CHAPTER XI
MILITARY ARCHITECTURE IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES: FORTIFIED TOWNS AND CASTLES
The strengthening of the curtain of the castle was perfected in the concentric plan, in which also was established, for the time being, the superiority of defence to attack. But the very fact that the castle had reached a point at which further development in the existing condition of things was impossible, was fatal to its continued existence as a stronghold. A castle like Caerphilly did not put an end to local warfare: it merely warned an enemy off a forbidden track. Its own safety was secured, because its almost impregnable defences made any attempt at a siege ridiculous. Other circumstances, however, combined to render the castle obsolete. The rise of towns and the growth of a wealthy mercantile class hastened the decline of feudalism. The feudal baron was no longer the representative of an all-important class, and his fortress was of minor importance compared with the walled boroughs which were symbolical of the real strength of the country. But, in addition to this social transition, there took place a change in warfare which had a far-reaching influence upon castle and walled town alike. Fire-arms came into general use in the early part of the fourteenth century.[298] Missiles, for which hitherto the only available machines had been those involving discharge by torsion, tension, or counterpoise, could now be delivered by the new method of detonation. This produced an artillery which could be worked with greater economy of labour, and discharged the missiles themselves with greater force. Not merely can a ball of stone or iron be projected with greater impetus than can be given by the older methods; but the direction which it takes is more nearly horizontal than that given to it by the mangonel and kindred machines. It is true that, at first, the power of cannon remained relatively weak; but their gradual improvement made the old systems of defence useless. Lofty walls, which could resist the catapults of the past, were easily dismantled by cannon-shot ([288]). Harlech, with its lofty curtains and angle-towers, was an ideal stronghold, as long as explosives were not employed for attack and defence. But, when cannon are directed against such defences ([273]), and the surface of the walls is pounded with shot, the height of the fortifications becomes a danger; and, in order to plant the cannon of the defence on the walls, those walls have to be as solid as possible to avoid the constant vibration arising from the discharge, and as low as possible to increase their stability and to place the enemy within range. The change is obvious, if we contrast the lofty and comparatively slender towers of Carcassonne or Aigues-Mortes with the massive drum towers of the French castles or walled towns of the fifteenth century, like those of the castle of Alençon ([289]) or of the town of Saint-Malo ([290]). Later still, the flanking of the walls of towns and castles shows a transition from the round tower to the bastion; and we find massive projections like the Tour Gabriel at Mont-Saint-Michel ([291]), which rise little, if at all, above the level of the adjacent wall. The ultimate outcome of this transition is the bastion pure and simple, flanking the low and solid earthen bank with its reveting wall, as at Saint-Paul-du-Var, or, later, at our own Berwick-on-Tweed.[299] A step further brings us to the scientific fortification of the seventeenth century, to Lille and Arras, and those magnificent fortresses which the progress of the nineteenth century has already made of historical, rather than practical, interest.[300]
Gatehouse, Barbican, and Curtain wall of Town battered by cannon-shot
Alençon
Saint-Malo; Grande porte