Scripta Mediaevalia 22
Multiple factors cause ruins. Historically, wars were the great providers, whether for strategic reasons or to strike fear in the heart of the enemy. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the outstanding improvements of artillery make medieval castles especially vulnerable. Most of them had kept their enclosure with high towers. The use of the cast iron ball in the 1480s multiply the ruins and lead to a new type of buried fortifications that no longer looks like a castle – bastions replace the round towers and remove blind spots. Castles are also destroyed to terrorize. The Devastation of the Palatinate decided by Louvois and Louis XIV during the Nines’ Years War is a rather tragic example of this. Heidelberg Castle was bombed twice, in 1689 and 1693, by General Mélac’s forces. (Ph. Loupès)
Anne-Marie Cocula is an Emeritus Professor at Bordeaux Montaigne University and President of the François Mauriac Centre at Malagar.
Michel Combet is an honorary lecturer at the University of Bordeaux - INSPE of Aquitaine.
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