. History Year 7 Home Learning Task Designing, Attacking and Defending a Castle Name: Tutor Group: Teacher: Given out: Monday 29 February Hand in: Monday 7 March Parent/Carer Comment: Staff Comment: Target:
Introduction Read me! History Homework Year 7 Designing, attacking and defending a Castle. The first castles in Great Britain were built by William the Conqueror the man who invaded England in 1066 and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. This homework is focused on the later phases of castle building in England and Wales (Scotland was independent) between 1200 and 1350 AD. So, we need to think in Medieval ways and the technology which was used 700 to 800 years ago! The castles William built in the 11 th century were very basic compared to the expensive and complicated structures built in the 12 th & 13 th centuries. A Motte & Bailey castle built during William the Conqueror s reign to control the Saxons in the 11 th century. Spend at least 5 hours on your homework and make sure you hand it in on time. Think positively about homework aim for house points & maybe even add some research or extra work of your own. Best of luck, The History Department A stone castle built during the 12 th to 13 th centuries can you see how the castle has changed or developed?
Task 1 A brief History of Medieval Wales. Read carefully the extract below and then complete the questions which follow. (Should take you 5-10 mins) In the 11 th century the part of Britain we call Wales was divided and ruled by different chiefs and princes who fought against each other. In 1066 King William gave a lot of Wales to a group of lords who took over more Welsh land. By 1150 the Welsh had lost most of their land to powerful English lords who built huge castles such as Goodrich and Chepstow. However, the Welsh fought back under a Prince called Llewellyn the Great. His son became the first Prince of Wales. In 1272 Edward I became the new King of England. His father had problems controlling the power of the English lords in Wales, and also the Welsh who ruled an area called Gwynedd. Edward decided to show the Welsh and the English lords that he was in charge, so he planned an attack against North Wales to conquer the whole area. The attack was a success, and the remaining Gwynedd Welsh hid in the mountains of Snowdonia. Edward wanted to finish the Welsh of Gwynedd off, but Llewellyn Prince of Wales (and his brother David) rebelled against Edward. Edward had a cunning plan to crush the Welsh rebellion. His plan in 1283 was to build the best and most technologically advanced castles ever seen. Edward employed a famous castle designer called Master James of St George to build a series of new castles across North Wales with no expense spared!!! The castles would have armies based in them to attack the Welsh, but would also be good to defend, and have new towns of English settlers to set up permanent homes in Wales. The plan was a great success, and you can still visit Edward s castles over 700 years after they were built at Conway, Beaumaris and Harlech. However, in building such superb castles Edward ran out of money and England almost became broke! An artist s reconstruction of Beaumaris Castle in North Wales; designed by Master James of St George.
Now answer the following 7 questions. (10-12 minutes) 1. What was the name of the Welsh Prince who fought back against the English? 2. Who became King of England in 1272? 3. Which part of Wales was particularly rebellious against England? 4. What was Edward s plan to crush the rebellion? 5. Name 2 of Edward s new castles? 6. Who was Edward s castle designer? 7. Edward s plan worked, but why wasn t it a complete success for England? King Edward I and his wife announce his son as Prince of Wales following his victory against Llewellyn.
Task 2 Design a Castle for Edward I. (1 ½ to 2 hours) For this task you will play the part of Master James of St George, the famous Medieval castle designer. Edward needs you to design him a castle which can help him to conquer Wales. Read the design brief from His Majesty before you start researching for your design. Dear Master James You have been recommended to me by the Lords of France and Switzerland as the best castle designer in all of Christendom I do hope that this is worthy of you. I need to crush the savage tribes of Gwynedd and I need your help. My plan is to build eight grand new castles across northern Wales to trap the rebellious Welsh and settle northern Wales as an English kingdom. I have chosen a location for one of these and I need you to send me the following information Your design a plan from above & drawings of your design Descriptions of the things you have included in your design A list of the equipment and people you need to build it An estimate of the cost of the work & workers An idea of how long it will take to complete You have a week to submit your plan to me, but as I am a King not an engineer I do need you to explain the parts or features of the castle as clearly as possible, so that I can understand your design. I am sure that you will be paid handsomely for your service to our realm, and hope that you are able to design a castle which will not be too expensive, but will help crush the rebels. Yours as your God chosen master Edward R King Edward of England, France, & Ireland. (and hopefully all of Wales!)
Task 2 continued The next few pages should help you to design a castle to help King Edward. Remember that the aim of a castle is to defend your army and people, help people loyal to you to stay safe, act as a base to launch attacks against the enemy, have space for markets, and act as a house for the lords and ladies who are in charge. The man on the right is now YOU! Yes YOU he or should I say YOU are now Master James of St George. You need to think, plan and design a castle in a similar way to him. When your design is marked by King Edward (your teachers) he will be looking to see that the castle is Easy to defend. Difficult to attack. Easy to supply from the sea. Has clever design features. Has good notes & explanations. Good luck to you Master James! Helpful Picture 1
Helpful Picture 2 Helpful Picture 3 You could use this picture to show Edward how the walls need to be built for the castle. This might help him to understand how expensive castles were to build, and how clever you are at making his castle safe. You could use this picture to show Edward how the castle will need hundreds of different workers some skilled craftsmen such as blacksmiths. Remember you need to tell him how many workers are needed and how long the castle will take to build. Conway Castle needed over 3000 workers to build it. This is going to be expensive for His Majesty!
Helpful Picture 4 This diagram and the one on the following page have a lot of design features that you need to include in your castle. You should have a keep, barbican, arrow loops instead of windows, gates, embrasures, battlements, machiolations, murder holes, towers and most importantly a well. You need to include and label these on your picture(s). A lot of these features will need the best stonemasons to build them effectively. Remember Edward needs an effective castle, not one which will collapse during a siege.
Helpful Picture 5 Helpful Picture 6 This picture of Goodrich Castle on the borders with Wales shows interesting designs for really strong towers. Do you notice the thick stone supports at the bottom of the towers? These are called buttresses. Buttresses helped to prevent the collapse of walls and towers when attacked by trebuchets. They were expensive to build but very important.
So far I have seen many examples of the finest features of a 13 th century castle. All of these will help to defend the castle from attack. However, the castle also needs to be comfortable for the lords or even for a visit by King Edward himself during peacetime. I therefore need to think carefully about the rooms the castle needs. Perhaps the castle needs to have a very secure, but also very comfortable keep? Helpful Picture 7 This is a cut away picture of a keep. You need to include one of these just in case the King comes to stay! Make sure you label rooms in the keep so that the King knows he will be happy staying there.
Helpful Picture 8 A picture of the town of Carcassone in France. Carcassone shows a concentric layout or design this means there are a series of walls to defend or attack. The new trend in castle building in France is for CONCENTRIC castles. Edward really should have castles built in the concentric design. Concentric = inner, outer and even town walls not just relying on one set of walls.
Hmmm Edward also said he wanted the newest designs. Well here s one we could use I have designed a new set of arrow loops for the best use of crossbows. I hope he likes them because they will be expensive and tricky to build. However, with these the rebellious Welsh won t stand a chance! Helpful Picture 9 Helpful Picture 10 So, this is Edward s chosen site for the castle. Hmmm he seems a wise King. He has chosen a site next to the sea so that supplies can get through in a siege, and he has chosen a rocky piece of land which will make the castle difficult to undermine.
So now I need to get designing. Remember we need pictures, a plan, labelled or explained diagrams. We also need to tell him how many workers he will need and how much it is all likely to cost. I think that about 27,000 in Edward s gold will be enough with 3000 workers. That would be about 70 million in 21 st century money; but let s see if we can impress him. Messages from the History Department Use all of the helpful pictures to design your castle. In the 1200s there were NO guns or cannon in England. Especially use picture 10 for your plan. You can and should do some research of your own to make your design excellent. You should produce all of your designs on A3 paper. Make sure you label features and parts of your castle, and maybe even write a note to Edward to explain the design you have created. Enjoy!
Task 3 Attack or Defend a 13 th Century Castle.(1 ½ to 2 hours) For this task you will play the part of a 13 th Century knight/lord. This is YOU Sorry girls, it s another man isn t it. Don t forget that medieval society was very sexist. There were cases of female knights but these were very very rare. Anyway in order to understand medieval life we need to understand such differences in their society over 700 years ago. Your job is to EITHER 1. Defend a castle OR 2. Attack a castle Use Helpful Picture 1 as the castle to defend or attack. What to do 1. Decide whether you are attacking or defending a castle. 2. Write a letter to Edward to explain how you attacked or defended the castle he might like pictures to help you explain. 3. Do this on A3 paper and a piece of lined paper maybe stick the lined paper to the A3 and draw the pictures around it? 4. Make sure you explain to King Edward the weapons and tactics you used and why you were successful. 5. As a good Christian knight you have no problem killing lots of people as long as you can buy back a place in heaven in your letter to Edward tell him whether you are going to build a church, school or hospital to thank God for your success and honour Edward s name. (Yes medieval knights really did this!) You can use the next page to make notes for this task. The following pages also have some more HELPFUL PICTURES to help you with the task.
Notes for Task 3
Helpful Picture 11 You could use this picture to show Edward how you successfully attacked (besieged) a castle. By the way the 40 fat pigs were used no I m not going to tell you how see if you can find out for extra House Points!
Helpful Picture 12 You could use this picture to help you to explain to Edward how you successfully defended a Castle. Helpful Picture 13 You could use this picture to help explain your siege and describe the kinds of engines or weapons they used in the 13 th century to attack castles. Sometimes ballistas were also used in castles to defend them in a siege.
Helpful Picture 14 This is a picture of a TREBUCHET. Trebuchets were developed as a way of attacking castles, but could also be placed on castle towers to defend them. Why do you think this trebuchet is being used to throw a dead horse into a castle? Helpful picture 15 This shows a siege tactic called UNDER MINING. The attackers are trying to dig under the walls to make them collapse. Notice the knights in the siege tower on the right, and the type of technology they were using ropes, wood, some metal. Remember you are supposed to be in the 13 th century so do stick to the tech they used.
Self Evaluation of my Homework I am a R learner. I know this because: I believe that my effort and attitude to learning for this booklet is a: 1 2 3 4 I know this because: