Q 01/05

The word "castle" comes from the Latin castellum, a diminutive of castrum. What does castrum mean?

A) Stone tower

B) Royal hall

C) High hill

D) Fortified place

Answer · why

D) Fortified place

The same root gives French château, Spanish castillo and Italian castello.

Q 02/05

The word "castle" entered English shortly before which event?

A) The Norman Conquest of 1066

B) The Black Death

C) The Wars of the Roses

D) The signing of Magna Carta

Answer · why

A) The Norman Conquest of 1066

The building type itself was new to England at the time; the Anglo-Saxons had fortified towns but not private strongholds.

Q 03/05

In its simplest terms, what is the academic definition of a castle?

A) A royal military garrison

B) A stone tower on a hill

C) A walled market town

D) A private fortified residence

Answer · why

D) A private fortified residence

The private and residential part matters: a castle was a home first, which separates it from a fort or a fortified city.

Q 04/05

In castle terminology, what is a motte?

A) A wooden drawbridge

B) A fortified gatehouse

C) A water-filled ditch

D) An earthen mound with a flat top

Answer · why

D) An earthen mound with a flat top

Raising one is a medieval innovation; ditches and ramparts are ancient, but the artificial mound is not.

Q 05/05

Digging earth to build the mound left a ditch around it. What is that ditch called?

A) A glacis

B) A moat

C) A berm

D) A rampart

Answer · why

B) A moat

It could be wet or dry, and its main job was often to stop attackers tunnelling under the walls rather than to drown anyone.