castle, type of fortified dwelling characteristic of the Middle Ages. Fortification of towns had been in practice since antiquity, but in the 9th cent. feudal lords began to develop the private fortress-residence known as the castle. It served the twofold function of residence and fortress because of the conditions of medieval life, in which war was endemic. The site of the castle was preferably on a defensible height. England and France, in general, did not afford such inaccessible locations as did the Rhine valley in Germany.

The Early Castle

The castle of W Europe was a Norman creation, an outgrowth of the 10th- and 11th-century mound castle, which consisted of a great artificial mound of earth, the motte, surrounded by a dry ditch, or fosse, and surmounted by a wooden blockhouse and its encircling palisade. Until well into the 12th cent., the only English development was the occasional substitution of a massive masonry keep inside the palisade—a form typified in the Tower of London. As siegecraft (see siege) was evolved, provisions were made for an aggressive defense.

A castle that became the model for many English and Norman castles was the formidable castle built at Arques in Normandy by Henry I of England. A square donjon, or keep, was set against the strong outer walls of masonry; the entrance was protected by a double gate, two flanking round towers, and advanced earthworks. The place enclosed by the outer circuit of walls was usually divided into two courts, or baileys, by a palisade. Subterranean passages made detection of underground forays easy.

The Fully Developed Castle

In the Middle East the Crusaders developed great castles with double circuits of curving outer walls and towers or turrets to overlook all sections of the wall. The form of these castles had an influence throughout the Continent and the British Isles. Thus early in the 13th cent. the medieval castle, a mixture of Norman, English, and Byzantine elements, reached its full flower, as typified in the Château Gaillard on the Seine in France and in Alnwick and the Conisborough in England.

In general, the castle was planned for security; the living quarters were rude, poorly lighted, and without provisions for comfort. Typically, the keep contained the living quarters of the lord and his family, the rooms of state, and the prison cells. Two independent systems of walls, each a fortress in itself, extended around the keep; the sections of the walls were flanked by towers, usually round, and the principal entrance was protected by strong gate towers, the massive gateway, with its portcullis and drawbridge, and the barbican, or advanced outwork. The defenders operated from galleries at the tops of walls and from the flat roofs of towers, whose battlements were provided with recesses with flaring sides, called embrasures, and openings, or machicolations, for shooting and dropping missiles on the attackers. The fully developed castle was thus marked by successive series of defenses; the fall of the outer works did not necessarily mean the loss of the entire castle.

With the use of gunpowder and consequent perfection of artillery, the castle lost its military importance. The manor house replaced the castle as the residence of the wealthy landowner, but the architectural influence of the castle has persisted even to the present day, when crenelations and towers are still found in country houses and some urban structures.

See château.

Windsor Castle: see under Windsor, England.

Ruthven Castle: see Huntingtower.

New Castle. 1 City (1990 pop. 4,837), New Castle co., N Del., on the Delaware River. Mineral, metal, food, paper, and gypsum products are among its varied manufactures. It is also a major book distribution center. Peter Stuyvesant built a Dutch fort there, and the settlement was called Niew Amstel until renamed in 1664. The state of Delaware was formed there at a convention on Sept. 21, 1776, and for a year the city was the state capital. The Immanuel Church (1710) is a historic landmark. Other colonial buildings are the Old Dutch House (from the late 1600s) and Amstel House Museum. The main campus of Wilmington Univ. is there.

2 City (1990 pop. 17,753), seat of Henry co., E Ind.; inc. 1839. It is the trade center of an agricultural and farm region, and there is food processing. Manufactures include automotive parts, feed, steel and rubber products, machinery, and pharmaceuticals. The city has a number of prehistoric Native American mounds. Wilbur Wright's birthplace is nearby.

3 City (1990 pop. 28,334), seat of Lawrence co., W Pa., at the junction of the Shenango and Neshannock rivers, in a fertile farm area; inc. 1825. Apples, soybeans, and grain are grown, and there are livestock and dairy cattle. Coal, limestone, and clay deposits found in the region contribute to the city's economy. Manufactures include metal and plastic products, machinery, transportation equipment, and fireworks. The Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts is there.

Morro Castle, fort at the entrance to the harbor of Havana, Cuba. It was erected by the Spanish in 1589 to protect the city from buccaneers. The fort was also used as a prison. Morro Castle was captured by the British under Sir George Pocock in 1762. The fort at the entrance to the harbor of Santiago de Cuba is also called Morro Castle and was built shortly after the Morro Castle of Havana. It was taken by the American forces in the Spanish-American War (1898). Morro Castle on the harbor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, is also a picturesque old Spanish fort.

Montezuma Castle National Monument, 858 acres (347 hectares), central Ariz.; est. 1906. Montezuma Castle, built c.1250, is a 5-story, 20-room dwelling perched high in the cavity of a cliff. It was named by early settlers who believed it had been built by the Aztecs. See National Parks and Monuments (table). In the region are other well-preserved cliff dwellings of prehistoric Native American groups (see cliff dwellers).

Maiden Castle, prehistoric fortress, Dorset, S England, near Dorchester. The finest earthwork in the British Isles, c.120 acres (50 hectares) in area, is there. Two sets of large-scale excavations at this site indicate it was first occupied during the Neolithic period (c.2000 B.C.); two concentric ditches define this early, 15.8-acre (6-hectare) occupation. It was then abandoned until the early Iron Age (c.300 B.C.), when an elaborate system of enclosing banks and ditches was built, making it one of the largest hill forts in Europe. It subsequently underwent numerous changes in form and function. It was abandoned c.A.D. 70, shortly after the Roman invasion, and its inhabitants moved to a nearby valley town.

Kronborg castle: see Helsingør, Denmark.

Frederiksborg castle: see Hillerød, Denmark.

Castle, Vernon (Vernon Castle Blythe) 1887-1918, and Irene Foote, 1893-1969, husband-and-wife dance team. Vernon Castle was an English dancer, who studied civil engineering before turning to the stage and making his debut in 1907. In 1911, he married Irene Foote, b. New Rochelle, N.Y. In Paris in 1912 their versions of such dances as the "Texas Tommy" and the "Grizzly Bear" brought them fame. The team originated the "Castle walk," the one-step, and the "hesitation" waltz, and Irene Castle introduced bobbed hair and the slim, boyish figure to the ballroom and the world of fashion. Castle was a pilot during World War I and was killed during a training mission in Texas.

Castle Shannon, residential borough (1990 pop. 9,135), Allegheny co., SW Pa., a suburb S of Pittsburgh; inc. 1919.

Castle Pinckney, fortification at the harbor entrance of Charleston, S.C.; built in 1797, when war with France seemed imminent; named for the American diplomat Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. It was a factor in the confrontation at Fort Sumter (1860), the start of the Civil War.

Castle Clinton National Monument: see Battery, the.

Medieval European stronghold, generally the fortified dwelling of the king or lord of the territory in which it stood. The castle developed rapidly in western Europe from the 9th century. In form it was somewhat sprawling compared to later fortified buildings. The castle's enceinte (outer wall) was surrounded by one or more moats, which were crossed by drawbridges that could be raised from the inner side. The gateway itself was heavily protected and often defended by a barbican, or watchtower. One or more baileys, or walled courtyards, surrounded the donjon. The age of the medieval castle came to an end with the increasing use of firearms in the 15th–16th centuries.

Learn more about castle with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Principal British royal residence, on the River Thames in Windsor, Berkshire, southern England. It comprises two quadrilateral building courts, or upper and lower wards, separated by the Round Tower (erected by Henry II), a massive structure built on a mound and visible for many miles. The present-day complex has been reworked repeatedly since William the Conqueror first constructed a stockade on the site. The lower ward includes the Albert Memorial Chapel and St. George's Chapel, the burial place of 10 sovereigns. The upper ward, part of which was damaged by fire in 1992, includes the monarch's private apartments, visitors' apartments, and the royal library.

Learn more about Windsor Castle with a free trial on Britannica.com.

National monument, central Arizona, U.S. Situated in the Verde River valley, it occupies an area of 2.6 sq mi (6.7 sq km). Declared a national monument in 1906, it is the site of the country's best-preserved pre-Columbian Pueblo Indian cliff dwellings. The “castle” is a five-story, 20-room adobe brick structure, dating from circa AD 1100, built into the cliff face about 80 ft (24 m) above the valley floor. To the northeast is Montezuma Well, a large sinkhole rimmed with communal dwellings.

Learn more about Montezuma Castle National Monument with a free trial on Britannica.com.