Editing Castle (section)

==Construction==
{{See also|Medieval technology|Stonemasonry}}
[[File:Echafaud.donjon.Coucy.2.png|thumb|upright=1.1|alt=A half-finished circular tower with scaffolding near the top. There are holes in the tower and workers on top.|A 19th-century depiction by [[Eugène Viollet-le-Duc]] of the construction of the large tower at [[Château de Coucy|Coucy Castle]] in France, with scaffolding and masons at work. The [[putlog hole]]s mark the position of the scaffolding in earlier stages of construction. The tower was blown up in 1917.]]
[[File:Guédelon - août 2015 04.JPG|thumb|upright=1.1|Experimental archeology castle building at [[Guédelon Castle]] site in France (2015).]]

Once the site of a castle had been selected&nbsp;– whether a strategic position or one intended to dominate the landscape as a mark of power&nbsp;– the building material had to be selected. An earth and timber castle was cheaper and easier to erect than one built from stone. The costs involved in construction are not well-recorded, and most surviving records relate to royal castles.<ref name="McNeill 39-40">{{harvnb|McNeill|1992|pp=39–40}}</ref> A castle with earthen ramparts, a motte, timber defences and buildings could have been constructed by an unskilled workforce. The source of man-power was probably from the local lordship, and the tenants would already have the necessary skills of felling trees, digging, and working timber necessary for an earth and timber castle. Possibly coerced into working for their lord, the construction of an earth and timber castle would not have been a drain on a client's funds. In terms of time, it has been estimated that an average sized motte – {{convert|5|m|ft|abbr=on}} high and {{convert|15|m|ft|abbr=on}} wide at the summit&nbsp;– would have taken 50&nbsp;people about 40&nbsp;working days. An exceptionally expensive motte and bailey was that of [[Clones, County Monaghan|Clones]] in Ireland, built in 1211 for [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]20. The high cost, relative to other castles of its type, was because labourers had to be imported.<ref name="McNeill 39-40"/>

The cost of building a castle varied according to factors such as their complexity and transport costs for material. It is certain that stone castles cost a great deal more than those built from earth and timber. Even a very small tower, such as [[Peveril Castle]], would have cost around [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]200. In the middle were castles such as [[Orford Castle|Orford]], which was built in the late 12th&nbsp;century for [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]1,400, and at the upper end were those such as [[Dover Castle|Dover]], which cost about [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]7,000 between 1181 and 1191.<ref>{{harvnb|McNeill|1992|pp=41–42}}</ref> Spending on the scale of the vast castles such as [[Château Gaillard]] (an estimated [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]15,000 to [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]20,000 between 1196 and 1198) was easily supported by [[The Crown]], but for lords of smaller areas, castle building was a very serious and costly undertaking. It was usual for a stone castle to take the best part of a decade to finish. The cost of a large castle built over this time (anywhere from [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]1,000 to [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]10,000) would take the income from several [[manorialism|manors]], severely impacting a lord's finances.<ref>{{harvnb|McNeill|1992|p=42}}</ref> Costs in the late 13th&nbsp;century were of a similar order, with castles such as [[Beaumaris Castle|Beaumaris]] and [[Rhuddlan Castle|Rhuddlan]] costing [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]14,500 and [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]9,000 respectively. [[Edward I of England|Edward I]]'s campaign of castle-building in Wales cost [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]80,000 between 1277 and 1304, and [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]95,000 between 1277 and 1329.<ref>{{harvnb|McNeill|1992|pp=42–43}}</ref> Renowned designer [[James of Saint George|Master James of Saint George]], responsible for the construction of Beaumaris, explained the cost:

{{blockquote|In case you should wonder where so much money could go in a week, we would have you know that we have needed – and shall continue to need 400&nbsp;masons, both cutters and layers, together with 2,000&nbsp;less-skilled workmen, 100&nbsp;carts, 60&nbsp;wagons, and 30&nbsp;boats bringing stone and sea coal; 200&nbsp;quarrymen; 30&nbsp;smiths; and carpenters for putting in the joists and floor boards and other necessary jobs. All this takes no account of the garrison ... nor of purchases of material. Of which there will have to be a great quantity ... The men's pay has been and still is very much in arrears, and we are having the greatest difficulty in keeping them because they have simply nothing to live on.|<ref>{{harvnb|McNeill|1992|p=43}}</ref>}}

Not only were stone castles expensive to build in the first place, but their maintenance was a constant drain. They contained a lot of timber, which was often unseasoned and as a result needed careful upkeep. For example, it is documented that in the late 12th&nbsp;century repairs at castles such as [[Exeter Castle|Exeter]] and [[Gloucester Castle|Gloucester]] cost between [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]20 and [[Pounds sterling|UK£]]50 annually.<ref>{{harvnb|McNeill|1992|pp=40–41}}</ref>

[[Medieval technology|Medieval machines]] and inventions, such as the [[treadwheel crane]], became indispensable during construction, and techniques of building wooden [[scaffolding]] were improved upon from [[Classical antiquity|Antiquity]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Erlande-Brandenburg|1995|pp=121–126}}</ref> When building in stone a prominent concern of medieval builders was to have quarries close at hand. There are examples of some castles where stone was quarried on site, such as [[Château de Chinon|Chinon]], [[Château de Coucy]] and Château Gaillard.<ref name="Alain104">{{Harvnb|Erlande-Brandenburg|1995|p=104}}</ref> When it was built in 992 in France the stone tower at [[Château de Langeais]] was {{convert|16|m}} high, {{convert|17.5|m}} wide, and {{convert|10|m}} long with walls averaging {{convert|1.5|m|0}}. The walls contain {{convert|1200|m3}} of stone and have a total surface (both inside and out) of {{convert|1600|m2}}. The tower is estimated to have taken 83,000&nbsp;average working days to complete, most of which was unskilled labour.<ref>{{harvnb|Bachrach|1991|pp=47–52}}</ref>

Many countries had both timber and stone castles,<ref>{{harvnb|Higham|Barker|1992|p=78}}</ref> however Denmark had few quarries and as a result most of its castles are earth and timber affairs, or later on built from brick.<ref>{{harvnb|Cathcart King|1988|p=25}}</ref> Brick-built structures were not necessarily weaker than their stone-built counterparts. Brick castles are less common in England than stone or earth and timber constructions, and often it was chosen for its aesthetic appeal or because it was fashionable, encouraged by the brick architecture of the [[Low Countries]]. For example, when [[Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire|Tattershall Castle]] in England was built between 1430 and 1450, there was plenty of stone available nearby, but the owner, Lord Cromwell, chose to use brick. About 700,000&nbsp;bricks were used to build the castle, which has been described as "the finest piece of medieval brick-work in England".<ref>{{harvnb|Friar|2003|pp=38–40}}</ref> Most Spanish castles were built from stone, whereas castles in Eastern Europe were usually of timber construction.<ref>{{harvnb|Higham|Barker|1992|pp=79, 84–88}}</ref>

''[[De constructione castri Saphet|On the Construction of the Castle of Safed]]'', written in the early 1260s, describes the construction of a new castle at [[Safed]]. It is "one of the fullest" medieval accounts of a castle's construction.{{sfn|Kennedy|1994|p=190}}

{{wide image|Marienburg 2004 Panorama.jpg|1000px|alt=An orange brick castle with a curtain wall and a central keep. The site is surrounded by water. The gateway is flanked by two round towers with high peaked roofs. Aside from the keep, there is another building within the castle rising above the curtain wall.|The [[Malbork Castle|Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork]], Poland, is an example of medieval fortresses and built in the typical style of northern [[Brick Gothic]].<ref name=UNESCO-WHC-847-Malbork/> On its completion in 1406 it was the largest brick castle in the world.<ref>{{harvnb|Emery|2007|p=139}}</ref>}}