What are the features of a Motte and Bailey Castle?
Advantages of a Square Keep Castle.
The Drawbridge: This could be pulled up to stop invades
crossing into the castle.
The Keep: This was made of stone so could not be
burned down if attacked with fire. People could hide in
here safely.
The Motte: The motte (a hill) would make it more
difficult for invaders to climb up, giving the defenders
an advantage.
Advantages: The castles were quick to build and helped
Year 7 Term 2
protect soldiers.
Disadvantages: They could rot or burn down easily and
revision. were only temporary,
Why did William build them?
To help defend England from foreign invasions; to
protect barons from rebellions e.g. from Peasants; to
show how powerful he was.
The Magna Carta
It was made by the Barons as they were angry at how King John was running the country.
They hated how King John kept raising the taxes and loosing wars and land in France.
King John signed it on the 15th June 1215 in Runnymede, Southern England. It said the
Barons had to approve any rise in taxes, the King could not interfere with the Church,
judges could not be bribed and people had to have a fair trial.
• Stone castles could be built high. They could
be up to 35 metres tall. They could see
enemies coming.
• Stone Keep castles were much more difficult
to set on fire as they were made of stone.
• They had small windows. The enemy could not
get in but they could fire arrows from them.
• Spiral staircases make it difficult to storm
upper floors, where soldiers in the castle had
a good view from the top.
Disadvantages of a Square Keep Castle.
• The corners could be easily damaged—one
corner broken brings two walls down.
• Attackers can get right up to the walls.
• Difficult to shoot attacker who is close to the
wall
Skills: Reliability.
Reliability: how much we trust a source.
Look at:
• Who wrote it
• When they wrote it
• Why they wrote it
• What type of source it is
• Where they wrote it
Reasons for the Peasant’s revolt.

The Black Death (1348 - 1350) had killed many people. This meant
there was a shortage of workers and wages went up. Parliament Advantages of a Concentric Castle.
passed the Statute of Labourers (1351), which set a maximum wage
• The walls are built at different levels so that archers on the inner walls can
and said that people would be punished with prison if they refused to
fire over the archers on the outer walls and not hit them. The space between
work for that wage. This meant that despite the demand for workers
the two walls was known as the 'death hole' for being trapped within the walls
and the greater availability of land, poor people stayed poor.
would almost certainly result in death for the attacker. The entire castle was
Life for ordinary Medieval people was strictly controlled by the local then often surrounded with a moat (water) and entry would be across a
lord. The law also allowed the lord to stop his villeins moving for drawbridge which could be pulled up to stop enemies. The castles were huge—
better wages. Coming after the Black Death and the consequent room for a large army and supplies to last a long siege
shortage of labour, this crushed the villeins' higher expectations for
Disadvantages of a Concentric Castle
their income.
• The biggest weakness was the need for a large number of soldiers to defend
Since 1360, a Lollard priest called John Ball had been preaching that
it. With limited soldiers, it is very difficult to defend. The walls could not
people should throw away the evil lords. In a famous sermon he asked,
stand up to cannon fire
when Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?
meaning all people are born equal.

After 1369, the war against France - over control of land claimed
both by English and French kings - began to go badly. This would have
Revision resources.
made people despise the government.
• Use your book.
The Poll Tax had to be paid by everyone over the age of 15 no ma tter
how much money they earned. In March 1381, the government
• Use this sheet.
demanded the third Poll Tax in four years. When people avoided
paying this, Parliament appointed commissioners to make them pay. • Use websites including;
On 30 May 1381, Commissioner Thomas Bampton entered the village of https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/topics/zfphvcw
Fobbing in Essex. His brutal methods made the villagers angry and –
led by Thomas Baker, a landowner who helped start the revolt, they
rioted. Soon both Essex and Kent were in revolt.