven" are called "vliedburg", or "refuge castles". during the 12th and 13th centuries a number of "terpen" mounds were turned into "werven" mottes, and some new "werven" mottes were built from scratch. around 323 known or probable motte and bailey castles of this design are believed to have built within the borders of the modern netherlands.
motte-and-bailey castle
the earliest purely documentary evidence for motte-and-bailey castles in normandy and angers comes from between 1020 and 1040, but a combination of documentary and archaeological evidence pushes the date for the first motte and bailey castle, at vincy, back to 979. the castles were built by the more powerful lords of anjou in the late 10th and 11th centuries, in particular fulk iii and his son, geoffrey ii, who built a great number of them between 987 and 1060. many of these earliest castles would have appeared quite crude and rustic by later standards, belying the power and prestige of their builders. william the conqueror, as the duke of normandy, is believed to have adopted the motte-and-bailey design from neighbouring anjou. duke william went on to prohibit the building of castles without his consent through the "consuetudines et justicie", with his legal definition of castles centring on the classic motte-and-bailey features of ditching, banking and palisading.
motte-and-bailey castle