The twilight of medieval castles

After the last fires of the Hundred Years War had gone out, the lords of France changed nothing in their way of life. Neither did they, initially, change their building habits and they remained faithful to the austere, thick stone walls, with crenulated towers topped by machicolations and pepper pot roofs.

And yet, these fortresses built according to archaic models were no longer able to resist great campaign armies, powerful cannonades of constantly improved artillery and the general evolution in siege warfare. During the second half of the 15th century, the fortresses simply became the symbol of belonging to a social class, proud of its history but unsure of its future. Some fortresses now appeared to be simple stone challenges, issued by a nobility in search of its identity to a finally triumphant sovereign power.

This second volume of the « Fortresses » collection takes us to the dawn of the Renaissance, to witness the last glimmers of the fortresses twilight years.