Why were medieval castles designed the way they were?
Every spiral staircase was a deadly trap for invaders.
The answer
Medieval castles were masterpieces of defensive engineering. Spiral staircases wound clockwise so that right-handed defenders above had room to swing swords while right-handed attackers below were cramped against the central pillar. Arrow slits were narrow on the outside but wide inside, giving archers a wide field of fire while remaining nearly impossible to hit. Concentric walls, murder holes for pouring boiling liquids, and moats filled with sewage made sieges horrific for attackers - many castles fell only through starvation, not assault.
Source: English Heritage
- medieval
- architecture
- military
- Europe
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