A linear castle is a

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 ...

that was designed to confront its attackers with a series of barriers/impediments in a ''line'' (hence the name). The principle was to funnel assaulting forces into attacking a very narrow front and focusing all of the castle's defences in that area. This would mean that both architectural devices and manpower could be concentrated, unlike the more familiar

concentric castle A concentric castle is a castle with two or more concentric curtain walls, such that the outer wall is lower than the inner and can be defended from it. The layout was square (at Belvoir and Beaumaris) where the terrain permitted, or an irregu ...

, for which the entire circumference needed to be defended. Linear castles tended to be built where geography favoured this approach. The

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

fortress of

Margat Margat, also known as Marqab ( ar, قلعة المرقب, ''Qalaat al-Marqab'', lit=Castle of the Watchtower), is a castle near Baniyas, Syria, which was a Crusader fortress and one of the major strongholds of the Knights Hospitaller. It is locat ...

in Syria is built on a narrow rocky

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the so ...

, ideal for preventing successful undermining but inappropriate for the rings of walls needed for a concentric castle. The core of

Krak des Chevaliers Krak des Chevaliers, ar, قلعة الحصن, Qalʿat al-Ḥiṣn also called Hisn al-Akrad ( ar, حصن الأكراد, Ḥiṣn al-Akrād, rtl=yes, ) and formerly Crac de l'Ospital; Krak des Chevaliers or Crac des Chevaliers (), is a medieva ...

is located in a narrow gully carved from sheer rock walls severely limiting possibilities for a flank attack. The theory of linear castles arrived in Britain in the mid thirteenth century, so the concept co-existed with concentric castles. The earliest recognised linear castle in Britain is at

Tintagel Tintagel () or Trevena ( kw, Tre war Venydh, meaning ''Village on a Mountain'') is a civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England. The village and nearby Tintagel Castle are associated with the legends surroundin ...

, having a series of defensive wards in a row. Conwy and Caernarfon Castles were both built in a linear style, defending a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

. Many castles naturally combined elements of both concentricity and linearity. Conwy Castle, often cited as a concentric castle, is really a linear castle with concentric elements bolted on.

References

See also