Chapter 19 - Castles and Fortified Towns of Medieval Times Flashcards
Ch 19: What did JRR Tolkien write a review of?
Beowolf.
Ch 19: Who was Beowolf?
A dude form Sweden that kills the monster named Grendel.
Ch 19: A mead hall, a prototypical structure of Northern Europe and Scandinavia used for social and civic purposes, is also known as _____________.
Longhouse
Ch 19: Why were the Middle [Medieval] Ages called the Dark Ages by Petrarch?
Evidence of monumental architecture is largely absent.
Ch 19: As the Roman Empire declined, the systematic approach to infrastructure, funding through collection of taxes, and a legal system declined for most cities. These are the essentials of sustaining _______ life.
Civic.
Ch 19: The Middle [Medieval] Ages are the time period between the ______ ________ and the _________.
Roman Empire; Renaissance.
Ch 19: Two styles of architecture that dominate the Middle [Medieval] Ages are _______ and _________.
Romanesque and Gothic
Ch 19: Romanesque is subdivided into these 2 periods, while Gothic is subdivided into these 3 periods.
Romanesque = Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque; Early , Middle, and Late/Flamboyant.
Ch 19: The ______ dominated the physical appearance of towns and cities as well as their socioeconomic structures.
Church
Ch 19: The most dominant characteristic of medieval secular architecture is its _________ posture. Describe what this means.
defensive. Most towns had walls around them.
Ch 19: During the Middle Ages, the Church referred to this specific faith.
The Roman Catholic Church.
Ch 19: Most important churches had a reliquary - what was this?
A shrine in which the relics of the saints were stored (piece of a skull, hair, clothing, etc).
Ch 19: What were the Crusades?
Military expeditions to reclaim the Holy Lands from the Levant.
Ch 19: What 2 effects did the Crusades have on architecture?
Crusader castles and architectural motifs.
Ch 19: Who were the 2 main crusader military Christian orders?
Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller
Ch 19: The crusader castle Krak des Chevaliers in present day Syria could house up to ________ soldiers.
4000
Ch 19: What was the prototypical wall structure of fortified towns?
Concentrically walled.
Ch 19: Most Middle [Medieval] castles were built using this material.
Wood
Ch 19: A typical castle was built on a flattened _________ and the sides were steepened to create a perimeter ditch called a ________.
mound; motte.
Ch 19: What is a ‘keep’?
a tower or timber house to be used as a place of refuge/defense.
Ch 19: Details about Medieval castle structures are located on the ___ page of the chapter (in the middle of the chapter.
3rd page.
Ch 19: What did Henry VIII do to his wife, and what consequence did it have on the Church?
He had he beheaded because he was firing blanks. This lead to the cessation from the Roman Catholic Church to the formation of the Church of England.
Ch 19: Castles are the visible embodiment of ________ _________.
social hierarchy.
Ch 19: What is unique about the situation of Caerphilly Castle in Wales?
Instead of being on a hilltop, it’s located within a bowl.
Ch 19: Fortified towns - What are battlements?
a low, protective wall along the edge of a roof (parapet) broken by slots.
Ch 19: Fortified towns - what are crenels/embrasures?
the slots in a parapet (wall along the edge of roof).
Ch 19: Fortified towns - what are merlons?
The alternating solid portion of the battlement.
Ch 19: Fortified towns - what are turrets?
a small tower extending above a parapet.
Ch 19: Fortified towns - what does it mean if a battlement is either crenelated or castellated?
If the parapet has turrets, battlements, or both.
Ch 19: Fortified towns - what is a machicolation in relation to a parapet?
It is reference to the uppermost parapet projecting outward.
Ch 19: The walls of larger cities would be rebuilt ________ from the central core when needed as populations grew and the city expanded.
Outward.
Ch 19: Some medieval towns had the appearance of a ________ monumental work of architecture from a distance (achieved by the uniformity of building materials).
single.
Ch 19: What 4 ways could a medieval town be sieged?
(1) Flood with attackers
(2) use siege engines to batter the walls
(3) dig under the walls
(4) cut off resources (food, water supplies)
Ch 19: What is remarkable about the land that Le Mont St. Michel is built on?
It’s on an estuary that floods and has quicksand.
Ch 19: On the island of Bornholm there are examples of religious architecture that are secular in their character - why is that? What kind of openings/windows did they have?
They were places of worship that were built for defense. The windows were ‘Y’ shaped to shoot arrows.
