E X T EFrankenstein N S I O N NORMAN CASTLES When the Normans conquered England, they had to build castles quickly. They sometimes built them of wood and of the motte-andbailey type. The motte is a mound1, the bailey 2 is a fenced-off3 place. Sometimes there were more than one bailey; they contained residential buildings, halls, kitchens, workshops, chapels, etc. Keep or donjon Motte Ditch Earthbank Bailey A typical early motte-and-bailey castle. Both the motte and the bailey were to hold up invaders, so that they couldn t reach the residence easily. Afterwards the castles were built in stone. The crusaders had learnt a lot about how to build castles from the great ones they saw. One of the models they bore in mind4 when they came back to England was the Krak des Chevaliers, in Syria. As a result of their experience, a lot of castles were built with some circles of walls around them. Mural towers, that is to say towers along the walls, were added, too. The earliest of the stone castles in Great Britain is the Tower of London. 1. mound: monticello. 2. bailey: corte di castello. 3. fenced-off: separato per mezzo di una recinzione. 4. bear in mind: tenere a mente, ricordare. 36