Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Changes in military technology medieval ages
Changes to medieval warfare
Middle ages weapons and warfare
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Crusader Castles: A Medieval Culmination
King Edward I of England made a number of military campaigns during his reign, in two of which he captured modern-day Wales. In order to hold his gains he built a series of castles, which are said to still be some of the world’s greatest strongholds. But, over 3500 kilometres away a period of fascinating castle building took place prior to Edward’s as a result of the crusades. These constructions were designed by absorbing the constructive wisdom of the crusaders and those they came into contact with. The crusader castles were built faster, larger, and stronger, to create what are without a doubt, the world’s greatest strongholds. The crusaders designed their castles to provide the essentials needed for survival while developing design techniques capable of turning a castle into a stronghold that were mimicked throughout the medieval world. Once their castles were designed the crusaders displayed a construction ability and ingenuity that turned the designs into reality, taking any material they could obtain and use it to create anything they needed. So successful was their construction that attacking forces of incredibly larger numbers were needed to capture only a select few of the castles over a hundred year period, and often the circumstances of capture were not a fault of design but an unfortunate twist of fate. Through design, construction, and history, a picture emerges of a pioneering period of military construction that was never matched.
The design of a castle is most certainly the greatest factor in its defensive capabilities, and many of the innovations credited to the development of the castle finds itself in the history of the crusades. The most significant development is the concentric castle; this is the concept in which the inner walls are able to fire over the outer walls, either because of close proximity or size. In this manner the maximum amount of firepower can be directed at any one point. Belvoir (See Fig. 1 in appendix) is not only a perfect concentric castle but is also the first datable one (circa 1168).
The outer wall was built with flanking towers and towers enforcing the centre of each wall span, with the exception of the gatehouse wall. This wall encloses an area of 130 x 100 meters1, making it one of the largest enclosure castles, it also encloses two further walls, the first of which has only one tower because of its close proximity to the outer wall, the inner wall is built with flanking towers to support the middle bailey.
A typical feature of a concentric castle is the protective wood work at the top of the walls. We cannot tell whether this was a feature of Portchester Castle because any evidence would have rotted away.
The Seige of 1216 and Dover Castle "THE SIEGE OF 1216 BROUGHT ABOUT LITTLE REAL CHANGE TO DOVER CASTLE.
In the medieval times everything had an order to follow, a price that had to be paid, and a contract that had to be obeid. Each person had a rank, which decides on your lifestyle and future for you and your descendants to come. A serf was at the bottom of the pyramid, therefore they had to work at sunrise to sunset. The lords and the ladies lived conformably in their glorious castle, which was flooded with servants. Alot of things obviously had change, which is the more reason to learn more about our history.
Romeo and Juliet is the tragic story of two young, “star-crossed” lovers from feuding families, destined for disaster. The Capulets and the Montagues have an ancient grudge on one another that has been passed down over generations. Unfortunately, Romeo and Juliet end up victims of their families’ vicious loathing. Romeo and Juliet’s story has several intertwining themes such as the aforementioned hatred between the Capulets and Montagues and the revenge Romeo strives for after his friend Mercutio’s death. Also, the love and passion between Romeo and Juliet and the loyalty of Romeo and his friends. Honour and revenge also feature frquently throughout the play including Juliet’s pressure to honour her family, and the revenge Romeo sees as his duty when Tybalt kills Mercutio.
Romeo and Juliet has many themes which are fate, death and love, these are all intertwined. At the very beginning of the play, before we even know the characters, we know that ‘death-marked’ ‘Star crossed lovers’ will ‘take their lives’ which already brings in the major themes. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony throughout the play and builds up the tension until Act 3 scene 1 where death starts to play a role. The Prologue also informs us about the Montagues and Capulets dislike for each other. The theme of love is also there thought the play. There are different types of love, the unrequited love the Romeo feels for Rosaline and that Paris feels for Juliet. There is also the love between friends such as with Romeo and Mercutio as Mercutio dies to protect Romeo’s honour and then Romeo avenges his death, and then the romantic love Romeo and Juliet share. I believe the Mercutio is one of the main characters in this play. His speeches tell us a lot about him and his actions have a large affect on the ending of the play. Mercutio’s name means mercurial meaning “an unpredictable and fast changing mood” which is an accurate description of Mercutio's personality because in Queen Mabs speech at the beginning he is joking and seeking attention, but at the end he becomes serious and angry.
The death of Romeo and Juliet is caused by a multitude of different people and aspects. Many people could be held responsible for their deaths, even if they didn’t cause them to die intentionally. From among them one person stands out from all the rest, Mercutio. There are also a few aspects that can be held responsible, including Timing and the Feud between the two households “both alike in dignity”. There is also the possibility that Romeo and Juliet themselves caused their own downfall. Some of these reasons are more important than others, some which could have changed the fates of noble Romeo and beautiful Juliet.
Founded nearly a millennium ago, The Tower of London has been expanded over the centuries. The first foundations built by William the Conquer have been constantly improved. “The Tower of London is the oldest palace, fortress and prison in Europe (“The Tower of London”, “Tower of London”). The Tower of London was never supposed to be a prison.The Tower was originally a Royal Palace also serving as a defensive fortress (“Twenty-Five Facts”). Phil Wilson, a yeoman sergeant, once commented that “hundreds of people have been held prisoner and died [there]” (Go World Travel).
William Shakespeare's story of two star-crossed lovers, a secret marriage, potions to simulate death and a tragic ending Romeo and Juliet conveyed a simple message to the readers, the pain of lost. Romeo and Juliet started with a feud from both sides until the time came that Romeo found true love, that he longed to find in Rosaline, in the eyes of Juliet. Both decided to get married the next day without giving their family the knowledge about their decision with their strong belief that their love is true and eternal. Romeo's best friend Mercutio was killed by Tybalt and Tybalt slain by Romeo for revenge at the same day causing him the misfortune of not spending his days and nights with Juliet because he was banished from Verona. Then came the faking of Juliet's death which just simply ended with both of them lying dead. Why do you think this took place in the story? Simply because facing the fact that Mercutio was gone was hard for Romeo, that his belief that Juliet is dead was hard to accept, while Juliet felt the same pain when he saw Romeo lying on the ground dead. You will never realize how important the person is to you until you really lost him.
Scott, Robert. The Gothic Enterprise: A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2003.
There have been 20 million arrests since 1965 for the possession of marijuana, also known as cannabis. The amount of crime and arrests for possessions of the illicit drug has increased due to the prohibition. Cannabis was a major cash crop for the industrial production prior to its illegalization. It has been estimated that the United States spends approximately $7.7 billion each year to prohibit the use of marijuana alone. Currently the number of people incarcerated is six to ten times higher than European countries (NORML). Today the United States wastes billions of dollars to fight against the war on drugs, for the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of people, and etc. It’s also brought a raise of violence and crime relating to the dealing and production of the drug. Marijuana should be legalized because its ban has been futile in preventing illicit production, regulating it would allow new development in medical treatments, and would give a boost to the economy. The illegalization of the drug has a much more negative impact then it does well, in fact it’s pushed drug cartels to produce more of the drug because of the high demand and the millions of dollars they’ll make from profits.
Firstly since 1908 the opium act was initialized and Canada followed a strict prohibition against any and all illicit drugs. With this in mind (Hart, Ksir, Hebb, Gilbert,Black.(2012) cannabis is the most widely consumed illicit drug in the world with the United Nations Office on Drugs and crime estimating that between 155 million and 250 million people used illicit substances at least once in 2008 (Hart et.al, 2012) With this amount of the population using drugs imagine how much profit the government could be making off of it rather than drug cartels profiting from it. Both Canada and America went through one o...
Did you know that Henry I was the first monarch to use Windsor Castle as a home? During his reign, the wooden keep and walls were replaced with stone and served as a stronger structure for the castle to survive upon. Windsor Castle has housed many kings and queens throughout its lifetime, and has become a monument in England’s history. It has been refurbished over the years, but still has remained with the same layout. The interior is the extent of the changes made around the castle over its lifetime, besides the walls being substituted with stone.
The story of Romeo and Juliet had many tragic, yet meaningful events that somewhat constructed what we know today as, “The tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet.” In fact, all of those ‘tragic yet meaningful events’ are all the deaths of Mercutio, Tybalt, Romeo, and Juliet. All of the tragic, meaningful events show what theme the story portrays. Romeo and Juliet itself is a well-known so called ‘love’ play/story, but when you really ‘dig deeper’ into it you will soon come to realize that it is more of a death play than a love play. Romeo and Juliet could be considered more of a death play than a love play because, majority of the events that happened were violent and the violence resulted in death; the only two people who showed ‘love’ throughout the story was Romeo and Juliet. It is clearly shown that death brought nothing but sorrow, sadness, and problems to Romeo and Juliet from beginning to end. Analyzing the story, it is obviously shown that death is written all over Romeo and Juliet, and that all the deaths of certain characters formed Romeo and Juliet itself. Therefore, with that being said, the theme that will be most strongly portrayed is death.
The strength of a gothic building is made to reside in a finely organized framework rather than in its walls. This framework, which consists of perfectly placed piers, arches and buttresses, frees up any unessential impediment of walls and presents a light feeling. The stability of the building depends only on inert massiveness in its outermost parts, whose opposing forces counteract each other in a perfect stability of thrust and counterthrust. Gothic architecture is an artistic, strategic system of engineering, schemes for building were followed for elevations, termed quadratum (four sided) and triangulorum (three sided). 2 This system allowed them to raise their ideal structures according to symbolic measure and numbers reflecting the geometry of the New Jerusalem and its prototype, the Temple of Solomon. (Figure 1.1)
The most impressive structure of Windsor Castle is the Round Tower, or Keep, which stands 80 feet high. According to tradition, King Arthur sat with the Knights of the Round Table within this tower. Surrounded by a moat, it was also used as a prison until 1660.