Watching in 2019, I really was expecting "MACHICOLATIOOOOONNNNSSSSS" when it came to light, but you haven't invented it yet. love your videos man, cheers!

Takes a shot everytime Shad says "castle." 5 minutes later *dies*

That part about the Don Jon is interesting as fuck. Now I know where the cliché of the princess trapped in a tower comes from.

The donjon dungeon blew my FUCKING MIND

Hey guys, who want to play DonJon & Dragons ? It takes place in a era before the invention of dungeons.

Very good and informative video. However, there's a mistake concerning the use of murder holes. Indeed :, "boiling hot oil", even if it is a common place in popular culture wasn't used to kill opponents. It was way too expensive and would only be used in such a case in extremely desperate cases. Middle Age people were just as intelligent and thrifty as we are and would rather use boiling hot water or sand (which would enter the gaps of an armour and burn the guy inside alive). I felt forced into making this comment in order to break one of the many myths revolving around Middle Age.

*Waiting for him to scream MATICULATIOOOONS*

One thing overlooked was the water supply. All castles needed a safe well or spring or sometimes a cistern that the emery can't poison.

An idea for your castle design video: In general all paths leading UP a castle should be consturcted CLOCKWISE. That way attackers climbing up the stairs can't conveniently use their shields and swords, and the relatively more defensless righthand side of an attacker is facing the defender. Just think where the shield of the attacker is and when placing stairs and such. Greetings from a new German subscriber.

Learned more on this model, and your descriptive terms definition, than any visual iv'e seen so far. Takes guts to ask for comments that might further strengthen this said reality. Here is what little i understand of them... Spiral stairs should be in a clockwise turn upon the ascend, in order to afford the defender, use of his right hand sword ability... thus putting to disadvantage that of the intruder's. A simple solution perhaps, would be to mirror the image of the stair model area. Laid bricks for 8 years and am fascinated by any and all masonry. When Quoin corners were required on the homes i'd bricked... it always brought me a sense of pride to know that the intent of the quoin was to strengthen the castle's corners against the attacker's cannon can opener agenda. Few were the builders and owners who knew of this. They had just thought of them to be as decorative as the many other parts of the castle you have pointed out. Very much obliged to you, for bringing to fruition this fabulous model, and the sharing of your passion, for the mechanisms of the Castle. -gilpin 7-9-16

2:41 Thats Schloss Lichtenstein in Germany, a beatiful castle. I live near it!

I love castles too :) can you do one about castle wall construction? like everything from how they mined the stones, the materials, to the assembly and internal construction.

What was usually on top of castle towers and turrets and shit? Was there just an open staircase or was there a trapdoor of some sort? How do they avoid rain from just pouring in and collecting in it ???

You're so cute with your "I love castles!" :D Really nice video and channel in general. Just stumbled over it and already spent half a day here :D

Great video! My love for Castle started at the age of 4, and basically because of what you talk about here. I'll give some feedback on your question. - concentric castle - bastion - oriel window - brattice - chemise wall - buttress - batter - yett

I love how you say donjon, and i love the fact that you said it about 40 times in the next minute after introducing it

He loves castles! Gotta admire a man with such enthusiasm.

What an excellent, informative video! :D After a long evening of watching this channel I feel like an expert on medieval stuff! Keep up the interesting topics man! :)

Came here for research on a personal project. Stayed for the complete castle masterclass! Gotta love that feeling when someone's passion for a topic bleeds onto you

my D&D group will eventually build a fortification at some point most likely a castle. Thank you for the information so i can bombard them with this information.

I remember seeing another defensive technique - a walled-in corridor leading to the entrance of a castle (or a city wall). The walls would have staggered buttresses on the inside so that when approaching the gate, you had to go in a slight zig-zag path. This was to slow down a charge of horses (or perhaps chariots) - they couldn't just charge the gate at full speed, because they had to keep making slight turns left and right. I remember seeing these in Israel.

This reminds me of one of the last experimental builds I did in Minecraft years ago. I actually built towers that had machicolations, but they were only accessible on the second-from-top floor. Still, what made them cool was a specific arrangement of stair blocks and slabs that allowed you to look straight down over the edge of the wall without the risk of falling. If I ever get back into Minecraft, I might actually build a proper castle as part of my survival gameplay - complete with Villager serfs, lol.

This guy is obsessed with castles just like me... Good to know there's someone who has brought back our history alive

A fine basic coverage, full of supplementary material. Thanks for posting.

Greatest castle terminology video I've ever seen.(and I've seen Many) Bravo sir.

Nice work - Love the Castle! :) My thoughts on Ward vs. Bailey: Ward: more German. Ward something off. A member of another family you have taken in. An area you are protecting... Bailey: more French. An enclosure. An area you are administering or managing. A Bailiff might look after a Bailey... Both relate to administration and protection... To refer to your Ward is almost like referring to your responsibility - might be an area of a castle, but could be a person... To refer to your Bailey is more specifically to the enclosure in a castle... Other thoughts?

Phenomenal video. One small addendum: the section of exterior wall that rises in front of the rampart is called a parapet. Crenelations are then placed into the parapet. Parapets continue to be used for both decorative and practical purposes in Western buildings well into the 21st century (as small barriers on roofs, for example). And corbels have made their way into modern Western architecture with the cornice, a decorative motif which also takes inspiration from an Ancient Greek architectural motif of the same name.

People have a tendency to take topics like this and call them "geeky" or whatever adjective they have for it, in the material (non-digital) world. I thank modern Internet for KZfaq, because it allows fans, that have exhaustively researched and poured their heart into topics such as this, to find audience members that are not only interested, but fascinated, and truly appreciative of the energy you put into videos such as these. Unlike a pre-prepared lesson plan, or even a docent, your videos carry a certain enthusiasm to them, that shows that you truly love your work.

Shad you really need to play Medieval Engineers.

Do not forget to add a cistern. Its important.

You should be declared to be a National Treasure! Thanks for a dynamite presentation! Lot's great information!

Wow. That castle model you've made is really spectacular. Great work and I hope we will get a full tour once it's totally finished.

I love how you made this into a story, rather than just summing up a lot of definitions quickly

So.....Do you play a lot of Stronghold?

Pleasantly surprised having stumbled upon you. I have designed castles for decades. Brilliant. GER

THANK YOU! I had been looking for a video on "how to make a castle" for my 5 year old and yours was the perfect hit! He now knows all the parts of a castle (thanks from Toronto, Canada).

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who makes models of castle in google sketch up :D

Amazing video Shad!

The castle model is BEAUTIFUL! I want to live there!!!

That was actually amazing. Excellent delivery!

I listened to this before bed. I feel my IQ while asleep will be raised.

Some castles like to have access to circle around to the right. The reason is most soldiers were trained with their weapon in their right hand. This force their left to be on the outside with respect to the access were that person is carrying their shield.

Mechulations isn't a strange word. it's a beautiful word, made for poetry, for love! The sight of a castle brings me inspiration I get all excited with sexy mechiculations

Thank you so much for posting this video!!! I'm working on a book series and was struggling to clearly define the early history of my world, and this video gave me the spark to get my mind rolling on defining my world's history. This video got me studying castle development in detail. And now in my stories I can use the different castle styles to indicate the age of different cities or fortifications based on the design of the fortifications. All of your videos are awesome!!!!

Interesting. On your model you might change the orientation of the gate. Set it up so invaders have their shields on their left side away from the wall. Makes it harder for them to defend from missiles.

Hey what program did you use to create that castle model?

Yes, yes please! I love castles too. Looking forward to more castle videos!

Your enthusiasm is very contagious. Very informative video, and the 3d model you created to use at the end of the video looks awesome.

does anyone know if castles ever had people living in the bailey's? As in, a small village within the walls of the castle

you should talk about how one would going about taking a castle

One of the best channels ever! Really interesting and informative! And the greatest thing is that 10-15min and I fell asleep as a child

very excited for more in-depth castle videos!

Shad, I don't want to tell you your business, but why does the entry path have its left side to the castle walls? Usually you'd want to have the non shield bearing side of the attackers facing the castle, making it easier to turn them into pincushions. Awesome castle design!

I thought that bailey/ward was called a courtyard, am I wrong to use that term?

Looked up "Castle parts" to make a good-looking castle in minecraft. Ended up being his majesty's trusted lord. And even favoured by the people. Cheers m8.

I love castle, too. I felt such enthusiasm from you! and I'm happy about that! Thanks for the amazing video!

What would be the most significant advantage or disadvantage of having the Keep attached to the wall? What was better in terms of defense? Perfect video by the way.

What about both a moat and a hill?

Wow Shad, what an impressive video. Thanks for sharing!

This is the FIRST video with machicolations! Kudos!

Don Jons & Dragons. A friendly game where you sit in a high tower enjoying the impressive view and occasionally dragons flying by.

will you talk about decorations and interiors?

I like castles a lot too!! They are very beautiful as well as functional. Thanks for the video, Shad; I learned many details about castles that I didn't know before watching this clip.

Great video Shad...looking forward to more on design and functionality.

Question: Where does the term "citadel" fit into this concept? Does Citadel mean the castle plus walls, or is it something that encompasses space beyond the castle + walls?

did people ever fall through machicolations? cuz, I think if you were behind the crenelations then you'd be very likely to...

Great program, very concise & explained properly. TY for posting this

This is super interesting! 😊 I love history in general so I'm now off to binge watch more

What program did he use to create the castle?

hey shad the base of your walls are wrong. the protrusions at the bottom of the wall, called taluses, shouldn't be there. the point of a castle wall is to be as hard to scale and as easy to defend as possible. with the talus, you'll notice the battlements above no longer look down on where the defender are attacking or undermining the wall, rendering them ineffective. taluses are notably added only in later castles, note *added*. in castles with taluses, the stone used is clearly different from the stone of the walls proper, showing that they were added much later. the were only added reluctantly to shore up walls suffering from foundation movement after hundreds of years, not to enhance defense.

Thank you for this video,I love castles,and I learned so much from this one video. Looking forward to seeing more videos about castles!!!

Those Machicolations sound like a really double-edged sword. With them being so big and close to each other, it seems really easy for a defender to fall through them; and if you wanted to shoot through the crenel, you'd basically have to balance between two big holes on either side while putting your focus on the attackers you're trying to hit. Now, add the darkness of night, some rain, possibly even some snow and ice; maybe some sleep deprivation or exhaustion from a long shift/ongoing battle, and I foresee the Machicolations posing a real safety hazard to the defenders xD As they are presented, I can only wonder how many people have accidentally fallen through them throughout history...

now that you explain what is a castles and keeps, now i challenge you to explain between castle and a citadel. :)

What would you consider the difference between a castle and a fortress?

I have read that one of the turning points of castle design came when defenders were having walls defeated by mining, which made necessary additional stonework under and beyond walls to aid in wall defense.

My mind was blown when you explained about the Don Jon and Dungeon, awesome video

And thus the machicolations meme was born

What did you use to design you castle, like software?

Dont know if you read these comments still, but I have to thank you for this video. Im writing a book that will involve several castle in great detail and this, so far, alongside your other castle videos has been the greatest of help to me in that effort. Thank you very much for the education.

Thanks for making this. It was both informative and entertaining.

Quiz time: how many time did Shad say "Castle" in this video?

you should make that castle model in minecraft

I am glad to see there's so much correct information being told here. But I want to make a point about the terms don jon and keep. Don jon is a term going back to the early fortifications of Motte and Bailey, where Don Jon was the structure, often in the form of a tower, built on top of the motte. At this stage, the Don Jon was the only building inside the fortification, or castle if you will. As castles grew in size and became built in stone, other buildings began to appear inside the walls. The term Donjon then was used to describe one of the buildings inside the castle. Shad has it almost right. The donjon is not the tallest tower, but the most defendable structure inside the castle walls. And that isn't nesseccarily the tallest structure, as we find in several castles. What made it defendable was wall thickness, angles of approach, fields of fire and the door defences. The main purpose of the donjon was as a last resort. If the attackers breached the outer walls and entered the bailey, the defenders would retreat to the donjon and try to fend off the attackers for long enough time for a relief army to arrive. The term keep was first used about fortified houses and solitary towers, with much the same purpose as the later blockhouses. But in the late medieval period the term started getting used about structures inside a castle. But here lies the misconseption. The keep is not the central structure of the castle. As the term donjon became assosiated with prisons and prison cells were moved underground and took the name of donjon with it as in dungeon, the term keep replaced the old meaning of the term donjon, as the most defendable structure of the castle that the defenders can fall back to if the outer defences were breached. Sure, at some castles the keep will be the central structure, but for many castes the keep was a seperate structure from the main building. In many castles the dining halls, living quartes, kitchens etc. have easy access to be comfortable to use in peace time. Thus they needed a keep to retreat to as a last stand. And the entrance to the keep was often not on the ground floor but on the 1st floor to make breaching it more difficult. So Shad's definitions are just slightly off and will name the structures correctly in many instances, but not every time.

I sure love your videos. Gonna make a habit of linking them.

No, you don't understand. He really loves castles.

Holy shit, I just had a mid-life crisis as I know now where the word "Dungeon" comes from...

Oh my word, your castle is amazing!! And this video!! Good golly gosh, I needed this in my life, thank you!! Keep up the amazing work!!

I am dedicating my swords and horses book to you because I've used your videos so much for research. Between you and Jean Johnson, I think I have my experts in place.

Shad, I recently watched this. Honor Guard is magnificent, I'm honestly inspired by it. Thus I want to ask your permission to build and exact replica of it in minecraft to post on the planet minecraft website.

Maybe I'm not getting this, but doesn't the design of machicolations render crenelations largely useless, since it provides an open hole which can be shot up into, and the holes seem to tend to be directly in front of the crenelations, where you'd typically take cover? They also seem like a great place to fall while moving towards the crenels to fire arrows.

This is LEGIT EPIC!!! great work! hope you make more in the furture :)

Thank you so much @shadiversity for this amazing video !

Someone should share this video with Trump.

With modern political correctness you shouldn't be using machicolations. They are way too offensive :P

very informative, thank you Shad!

It's videos like these that make me one satisfied subscriber. Great content Shad!

Excellent! Well researched. Excellent presentation. Thank you.

Awesome! I'd been looking for the words corresponding to 'the teeth bits'! Fantastic!

Your enthusiasm of castles is contagious. When I become president of the planet (one day) I will hire you to build my monumental dream castle. 😉

Brilliant! I haven't had information this good in a long time.