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How to Build a Medieval Castle (2016)
- flopp 10y agoHere's the French castle building project in Guédelon: http://www.guedelon.fr/en/ http://www.guedelon.fr/en/ Since 1997, they are constructing a castle from the grounds up using medieval techniques. Quite impressive...
- rihegher 10y agoFor those who are really interested in how to build a mediaval castle, there is one building at the moment in the french countryside called Guedelon. It is modeled from french castle of century XIII. Using tools from middle age. the goal is to validate, correct or invalidate archeoligist theories aboyt medieval building techniques. By the way you can go there, participate and learn a ton. Myself i really enjoyed the experience.
- timthorn 10y agoThe BBC made a series showing the techniques in use there: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00PYMP7WA https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00PYMP7WA
- pbhjpbhj 10y agoThe BBC are supposed to have an online shop now for past shows that aren't on iPlayer .. but that show isn't available, which I find amusing-annoying considering you can get it on Amazon. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04xshqd http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04xshqd has some clips.
- Jaruzel 10y agoI've just found it on the BBC download shop thingy: https://store.bbc.com/secrets-of-the-castle-with-ruth-peter-and-tom https://store.bbc.com/secrets-of-the-castle-with-ruth-peter-... Cheaper by half compared to buying the DVD.
- pbhjpbhj 10y agoCool. That price differentiation is really grating. I understand they can charge more for HD (38%), but when it's a supposed non-profit enterprise ...
- NTripleOne 10y ago> but when it's a supposed non-profit enterprise ... ...that's already paid for by the British public...
- meigwilym 10y agoSales like these are a huge revenue generator for the BBC, and help keep the licence fee down. As you say, it's already paid for by the British public, I see no reason to give it away overseas.
- NTripleOne 10y agoBut it's not just about overseas. I as a British citizen who has paid his (last) TV license have quite literally already paid for this content - yet to watch it outside of the iplayer window, I still need to buy it.
- SmellyGeekBoy 10y agoI just found it on a torrent site. As a British citizen and license fee payer I don't have any moral issue with torrenting it. Interesting to think about, actually.
- NTripleOne 10y agoAnother poster pointed out that Yesterday are going to be rerunning it, meaning it could end up on UKTV play.
- mhw 10y agoIf you're in the UK, Yesterday are about to start a re-run of the series. See http://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/shows/secrets-of-the-castle/ http://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/shows/secrets-of-the-castle/ and http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/c727b6/secrets-of-the-castle-with-ruth-peter-and-tom--02022017 http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/c727b6/secrets-of-t...
- NTripleOne 10y agoHmm, would that mean it will end up on UKTV play?
- mhw 10y agoYes, I imagine it would. Just need to wait until Thursday evening to find out for sure.
- Jaruzel 10y agoNon mobile link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secrets-Castle-DVD-Stuart-Elliott/dp/B00PYMP7WA/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secrets-Castle-DVD-Stuart-Elliott/d...
- meigwilym 10y agoAnother good programme was Fred Dibnah's. It's available in three parts on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbZkhyX98is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbZkhyX98is
- exDM69 10y agoI really want to ko there to learn some masonry, woodworking and/or carpentry. Can you share something about your experience there? Any options for non-french speaking to participate?
- rihegher 10y agoI have been there 6 years ago for one week as an individual volunteer. Officially the maximum time for an individual volunteer is one week but if things goes well you can extend it. There I've been on different workshop that you may not always be able to choose as it depends on demands from others workers. On the first day, I've been building a roof for a future workshop with wood tile, then I have helped some mason building the castles walls for 2 days. The last 3 days I have spent them doing stone-cutting for the castle. Most of people that work there are passionate about their work so it is communicative. What I really enjoyed there is that sometimes I really felt like I was living in the middle age during a few minutes. For non-french speaking people I would say just go there I'm sure you'll find people speaking english that will help you, it should not be a problem. Here is the page about volunteering: http://www.guedelon.fr/fr/comment-participer-aux-travaux_40.html http://www.guedelon.fr/fr/comment-participer-aux-travaux_40.... Just use google translation for it if you cannot read french
- mmjaa 10y agoThere's one here in Austria, too .. Pretty neat to see them at work on it. Won't be finished for 30 years or so, as everything is being done as per medieval techniques, by hand - no tools made anywhere but on-site, etc. http://burgbau.at/burgbaufrie/?page_id=428 http://burgbau.at/burgbaufrie/?page_id=428
- sandworm101 10y agoMedieval tech, but with modern health and safety. They arent lifting stones above people on homemade rope. Castle construction was horribly dangerous work by modern standards. I do question the assertion about tools only being made on site. That doesnt seem very historical. There was plenty of trade in the past. Things like rope and metal were traded far and wide. Making things on site was ussually the cheaper option where possible but, as the OP states, castles were not purely local efforts.
- nkrisc 10y agoI think you're missing the point about making tools onsite. Surely there aren't many other places from which to get historically accurate tools via trade. If they want it, they probably have to make it themselves.
- wink 10y agoCool, thanks, never heard about this - I guess I'll make a stop there when I am in the area next time.
- samstave 10y agoHow much does it cost to participate? If I go as a lowly peasant (backpacker) can I show up with empty pockets/stomach (broke backpacker) and a keen interest (hungry) to contribute (fealty) and live in my hut (tent) and apprentice (learn) for free (intern)?
- rihegher 10y agoYou cannot just shows up, you have to register first. You have to pay some fees for insurance and the likes, I think it was something like 6 euros a day but it might have changed.
- samstave 10y agoWell that sounds like a shitty feudal system - Here I am offering to be a serf and you expect me to freaking VOLUNTEER? What do you think I am an old woman??? https://youtu.be/rAaWvVFERVA?t=49 https://youtu.be/rAaWvVFERVA?t=49
- jdc0589 10y agoI could watch the films on Guedelon all day long. Unfortunately there is only a moderate amount of media out there right now.
- rihegher 10y agoI guess you found those videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbiVEY2l9cw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbiVEY2l9cw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXlAB72YBr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXlAB72YBr0
- jdc0589 10y agoI've watched two or three hour-ish long ones on youtube or somewhere. Probably time to look again.
- dovdovdov 10y agoVery vague article, barely describes the steps. Didn't give up on my dream though! (geez, some don't get jokes)
- Nomentatus 10y agoThat castles are best situated near communications routes (water or land) is mentioned, but not quite why. The purpose of castles was primarily interdiction of supplies. Armies could bypass them, true - but then sorties from the castle later would cut their supply line. In a time when disease and pestilence were the greatest enemies of every army, and good roads and convenient navigable rivers rare (before canal locks got to the West), castles were very effective cripplers of enemy armies.
- JoeAltmaier 10y agoAlso, you need a butt-ton of supplies to build a castle. Back then, it was probably impractical to build them anywhere but a river or land trade route.
- arethuza 10y ago"...anywhere but a river or land trade route" Or on top of the plug of an ancient volcano!
- castlethrowaway 10y agoDo you have any references to learn more about considerations like these that explain the characteristics of castles?
- koevet 10y agoThis would make a great game!
- ju-st 10y agoIf you want to know more about castles watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhzsM2SFoeQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhzsM2SFoeQ
- strongcore 10y agoWhat was this all about? Didn't found anything new in it. It just listed every widest ideas in an order, that's all. I don't think this one would help anybody in building a castle!
- TKAB 10y agoThere's also one being built in the southern part of Austria: http://burgbau.at/burgbaufrie/?page_id=428 http://burgbau.at/burgbaufrie/?page_id=428 (unfortunately not every part is translated to English but only available in German).
- ENTP 10y agoWales has some amazing Castles. Edward the 1st almost bankrupted England building them. Come visit!
- kitd 10y agoPembroke's my favourite. My kids spend hours there running around the corridors and battlements whenever we visit. The rather delicious irony is that it's the birthplace of Henry Tudor, who ended up taking the English throne.
- ENTP 10y agoWhat can I say? We have perfected the art of trolling! :-)
- SEJeff 10y agoGot any in specific you'd like to name? I'll have two weeks to see the english countryside coming up soon and was going to make a point to visit Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. I'd love to add some actual castles to that trip to wales.
- ENTP 10y agoCheck out Harlech, Conwy and Caernarfon. They're pretty epic.
- Haven_Monahan 10y agoIf nobody's brought it up, "Castle" by David Macaulay: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_(book) (also made into a PBS program in the '80s) Very nice book; also he has ones about building Cathedrals, Pyramids, Roman cities and New England water-mills.
- flurdy 10y agoPrompted me to play some Citadels this morning. http://store.steampowered.com/app/238870/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/238870/ Thanks... broke my no gaming before 11pm or kids asleep whichever comes first rule... Good thing I'm on a mini-sabbatical. (ie between contracts)
- andrewrice 10y agoOuch -- only 13% favorable reviews on Steam?
- flurdy 10y agoYes, I think it was very very buggy when it launched. And at a much higher price then today. I bought it on a steam sale recently for only a few quid and it has had many patches over the years so it is now quite playable.
- brudgers 10y agoVery disappointing. I reached the bottom of the page and there was no solicitation for Medieval Castle Building services.
- steanne 10y agotry http://www.castlemagic.com/ http://www.castlemagic.com/
- pcunite 10y agoHere's a short writeup on James Sachs' (game programmer) attempt to build his own custom home. http://castleonthecheap.blogspot.com http://castleonthecheap.blogspot.com
- CaptSpify 10y agoThere's a castle that someone built in Tennessee of all places: http://www.tnhomeandfarm.com/tn-living/castle-gwynn/ http://www.tnhomeandfarm.com/tn-living/castle-gwynn/ It wasn't done with nearly any of the requirements listed in the article, nor one the scale required for an actual castle, but it was pretty cool to visit and see.
- nraynaud 10y agoBe really weary of what you see: most castles were made entirely at first, then partially of wood. A lot of castles were rebuilt and embellished with stones at the end or after the middle ages. It's one instance were we have to trust the documentation but not our eyes.
- azernik 10y agoDepends on the period. Part of the problem is that the popular imagination tends to see the Middle Ages as a uniform period of technological stagnation, when in fact there was great change and progress throughout the period. Early medieval castles were indeed wood-and-earthworks fortifications, but stone castles were active fortifications for a long time that would be considered "middle ages".
- mmanfrin 10y agoThis is a treat. I'm currently reading a book about Longshanks (Edward I); so many of these castles, places, and people are relevant to me.
- Tokkemon 10y agoHow to Build a Medieval Castle 1. Start up Stronghold: Crusader 2. Build a massive edifice to handle your ginormous army! 3. ??? 4. Profit.
- clock_tower 10y agoPro tip they forgot to mention: if you expect to need a medieval castle at some point in the foreseeable future, build it now, while concrete's available and cheap (and while construction efforts don't involve impressing a quarter of the skilled laborers in the country). And don't use reinforced concrete; steel, even stainless steel, rusts over time, and the goal is to have something still serviceable a millennium later with ordinary maintenance.