Medieval castles and fortresses in the mountains of Europe. Knight's castles

The main principle of castle defense was to maximize the vulnerability of the attacking enemy while minimizing the negative consequences for the defenders. A well-built castle could effectively defend even a small army and hold it for a very long time. A strong defense allowed the defenders of a castle to hold out against an assault or siege until reinforcements arrived, or until the attacking troops were forced to retreat due to food shortages, disease, or casualties.

Fortress

A fortress is a small castle, often part of a large castle complex. This is a heavily fortified building that often served as the residence of the owner of the castle. If the enemy took the outer walls of the castle, the defenders could retreat to the fortress and continue to defend themselves. Many castles grew from fortresses, which were the initial fortified points. Over time, the castles expanded and the old outer walls of the castles became the outer defenses of the fortress.

Walls

Stone walls protected the castle from arson, arrows and other projectiles. Enemies could not climb smooth walls without special equipment such as ladders or siege scaffolding. The defenders on the walls could shoot down or drop heavy objects on the attackers. The attackers, who were in the open and fired upwards, were at a very disadvantageous position compared to the defenders, who were protected and fired down. If possible, they tried to strengthen the defensive power of stone walls by building walls on hills and cliffs. The gates and doors in the castle walls were few and heavily fortified.

towers

In the corners and often at regular intervals along the walls stood towers. The towers overlooked vertical plane the walls of the castle, allowing the defenders from the towers to fire on the outer surface of the castle walls. From the corner towers, the defenders could fire on two wall surfaces. Gates were often defended by towers on both sides. Some castles started out as simple towers and grew into false complexes of walls, an inner keep, and additional towers.

Loopholes

The walls and towers were adapted to provide maximum protection to the defenders. The platform behind the upper part of the wall allowed the defenders to stand and fight. Slotholes were cut into the upper part of the walls so that the defenders could shoot or fight while under partial cover. The slits may have had wooden shutters for even more protection. In the upper part of the walls, battlements were often built with thin slots, due to which the archers could shoot with little or no risk. During the assault, closed wooden platforms expanded from the tops of the walls and towers. From them, the defenders could shoot straight down at the attackers, or throw stones and boiling liquids at them, while remaining protected. These wooden buildings were upholstered with skins to prevent the wood from burning. stone versions these forests were called hinged loopholes and were sometimes built over the gates.

Ditches and drawbridges

To enhance the advantage of the walls, ditches were often dug at their base, completely surrounding the castle. Where possible, these ditches were filled with water. Such ditches greatly hampered the direct assault on the walls. Armored soldiers could drown if they fell into shallow water. Moats with water also made it very difficult to dig walls, as water could wash away the digging tunnel and flood the diggers. Often the attackers had to drain the water ditches in order to continue the assault. Often the ditch was also partly filled in to provide ladders or siege scaffolding. Drawbridges over ditches or water ditches allowed the inhabitants of the castle to enter and leave the castle as needed. In case of danger, the drawbridge was raised, thus disconnecting the castle from the outside world. Bridges were raised by a mechanism inside the castle, well protected from the enemy.

Retractable Grille

A lowered grate made of thick metal rods tightly blocked the gates of the castle in case of danger. The gates of the castle were usually inside a special tower, which was well fortified. Bypassing the gate (secret underground passage) could also be in this tower. This tunnel was usually blocked by several powerful bars. The mechanism that lifted the bars was on top of the tower and was heavily protected. The lowered gratings could be a combination of iron rods and thick logs. Defenders and attackers could shoot at each other and stab through the bars.

barbican

Powerful castles had external and internal gates. Between them was an open space called the Barbican. It was surrounded by walls and became a trap for the enemy, who managed to destroy the outer gate. Once in the Barbican, the enemy became very vulnerable and could either retreat through the outer gates or storm the inner ones. The defenders at this time generously poured tar or boiling oil on the attackers, threw stones and spears at them.

Defenders

In peacetime, very few soldiers were needed to protect the castle. At night, the bridges were raised, and the lowered bars were lowered, thus blocking the castle. In the event of a threat or assault, a much larger army was involved in the defense of the castle. Well-aimed archers or crossbowmen could prevent the enemy from storming the castle or preparing for an assault by shelling. The losses of the attackers reduced their strength and morale. Large losses from shelling could force the attackers to retreat. If the attackers could still get close to hand-to-hand combat, a large army was needed to repel the attack. It also required many people to throw stones from the walls and pour hot liquids on the attackers. A considerable number of workers were required to repair the walls damaged by the storm and to extinguish fires caused by fire arrows. Aggressive defenders occasionally sally out of the castle and attack the besieging army. These lightning-fast raids allowed the defenders to burn down the besiegers' ladders and forests, lowering their morale. In case of danger, local peasants took to defending the walls. Lacking sufficient skill with a sword, spear, or bow, they could do many other important jobs.

medieval castles in fact, they were not just large fortresses with massive stone walls. These were ingeniously designed fortifications that used many ingenious and creative ways to protect the inhabitants of the castle from attack by enemies. Literally everything - from the outer walls to the shape and location of the stairs - was very carefully planned to provide maximum protection to the inhabitants of the castle. In this review about little-known secrets, hid in the design medieval castles.

Almost every castle was surrounded by a moat filled with water. It is generally accepted that this was an obstacle to the storming troops, however, in fact, this was not the main function of the moat.

Vischering Castle in Germany. The castle consists of an outer defensive courtyard, protective locks, a drawbridge thrown over a moat, the main building and a chapel.

One of the biggest problems for the inhabitants of a medieval castle or fortress was that the invading army could dig tunnels under the fortifications. Not only could the enemy get inside the castle underground, but the tunnels could also lead to the collapse of the castle walls. The ditch prevented this, since the tunnel dug under the ditch inevitably flooded with water and collapsed.

Nesvizh Castle. Belarus.

This was a very effective deterrent against tunneling. Often the moat was laid not around the outer wall of the castle, but between the outer and inner walls.

Concentric circles of defense

It was an extremely effective method of defense for the inhabitants of a medieval castle, and looked like a series of obstacles surrounding the castle.

Hochosterwitz Castle. Austria.

As a rule, such obstacles were (in proportion to the distance from the castle) a scorched and dug field, an outer wall, a moat, an inner wall, a donjon tower. The attacking army had to overcome each of these obstacles in turn. And it took a lot of time and effort.

main gate

The main gate of the castle was often the most dangerous place the entire structure, since, if necessary, they could turn into a deadly trap.

Eltz Castle in Germany.

They often led to a small courtyard, at the other end of which there was also another gate, equipped with an iron descending grate. If the attackers broke through the first gate and found themselves in the yard, then the grate fell, after which the aggressors found themselves in a trap.

Svirzh castle in the village of Svirzh, Lviv region. Main gate.

At the same time, there were small holes in the walls of the courtyard through which the defenders could shoot from bows and crossbows at the enemy soldiers who were trapped.

Hidden secrets of stairs

Staircases in medieval castles were actually very elaborate. First, they were almost always helical, very narrow and built clockwise.

Spiral staircase in Mir Castle. Belarus.

This meant that it was very difficult for attacking opponents who climbed up the stairs (and one at a time, because the stairs were narrow), because they had a sword in their right hand. And since there was always a wall on the right hand, they had no opportunity to swing. The defenders, on the other hand, had the wall of the spiral staircase on their left hand, so they had more opportunities to swing.

Staircase with reverse twist and uneven steps in the Wallenstein castle in Germany.

Another original feature of the stairs was that they had uneven steps: some were very high and others were low. The defenders of the castle, being familiar with the local stairs, could quickly climb up and down them, and the attackers often stumbled and fell, exposing themselves to a blow.

secret passages

Many castles had secret passages that served various purposes. Some of them were made so that the inhabitants of the castle could flee in case of defeat, and also so that during the siege the defenders would not be cut off from food supplies.

Koretsky castle in Ukraine.

Secret passages also led to secret chambers where people could hide, food was stored, and (quite often) an additional well was dug for water.

Predjama Castle in Slovenia.

So medieval castle was much more than just a large glamorous palace with massive stone walls around it. It was a structure designed down to the smallest detail to protect the inhabitants. And each castle was full of its own little secrets.

By the middle of the eleventh century, a social system reigned in Europe, which modern historians call the feudal system. From about the middle of the eleventh century until the very end of the thirteenth century, the originality of this era in the advanced countries was expressed especially clearly.

Power belonged to the landowners-feudal lords who were divided into secular and ecclesiastical. The majority of the population were forced peasants. They were all ruled by a sole ruler (monarch) - the king, and in a smaller state - a count or a duke.

The privileges and duties of the rulers and the peasant masses were formalized by certain traditions, written laws and regulations. Peasants and city dwellers were not included in the feudal ladder, but were also attached to the rulers by contractual relations. Such personal relationships in the form of agreements and oaths are a notable feature of the medieval west.

The feudal lords built huge castles for themselves and lived in them. Starting from the eighth century, a huge number of castles were built in Europe to protect themselves from Viking or Hungarian raids. Each lord sought to erect a castle for himself, of course, depending on the capabilities of the feudal lord, he was huge or modest. The castle was both the dwelling of the feudal lord and his defensive fortress.

The first fortresses were built of wood, later they began to build of stone. Hefty walls with battlements were reliable protection. The castle-fortress was often built on a hill or even on high rock, outside the territory was surrounded by a wide ditch with water.

Some feudal lords built their castles on an island in the middle of a river or some lake. A drawbridge was thrown over a ditch or channel, which was raised on chains at night or when an enemy attacked. From the towers on the walls, guards constantly surveyed the surroundings, and if they saw an approaching enemy, they blew an alarm. Hearing the signal, the defenders of the fortress hurried to take up their combat posts on the walls and in the towers of the castle.

To get into the fortress of the feudal lord, it was necessary to overcome many obstacles. The assaulting troops had to fill up the ditch, overcome the hill in the open space under a cloud of arrows, approach the walls, climb them along the attached assault ladders, or try to smash the oak gates, but bound with iron sheets, with a battering ram.

On the heads of the attackers, the defenders of the fortress threw stones, logs and other heavy objects, poured boiling water and burning resin, threw spears, shot at them with a hail of arrows from bows and crossbows. Often the attacking enemy fighters had to storm another, higher second wall.

Above all the buildings of the castle towered the main tower of the fortress, which is called donjon. In the donjon, where a large supply of provisions was stored, the feudal lord with his soldiers and servants could endure a long siege, even if the rest of the fortifications of the castle had already been captured by the enemy. The tower consisted of halls that were located one above the other. Food supplies were stored in the basement, and a well was made there, which provided water to those under siege. In the same damp and dark basement of the donjon, especially dangerous prisoners languished (since escape from there was almost impossible). In some castles, there was a secret underground passage through which the besieged feudal lord could get out of the castle to the forest or river.

The only metal door that led to the donjon tower was located high above the ground. If the invaders managed to break it, then they still had to fight for all the floors. On the ladders it was necessary to wade through the hatch holes, which were locked with bulky stone slabs. In case the donjon was captured, a spiral staircase was built in the thickness of the wall, along which the owner of the castle, along with his retinue and soldiers, could go down to the basement and escape through an underground passage.

• Translation

The Norman Conquest of England led to a boom in castle building, but the process of building a fortress from scratch is far from easy.

Bodiam Castle in East Sussex, founded 1385

1) Carefully choose a place to build

Castles were usually built on natural elevations, and were usually equipped with a link to the external environment, such as a ford, bridge or passage.

Historians have rarely been able to find evidence of contemporaries regarding the choice of a site for the construction of the castle, but they still exist. On September 30, 1223, 15-year-old King Henry III arrived in Montgomery with his army. The king, who had successfully led a military campaign against the Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, was going to build a new castle in this area to ensure security on the border of his possessions. The English carpenters had been given the task of preparing the timber a month earlier, but the king's advisers had only just now determined the site for the construction of the castle.



Montgomery Castle, when it began to be built in 1223, was located on a hill

After a careful survey of the area, they chose a point on the very edge of the ledge above the valley of the River Severn. According to the chronicler Roger of Wendover, this position "looked unassailable to anyone". He also noted that the castle was created "for the security of the region from the frequent attacks of the Welsh."

Advice: identify places where the topography rises above transport routes: These are natural places for castles. Keep in mind that the design of the castle is determined by the place of construction. For example, a castle on a ledge of exposed rocks will have a dry moat.

2) Develop a workable plan

Experienced soldiers may have their own ideas about the design of the castle, in terms of the shape of its buildings and their location. But it is unlikely that they will have the knowledge of the level of specialists in design and construction.

To implement the idea, a master bricklayer was required - an experienced builder, whose hallmark was the ability to draw a plan. With a grasp of practical geometry, he used simple tools such as straightedge, square, and compasses to create architectural plans. Master masons submitted a drawing with a building plan for approval, and during construction supervised its construction.

When Edward II ordered the construction of a tower at Knarsborough, he personally approved the plans and demanded construction reports.

When Edward II in 1307 began building a huge residential tower at Naresborough Castle in Yorkshire for his favorite Pierce Gaveston, he not only personally approved the plans created by the London master mason Hugh of Teachmarsh - probably made in the form of a drawing - but also demanded regular reports on the construction . From the middle of the 16th century, a new group of professionals called engineers increasingly began to take on a role in planning and building fortifications. They had technical knowledge of the use and power of cannons, both for defense and for attacking castles.

Advice: Plan slits to provide a wide angle of attack. Shape them according to the weapon you are using: longbow archers need large slopes, crossbowmen need smaller ones.

3) Hire a large group of experienced workers

It took a lot of effort to build the castle. We do not have documentary evidence of the construction of the first castles in England since 1066, but from the scale of many castles of that period it becomes clear why some chronicles claim that the English were under the yoke of building castles for their Norman conquerors. But from the later time of the Middle Ages, some estimates with detailed information have come down to us.

During the invasion of Wales in 1277, King Edward I began building a castle in Flint, northeast Wales. It was erected quickly, thanks to the rich resources of the crown. A month after the start of work, in August, 2300 people were involved in the construction, including 1270 diggers, 320 lumberjacks, 330 carpenters, 200 masons, 12 blacksmiths and 10 charcoal burners. All of them were driven from the surrounding lands under an armed escort who watched so that they did not desert from the construction.

From time to time, foreign specialists could be involved in the construction. For example, millions of bricks for the rebuilding of Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire in the 1440s were supplied by a certain Baldwin "Docheman", or Dutchman, that is, "Dutchman" - obviously a foreigner.

Advice: Depending on the size of the workforce and the distance they had to travel, it may be necessary to provide accommodation for them at the construction site.

4) Ensure the safety of the construction site

To build a castle in enemy territory, you need to protect the construction site from attacks. For example, you can enclose the construction site with wooden fortifications or a low stone wall. Such medieval defense systems sometimes remained after the construction of the building as an additional wall - as, for example, in the castle of Beaumaris, the construction of which was started in 1295.

Beaumaris (Wall. Biwmares) is a city on the island of Anglesey, Wales.

Also important is secure communication with the outside world for the delivery of building materials and provisions. In 1277, Edward I dug a canal to the river Kluid directly from the sea and to the location of his new castle in Rydlane. The outer wall, built to protect the construction site, extended to the piers on the banks of the river.

Rudlan Castle

Security problems can also arise with a radical restructuring existing castle. When Henry II rebuilt Dover Castle in the 1180s, all work was carefully planned so that the fortifications provided protection for the duration of the renovation. According to surviving decrees, work on the inner wall of the castle began only when the tower was already sufficiently repaired so that guards could be on duty in it.

Advice: building materials for the construction of the castle are large and voluminous. If possible, it's best to transport them by water, even if that means building a dock or canal.

5) Prepare the landscape

It is often forgotten that the fortifications of the castle were built not only through architectural techniques, but also through landscape design. Enormous resources were allocated for the movement of land. The scale of land works of the Normans can be recognized as outstanding. For example, according to some estimates, the embankment erected in 1100 around Pleshy Castle in Essex required 24,000 man-days.

Some aspects of landscaping required serious skills, especially the creation of water ditches. When Edward I rebuilt the Tower of London in the 1270s, he hired a foreign specialist, Walter of Flanders, to create a huge tidal moat. Digging the ditch under his direction cost £4,000, a staggering amount, almost a quarter of the cost of the entire project.

18th century engraving with a plan Tower of London 1597 shows how much land had to be moved to build ditches and ramparts.

With the rise of cannons in the art of siege, the earth began to play an even more important role as an absorber of cannon shots. Interestingly, experience in moving large amounts of land has led some of the fortification engineers to find work as garden designers.

Advice: Reduce time and cost by digging out masonry for castle walls from the moats around it.

6) Lay the Foundation

Using ropes of the required length and pegs, it was possible to mark the foundation of the building on the ground in full size. After the foundation ditches were dug, work began on the masonry. To save money, the responsibility for construction was assigned to the senior mason instead of the master mason. Masonry in the Middle Ages was usually measured in rods, one English rod = 5.03 m. At Warkworth in Northumberland, one of the complex towers stands on a lattice of rods, possibly for the purpose of calculating construction costs.

Warkworth Castle

Often the construction of medieval castles was accompanied by detailed documentation. In 1441-42 the tower of Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire was demolished and a plan for its successor was drawn up on the ground. But the Prince of Stafford, for some reason, was not pleased. The king's master stonemason, Robert of Westerley, was sent to Tutbury, where he held a meeting with two senior masons to develop new tower in a new place. Westerley then left, and over the next eight years a small group of workers, including four junior masons, built the new tower.

Senior masons could be called in to confirm the quality of work, as was the case at Cooling Castle in Kent, when the king's stonemason Henry Javel assessed work carried out from 1381 to 1384. He criticized the deviations from the original plan and rounded the estimate down.

Advice: Don't let the master mason fool you. Make him make a plan so that it is easy to make an estimate for it.

7) Fortify your castle

Until the 12th century, the fortifications of most castles consisted of earth and logs. And although stone buildings were subsequently given preference, wood remained a very important material in medieval wars and fortifications.

Stone castles prepared for attacks by adding special battle galleries along the walls, as well as shutters that could be used to close the gaps between battlements to protect the defenders of the castle. All this was made of wood. Heavy weapons used to defend the castle, catapults and heavy crossbows, springalds, were also built of wood. Artillery was usually designed by a highly paid professional carpenter, sometimes with the title of engineer, from the Latin "ingeniator".

Storming of the castle, drawing of the 15th century

Such experts were not cheap, but could eventually be worth their weight in gold. This, for example, happened in 1266, when Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire resisted Henry III for almost six months with catapults and water defenses.

There are records of camp castles made entirely of wood - they could be transported with you and erected as needed. One such was built for the French invasion of England in 1386, but the Calais garrison captured it along with the ship. It was described as consisting of a wall of logs 20 feet high and 3,000 paces long. There was a 30-foot tower every 12 paces, capable of housing up to 10 soldiers, and the castle also had an unspecified defense for archers.

Advice: Oak wood becomes stronger over the years, and it is easiest to work with it when it is green. The top branches of trees are easy to transport and shape.

8) Provide water and sanitation

The most important aspect for the castle was efficient access to water. These could be wells that supply water to certain buildings, such as a kitchen or a stable. Without a detailed acquaintance with the medieval well shafts, it is difficult to do justice to them. For example, in Beeston Castle in Cheshire there is a well 100 m deep, the upper 60 m of which are lined with hewn stone.

There is some evidence of elaborate plumbing that brought water to the apartments. The tower of Dover Castle has a system of lead pipes that delivers water throughout the rooms. She was fed from a well with a winch, and possibly from a rainwater harvesting system.

Efficient disposal of human waste was another challenge for lock designers. The latrines were assembled in one place in the buildings so that their shafts were emptied in one place. They were located in short corridors that trap unpleasant odors, and were often equipped with wooden seats and removable covers.

Thought Room at Chipchase Castle

Today it is widely believed that latrines used to be called "cloakrooms". In fact, the lexicon for toilets was extensive and colorful. They were called gongs or gangs (from the Anglo-Saxon word for "a place to go"), nooks and jakes (the French version of "john").

Advice: Ask a master mason to plan comfortable and private latrines outside the bedroom, following the example of Henry II and Dover Castle.

9) Decorate as needed

During the war, the castle must be defended - but it also serves as a luxurious home. The noble gentlemen of the Middle Ages expected their dwellings to be both comfortable and richly furnished. In the Middle Ages, these citizens traveled with servants, things and furniture from one residence to another. But home interiors often had fixed decorative features, like stained-glass windows.

The tastes of Henry III in the setting are recorded very carefully, with interesting and attractive details. In 1235-36, for example, he ordered that his hall at Winchester Castle be decorated with images of a map of the world and a wheel of fortune. Since then, these decorations have not survived, but the well-known round table of King Arthur, possibly created between 1250 and 1280, remains in the interior.

Winchester Castle with King Arthur's Round Table hanging on the wall

The large area of ​​the castles played an important role in the luxurious life. Parks were created for hunting, a jealously guarded privilege of aristocrats; gardens were also in demand. The description of the construction of the castle of Kirby Maxlow in Leicestershire that has come down to us says that its owner, Lord Hastings, began laying out gardens at the very beginning of the construction of the castle in 1480.

In the Middle Ages, rooms with beautiful views. One of the thirteenth-century groups of rooms at the castles of Leeds in Kent, Corfe in Dorset and Chepstow in Monmouthshire has been named

Not every castle is actually a castle. Today, the word "castle" we call almost any significant building of the Middle Ages, whether it be a palace, a large estate or a fortress - in general, the dwelling of a feudal lord medieval Europe. This everyday use of the word "castle" is at odds with its original meaning, because the castle is primarily a fortification. Inside the castle territory there could be buildings for various purposes: residential, religious, and cultural. But still, first of all, the main function of the castle is defensive. From this point of view, for example, the famous romantic palace of Ludwig II - Neuschwanstein is not a castle.

location, and not the structural features of the castle - the key to its defensive power. Of course, the layout of the fortification is important for the defense of the castle, but what really makes it impregnable is not the thickness of the walls and the location of the loopholes, but the correctly chosen construction site. A steep and high hill, which is almost impossible to get close to, a sheer cliff, a winding road to the castle, which is perfectly shot from the fortress, determine the outcome of the battle to a much greater extent than any other equipment.

Gates- the most vulnerable place in the castle. Of course, the fortress should have had a central entrance (in peaceful moments, it happens that you want to enter beautifully and solemnly, the castle is not always defended). When capturing, it is always easier to break into the entrance that already exists than to create a new one by destroying massive walls. Therefore, the gates were designed in a special way - they had to be wide enough for carts and narrow enough for the enemy army. Cinematography often sins by depicting a castle entrance with large wooden gates locked: such would be extremely impractical in defense.

The interior walls of the castle were colored. The interiors of medieval castles are often depicted in gray-brown tones, without any cladding, just like the inside of bare cold stone walls. But the inhabitants of medieval palaces loved bright colors and generously decorated the interior of their living quarters. The inhabitants of the castles were rich and, of course, wanted to live in luxury. Our ideas are connected with the fact that in most cases the paint has not stood the test of time.

Large windows are a rarity for a medieval castle. As a rule, they were absent altogether, giving way to multiple small window "slots" in the castle walls. In addition to the defensive purpose, the narrow window openings protected the privacy of the inhabitants of the castle. If you come across a castle building with luxurious panoramic windows, most likely they appeared at a later time, as, for example, in the castle of Roctaiade in southern France.

Secret passages, secret doors and dungeons. Walking through the castle, be aware that somewhere under you lie corridors hidden from the eyes of the layman (perhaps someone wanders through them today?). Poterns - underground corridors between the buildings of the fortress - made it possible to quietly move around the fortress or leave it. But the trouble is, if the traitor opened secret door enemy, as happened during the siege of Corfe Castle in 1645.

Assault on the castle was not such a fleeting and easy process as it is portrayed in the movies. A massive attack was a rather extreme decision in an attempt to capture the castle, putting the main military force at unreasonable risk. Castle sieges were carefully thought out and implemented for a long time. The most important thing was the ratio of the trebuchet, the throwing machine, to the thickness of the walls. It took a trebuchet from several days to several weeks to make a breach in the castle wall, especially since a simple hole in the wall did not guarantee the capture of the fortress. For example, the siege of Harlech Castle by the future King Henry V lasted about a year, and the castle fell only because the city ran out of provisions. So the rapid attacks of medieval castles are an element of cinematic fantasies, and not historical realities.

Hunger- The most powerful weapon when taking the castle. Most castles had tanks that collected rainwater, or wells. The chances of the castle inhabitants to survive during the siege depended on the water and food supplies: the option to “sit out” was the least risky for both sides.

For the defense of the castle it didn't take as many people as it seems. Castles were built in such a way as to allow those inside to calmly fight off the enemy, managing with small forces. Compare: the garrison of Harlech Castle, which held out for almost a whole year, consisted of 36 people, while the castle was surrounded by an army numbering hundreds or even thousands of soldiers. In addition, an extra person on the territory of the castle during the siege is an extra mouth, and as we remember, the issue of provisions could be decisive.