Medieval battering ram Good evening . Today I will be presenting and talking to you about the medieval battering ram and its significance in the third crusade. The battering ram was one of the most famous medieval weapons. It is the oldest ever siege engine and it was associated in Viking raids and siege warfare. It was used to knock down the gates and walls of medieval towns, castles and fortresses and could also be a part of a siege tower.
In 1214 was the Castle Gatehouse which was the main entrance to the castle and therefore needed to be heavily guarded. The Castle Gatehouse also contained murder holes and arrow slits. The Chapel was occasionally built behind the Gatehouse. The enemy would then be seen to fire on the Chapel as they were attacking the main entrance to the castle. Carrickfergus Tower on the western side of the gatehouse is a octagonal structure, whereas the 15th century Montague Tower to the east, is more square.
Many of them have strange shapes due to the castle being designed to accommodate the terrain. “If you have built your castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” (Henry David Thoreau) Castles evolved from prehistoric walled cities like Troy, Babylon, Jericho and Mycenae. These cities had thick, towering stone walls with gates that restricted traffic flow. Armed forces would be posted up at the gates and on the walls to fend of attackers.
This would have created much better defence from attack than a wooden fort. However there is no solid evidence that there was ever a Motte of earth crowned by timber buildings, it has only been mentioned in fictional stories which could stretch the truth. King John had Kenilworth Castle from 1174 – 1244 and used it for defence and strategic importance. New features were built such as a Great Tower, a single bailey causeway, the outer circuit made of stone with towers and improved water defences. The King built these because he wanted it to be a strongly defended royal castle.
This ‘Right of Conquest’ gave rulers a legitimate claim to a throne because of their military might. As well as being a means of establishing rule, the use of force was also necessary for maintaining political control of any given territory. Many rulers spent much of their reigns travelling around their lands, giving a visible presence, enforcing royal rights and discouraging any rebellion by a show of force. This was the case for the rule of Louis VI of France, who was infamous for spending much of his life on horseback ‘enforcing royal rights ruthlessly’ and having to ‘defeat numerous petty vassals’ . Force was also
Herot: symbol of Beowulf Herot is depicted as towering majestic, visible from all around which illustrates it is the epicenter of the majority of the conflict. The physical description of shimmering, gold covered gables, and Beauwolf’s recounting to Horithgar the sailors tales of it being the “best of all mead-halls” conjures up images of a grand stone castle that has be erected as a fortress to withstand the force of invasion from its exterior not withstanding the force of fire. It had been designed to protect all those that are within its walls and therefore by extension its people that are being governed by the King who lived within those walls. It provides grandeur and opulence to its inhabitants with gold covered floors and intricately designed metal adornments and ivory. Herot is much more than a physical structure in the story, it pulses with life.
The men that made up the Marine Corps were some of the toughest and bravest one could ever come across. They were trained for any condition and weather, for example, when 400 enemies, deep behind enemy lines, surrounded them in a -40 degree winter while it was heavily snowing outside at the battle of the Choison Reservoir in WWI. Of course, the Marines came out on top and decimated their adversaries. During the late 1700s and early 1800s, there were not many specific requirements for Marines like there are today, but they at least had to pass an age test, Initial Strength Test, and some form of psychiatric test. Though, if determined, it was not entirely hard to cheat these tests for those who wanted the path of glory and honor earlier than allowed.
William I used castles such as Rockingham to stamp his authority across England, the castles were used as a chain of command aiding him to take over England. These castles or fuelled William with the terror he needed in order to conquer England efficiently and successfully, the castles have been dubbed ‘Engines of Terror’ by Schama. Castles had to be placed in Strategic Locations in order to fulfil their full potential as symbols of power, therefore preventing revolt. These locations were chosen for a number of reasons, the height of land, the location in England and how easily accessible resources were, would all be taken into account when looking for the best place to situate a castle. There were many reasons why castles such as Rockingham were built, for example when William introduced the feudal system to England castles played a key role helping the system to run efficiently.
War was fundamental to political and social organization. It was only through necessity that wars arose . Wars arose due to necessity in ancient Rome, mainly because the land was limited and it was tightly controlled by the leadership of the day. Thus, people were called to war to defend their lands. For instance, the post-Roman authorities had called upon war-bands to defend the land.
Even though the Roman Empire was strong, there was one major problem in the Empire, which would be its over expansion that caused both Empire and the republic became unstable and eventually broke down. The Roman Empire was said to be the strongest empire that was ever built. The empire controlled and ruled the largest area in European history for over a thousand years, covering about 2.2 million square miles across Europe. Their military had several advantages such as rapid development of the latest technology and due to their advanced engineering skills of the Romans in building roads. Their roads had a strong stone surface which also allowed water to run off to the sides.