Concentric castle
Castillo concéntrico
- Date
- c. 1270 · confidence medium
- Place
- Krak des Chevaliers, Syria / Caernarfon and Beaumaris, Wales
- Credited to
- Crusader military orders; James of Saint George, for Edward I
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A fortress with two or more concentric walled enceintes, flanking round towers and complex gatehouses, so that the inner wall dominates the outer one. A design inspired by the Byzantine and Islamic fortifications seen during the Crusades.
What it led to
- the professionalisation of military engineering and royal master builders
- financial ruin for crowns owing to the cost of the fortresses (Wales)
- later obsolescence in the face of artillery and the birth of the trace italienne
Built on
- Counterweight trebuchetc. 1187
- Theodosian Walls of Constantinople
- Norman keep (donjon)