A coercion castle[1][2][3] (German: Zwingburg) or coercive castle[4][5] was a heavily fortified, medieval castle built to dominate the surrounding land. Such castles were built mainly in the High and Late Middle Ages in order to protect those territories in areas where the population was not assessed as being entirely loyal to the sovereign. Because of the poor infrastructure of medieval Europe, the construction of castles was one of the most important ways of exercising power, which is why it was governed by royal rights (known as regalia). Examples of coercive castles are the Moritzburg in Halle, which was built in the late 15th century, and the Alte Burg in Koblenz.
Gallery
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Moritzburg (Halle) -
Alte Burg (Koblenz) -
Petersberg Citadel (Erfurt) -
Veste Oberhaus (Passau) -
Forte Spagnolo (L’Aquila, Italy) -
Castello di San Giusto (Triest, Italy)
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ A Concise History of Brandenburg-Prussia to 1786 by Otis C. Mitchell, University Press of America, 1980, p. 3
- ^ The Soldier Kings: The House of Hohenzollern by Walter Henry Nelson, Putnam, 1970, p. 24
- ^ Peace in the Western World by Matthew Melko, John Hord, McFarland, 1984, p. 29
- ^ Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life by David Durand-Guédy, Boston: Brill, 2013, p. 359
- ^ Sources concerning the hospitallers of St John in the Netherlands: 14th-18th Centuries by J.M. Van Winter (ed.), Leiden: Brill, 1998, p. 795
External links
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