what was the point of castles?

Question

what was the point of castles ? i have visited many of these the last one being calavelock in dumfries and galloway. what i cant grasp is when an invading force arrived why didnt they just walk round it and do their pillaging or whatever without having to lay siege to these buildings and also do a full frontal attack and loose many lives . so what was the point of these buildings.

Answer 1

The problems with just 'walking past' the castles are many fold.

Firstly you're leaving the defending army intact, and more importantly behind you.

Secondly anything of real value will be inside the fortifications rather than outside so what would you gain?

Thirdly, even if you did lay waste to the surrounding country what advantage would this give you for anything? You have no place of security to defend your new lands and you'll be run out pretty quick.

Answer 2

As symbols of power and wealth, luxurious homes for those within them, a fortress in which people and things of value could be hidden and from which an army has a vantage-point to attack anyone trying to invade the land.
They're often very cleverly designed to protect those inside and keep outsiders out - look up a place called Himeji Castle, in Japan, which does this exceedingly well. The paths leading up actually go down some way to fool invaders, they twist round and round with many dead-ends, it has holes for stone dropping and guns, and all the while people in the paths can be watched and attacked by those inside. You really, really wouldn't want to try and get into Himeji by force, and come an invading army, the whole town scrambles in there and hides.

Answer 3

The main people in charge were in there they had all the power and money. If you take them out you

1) Demoralise the government and troops of that faction
2) Its good propoganda
3) You can threaten the owners of the castle to gain intel
4) If you can hold the castle you have a strong defence once reinforcements arrive for the defending army
5) You can use it as launch point for further attacks on neighbouring regions

these are just a few examples

Answer 4

The point was to stop the whatever bit.

Retreating into the castle with livestock and families to protect them was the main use. Houses can be rebuilt and fields can be replanted, but livestock was hard to replace. Also in those days a cruel fate awaited people caught outside. Slavery, rape and murder was the order of the day.

The castle also was a status symbol demonstrating the wealth and importance of the owner.

Answer 5

A great number of castles are built so that they overlook towns. So I suspect they were there to warn the local population to behave themslves. But if in the event of an invasion the going got rough they then became boltholes for the powers that be.

Answer 6

podge is correct. The primary purpose of most castles was to strike fear and awe into the local population. If you were a Norman Baron on the Welsh Marches this is exactly what you would want to do, strike fear into the hearts of the Taffs and keep them under control.

Answer 7

castles served as fortresses and when an invading army approached all the people made a run for the fort with all the food, both livestock and dry goods, for the fort or castle. those who didn't make it were just out of luck.

Answer 8

Because the wealth and power was in the castles, the peasants had diddly squat, if you wanted some serious dosh ram raiding with a tree trunk was the order of the day...

Answer 9

In those days you would have plenty of warning of an attack, ample time to get all your workers inside the castle walls .No good having all that land and nobody left to work it for you

Answer 10

Protection. They were military establishments, designed to resist a military siege. That is also where the king or other nobility lived so that they could be protected from the commoners.