Lowland castle

The term lowland castle or plains castle (German: Niederungsburg, Flachlandburg or Tieflandburg) describes a type of castle based that is situated on a lowland, plain or valley floor, as opposed to one built on higher ground such as a hill spur. In Germany, about 34 percent of all castles (Burgen) are of the lowland type.

Because lowland castles do not have the defensive advantage of a site on higher ground, sites are chosen that are easy to defend, taking advantage, for example, of rivers, islands in lakes or marshes. Where such natural obstacles do not exist, artificially similar obstacles take on added significance. These include water-filled or dry moats, ramparts, palisades and curtain walls. In order to increase the height of the castle above the surrounding terrain, artificial earth mounds may be built (such as mottes), and fortified towers also fulfil this purpose.

Castles of the Early Middle Ages (including Slavic and Saxon castles) often had a narrow, deep ditch and high and steep earth ramparts.

Castle

A castle (from Latin: castellum) is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a palace, which is not fortified; from a fortress, which was not always a residence for nobility; and from a fortified settlement, which was a public defence – though there are many similarities among these types of construction. Usage of the term has varied over time and has been applied to structures as diverse as hill forts and country houses. Over the approximately 900 years that castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls and arrowslits, were commonplace.

A European innovation, castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. These nobles built castles to control the area immediately surrounding them, and were both offensive and defensive structures; they provided a base from which raids could be launched as well as protection from enemies. Although their military origins are often emphasised in castle studies, the structures also served as centres of administration and symbols of power. Urban castles were used to control the local populace and important travel routes, and rural castles were often situated near features that were integral to life in the community, such as mills and fertile land.

Castle (disambiguation)

Castles are fortified residences built in Europe and the Middle East in the Middle Ages.

Castle or Castles may refer to:

Places

Entertainment

The Castle (video game)

The Castle is an MSX game released by ASCII Corporation in 1986. The game is set within a castle containing 100 rooms, most of which contain one or more puzzles. The object of the game is to navigate through the Castle to rescue the Princess. The player can push certain objects throughout the game to accomplish progress. In some rooms, the prince can only advance to the next room by aligning cement blocks, Honey Jars, Candle Cakes, and Elevator Controlling Block. Additionally, the player's progress is blocked by many doors requiring a key of the same color to unlock, and a key is removed from the player's inventory upon use. The prince must be standing on a platform next to the door to be able to unlock it, and cannot simply jump or fall and press against the door. The player can navigate the castle with the help of a map that can be obtained early in the game. The map will provide the player with a matrix of 10x10 rooms and will highlight the room in which the princess is located and the rooms that he had visited. The player must also avoid touching enemies like Knights, Bishops, Wizards, Fire Spirits, Attack Cats and Phantom Flowers.

Upland and lowland

Upland and lowland are conditional identification of elevation which are part of general geographic term of plain.

In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland and lowland.

Definitions

Upland and lowland are portions of plain that are conditionally categorized by their elevation above the sea level. Lowlands are usually no higher than 200 m (660 ft), while uplands are somewhere around 200 m (660 ft) to 500 m (1,600 ft). On rare occasions, certain lowlands such as Caspian Depression lay below the sea level.

Upland habitats are cold, clear, rocky, fast-flowing rivers in mountainous areas; lowland habitats are warm, slow-flowing rivers found in relatively flat lowland areas, with water that is frequently coloured by sediment and organic matter.

These classifications overlap with the geological definitions of "upland" and "lowland". In geology an "upland" is generally considered to be land that is at a higher elevation than the alluvial plain or stream terrace, which are considered to be "lowlands". The term "bottomland" refers to low-lying alluvial land near a river.

Lowland (disambiguation)

Lowland, Lowlands, or The Lowlands may refer to:

Geography

Europe

North America