A coercion castle (german: Zwingburg) or coercive castle''Sources concerning the hospitallers of St John in the Netherlands: 14th-18th Centuries''
by J.M. Van Winter (ed.), Leiden: Brill, 1998, p. 795 was a heavily fortified, medieval

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

built to dominate the surrounding land. Such castles were built mainly in the

High High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...

and Late Middle Ages in order to protect those territories in areas where the population was not assessed as being entirely loyal to the sovereign. Because of the poor infrastructure of medieval Europe, the construction of castles was one of the most important ways of exercising power, which is why it was governed by royal rights (known as regalia). Examples of coercive castles are the Moritzburg in Halle, which was built in the late 15th century, and the Alte Burg in

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

Gallery

SchlossMoritzburg1900.jpg, Moritzburg (Halle) Koblenz, vormalige Alte Burg und heutiges Stadtarchiv.jpg, Alte Burg (Koblenz) Zitadelle Petersberg Erfurt Eingang.jpg,

Petersberg Citadel Petersberg Citadel (German:''Zitadelle Petersberg'') in Erfurt, central Germany, is one of the largest and best-preserved town fortresses in Europe.Stadtverwaltung Erfurt (17 November 2017) ''Petersberg'' Retrieved 23 December 2017 The citadel was ...

(Erfurt) Passau veste oberhaus.jpg, Veste Oberhaus (Passau) Castello 500.JPG,

Forte Spagnolo The Forte Spagnolo (Italian for ''Spanish fortress''; locally called ''il Castello'') is a Renaissance castle in L'Aquila, central Italy. History In the 15th century, L'Aquila had become the second most powerful city in the Kingdom of Naples ...

(L’Aquila, Italy) Trieste-Castello di San Giusto-DSCF1463.JPG,

Castello di San Giusto Castello may refer to: Places *Castello, Venice, the largest of the six ''sestieri'' of Venice *''Castello'', the old town center of Giudicato of Cagliari in Sardinia *''Castello'', a neighbourhood in Florence *Castello, Hong Kong, a private hou ...

(Triest, Italy)

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{{Fortifications Castles by type

Gallery

See also

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