How to Build the Perfect Medieval Castle

This is Epic History TV's guide to building the perfect castle, based on the development of European medieval castles over 400 years of history. We trace the origins of the castle in the feudal system that emerged in France c.900 CE, and look at the early motte-and-bailey castle, used by the Normans to subjugate England and Wales in the 11th century. We then look at how castle's became stronger and more sophisticated, with the addition of stone curtain walls, massive keeps, towers (square, round and D-shaped), as well as powerful gatehouses, barbicans, machicolations and moats.

Thank you to Simon Edwards for the 3D castle models and animations:

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Music: 0.00 Filmstro - Nanga; 1.05 Filmstro - Proteus; 2.08 In Taberna - Crusader Kings 3; 3.14 Dusking Sky - Crusader Kings 3; 5.28 Filmstro - Steel; 6.01 Filmstro - Parbat; 8.42 Filmstro - Centurion; 9.41 Kevin MacLeod - Rites; 10.51 Filmstro - Venus; 12.45 Filmstro - General; 14.38 Filmstro - Nanga; 16.08 Kevin MacLeod - Brandenburg No.4; 16.18 In Taberna - Crusader Kings 3.

And big thanks to Paradox for sponsoring this video!

#EpicHistoryTV #MedievalCastles #MiddleAges #MedievalHistory

[shadiversity]

A truly phenomenal video, comprehensive, detailed and accurate. Well done!

[abdulmoeedsohail]

I think most of us don’t realise how privileged we are to have access to such high quality content without having to pay a single dollar. Respect to the people behind this channel 🤜🏼🤛🏼

[bindair_dundat]

My father told me when I was a kid, I loved drawing castles. It was before the age of the internet, and we weren't travelling much, so my imagination and what I have seen in movies were all I knew about castles or warfare. And every time I finished a drawing, I planned an assault on it, found a weakness, and designed the next one to eliminate that flaw. And every time I learned something new about medieval warfare, like siege weapons, I added it to the next design. Wish I had any of those drawings now, because I don't remember any of it. Would be fun to analyze them.

[doomstadt]

I personally love how everything has a fancy name right up until they got to the "murder holes" lol

[KingsandGenerals]

Have been looking forward to this episode for some time now! Congrats on 800k!

[stuart]

Wales “we can take our country back”
England builds strong gatehouses.
Wales has left the game

[marigeobrien]

When I went on a tour of Windsor Castle, I was surprised to discover that most castles were not built simply to defend the lord or duke or king, but was meant to house the entire population of the land. That is, a knight, lord or duke's land, since each was given a certain amount of land with their title. That land was farmed by serfs during the feudal age and other residents afterwards. THIS is not often mentioned and much misunderstood. You see, the lord/duke/knight wanted to take care of all his people. Without them, the land was worthless. This is why castles were so large and often had quite a lot of living quarters-- because they had to house and protect all the people, not just a few. At Windsor castle, for instance, there were many apartments above each of the buildings in both the inner and outer wards. But that seems to be forgotten by modern historians, perhaps because they were usually built of wood and many were destroyed over time. But no one ever mentions it and I think it's important to remember that these nobles had an obligation (which was in their own best interest, too) to the commoners.

[totrigo]

The ad on this video is perhaps the best, most well-fitted and captivating one I've ever seen. You can see on the replay graph that people not only don't skip it, but actually replay it.

[kapibaran]

I lived in Poland for couple years and i lived in a city close to Malbork and i can't tell you how beautiful that castle is. When i first went to visit that castle i was shocked how massive it actually is and how beautiful it looks inside and outside. If anybody likes to travel and visit castles i have to say that the Malbork castle is a must see.

[pozzthanapat]

Epic History TV: What do you want to see next?
Me: YES

[PsychedelicMakai]

Any Minecraft player wanting to build castle

[evanwilliams]

This is by far the best video I’ve seen on YT explaining castles. Perfect balance of history, architecture, and beautiful CGI artwork. Well done. Please don’t ever stop making great content!

[elJimjim]

Handy information to use on Age Of Empires.

[parashit]

Imagine building this perfect castle for years, and complete just before the gun powder ages.

[guardianofthetoasters]

It is impressive how efficient we were in making these things despite being so limited back then. We really can be clever creatures if we wanted to

[AvatarGuy]

Why am i watching this to make a minecraft castle

[olandewgamers]

This is exactly how you do a video sponsor: highly relevant to the main content and even complementary to the overall context 😊

[reverix]

Nobody:
Me: *Incase i need to build a castle in the future*

[andrewkiffe]

Truly an imposing and wondrous time to create those majestic castles . I wish we had structures like them here in the US. I really appreciate the history and style, if I was wealthy enough to have my own mansion, I would build a structure like those castles!

[ekcman]

Not even AoE4's tutorials give such a detailed yet bottom-up "introduction" to the Castle, great work!