With a range of well over 200 metres, this 'medieval machine gun', could shoot at least six arrows a minute. The most feared English weapon of the Middle Ages was the longbow. Fear of the deadly longbow made later medieval knights abandon their vulnerable horses in battle they fought on foot in complete plate armour, encased from head to toe in shining steel. Weighty chain mail was gradually replaced by lighter yet stronger steel plate armour: the knight in Farleigh Hungerford Castle chapel wears a mixture of the types. So another medieval invention, heraldry, assigned each knight his own unique heraldic 'arms', devices painted on his shield, banner and surcoat to instantly identify him in battle. They wear helmets completely covering their heads, and their faces couldn't be recognised. You can see effigies of 13th-century knights at Furness Abbey. During the following 200 years the open-faced helmets, kite-shaped shields and mail shirts of Norman knights developed into stronger and more elaborate armour. Used to fighting on foot, Harold Godwinson's English army at the Battle of Hastings had never encountered mounted knights before, and despite valiant resistance couldn't withstand them. The arrival of Norman knights in 1066 signalled the start of the medieval period, and over the next 450 years their armour and weapons were ingeniously updated to make them more powerful and less vulnerable fighting machines. Knights - armoured men on horseback - were the most iconic invention of the Middle Ages.
Meanwhile, castle-builders steadily made themselves more comfortable as well as more secure Warkworth Castle's keep contains everything a luxury-loving medieval baron could dream of, from wine-cellars and kitchens to chapel, great hall and bedchambers. Others concentrated on powerful gatehouses like Brougham Castle's, often equipped with portcullises to trap attackers and 'murder-holes' for dropping nasties on their heads. Next they switched to tower-studded outer walls like those at Framlingham Castle, or the two circuits of inner and outer walls which made Dover Castle the strongest fortress in England. Ingenious castle-builders also experimented with innovatively-shaped keeps, as at Conisbrough Castle. Very soon as we see on Totnes Castle's steep-sided mound, stone walls replaced timber palisades, and mighty rectangular stone keeps as at Rochester Castle, made castles stronger and easier to live in. The earliest were cleverly planned for rapid construction - simple earthwork mounds and ditches, defended by palisades of sharp timber stakes. The Normans built the first castles in England.
Medieval people lavished tremendous ingenuity on their design, making them progressively deadlier to attackers and safer and more pleasant for castle-dwellers.
Castles are probably the most famous invention of the Middle Ages.
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