What is the difference between a castle, a fort, and a palace? A castle is a fortified building constructed for the nobility. A fort is just a fortified building. A palace is a large house built for royalty, or very wealthy people.
Forts appeared long before castles. A fort is a fortified building and the word is the shortened form of “fortification”. The word “fort” comes from the Latin “fortis,” which meant strong. A fort is basically a strong building, which is also where the word “stronghold” came from.
Cities and parts of cities have had walls and ramparts around them ever since there were cities. People have always needed to protect themselves from other groups of people. This became important once people started to live together in settlements and accumulate food and resources. There were always other groups of people who thought it was easier to take someone else’s food than to grow their own. The cities had walls and gates so that they could be defended. These fortified towns were the first forts.
As towns connected to become states and as states took over other states, it became necessary to have forts that were built to defend an area and not just a town. A state might build walled military camps throughout its land to be ready to defend the state if an enemy attacks. The could also build military forts in land that they have conquered in order to keep control of it. These were strengthened and fortified military bases, but other than the soldiers, people didn’t live there.,
The design of forts has evolved with the type of warfare they face. Early forts simply had stone or wooden walls because they only needed to keep people out. When canons and gunpowder were invented, they became much lower and they used more ditches and earth ramparts. Then, when explosives such as mortars were invented, forts were made out of metal and concrete.
A castle is also a fortified building designed to protect the people inside from attack. The word “castle” coes from the Latin “castellum”, which means “fortified place”. However, castles are different to forts in that they were also homes. The practice of building castles instead of forts appears to have begun in the 9th century in Europe. There is a lot of debate as to why people suddenly started building castles, but it could have begun as simply trying to fortify a home. By the 9th century, Europe was divided into states that aren’t the same as today’s country markings. Each state had a leader, usually a king, who ruled through a class of nobles. The king and the nobles needed to protect the land they owned and they also needed to live there to show their presence. They would have built a fine house that they then fortified. These became castles. Overtime, castles stopped being a house that was fortified and became a defensive structure that also doubled as a house. Most of the castles that we can see today across Europe were probably built between the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Kings and nobles could demonstrate their power by building more castles than other people.
A palace is only a house and is not fortified. Castles were very useful military structures, but they were not very comfortable to live in. Any king with enough wealth would want to live in a palace, which is a more luxurious and comfortable house. Having a palace was a symbol of how wealthy a king was, but it also showed that the king had enough control of the land and the nobles around him that he didn’t need to live in a castle. He could outsource his defense to the nobles who did live in castles.
The word “palace” comes from the Latin word “palatium”, which meant “Palatine Hill”. Rome was built on seven hills and Palatine Hill was the most central of them all. It was the hill where the Imperial residences were built. It is said to be the oldest part of the city of Rome and the rich built their houses on it before the Emperor Augustus turned it into the imperial palace. Palatium became associated with the rich houses of kings and queens and that is what a palace is. They filled them with art, furniture, and all the luxuries they could buy.
So, a fort is a strengthened building primarily for defense. A castle is a strengthened building that people live in. And a palace is a luxurious house for a king or queen. And this is what I learned today.
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/wall-grey-castle-stone-64287/
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortification
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/castles/castles-through-time/
https://www.twinkl.jp/parenting-wiki/castle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatine_Hill