Being a little french frog I may be able to give a more precise definition of some of the tems discussed here. Actually, the word "château" in french wasn't synonymous of "castle" or "fortress" at all until the XVIth century. Before this period, castles in french were actually reffered to as "forteresses" (transparent translation) or "castels" (singular : "castel" which led in english to the word "castle"). And the exact definition of a "château" is a building with a living room, a bedroom and a kitchen (there could be more rooms obviously). So the french word actually insisted on the residential function of the building without any consideration for a defensive purpose. Thus, in medieval times in France, "le château" usually reffered to the part of the castle were people (the lord owning it and his relatives) lived while the entire complex would be reffered to as a "forteresse" or "castel". I know a very precise exemple : the local castle of my town (Montargis in the middle of France, at the south of Paris), which was a royal castle built by the king Phillippe Auguste had a specific building separated from the rest of the structure which would accomodate the royal children. This specific building had a living room, a kitchen and two to three bedrooms and was called "le château". This distinction was mostly influenced by the difference between such a building with various rooms having a precise purpose, and popular houses often composed of one huge and only room where an entire family would live (which was standart in rural areas). Fun fact then is that nowadays, many people could claim that they live in a castle according to the historical definition of the term. During the XVIth century, writers began to reffer to every prestigious buildings as "châteaux" (which is why we translate it in english using the word "castle") by convenience and distinguished the heavyly fortified medieval castles as "forts châteaux" or in a more actual formulation "châteaux-forts". Thus, Versailles, Chenonceaux or Chambord are "châteaux" and the castle of Caen or the high koenigsbourg for instance are "châteaux-forts". This also implies that in french, the dinstinction between a fortress, a castle or a mansion is very difficult to establish, even if defensive buildings dating back from the XVIth, the XVIIth or later centuries may be reffered more often as "forteresses" and not as "châteaux" anymore. Then, english speaking authors would pick the word "château" to reffer to prestigious buildings according to the most recent use of the term in french.

A real castle has to be two things: Real, and a castle.

- Are you a real castle? - Well uh technically nah - Have you ever repelled an invader like a.. like a real army? - Naah - Have you ever tried fortifications? - Nah nah - Alright I can see that I will have to teach you how to be Castle!

I enjoy your videos on castles, but I really do wish that you'd include annotations in them identifying each castle as its shown on screen.

so a castle is like a thumb, all thumbs are fingers, but not all fingers are thumbs, but with medieval structures

In germany we call castles that were renovated to be more comfortable subsequent to being made largely obsolete as fortresses "Wohnburg", which literally translates to "living-castle". A building stylized as a medieval structure that was never actually used as a fortress would be a "Schloss", although the term can also refer to actual former castles that were changed so much they are practically a completely new building.

Take a shot every time you hear castle!

Castle doesn't sound like a word anymore...

Hey Shad, a viewer from Germany here. I found the topic you showed very interesting, especialy because in my language we don't realy have that problem of distinguishing the two. In german, the standard you want to set with "chateau" and "castle" are already defined be two words. The first is "Burg" (not to be confused with the english term which defines a living district) which is given to a hold with primarily defensive purposes and the other term "Schloss" which describes a lords domicile as "luxurious" residence which pretty much comes back to the "english" definition of chateau. A good example for Schloss would be the one in my hometown. It would be best if you just google "Schloss Idstein" since i do't wanna put down any links here that seem dubious. As alternative you could also look up the most famous one in Germany "Schloss Neuschwanstein". I hope the information i provided did help you out a bit and keep up the videos, they are awesome! ;)

I think there is one thing missing from the definition. Not only castles must serve a military and residential pourpose, it also must serve as a political center. The lord or king didn't just lived, defended and lodged his army inside, it also neeeded great halls and rooms intened to perform audiences, meetings, feasts and negotiations related to political matters. Feudalism is very much a system where the personal and social lives of rulers were entangled with political structure of the realm, kingdom, etc. And even for centuries before the medieval era, throughout the celt, germanic and viking worlds, throwing feasts and providing plenty of drinking and entertaiment to a chief's warriors, along with loot and payment, was expected to maintain their loyalty, securing both military and political power in the chief's hands. So a castle must provide for the continuation of those traditions in the form of vassalage and the social rituals it requires.

Shadiversity, I admire your effort to explain what a medieval castle is. A part of my ancestral family lived in castles and they all looked different, size, style, function, building material, level of defense. It all depended on the period in which they started, position in the landscape, isolated or close to a town, sometimes in a town, money available, and above all how much support, and trust, they got from the one above them in the social ladder. And sometimes the classification of 'castle' depended on what the neighbors could build.

Shad, we want a Venn's Diagram about Castles, Chateaux, Fortresses, Mansions, Citadels and Strongholds!

castle stronghold fortress castle castle fortress stronghold WHO AM I. WHERE AM I. WHAT IS GOING ON.

As a french, I loved your prononciation of "château" (almost perfect, just... without the "r") x) Castle is indeed a very "toned/watered-down" word nowdays, used to designate anything with towers, so far that in french, we had to find a word to make the distinction and describe only authentic REAL medieval fortificated castles, and as you said, this word is "Château-fort"(we use also the ancien term "Castel" for the same definition. That's funny that finally, english and french folks use both the two terms, altrough "Castel" isn't very popular in France"). THANK YOU for clarifiying all of these terms, it was really well explained :)

I have been researching medeival structures for 2 weeks now. I know that doesn't make me an expert, but I really wanted to clearify all these "interchangeable" meanings so I could explain the differences to my friends. This 15min video wraps up all 2 weeks of my research. Very well done! I could not have put it better myself!

Large luxurious dwellings can be divided into 3 major categories. The first is the castle. This can either be a medieval fortified dwelling, or a house constructed and decorated to look like a medieval castle. Examples include Warwick castle, the Alhambra, Neuschvanstein castle, etc. The second is the mansion, also called manor house, hall, etc. This is any large and luxurious house, no matter the architectural style. Examples include many southern American plantation houses, the homes of many celebrities and the houses of the aristocracy. A palace is the mansion of a high ranking government official, especially a monarch or dictator. If someone isn't a high ranking government official, his or her home can never be a true palace, no matter how grand it is! Examples of palaces include the White House, a mansion of the Kim family in North Korea, Fontenbleau, the Escoral, and the residence of the Pope.

Wow, I'm learning a lot on this channel, not just from the videos themselves, but also from the comments. I love it! :D Thanks, everyone. P.S. Greetings from Denmark

As he said, chateau translates directly into french as castle, the word fort is not the same as in english. The french word fort (the T is silent) literally translates as strong.

French here, quite confused. :D

I think the word "palace" also needs some specifications, as not every place that at least occasionally housed royalties would be a palace. Royalties could temporarily live in mansions, hunting lodges, etc.. A palace would be a place, that is designed for conducting representative ceremonies. It needs at the least an audience hall/throne room and a grande entry hall and so forth. Usually one or several banquet rooms and guest rooms plus servant quarters and a kitchen plus storage rooms would be present, too, unless they were in separate buildings in the same complex. Actually living quarters for the royalty in question would not even be mandatory for a building to be a palace. The royalty plus family could very well live in a conveniently nearby mansion and just visit the palace to conduct state business.

Castle, fortress, palace and chateaux have been used interchangeably for so long that they have become synonyms. There's a documentary series on Netflix named 'Secrets of Great British Castles' and even in that those terms are used for castles. Great video. I enjoyed it. Do you have a favorite castle from the medieval period? I've always liked the Krak des Chevaliers.

Castle - A fortified dwelling (especially heavily gortified) from Europe's medieval period or Japan's feudal era. Also a house or mansion built to look like such a fortification Fortress - A defensive military structure, usually attached to a town or within close proximity. Stronghold - Any well fortified building Chateau - A French or French style castle or mansion, especially when in a rural area. Chateau can also mean the main building on a vinyard, even if it's a mere tent or shack. Citadel - A fortification in the middle of a city or town and may or may not have the palatial living quarters of the city's rulers.

I find this incredibly fascinating! Thank you for your video! And you're correct on your translations. Chateau, Chateau-fort, forteresse, palais, etc. Things translate pretty simply.

A bit of nitpicking: the word "palace" is not only used to describe the residences of royalty* (or, more generally, heads of state - the White House could legitimately be called a palace), but also of certain other high-ranking dignitarys, notably bishops. See, for example, Lambeth Palace, the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Anglican Church, or the Apostolic Palace, official residence of the Pope. Not all residences of bishops or royalty are palaces, though. The term requires a certain grandeur to the building and surrounding gardens. *not only the monarch, but also the immediate family of the monarch. The residence of a crown prince can also be a palace.

Actually A medieval professor who is a friend of mine said to me that a Castle and a Palace are the two sides of the coin of the same structure. The castle being the exterior, intimidating part and the palace being the interior where the daily life takes place.

Nice to see one of the "castles" was from Slovenia. Maybe you could do a video on some of the most iconic or otherwise interesting castles from different countries and places. Maybe also highlight some of the differences and applications of different styles of defences and there uses and reasons for them.

This is amazing, now i can finally learn some real facts about castles! Well done :)

I have gained knowledge in this subject and I thank you for it shad! I enjoyed the names and terms vid too!

In German there are actually two words for châteaus and castles which are not interchangeable - "die Burg" means castle (btw Hamburg used to have a castle there, hence the name, although there is no castle there any more) and "der Schloss" means château (it also means lock). In Czech it is very much the same - "hrad" is the word for castle and "zámek" means both lock and château. I don't know about other languages. But while native English speakers seem to mix châteaus and castles quite often, native German or Czech speakers would probably not mix the terms, maybe because the words are both native and there is no confusion with one word just being a French term for the other. Also maybe because most English native speakers live in countries which have no castles or châteaus in them. Also, isn't it kind of similar with fortress and stronghold? Stronghold seems to be the Anglo-Saxon word for a fortress, which seems to have a French (and Latin) origin. Google says: Fortress from Old French forteresse ‘strong place’, based on Latin fortis ‘strong’.

To further explain the uses and parts of castles; Can you do a video on how to design your own modern day castle?

As a Dane with English as a second language I have had trouble using the right terms for the right buildings (especially when it comes to 'château', because we have a word for that in Danish). I am glad you fixed it with Theis video.

Hi Shad, great channel! Really enjoy watching the videos. I was wondering if you could do an episode about medieval fortified manor houses please? I looked up some pictures of them and they kind of look like miniature castles or keeps!

Well done. Thank you

Thanks for the video, and the architectural clarification. :)

I was wondering if Doneagle was a castle or not. Thanks for this video.

"Chateau..." Bless you.

cf. 8:29 Fantastic video. I would humbly offer that high ranking prelates often considered their large stone castle-like houses to be 'palaces' in addition to a residence of royalty.

Thank you for this info . It's a very interesting topic for me and it helps me to create things like this in game :D. Now that i know the difference between these 5 type of building, it helps me to imagine it more better.

Thank you, very informative!

thank you for teaching us french pronounciation as well :D

I have learnt something. Good explanation.

For the french terms, to complete what has been said, "Château" is the residence of a lord. When it's fortified it becomes "Château fort", like said. "Palais" is used for an unfortified royal or imperial residence located in a city. For example, the Louvre was at first a "Château fort" and it became a "Palais" after the suppression of its fortifications. Other example, We say "Château de Versailles" because it is (or… it was) located in the countryside.

Thank you.

Agree with your definition. I think I'm gonna start using it.

I actually got a chance to talk to an archeologist at my school (my major actually) that specialized in medieval history. we were both talking about building our own homes and said I wanted to build a castle or fortified manor house for a retirement/anti zombie bug out location. my initial design was far from a real castle, and he said the simplest way to keep it a castle is to follow the definition rule A castle is a self sustaining military installation designed to occupy your own land, not that of a conquered foe, where the commander and his men could live with their families. So in essence I would up designing my own zombie castle under those rules and it came out looking more like a castle than I thought it would lol.

Your videos have inspired me to revamp some of my settlements in Fallout 4.

Wow, Slovenian Predjama castle at 6:38. Nice one with interesting history.

Nice Video and very informative!

I wish I new the source of some of the images you share. You have some great images. :-)

Awesome video

Shad you should do a video on your top 10 favourite castles/keeps/medieval buildings. Have you ever played any of the Dark Souls games or Bloodborne? They have some fantastic looking buildings/architecture in them.

Video of a history buff explaining everything wrong with historical accuracy* The grammar nerds looking at the lack of commas in the title: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

one of the good examples of fortresses like 5:49 is the one in slavonski brod, croatia

Well, as always, Shad, you've made a very high quality content. Thanks! And yeah, your attempt at speaking French made me laugh :) as it was very similar to my own attempts with French language Also, would you kindly give me a source image/gallery of the opeining frame castle? It looks very cool, I want to see more of it.

Loving these videos.

Implicitly I already knew these things. But they made it crystal clear. I can sense the same annoyance in your voice as I feel when people say The Netherlands has (quite some) castles. It doesn't, a few chateau palaces, and the rest is mansions. Oh, we do have a few dwarf-forts from the Napoleonic era iirc, but I've seen no castles.

A citadel is specifically a fortress which sits above a city. As we have a Kingdom of Castle forming the Kingdom of Spain with Aragon, 'castle' derives Arabic 'stronghold.' Feudal traditional fortress generally regarded pre-modern era regarding Jan Žižka and the naval carrier.

Good video, as always. Suggestion... it'd be great to mention the actual locations you're featuring (photos) during the video (some of us like to go down the rabbit hole and research them). I know you do this, just not in all instances. The mountain-side stronghold... case in point.

5:27 and you could also find many fortresses along roman limeses (borders) in antic times, more than those star forts you showed

awesome work :), I am quite interested in what game images were used in this video, if they were not just 3d model renders. and the real pictures are amazing.

I'm french and the way you said "Château" was funny :p I make the same kind of jolke when I have to "speak" german xD

I hate when people use the terms castle and palace interchangeably. No, a castle put emphasis on defense. It has several buildings, battlements, walls, towers, etc. A palace emphasizes luxury. It's generally just one big building with a fence around it serving as both the residence and the workplace of the monarch or president. Granted, a palace could technically exist within a castle, but they are not the same thing. Don't get me wrong, palaces are highly defended, but the main purpose of the palace structure is luxury. Speaking of which, is the Kremlin considered a castle?

is a 'panic room", or those "bunkers in case of fallout" castles? I guess they fit the definition

it's fun for me (i'm french) because "château" is the french word for castle as u said, for castle we can just say "fort"(which mean strong- like stronghold) and "château" (i love the way u pronouce it even in the french way :P) is just a general term for the esthetic look of the constuction. so a castle (as u mean it) is a fort/château fort but a manor called château for u is actually a château too. over all : a castle is a "fort", stronghold is a "bastion" and citadel is "citadelle"............. Language barrier :D

very good video. it is hard to classify some structures, as they were build when protection was still a factor, but not major. or they were truly full real castles that then at later dates (renaissance or after) at least parts of which were heavily remodeled to be more grand and open. I would add, on a castle's role as a home, it would have to be a multi-family home as there would be need for a good number of onsite support staff/servants. anything that housed the noble family only, i would not call a real castle, but a fortified home, which might be a sort of keep to a semi fortified town, too small/poor to build a real castle (as citadel, or to encompass the town)

About the french distinction between "château" and "château-fort" (you can pronounce it as "shato for", btw), the interesting thing is that many of those "châteaux" were built during the Renaissance on pre-existing castles that were fonctionnal strongholds gone useless after the new and massive use of canons at war. If noble people couldn't be safe in these castles anymore, these nevertheless were their homes, so why not transform them into better places to live ? Towers and walls were covered, windows widened and many war elements were taken off, as moats or fortifications, leaving place for more places of entertainment and gardens. But even transformed, these homes had the same walls and the same shape than the previous castles, and people knew these places as "castles", so why change the name ? And a few generations later, some nobles were building manors that they called "château" just because of a fashion effect, plus some vague similarities with the "historical" castles. The use of the term vanished after the end of the french monarchy and is only used to name the buildings that were named as so before. It was too symbolic of the noble class and the monarchy to match with the republican's ideas and ideals. I think it's only after a long, long period of time that people started to separate "château" and "château-fort". By these times, none of these could really defend any place from canons, and had therefore lost their "stronghold" status, so there was no real reason to distinguish them except for their external aspects. Obviously, a "château-fort" would be safer than any "château" in case of a real armed conflict, as it would actually protect from any attack by foot soldiers, but this difference wouldn't hold more than a few hours with modern weapons and equipment.

very helpful video......and it would be more helpful and appreciated if u would make a table with all the characteristics of the different buildings in one place, so we could compare them side by side

Love your videos Shad…idk if you take questions but your last few videos on castles got me thinking. First since actual castles had defensive and offensive structures like murder holes and arrow slits; how fantastical did these defenses get in reality. Games and movies and yes even cartoons have had castles and forts with all sorts of crazy and outlandish armament. And in a way, murder holes are kind of nuts. (Pouring boiling water or oil on people, even attackers, is frowned upon today) so did any have “crush” rooms, places where the walls or celling came in until the occupants were…um…dealt with. Or how about dead fall traps, and spikes on the bottom. I would imagine the more complicated and technical a contraption is would make it to difficult and impractical to execute; but I can see with some basic engendering skills, defense like these being at least somewhat valid. Secondly are there and historical accounts of Chateaus being sieged and taken rather easily due to their lack of defenses. Again love the videos.

to think, about a year ago I spent hours and hours doing the research on all this myself to aid my worldbuilding... I just should've waited for you to upload this :P

Sorry to bother you, but your definition also fits perfectly for walled cities :P

Here is the usual like, comment, and full watch for engagement.

concerning chateaux - many of castles were also turned into palaces or chateaux - so that is another reason why they look similar quite often

Well it has to be said that castle, château... derive from the latin word "castellum" which was more like a fortress, it was either an encampement or a fortified structure where one or more legions was garrisoned to defend certain locations or keep them under control

Agree with your definition, but this is mainly a shortcomings of English language, many other languages has disctintive words for each of the described that make the differentation very clear.

In order to look authentic medieval, a castle has to meet certain criteria Firstly, the ground floor windows can't be very big, especially if there's no outer curtain wall around the keep. Second, there should be a sallyport entrance with at least one portcullis. Entrances and other ground level openings would have been the most vulnerable. Also, there should be meticulations under at least some of the battlements. Preferably on the turrets or towers. Bonuses that aren't requirements include At least one courtyard, this protected outdoor space would have been valuable in the medieval period for growing food and getting water in case of a siege. A dungeon. Sure, you can't legally imprison or otherwise punish people for crimes anymore, those powers being monopolized by the government and all. But the fake dungeon can be an entertainment suite, possibly including a wine cellar, disco, bowling alley, indoor swimming pool, etc.

I would amend the definition to appear as follows... A castle is any man made structure which at the time of it's construction could; 1) Serve as a residence. 2) Repel attack. 3) Had a strategically significant location. I also think that if someone widens a few holes and installs some windows, that doing so doesn't automatically take away the structures castle status. It just makes it into a shitty castle for it's original purpose. But we have to consider that these structures are no longer used to repel attack from large forces for extended periods of time. The worst one can reasonably expect now is a home invasion. A home invader or even just a burglar would have to bring a ladder (and because of that probably a vehicle), Assuming they got to the point where the got up the ladder and got rid of enough of the window glass and frame to get in. They would still have to deal with security alarms, possibly a dog or two, residents who know the internal defenses of the structure they live in. And eventually the police. So I would say even with windows that they still serve their purpose. It's only that the circumstances have changed enough that castle can afford to be less secure.

In French we use the term CHâtea AK castle for Renaissance Castle, the one that are super fancy looking. I mean without going to Louis XIV Palace Already François premier (the guy that said Ghotic architecture suck, can't blame him for this he did go to back from a trip to Rome when eh said this) build, they lightly fortified residence. And fortified is a big word. Many fOrt and foetresses were converted to confort house.

the fortresses Pass Strub, Steinpass and Kniepass in Salzburg are medieval fortresses which have never been castles in the sense that somebody lived there :)

Hi Shad. Tell me please, what is and where is the building schown on 0:44. I like it wery much and i will build one for me ;-) regards

a stronghold is easy to define if it has a portal to the end, it is a stronghold

Hello from Puerto Rico. We have a strange hybrid and confusing definitions on our main fortresses in Old San Juan because of Spanish translations and definitions. Castillo - Castle Fuerte - Fortress Casa Fuerte - Stronghold Ciudadela - Citadel So the 'Castles' fit the bill entirely as Fortresses BUT even in their names, they're called Castles because of the term that you clearly mentioned of the national armies post-medieval @5:30 In our case, the term Castle, Fortress and Citadel are synonyms. They're castles because even though they repelled invaders and no lord lived in them, the payment for their construction was totally by the monarch and the forts represented the power of the monarch as if he/she were there. but then you'd say "that means they are, by definition, fortresses" well yes, but no. They're official names are Castles even though they are fortresses. Are they Citadels? Yes. They are the military zones that protected the city of San Juan from the east and westward sides of the city and are connected by a wall that surrounded the city.

4:11 i can hear a wisp from deep the old castle !

thanks shad

I played Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and now you've messed up my mind.

:) a Frenchman will really disagree with decided that chateau is not a castle :) reading the comments I have to say I am likely wrong on this one as well. Thanks you Shad as usual you are right! (I know I need to learn to spell...it's late in my timezone and English is not my mother tongue).

If ivy counts as an attacker, one of those castles isn't doing a very good job.

If I hollowed out a cavern on the side of a mountain and lived inside of it, but had the exterior entrance fortified (basically a single gatehouse with flanking towers and murder holes behind the portcullises), would it be considered a castle?

I used to live near an abbey that was a modified castle the inside or keep was pretty modernized and was originally built as a sort of chateau but the outer walls seem to still retain their defensive integrity, functioning as castle walls except for parts of the very top. So it exists as a sort of modern chateau while retaining its potential for defense. What would this be?

To me, A castle is a medieval fortified dwelling with towers battlements etc Also I think a castle can also be a house or mansion built to look like a medieval fortification

Exellent video again, thank you. Do you know is in the German langue "schloss" and "Burg" the same difference between chatteau and castle?

Two thing, first 0:44 omg that's beautiful, I wanna live there, do the owner's have a daughter or so, I can marry? Second 3:27 ahh the Cloakwood mines south of Baldur's gate, such fond memories.

7:15 "is in my opinion by definition" that phrase gave me cancer

what is that structure at 6:59 called? It looks really cool. I'd love to visit it.

Summary: Castle: A fortified (and military) (royal) residence. Fortress: A fortified, military construction. Stronghold: A (fortified) construction offering security. Citadel: A castle or fortress being the centrall construction of a town/city. Palace: A (unfortified) royal residence. Château: A palace, built in the syle of a castle, for status "brandishing" purposes. (Fort Château: An actual castle, in French.)

Chateau is then a castle like residence, and a chateau fort is an actual defensive castle. What would be the appropiate terms in Spanish and Italian?

Hi I'm 3d digitally modeling Hesselagergaard Manor/Fortress on the Danish island of Funen. It had a completely encompassing moat. It has 1m thick brick walls on the front and 2m thick brick walls at the back. It has machiolations. It has two turrets? on each side that were open, without the current covers. It was always, and still is, owned and lived in by Nobles, and it was set in from the beach a couple of Kms so that the beach fishing towns people could run to it for safeguard if necessary. What would you say it is?

Thanks for trying to spell this all out. It's always bugged me whenever I see pictures of what people are calling castles and they have these huge, low windows that any guy with a short ladder and a rock could break though.

So, what do I call a castle-looking home when I do not know enough about historical defences to judge whether or not they are legitimate?

i love Carmarthen castle, thankfully i live in pembrokeshire so it's not hard to visit.

There are also châteaux where they make wine. So, another meaning of this word is "a winery".