"Famous Castle Sieges" Topic

"Many movies have been made that involve castle sieges. We tend to have a romanticised view of what actually happened in these battles as heroes and heroines in full make up destroy the enemy to save the day. Nothing could be further from the truth than this. Castle sieges were very long drawn out affairs that could last for months or even years as a siege was not a short simple procedure but a tactical strategic operation that took planning and determination. Many castle sieges happened during The Middle Ages when castles were built with such impenetrable fortification that getting over the moat and into the structure was nigh on impossible.

Castles were built with invasion in mind so often had two surrounding walls plus in most cases a moat. This made it difficult for enemy armies to break through hence the time scale of sieges. Most sieges were resolved by cutting off supplies to the castle so that inhabitants would eventually run out of food and water while in some cases they would starve to death if there was to be an attitude of "no surrender".

The inhabitants defending the castles would resort to eating anything to survive including cats or rats. Tactics used by the attackers would make life intolerable for the castle inhabitants. They would throw severed limbs over the ramparts to hopefully spread disease inside the castle or spread rumours of impending doom to demoralise further…."
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Amicalement
Armand

The article should not refer to the siege of Kenilworth as during the ECW. It was during the "Second Barons War". There were no "Roundheads" in 1266!?

When one runs into such egregious errors in an area one knows something about, it makes reading about areas one knows little about pointless, as the information is unreliable.

Well said. It's why I stopped reading newspapers or watching TV news. If they know damn-all about the subjects that I do understand, why should I trust them on subjects that I don't understand?