Castles!- Large Photos

DonaCatalina · April 10, 2009, 06:32:32 AM

For Good Friday we're going to visit the Rocca della Verruca in Italy. The fortress is located in the Municipality of Calci, in the Province of Pisa, atop a mountain which bears the same name. According to historical documentation, settlements were present in the area as far back as 780, when the district was defended by a stronghold that was ideally located to control the Arno River. The Fortress features in several historical sieges; but appears never to have fallen. Some examples; in 1288, we can recall the war between the Pisan Guelphs and the Luccan army; we can also mention the German invasion by Ludwig of Bavaria in 1328. We can also note other episodes, like those in 1363, during the Florentine invasion, in 1369 after an invasion by the troops of Charles IV of Bohemia, and in 1375 after the invasion by the English troops led by John Hawkwood.

DonaCatalina · April 11, 2009, 05:37:09 AM

Dublin Castle was built in 1204. Today it is a major Irish governmental complex.
Originally built as a defensive fortification for the Norman city of Dublin, it later evolved into a royal residence, resided in by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland or Viceroy of Ireland, the representative of the monarch. The second in command in the Dublin Castle administration, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, also had his offices there.

chandelier-----

DonaCatalina · April 12, 2009, 12:09:50 PM

Château Faubourg de Vianden is in Luxembourg near the German border. The origins of Vianden date back to the Gallo-Roman age when there was a castellum on the site of the present castle. The original name of Vianden was Viennensis or Vienna, probably derived from the Celtic vien, rock. The first historical reference to Vianden was in 698 when there is a record of a gift in the form of a vineyard in Monte Viennense made by Saint Irmina to the Abbey of Echternach[1]. Vianden possesses one of the oldest charters in Europe, granted in 1308 by Philip II, count of Vianden. The present castle was built between the 11th and 14th centuries and became the seat of the counts of Vianden.

DonaCatalina · April 13, 2009, 06:42:00 AM

No, we're not going to France today. We're going to Wales instead. Abergavenny Castle has Norman origins: the early motte was recorded as being built by Hamelin de Balun as first holder of the feudal title Baron Bergavenny at the order of William the Conqueror in 1075. Hamelin is therefore thought of as the first holder of the title Baron Abergavenny. In 1175 Abergavenny Castle was the scene of an infamous act: the Massacre of Abergavenny. Henry Fitzmiles, the third son of Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford had been killed by a Welsh leader, thought to be Seisill ap Dyfnwal of Castell Arnallt in 1165. As there were no other other male heirs, his brothers all having died or been killed without issue, Abergavenny castle and lands in Brecknockshire and Upper Gwent passed via his sister Bertha, who was a daughter of Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford, to his apparent step-nephew William de Braose, 3rd Lord of Bramber.

DonaCatalina · April 14, 2009, 06:41:05 AM

Burg Hirschhorn
(The medieval castle) stretches over the mountain ridge above the small town. In the walled castle defended by towers are a keep, a great hall, a stable and several gate and estate buildings. The Lords of Hirschhorn built Burg Hirschhorn about 1200 on what was originally land held in fief from the Lorsch Abbey.

DonaCatalina · April 15, 2009, 06:44:24 AM

Today we're going to visit an isolated castle in Scotland. Castle Morton
is located by an artificial loch in the hills above Nithsdale, in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. It lies 2.5 miles north-east of Thornhill, and once formed part of a chain of castles along the strategically important Nith Valley, which runs from the Solway Firth north to the Clyde Valley. In the 12th century, the honour of Morton was a possession of Dunegal, Lord of Strathnith (Nithsdale). A ditch to the south of the castle is thought to date from this period. During the reign of Robert the Bruce the lands of Morton were held by Thomas Randolph, later the first Earl of Moray. By 1307, and possibly as early as the 1260s, a castle had been constructed here, on a high defensible promontory surrounded by marshland.

Jack Daw at Work · April 15, 2009, 07:59:17 AM

Interesting skies in Scotland!

DonaCatalina · April 16, 2009, 06:42:46 AM

Back to Spain again, to visit Castillo de Osma.
The main section takes up the highest part of a steep hill.
The northern door is flanked by two rectangular turrets.
The whole structure was built with the materials available at the Roman town of Uxama.
The castle, built upon a high rock opposite the Roman settlement, held out against the Arabs and in 963 was taken, together with the village of San Esteban, by the general Galib.
After belonging to the bishop of Osma and Juan de Luna, who received it from the Catholic queen, it was owned by the Dukes of Uceda y Frías. The partially excavated Roman ruins are still visible southwest of the current town.

DonaCatalina · April 17, 2009, 06:45:07 AM

Château d'Acoz was already mentioned in the XIIth century as depending on the abbey of Floreffes. Today the moat remains around the castle. The buiding of the fortified town (belonging to the family Marotte) certainly began between the middle of the XVth and the beginning of the XVIIth century. In 1759, the castle was given to the family d'Udekem and then to the family Pirmez in the year 1860.

DonaCatalina · April 18, 2009, 07:38:08 AM

Framlingham Castle is said to have been founded by Raedwald, one of the most powerful kings of the East Angles, between A.D. 599 and 624.

It belonged to Edmund, one of the Saxon monarchs of East Anglia, who, upon the invasion of the Danes, fled from Dunwich, or Thetford, to this castle; from which being driven, and being overtaken at Hegilsdon, (now Hoxne, a distance of twelve miles (19 km) from Framlingham) was put to death, being bound to a tree and shot with arrows, A.D. 870. His body, after many years, was removed to a place called Bederics-gueord, now Bury St. Edmunds.

The castle remained in the hands of the Danes for fifty years, when they were brought under the obedience of the Saxons. William the Conqueror and his son Rufus retained the Castle in their own possession; but the third son of William, Henry I., granted it, with the Manor of Framlingham, to Roger Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk.

DonaCatalina · April 19, 2009, 05:52:28 AM

Carew Castle is a castle in the civil parish of Carew in the Welsh county of Pembrokeshire. The famous Carew family take their name from the place, and still own the castle, although it is leased to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, which administers the site. The castle stands on a limestone bluff overlooking the Carew inlet — a part of the tidal estuary that makes up Milford Haven. The site must have been recognised as strategically useful from the earliest times, and recent excavations in the outer ward have discovered multiple defensive walls of an Iron Age fort. The Norman castle has its origins in a stone keep built by Gerald de Windsor around the year 1100.

DonaCatalina · April 20, 2009, 06:46:19 AM

We will resume starting off our week by visiting France. Château de Cheverny is located at Cheverny in the Loire Valley. The lands were purchased by Henri Hurault, comte de Cheverny, a lieutenant-general and military treasurer for Louis XI, whose descendent the marquis de Vibraye is the present owner. Lost to the Crown because of fraud to the State, it was donated by King Henri II to his mistress Diane de Poitiers. However, she preferred Château de Chenonceau and sold the property to the former owner's son, Philippe Hurault, who rebuilt the château between 1624 and 1630. Today the Château bears little resemblance to Henri's fortifications.

DonaCatalina · April 21, 2009, 06:07:18 AM

Today we'll visit a castle in the Netherlands that is barely there. Castle Brakel is located on a moated island in the Gelderland village of Brakel. The various pieces of the ruins date from 11th century to the 15th century. Some of the earliest records mention a knight Eustatius van Brakel with the castle in 1260 and 1265.
The manor house built later incorporates the castle and moat in its gardens. Brakel Castle is just to the east of Loevenstein Castle, near the river.

Layout of the castle.

DonaCatalina · April 22, 2009, 05:48:14 AM

Leamaneh Castle is located in the stark, magnificent setting of The Burren in County Clare, Ireland.
The castle was originally a basic, multi-storied Irish tower house which was built circa 1480, probably by Turlogh Donn, one of the last of the High Kings of Ireland and a direct descendant of Brian Boru. The castle's name "Leamaneh" is believed to be derived from the gaelic "léim an éich" which, when translated into English means "the horse's leap".
The tower was surrendered to Henry VIII in 1548 AD by Turlogh Donn's son, Murrough, who was subsequently created 1st Earl of Thomond and Baron Inchiquin (the O'Briens having surrendered their Royal status to the English Crown).

DonaCatalina · April 23, 2009, 10:38:48 AM

Our Destination today is Chateau de Montrottier. The castle stands on an isolated mound between the Fier and its former bed, known as the "Grande Fosse". Built between the 13C and 16C, it is a fine specimen of Savoyard military architecture; a 36m/118ft-tall round keep towers over it. The castle houses important collections, bequeathed, along with the castle itself, to the Académie Florimontane by Léon Marès: weapons, armoury, earthenware, porcelain, Far Eastern ceramics, antique furniture and four 16C bronze reliefs by Nuremberg artists, Peter and Hans Vischer.