Why are there so many castles in Europe? Find out why on RTatW

Visitors who come to Europe are always impressed by the incredible number of old buildings they can see and especially castles, not only still standing but being occupied and used, like it’s a normal thing to live or work in a place which is several centuries old. Invariably, they wonder: Why are there so many castles in Europe?

It’s a really good question so if you wonder as well, this piece is for you!

Castles are fascinating to most people as they capture the imagination. Fairy tales, romance, chivalry, mysteries, legends, ghost stories, hidden treasures, epic battles, royal affairs… The type of stories associated with castles are countless. Moreover, castles are mysterious on their own and it’s not just about secret passageways and back doors. To this day, the view of a castle ruins takes us back to Medieval times which we know, after all, so little about.

Let’s dig into today’s question: Why are there so many castles in Europe?

The first thing we should clarify is the use of the term castle

The strict definition of castle is a fortified residence that nobility built in the Middle Ages.

However, nowadays, the term castle is commonly used to describe all sorts of ‘old’ constructions: From fortresses which were not residences but solely used for public defense… to palaces which were also residences but were not fortified and mostly built after the Middle Ages.

It gets even more confusing when we talk about châteaux. The world originated from the French, for whom a château can be pretty much anything, from a castle to a palace, or even a country house. But in English it does not include castles.

So if we were to refer solely to Medieval castles, the truth is that there are probably far less examples still proudly standing today than one may think. However, if we look at the broad spectrum of châteaux then the number, that can still be admired today, is mind-blowing!

So despite the title of this piece, we’ll talk mostly about castles here but also about all sorts of châteaux! I’m French after all!

Vianden Castle in Luxembourg

The main reason why there are so many castles in Europe is that a lot were built!

We are first stepping back in time to the Middle Ages, a period from the 5th to the 15th century.

Europe was nothing like today. Countries did not exist and Europe was split entirely differently. There were no fixed borders. Wars was maybe the only constant thing. With plagues!

There were less than 30 Million people living in Europe in the early Middle Ages and maybe 50-70 Million toward the end. For reference, France population today is around 65 Million.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, progressively, Kingdoms became a thing and Kings & Queens started to appears here and there.

Needless to say that there were no cars, no trains, no planes during such period… The only inland modes of transportation were by foot or by horse. This seemly obvious remark is important because this means travelling from one place to another could take a fair amount of time and included a fair amount of dangers!

A lot of castles were built for defensive purpose

So in the Middle Ages, Europe was like a puzzle with little pieces of lands owned by numerous land owners. All of them had the responsibility to protect their subjects so they started to built castles, from small ones to big ones, depending on their means and natural resources available.

Such subjects had to be able to take refuge inside the castle walls in case of attacks. Since they could only reach the castle by foot, it had to be fairly closely located.

As kingdoms appeared, landowners became either willingly, either by force, subjects of one King or another.

And as kingdoms grew, Kings entrusted further lands (original owned, or taken from someone else) to specific trusted lords, siblings, family members etc and such nobles started building more castles to protect such lands and their subjects. Such castles became decentralized centers of power.

Sometimes the lords remained faithful to the King, sometimes they became sufficiently rich and powerful themselves to turn on their King.

Kings, Princes and Lords had itinerant court so they had more than one castle

As mentioned above, there were no cars, no trains, no planes… There were no radio, no tv, no internet either. Obviously! People were mostly illiterate so news circulated orally, passed from one to another and really slowly and probably not so accurately.

There were mostly no capital cities. Considering the European population, cities, including the capitals we now know, were mostly villages or at the most, small towns.

For all these reasons, Kings and alike had to travel to the remote corners of their Kingdoms to be seen, to demonstrate their powers, to rule over their Kingdom & to oversee the nobility. Kings owned castles for their itinerant court and brought with them everything needed for their stay, including their furniture.

Business and pleasure could be mixed at that time as well, so courts also travelled around based on seasons and “Kings and alike” preferences. For example, the Dukes of Brittany had a gorgeous castle in Nantes but they liked to go hunting in other places and therefore built several castles including the Suscinio castle. Today it takes 1 hour and half to drive from Nantes to Suscinio. Google says it would take 24 hours to walk the same journey and that is today when proper paths exist. So imagine a whole court, traveling such journey during the Middle Ages!

The Suscinio castle, in Brittany, France

Others may have been happy to live away from the Court

We’re covering here a super large time period of time, so things changed a lot between the beginning of the middle ages and the end of such period or even beyond.

One thing that did not change much overtime is how Kingdoms were created (and ultimately how they ended): a good marriage to create a powerful alliance, or most likely several marriages, a couple of mistresses here and there, usually plenty of descendants with a few illegitimate ones… It kind of feels like a recipe for disaster with plenty of family drama, rivalry and conflicts!

However, some male royal family members were happy to live away from the court. Away from the drama or most likely just away from their King. If authorized to do so, they often moved to their own castle, maybe to plot their claim to the throne or grow their own kingdom. In any cases, this meant more castles and châteaux!

One nice example can be found in the history of the Chateau de Chantilly.

The Chateau de Chantilly, just a little North of Paris

Other reasons?

Over time, as the European political forces stabilized, castles or actually châteaux were built for pleasure. Maybe to live in found childhood places, maybe for retired queens, retired mistresses or just for love. Generally castles could be given as a Royal favor… and taken back!

Oh! Just one more reasons why there are so many castles…

Thanks to the Romanticism period, of the early 19th century, a few more castles were built. The Pierrefonds castle is a great example of this as well as the Lichtenstein castle.

The Pierrefonds castle, a former medieval castle rebuilt by Viollet-le-Duc

The Lichtenstein castle, a German fairytale castle from the 19th century

Medieval castles became obsolete

It seems that a lot of people consider that the arrival of gunpowder and artillery rendered castles obsolete by rendering them useless as a defensive mean. It may be true for some part, but this does not represent a full picture of why the castle trend faded.

Changes in warfare

So indeed the arrival of gunpowder and artillery rendered castles less effective as a defensive mean. But changes in warfare were more profound than just these 2 elements and without going into details, one could argue that such changes were also linked to changes in society.

Changes in lifestyle

One often over-looked reason that lead to the dismay of castles is simply the change in ‘fashion’. People traveled more and more and new architectural styles were admired during trips and then, copied back home. If a French King built this, another King somewhere built a similar place. Kings were trend makers! They always wanted the biggest, most beautiful and newest castle or châteaux and others followed.

Changes in comfort needs

Medieval castles were dark, cold and damp.

There were very few openings to give light and glass windows were not used in private homes until the late Middle Ages, at the very earliest. Fire places in castles were huge but were still a very inefficient way to heat up the vast rooms of the castles.

And in terms of locations, it is fair to imagine that some castles were not really ideally located. For defensive purpose, they might have one day have been the best, but for the pleasure of the Court? Not anymore.

Some castles did survived through centuries mostly because they were modified and modernized. Some castles were indeed destroyed by wars, sometimes not even centuries ago. And some castles were just abandoned as they had become obsolete.

the Predjama castle in Slovenia is a great example of a castle “modernized” from the 12th to the 16th century

Other castles, like the Dudelange castle in Luxembourg, pictured below is one example of a castle that became a charming ruin.

Thankfully, we still have an incredible number of castles, fortresses and palaces around Europe and even more thankfully, a lot of them can be visited!

What happened to all these castles?

I think we’ll have to fully discuss this topic in another piece. However in order for you to get a better picture of the castle landscape in Europe, you need to know that a lot of castles and even fortresses were modified extensively over time.

If most castles were pretty much completely destroyed, others were rebuilt in a complete different style or modified so extensively that it is hard to see their medieval past. Today such castles might look like palaces to the ones who don’t know or don’t pay attention enough.

A German project to record all castles in Germany and a few other countries, shows that only perhaps 20% of the castles in Germany still have a roof on them and about 40% are in a state of ruin. If you think there are still lots of castles, you have to know that actually most have been destroyed!

the Eltz castle in the Moselle valley – Germany

So basically, the main & simple reason why there are so many castles in Europe is that a considerable number were built! However, the fact that we tend to put all castles, fortresses, palaces, châteaux and any monument that may look old, in the same bag, adds to the impression that they are everywhere.

Strictly speaking, there are far less Medieval castles still standing and in pretty good condition, than one may think.