The Medieval Fortress: Castles, Forts and Walled Cities of the Middle Ages

by J.E. Kaufmann and H.W. Kaufmann

Book Overview

The castles of the Medieval world continue to interest readers, both as architectural wonders and because of their dramatic role in world history. The general public is largely unaware of just how many castles survive today or over how wide an area of Europe and the Middle East they are to be found.Fortifications specialist J.E. and H.W. Kaufmann and technical artist Robert Jurga (authors of the acclaimed Fortress Europe: European Fortifications...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306813580
• ISBN13: 9780306813580
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.5" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Medieval Fortress by Kaufmann

This is an excellent work. It would be perfect for a studentproject with a focus on Middle Ages building designs. The authorprovides detailed engineering specifications for castles, forts,a motte and rising towers. The engineering statics implicationsare explained in the detailed design process. The work coversaction implementalities; such as, the ram, siege and cannon.The author spends a portion of the book explaining howwar objects were constructed during the Middle Age period.In addition, he concludes that an increase in wall sizenecessarily means weakening the overall superstructure.Some time is spent explaining the model diet for the periodwhich consisted of wheat, barley, oats and fish. This workwill help readers understand the building requirementsfor structures created during the Middle Ages. The book wouldbe valuable for historians, art buffs, architects, engineersand a wide constituency of other readers.

Just get it - you will not regret!

It does not matter if you all ready are a "fort-geek" or some one, who just want a book on the topic: This book will for sure please you."The Medieval Fortress" is a nice big (app. 11" x 8.5" or 28,5 x 22 cm), 319p. book, which covers the development of fortified places through out Europe and North-Africa from the early to the late middle ages - when the forts had their glory.The book is built up of five main chapters. The First deals with the elements of a fortification; the Second deals in general with the different kind of fortifications in different parts of Europe (Islamic, Byzantine, Frankish, British, Norse, Slavic and Magyar (Hungarian)); the Third does the same, but with emphasis on the emerging castle; the Fourth chapter introduces gunpowder and the decline of the high castle walls through the description of several sieges (Constantinople, Rhodes, and siege of fortifications during the Reconquista); Chapter Five goes in depth with some selected fortifications in Europe: Some of the more famous ones and some more obscure. The reader is guided through fortifications/castles in Great Britain, Ireland, France, Low Countries, Switzerland, Holy Roman Empire, Scandinavia, Central Europe (present day Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, and Slovenia) Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Eastern Mediterranean, Italy, Spain & Portugal, and North Africa. The appendixes gives the names of some more important builders and architects and their titles in different languages (French, Portugese, Spanish, Duch, Sweedish, and Russian), a chronology of important sieges from 623 (Constantinople) to 1529 (Vienna), a history of medival artillery and a glossary.There are endless amounts of B/W pictures alongside with even more B/W line drawings and plans of forts, just like on the front cover of the book.This book is a very good buy!(Review based on First DaCapo Edition, 2001)

It's like an encyclopedia for castles.

If you liked Sydney Toy's book on Castles, you will love this one. Covering the earliest origins of castles to their decline at about the time of the Rennaisance, this book is a must-have for anyone fond of castles or interested in the middle ages. Although it has only black & white pictures and other books may contain a larger number of castles, this book is incredible in its scope of the subject and covers much history of the important castles and towns of Europe in the middle ages. Reading about this history and seeing pictures of the fortresses & towns gives me a feeling of how it was like to be there. I now have a wish-list of ancient towns & strongholds I would like to visit. The book has many 'basic' floorplans of castles & towns as well as rough maps of the regions talked about. Enough info for many book reports; great for design ideas since the coverage spans hundreds of years & styles of construction from All over Europe.

A superbly researched and presented historical survey

The Medieval Fortress: Castles, Forts And Walled Cities Of The Middle Ages is a superbly researched and presented historical survey of the castles and other walled defenses of medieval Europe. Fortification specialists J.E. Kaufmann and H.W. Kaufmann explain the origins and evolutions, compositions and components of these structures, along with their offensive and defensive strategies, weapons, and modifications. The informative, photographically illustrated and engaging text is enhanced throughout with technical artist Robert M. Jurga's illustrations, detailed technical drawings. The Medieval Fortress is an enthusiastically recommended addition to any personal, academic, or public library medieval studies reference collection or reading list.