posted 12-07-1999 06:51 AM           

Don't expect the answers to question to be emailed directly to you. I don't do this because if I make a mistake in an answer someone else may spot it and point it out. Other people who answer your question may have there own reasons for not wanting to post an email directly to you. You can set your preferences so that you are notified of a response to your post.

NB You are much more likely to get a helpful anwser if you have done some research yourself first and are looking for help in understanding a particular aspect of castles or medieval life. A question about 'What is a barbican?' or 'What was the job of a castellian?' is much more likely to be answered than 'Tell me everything about castles?' which is likely to be ignored.

Good luck with all your projects.

The Castle of Wales site has some very good general essays on castles and some very good coverage on some castles. Check out Conwy and Beaumaris.

For three different ideas as to what a castle is look at

• http://www.angelfire.com/wy/svenskildbiter/castle.html
  
• http://www.castlewales.com/castles.html
  
• http://www.castlewales.com/cast_def.html
  

To find definitions of various castle terms take a look at the following glossary:

• http://www.castlesontheweb.com/glossary.html
  

• http://www.castles-of-britain.com/castle38.htm
  
• http://www.castlewales.com/casterms.html
  
• http://www.frii.com/~phouka/travel/castles/castle_glossary.html
  

For information on life in the Medieval castle an excellent book is Life in a Medieval Castle by Tony McAleavy published by English Heritage.
On line you can try these links

• http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/castles/enter.html
  
• http://www.castlewales.com/life.html
  

Try

• http://www.castlewales.com/siege.html
  
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/trebuchet/castle.html
  

Here are some links for sites dealing with castle construction;

• http://www.manitoulin-link.com/medieval/castles.html#construction
  
• http://www.castlewales.com/motte.html
  
• http://www.castlewales.com/fortress.html
  

Castles on CD Roms

• Stephen Biesty Castle Explorer CD ROM (published by Dorling Kindersley) is pretty good for information on castle life, but avoid the game and go straight to the library.
  
• Exploring Castles a CD ROM by Anglia Multimedia is now a bit old and not very smooth or pretty but does have some worthy information.
  
• Castles. Seige & Conquest is mainly a game on CD Rom but does also have a suprising good encyclopedia of video clips from TV programs about castles.
  

Need to print out a floor plan of a castle for a school project or to add interest to an essay. Check out my site at http://www.castlesontheweb.com/members/philipdavis/Plans/intro.html where there are over 50 floorplans available.

These are big images so you need to download the image to your computer and then import the image into your word processor and change the size to suit your project. Don't try to print the image straight from your browser. This may seem a complex way to do things but you get a very much better and more detailed plan by doing it this way.

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And the astronomyours beheldyne the constellacions of hys bryth by thare castle, and foundyn that he sholde bene wyse and curteyse, good of consaill

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