User talk:Richard Nevell/Sandbox

Feedback on text for Castle

Well, first impressions are that the text is basically good but, if it errs, it errs on the side of underplaying the effect of castles as part of controlling local people. In Britain the role of castles was to enforce Norman rule over Britain. Thus intimidation of the local populations was a 'must'. The ring of castles built at the bidding of Edward I mostly round the coastline of Wales (supplied by ships) is an example. I would make this point with the illustration of Conway Castle, which really is intimidating. I would put your Holt Castle video lower down. It does not make the essential point about intimidation.

A second point is the way so many castles were built on high points to increase their psychological effect and increase the difficulty of attack. One sees this most clearly in continental Europe: castles on the Rhine for example. You have taken away the Lichtenstein example, but it (or an alternative) needs to be there to make the point about how difficult it is to attack uphill. Mont Saint-Michel makes the point, and there may be better examples.

In Tuscany the towns are all built on mounds over the fertile countryside below. They are walled towns which have often been assaulted by neighbouring cities. Some of them kept their independence for hundreds of years by being difficult to over-run. I see En wiki on 'seige' has a heading "The necessity of city walls". Very true. I think some kind of connection between castles and walled towns is suitable.

Your graphic of a siege is good art but bad reality. I see our article on siege is rather short and weak. Overall, your version is an improvement on the previous, but I expect you will turn over some of these points in your mind, and make changes in so far as you think the points are well grounded. Macdonald-ross (talk) 08:06, 21 July 2018 (UTC)

Thanks Macdonald-ross, your feedback is very much appreciated. With the images, you make a good point about the 15th-century illustration and the position of the video. I've shuffled the video down and will think about what would make a good lead image. With the 15th-century illustration, I've expanded the caption to acknowledge that it's not literally accurate, and to highlight the interesting bits.

I dropped Lichtenstein because it was built in the 19th century. You're absolutely right that we should be showing castles on hilltops, so I've reused the image of Château de Montségur in the en.wp article. I've added a bit about the height of castles to the 'where to find them' section, but should add a bit more detail. Your comment about controlling the local people has got me thinking: maybe I should add a section on why they were built. I'll think it over and see what might work. At the very least I should add some text on how they were used for control. Thanks again, Richard Nevell (talk) 22:53, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

I've added a bit more about castles being used for control and intimidation, and copied the text over to the main article. There's room for improvement of course, but hopefully it gives a reasonably rounded summary. Richard Nevell (talk) 23:00, 23 July 2018 (UTC)