Castle

A castle (from the Latin castellum) is a structure that is fortified for defense against an enemy and generally serves as a military headquarters dominating the surrounding countryside. The term is most often applied to a small self-contained fortress, usually of the Middle Ages. more...

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The term castle, however, has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its exact meaning. It is usually regarded as being distinct from the general term fortress in that it describes a building which serves as a residence and commands a specific territory.

Despite this, "castle" sometimes denotes a citadel (such as the castles of Badajoz and Burgos) or small detached forts d'arrêt in modern times and, traditionally, in Britain it has also been used to refer to prehistoric earthworks (e.g. Maiden Castle).

Definition

Castle comes from the Latin word castellum meaning "fortress". This is a diminutive of the word castrum, which means "fortified place". The word "castle" (castel) was introduced into English shortly before the Norman Conquest to denote this new type of fortress, then new to England, brought in by the Norman knights whom Edward the Confessor had sent for to defend Herefordshire against the inroads of the Welsh.

Terminology

In Spain, a fortified dwelling on a height for the administering authority retains its Moorish name of alcázar, whilst shiro also figure prominently in Japanese history, where the feudal daimyō inhabited them.

A French castle is a château-fort, for in French a simple château connotes a grand country house at the center of an estate. When European castles were opened up and expanded into pleasure dwellings and power houses from the late 15th century, their "castle" designations, relics of the feudal age, often remained attached to the dwelling, resulting in many un-castlelike castles and châteaux.

In Germany there are two names for what would be called a castle in English, Burg and Schloss. A Burg is a medieval structure of military significance, while a Schloss was built after the Middle Ages as a palace and not for defensive purposes. However, these are not usually palaces in the French style, but instead are styled on medieval mountain castles and fairytale notions, and from all appearances are often castles to an English speaker.

Caer is the Welsh term for a fort or a castle, seen in the place names Caernarfon and Caerphilly. Irish dún and Scots Gaelic dùn are used to refer to early forts (see dun), although Scots Gaelic uses the term caisteal for a castle.

Purpose

Castles were built not only as a defensive measure and offensive weapon, but also as a home. Castles were made by their owners for specific purposes, or evolved new purposes over time:

Read more at Wikipedia.org