Medieval Europe can rightfully be called the "world of castles", since about 100,000 of them were built! It is clear that at different times and not all of them have survived, but this is a huge figure. Many castles are truly grandiose. Moreover, if you can still guess about the Egyptian pyramids, then it is absolutely known (and in most cases!) Who, when, for how much, during what time and with how many working hands this or that castle was erected. Although it is often not very clear how, for example, building material was delivered to the top of the Montsegur hill, or how, say, such castles as the "Castle of the Knights" in Palestine or the Kumbalgarh fortress in Rajasthan, whose walls are 36 kilometers long (!) Have 700 bastions. Painfully a lot of stones have been laid in it, and the walls and vaults are just incredible thickness. But we will still visit there, especially since after the Great Wall of China it is the longest defensive wall in the world. In the meantime, let's continue our acquaintance with the castles of Europe and in particular, probably the most famous European castle of the lords of Cusi. Known because he was most often depicted in our school textbooks on the history of the Middle Ages, using the reconstruction of the architect Viollet le-Duc. And, of course, he was impressed by his proud motto, which was also included in all books about castles (at least in my book "Knights. Castles. Weapons" Rosman, 2005 he entered): "Not a king, not a prince, not a duke and not a count: I am Ser de Coucy. " Well, he also became famous for the fact that during the First World War, the retreating German troops, on the orders of General Ludendorff, tried to blow up this castle. And they blew it up! But not all! And for this they needed … 28 tons of dynamite to lay in only one of his keep, and another 10 tons were laid in the towers! This was not caused by military necessity. Tolerance in Europe was also not held in high esteem then, and the French, as a result, did not touch anything after that, but preserved the ruins "as a monument to barbarism."
The ruins of the Kusi castle in a photograph taken from an airplane on June 27, 1917.
The very first written mention of the Kusi castle dates back to 920. It is about a certain fortification built by Herve, Bishop of Reims. In 928, Count Herbert II of Vermandois, with the help of deception, even lured here and held King Charles III the Simple as a prisoner. Many noble lords argued among themselves about who should own the castle in the future.
Ruins of the Kusi castle. Modern look.
As a result, in 1116, he went to the crusader Angerrand I de Bove, became his fiefdom, and he himself began to be called the lord de Coucy. His son Thomas became famous for his armed robberies, and supported the free city of Lyon when an uprising against his bishop began. But his son Engerran II was a God-fearing man: he built a chapel in the castle, and he went on the second crusade, in which he died.
General plan of the castle.
In 1223, Angerrand III decided to carry out a complete reconstruction of the castle. He began work in 1225 and in just five years, by 1230, he had already rebuilt the entire castle, for which he attracted a huge number of workers. It is known that only about 800 people worked as stonecutters. And there were also carpenters, porters, bricklayers, roofers, and a host of other workers. But the castle turned out to be glorious, with the largest keep in Europe and four powerful towers at the corners.
Plan of the castle and the adjacent outer courtyard.
Along the way, in 1226, after the death of King Louis VIII of France, he even tried to claim the throne. However, nothing came of his attempt, and then, as they say, in spite of the winners, he chose his proud motto of the lords de Coucy. He died in an accident: he fell from his horse and ran into his own sword.
Coat of arms of Angerrand III de Coucy (family coat of arms of Thomas de Coucy): in a silver field, blue squirrel fur, separated by three red bands.
The plan of the castle itself. Ground floor: 1 - donjon, 2 - corner towers, 3 - moat, 4 - bridge, 5 - passage to the castle, 6 - courtyard, 7 - flanking ledge, 8 - utility building, 9 - residential building, 10 - spiral staircase, 11 - large hall, 12 - chapel, 13 - kitchen, 14 - auxiliary road, 15 - shell-wall, 16 - inclined ramp, 17 - donjon moat, 18 - entrance to the donjon.
During the Hundred Years War, namely in 1339, the British besieged the castle, but they could not take it. Then, under Angerrand VII, the castle began to rebuild again, but the work was completed only in 1397, when after his death, and he died childless, and besides being in captivity by the Turks after the defeat of the Christian army in the battle of Nikopolis, the castle was declared royal property and transferred to the king's brother - Louis of Orleans. But in 1407 he was killed and feudal strife began again for the castle. As a result, in 1411 and 1413 the castle was besieged, but to no avail. Only in 1487 did the royal troops manage to take it by storm. And again he was given to another Louis of Orleans, who was the son of King Charles VIII and the future Louis XII. In 1567, during the so-called "wars of faith", when Catholics slaughtered Protestants, and Protestants - Catholics, the castle was besieged by the Huguenots, and then it was occupied by the supporters of the Catholic League.
Donjon tier plans. A spiral staircase running through the thickness of the wall is clearly visible.
Under Mazarin, the castle became a stronghold of the rebellious Fronde and he had to send troops who managed to take the castle by storm and burn it. The keep's ceilings were blown up, rendering it uninhabitable, and both gate towers were destroyed. What was left became a prison, and also … served as a quarry for local residents until 1829. Then Louis-Philippe bought the ruins of the castle for 6,000 francs, thereby saving it from complete destruction. In 1855, the great reenactor of French castles, Viollet-le-Duc, took over the castle of Coucy. He studied and described it, after which he directed the restoration work. But there was not enough money for this, and they were not brought to the end. Well, then the castle was blown up by German soldiers and it turned into ruins completely. Although not all. The towers of the outer wall survived. Although not all.
Sectional layout of the donjon. Museum of the Château de Coucy.
What was the Kusi castle from the point of view of castle defensive architecture? Interestingly, the castle was integrated into the territory of a small town, which today is called Coucy-le-Chateau, and which, together with its own fortifications, served as the castle's first defense belt and was also its supply base. Between it and the town there was a vast outer courtyard with powerful walls.
It is interesting that at that time there was a kind of "fashion" for such donjons, of which this drawing serves as an example. However, Donjon Kusi looks like a giant even against their background … Illustration by A. Sheps from the book “Knights. Locks. Weapon "(Rosman, 2005)
And all this was arranged on a rocky foundation that rose above the valley to a height of 60 m with a steep cliff in the north. The length of the walls along the perimeter was 2400 m. The outer courtyard was separated from the city proper by a moat 25 m wide. The surrounding wall consisted of nine round towers, each nine meters in diameter, some of which have survived to this day.
Drawing of the castle fireplace. "Dictionary of French Architecture from the 11th to the 16th Centuries" by Viollet-le-Duc, 1856
The castle itself was a trapezoidal territory, while its eastern side was 111 m long, the northern side was 51 m, the western side was 70 m and the southern side had 105 m.
Image of the castle from the book of Viollet-le-Duc. It was this drawing that was most often cited in textbooks on the history of the Middle Ages as a visual illustration of what medieval knightly castles were, but it should be emphasized that this particular castle was the most atypical among all the others.
This “core of the castle” was separated from the outer courtyard by a moat about 20 m wide. A bridge with three intermediate gates was thrown across the moat, and each of the following were larger than the previous ones. Finally, the bridge ended with the last gate, and behind them was a long arched passage, above which mashikuli were made, which made it easy to kill anyone in it with a crossbow shot! On the sides of the passage, quarters were made for the guards.
Donjon construction.
A two-story building was built along the entire eastern wall for household needs. Along the northern one there is a three-storey residential building. The floors were connected by a spiral staircase in the annex tower. There was also a building near the western wall, on the ground floor of which there were storage rooms, and above them there was a large hall. Next to him was the castle chapel. On the first floor of the same building, between the chapel room, the hall, the donjon and the southern wall, a kitchen was arranged, and above it, various utility rooms.
The plan of the corner towers.
The preserved towers of the castle.
A preserved wall and one of the corner towers.
The corners of the castle were reinforced with four powerful flanking towers in two floors with vaults, above which, in turn, there were two more floors with flat ceilings, and the completion of this whole structure was a platform with a gallery extended beyond the perimeter of the tower. The diameter of the towers was 18-23 m and 35 in height - that is, they were taller than even the main towers of most castles of that time! In addition, in the middle of the longest, eastern wall, a D-shaped ledge was made for flanking shelling.
The entrance to the castle is guarded by two towers.
Outside, the donjon had another shell wall with an outer radius of 31 m, a height of 20 m and a thickness of about 5 m. In a word, it was also a kind of "fortress in a fortress", and the mashikuli were even made over the kitchen door. In addition, it was equipped with a drop-down grate.
More should be said about the giant keep. It was just a monstrous structure with a diameter of 35 m at the base and 55 m in height. The walls were up to 7 m thick. Around the keep was a small ditch, through which another drawbridge was thrown directly to the entrance. There was also a descending grate behind it. On either side of the passage that led to the first floor hall, two corridors ran inside the walls. To the left was a restroom, and to the right, in the thickness of the wall, there was a spiral staircase upward, in which there were 212 steps.
A model of the castle, allowing you to visualize the size of the keep.
The entire tower inside consisted of three high floors with star-shaped vaults, 12 m high. On the first, a 62 m deep well and a bread oven were built. The hall on the second floor was arranged in a similar way. Building such a structure without tower cranes would be an extremely difficult engineering challenge. However, Viollet-le-Duc found out how the construction was carried out. In the stonework outside the tower, recesses were made for beams that went around it in a spiral. A boardwalk was laid on them and building materials were delivered up it, although, of course, something was lifted up with the help of the most ordinary winches with chain hoists!
The original device of the bridge to the castle, with secret drawbridges and an exit from the castle inside the bridge pillars.
The castle displayed not only the strength and power, but also the wealth of its owners. All buildings in it were decorated with stone carvings, huge fireplaces were arranged in the rooms, and 10-meter spiers for flags with the coats of arms of the de Coucy family were placed around the entire perimeter of the donjon's roof!
