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Battery Tower
A battery tower was a defensive tower built into the outermost defences of many castles, usually in the 16th century or later, after the advent of firearms. Its name is derived from the word battery, a group of several cannon. These, usually round, towers could house numerous cannon oriented in various directions and on several levels and their firepower was therefore clearly superior to that of any attackers who, at best, could only bring their cannon to bear on the main line of assault. The individual levels of battery towers are often connected by ramps so that the cannon could be arranged in various ways at the many embrasures. Where artillery towers were level with their adjacent walls they were called roundels. There are battery towers at: * Bentheim Castle * Nanstein Castle * Neudahn Castle * Burg Castle * Calenberg Castle * Zwinger See also *Bastion *Roundel A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kufstein Burgen
Kufstein (; Central Bavarian: ''Kufstoa'') is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the administrative seat of Kufstein District. With a population of about 19,600 it is the second largest Tyrolean town after the state capital Innsbruck. The greatest landmark is Kufstein Fortress, first mentioned in the 13th century. The town was the place of origin of the Austrian noble family Kuefstein de. Geography It is located in the Tyrolean Unterland region on the river Inn, at the confluence with its Weißache and Kaiserbach tributaries, near the border with Bavaria, Germany. The municipal area stretches along the Lower Inn Valley between the Brandenberg Alps in the northwest and the Kaiser Mountains in the southeast. The remote Kaisertal until recently was the last settled valley in Austria without transport connections, prior to the completion of a tunnel road from Kufstein to neighbouring Ebbs in 2008. North of the town, the Inn river leaves the Northern Limestone Alps and enters the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nanstein Castle
Nanstein Castle (german: Burg Nanstein) is a ruined medieval castle above the town of Landstuhl in Germany, which has been partially reconstructed. The red sandstone rock castle dates from the 12th century and was once owned by Franz von Sickingen, who was mortally wounded during a siege of the castle in 1523. History Frederick I of Germany had Nanstein Castle built about 1152. The medieval hill (spur) castle, situated above a high sandstone ledge, was originally part of the Hohenstaufen defenses guarding the imperial lands in the south-western Palatinate. Imperial Knight and Protestant reformer Franz von Sickingen modernized the castle in the 16th century and turned it into a citadel that was supposed to withstand the artillery of the age. In 1523 (during the so-called "Knights' Revolt"), the castle was besieged by the Archbishop of Trier, Palatine Elector Louis V, and Landgrave of Hesse. Sickingen fell mortally wounded during the siege. Sickingen's sons received th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roundel (fortification)
The roundel is an artillery fortification with a rounded or circular plan of a similar height to the adjacent defensive walls. If the fortification is clearly higher than the walls it is called a battery tower. Design The design of a roundel, which was massive in comparison with a normal defensive tower, enabled the deployment of heavy cannon. Roundels were built of both earth and brickwork; in the latter case, vaulted rooms (casemates) were built on the inside. History Emergence Roundels appeared in the 15th century when cannon gradually developed into an effective siege weapon. Roundels are the oldest permanent artillery fortifications. Their heyday was in the 15th and early 16th centuries. Early examples of artillery roundels are in the town fortifications of Tábor before 1433 and Sion Castle, that around 1426/27, and certainly before the siege of 1437 were modified. Other early central European examples that have survived include roundels at Sigmundskron Castle near ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bastion
A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the flanks being able to protect the curtain wall and the adjacent bastions. Compared with the medieval fortified towers they replaced, bastion fortifications offered a greater degree of passive resistance and more scope for ranged defence in the age of gunpowder artillery. As military architecture, the bastion is one element in the style of fortification dominant from the mid 16th to mid 19th centuries. Evolution By the middle of the 15th century, artillery pieces had become powerful enough to make the traditional medieval round tower and curtain wall obsolete. This was exemplified by the campaigns of Charles VII of France who reduced the towns and castles held by the English during the latter stages of the Hundred Years War, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zwinger (Goslar)
The Zwinger in Goslar is a battery tower that is part of the fortifications of the old imperial city of Goslar, Germany. It is located on the ''Thomaswall'' in the south of the town and was built in 1517. On this side Goslar was strongly dominated by the nearby hill of Rammelsberg, which would have made a good location for positioning enemy guns in the event of an attack on the town; the town fortifications therefore needed the extra protection of a strong battery tower at this point. The stonework of Goslar's Zwinger was predominantly made of sandstone quarried from the Sudmerberg northeast of Goslar and mortared with burnt lime. Because lime burning was still in not fully developed, the builders mixed the mortar with horsehair, Quark (dairy product), quark, goat's milk and ox blood to harden it fully. Immediately under the corbelling are two sandstone tablets in the wall bearing the coats of arms of the German Empire and the town of Goslar and the inscription "Anno dm M D X V II" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calenberg Castle
Calenberg Castle (german: Burg Calenberg, later called ''Schloss Calenberg'' and ''Feste Calenberg''; ruins known as ''Alt Calenberg'') was a medieval lowland castle in central Germany, near Schulenburg in the borough of Pattensen, 13 km west of the city of Hildesheim. It was built as a water castle in 1292 by the Welf duke, Otto the Strict, in der Leine river meadows between 2 branches of the Leine river on the southern part of the chalk marl hill of the Calenberg. At the start of the 16th century it was converted into a fort (''Feste''). In the 15th century, ''Fort Calenberg'' gave its name to the Welf Principality of Calenberg. Following the Thirty Years' War it lost its military importance and was slighted. Today it is a ruin with underground vaults that are surrounded by high ramparts. Etymology The word ''Feste'' or ''Veste'' ("fort") stems, like the words ''Festung'' ("fortress") and ''Befestigung'' ("fortification") from the adjective ''fest'' ("strong", "firm" or " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burg Castle (Solingen)
Burg Castle (german: Schloss Burg), located in Burg an der Wupper (Solingen), is the largest reconstructed castle in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and a popular tourist attraction. Its early history is closely connected to the rise of the Duchy of Berg. Early history At the beginning of the 12th century (after 1133), Count Adolf III of Berg built Schloss Burg on a mountain overlooking the river Wupper. The old castle of the counts, Castle Berge in Odenthal near Altenberg, was abandoned. The original name of the new castle was Castle Neuenberge (Newmountain), or in Latin, novus mons, novum castrum, or novi montis castrum. Not until the 15th century, after significant reconstruction as a hunting castle, did it receive its current name reflecting its palatial extension. His great-grandson, Count Adolf VI of Berg took part in the Fifth Crusade and died during the siege of Damietta in Egypt in 1218. Since the late count had no male descendants his younger brother, Archbishop Enge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neudahn Castle
The rock castle of Neudahn, in the southwestern Palatine Forest in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, is located at the northern end of an elongated ridge near the town of Dahn. The heart of the castle is situated on one of the sandstone rock outcrops that are typical of the Dahner Felsenland region. Geography Neudahn lies 2 kilometres northwest of Dahn, right of the River Lauter, which is known here in its upper reaches as the ''Wieslauter''. The castle stands atop the Kauertberg hill, about 90 metres above the valley floor. The main castle rock is 310 metres above sea level, that of the lower ward reaches 290 metres. Immediately below the castle the Moosbach stream, which is impounded in a small ''woog'' used to feed an old mill, empties into the Wieslauter. History The name "Neudahn" ("New Dahn") is rather confusing, because the castle is older than Grafendahn Castle in the nearby group of three castles of Dahn, albeit more recent than Altdahn ("Old Dah ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bentheim Castle
Bentheim Castle (german: Burg Bentheim) is an early medieval hill castle in Bad Bentheim, Lower Saxony, Germany. The castle is first mentioned in the 11th century under the name ''binithem''. Situation The castle is built on a protrusion of Bentheim sandstone, which not only provided building materials for the castle itself, but was also a valued export product. This ''Bentheimer Höhenrücken'' is the last protusion of the nearby Teutoburger forest. Its elevated position in an otherwise very flat landscape, provides an excellent view and thus a strategic location to build a castle. History Until 1500 The earliest history of the castle, which was erected on the remains of an earlier refuge castle is largely unknown. In the registries of Werden Abbey (1050) the castle is mentioned, as ''Binedheim'', in and contributes grain, honey and 2 solidi. A document from 1020 names Otto von Northeim as the owner of the castle. In 1116 the castle is completely destroyed in the war ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Defensive Tower
A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain wall (fortification), curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and fulfil different functions. Shape of towers Rectangular towers Square or rectangular towers are easy to construct and give a good amount of usable internal space. Their disadvantage is that the corners are vulnerable to mining (military), mining. Despite this vulnerability, rectangular towers continued to be used, and Muslim military architecture generally favoured them.Kennedy (2000). Round towers Round towers, also called drum towers, are more resistant to siege technology such as sappers and projectiles than square towers. The round front is more resistant than the straight side of a square tower, just as a load-bearing arch. This principle was already understood in antiquity. Horseshoe-shaped towers The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roundel (fortification)
The roundel is an artillery fortification with a rounded or circular plan of a similar height to the adjacent defensive walls. If the fortification is clearly higher than the walls it is called a battery tower. Design The design of a roundel, which was massive in comparison with a normal defensive tower, enabled the deployment of heavy cannon. Roundels were built of both earth and brickwork; in the latter case, vaulted rooms (casemates) were built on the inside. History Emergence Roundels appeared in the 15th century when cannon gradually developed into an effective siege weapon. Roundels are the oldest permanent artillery fortifications. Their heyday was in the 15th and early 16th centuries. Early examples of artillery roundels are in the town fortifications of Tábor before 1433 and Sion Castle, that around 1426/27, and certainly before the siege of 1437 were modified. Other early central European examples that have survived include roundels at Sigmundskron Castle near ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embrasure
An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out throughout the thickness of a wall by the establishment of a bay. This term designates the internal part of this space, relative to the closing device, door or window. In fortification this refers to the outward splay of a window or of an arrowslit on the inside. In ancient military engineering, embrasures were constructed in towers and walls, in particular between the merlons and the battle. A loophole, arrow loop or arrowslit passes through a solid wall, and thus forms an embrasure of shooting, allowing archer or gunner weapons to be fired out from the fortification while the firer remains under cover. This type of opening was flared inward - that is: the opening was very narrow on the outside, but wide on the inside, so that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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