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I'm doing research on the medieval castle, specifically what was required to build one. I'm particularly interested in learning about this from a medieval perspective, so I wondered if there are any manuals covering the construction of castles? Or even any other primary sources?

I am interested in England, but I'm open to less specific sources from other areas in Europe.

MCW
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Kebab
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    In the medieval period they hadn't (by definition) invented printing yet, and during the early period writing material itself was difficult to come by. Tradesmen were expected to learn their craft via apprenticeships, and didn't nessecarily know how to read. So how-to manuals weren't nearly as common as a modern person might expect. Still, there are some, so it is worth asking. – T.E.D. Mar 06 '23 at 16:33
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    You might have more luck casting your search for books about building medieval churches and monasteries. Being a more "Godly" topic than civil works like castles and manor homes, the writing monks may be more inclined to devote valuable scribe time to the topic. Presumably a lot of features are common between them - "keep out the enemy" and "protect the important inside" and "last for generations" – Criggie Mar 07 '23 at 01:06
  • @T.E.D. did engineers at the time use diagrams or architectural drawings of some kind? – shadowtalker Mar 07 '23 at 16:21
  • @shadowtalker - That would be another good question (we can use those!). My SWAG would be "No, and they didn't have "engineers" either. Just master masons.", but I haven't investigated it. – T.E.D. Mar 07 '23 at 18:34

  • The Pillars of the Earth is a historical novel by British author Ken Follett published in 1989 about the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, England. Set in the 12th century [...] between the sinking of the White Ship and the murder of Thomas Becket, but focuses primarily on the Anarchy. The book traces the development of Gothic architecture out of the preceding Romanesque architecture, and the fortunes of the Kingsbridge priory and village against the backdrop of historical events of the time.

     – Mazura Mar 07 '23 at 23:16
  • And the TV show : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1453159/ . The 'manual' is to go apprentice in Italy for 20y, then pick some other way to do it that's different from the last guy who failed. In Mary Stewart's Arthurian legend, they say to add blood to the mortar, while in reality it was draining the caves below and shoring them up. Don't build on mud doesn't really need to be written down.... Nearly word for word, that's also how the Panama Canal got built... eventually. – Mazura Mar 07 '23 at 23:21
  • There are really two medieval period- early and late and they so different. You probably mean the late which is complex construction period. – user2617804 Mar 08 '23 at 10:06
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    @shadowtalker Cologne Cathedral was completed in the 19th century after a detailed medieval construction drawing for the design of the West facade was found. From memory: ink on parchment, about 1.5x3 feet. I have previously come across high-resolution images of it, but my Google-fu seems to be weak today: A small image of it can be seen here. – njuffa Mar 08 '23 at 10:09

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You might be interested in Guedelon Castle, which is a project to rebuild a 13th Century castle from scratch using original methods. It's not exactly a manual, but it's probably as close as you are going to get.

DJClayworth
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