A shield wall, also shield-wall or , refers to the highest and strongest curtain wall, or tower of a castle that defends the only practicable line of approach to a castle built on a mountain, hill or headland. German sources may refer to a shield wall that protects two or more sides as a or , which is variously translated as "mantle-wall", "mantle wall" or "high screen-wall". There is often no clear, definitive distinction between a shield wall and a mantle wall.

Occurrence

Shield walls are found on many German and Austrian

hill castle A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles a ...

s, but are not common in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

where the terrain of the rocky hills on which castles were built did not favour such constructions. However some castles in those areas built on headlands such as Tantallon and Old Head do have a similar feature.

Origin and description

The construction of shield walls was common in the late 12th century in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and may have been a reaction to the increasing use of heavy

siege engine A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while oth ...

s such as the

trebuchet A trebuchet (french: trébuchet) is a type of catapult that uses a long arm to throw a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles of greater weight ...

(the height of the walls protecting the buildings beyond from arching fire). The thickness of a shield wall could, in extreme cases, be as much as (e.g. Neuscharfeneck Castle). Behind the

battlements A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

at the top of the wall there was usually an allure or wall walk; the shield wall could also be flanked by two wall towers. In many cases the shield wall replaced the

bergfried ''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Spanish: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries and in countries under Germ ...

, for example in the ruined castle of Sporkenburg in the

Westerwald The Westerwald (; literally 'Western forest') is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Massif ( or Rhenish ...

forest or the ruins of the Alt Eberstein near the city of

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

. In other cases, for example at Liebenzell Castle, the bergfried was built in the centre of the shield wall. ''The Style of European Art''
by Herbert Read, p. 187.

Gallery

File:Berneck 1.jpg, The shield wall of Berneck Castle in the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

File:Schoenburg-Hoher-Mantel-JR-G6-4185-2009-09-27.jpg, The shield wall of the Schönburg near Oberwesel File:Sporkenburg.JPG, The shield wall of the Sporkenburg File:Burg Liebenzell.jpg, The shield wall of Liebenzell Castle which is combined with a

File:Castle bran 01.jpg, The shield wall of Törzburg (Bran Castle) in Transylvania

References

Sources

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Occurrence

Origin and description

Gallery

References

Sources

Further reading