As we can easily see, this was not a simple cloister in the ordinary sense, but rather one of those great seats of civilization which during the early Middle Ages kept alive and spread abroad whatever culture existed in the world. Such an establishment embraced a completely organized social system, and we must think of the region immediately surround ing it as occupied and cultivated by settlers who sought the protection or instruction thus afforded, and of the country beyond as consisting of interminable wildernesses penetrated at wide intervals by high roads, which here and there passed some nobleman's castle or an imperial domain, and which led to the cities along the Rhine, to those south of the Danube, or to whatever others owed their origin to ancient Roman colonies.
Under the shadow of the castles and palaces we find the villages of the peasants, who had already begun to give up their liberty in order to enjoy protection against the numerous freebooters. Houses of stone occasionally occurred on the imperial demesnes. The castles still consisted of wood and were surrounded by a fence; they were usually constructed on heights, but if no such favorable site could be had, a place surrounded by water, or even a marshy district, was selected.
Castles.—We shall not undertake to trace the growth of these estab lishments. In the eleventh century the principal edifices and fortifications were constructed of stone; in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries their peculiar characteristics were fully developed. The Wartburg (pl. 39, jig.
4), recently so admirably reconstructed according to the original plan, serves as a.0 excellent example of the architecture employed in the more important castles.
The main building of every castle and the real dwelling of its lord was the Pa/as, a term of the same origin as our word palace. It was therefore more solidly built and more richly elaborated, and generally an entire story was occupied by a large banquet-hall (No. 1 in our plan). Entirely separated from the abode of her husband, in accordance with old Teutonic custom, was the Kemenate (derived from caminzts, a furnace, and so called from its possessing a heating apparatus), the dwelling of the lady of the castle and her immediate attendants, the most favored of whom were per mitted to share the apartment of their mistress, and hence these attend ants were called collectively the " women's chamber " (F)-auenrimmeq (No. 2). The Wartburg contained another house (No. 5), provided with a heater; this house, called the Dirnitz, was reserved for the landgrave; it was built by Frederick the Bitten in 1319 on the site of the ancient chapel, which he had removed to the Palas.
Originally, the defences of a castle consisted, besides the foundation walls, only of the so-called Bergfria'. This was perhaps at first, as the
name indicates, merely a strong enclosure, but afterward developed into a tower accessible only from the first story, in which, as well as in its upper stories, means of defence were provided. The last spot of refuge for the besieged lay in the entirely enclosed ground-floor, beneath which were the dungeons. In the Wartburg this tower (No. 6) is united to the h'enzenate, but the latter is easily recognized as a later addition. Another tower (No. 8) was erected on the south side of this large castle.
The entrance constituted an equally essential part of the defences. It generally consisted of an outer and an inner gate, which in the more com plete structures were each flanked by side-towers provided with a strong portcullis and approached by a drawbridge. No. 4 marks the position of the inner gate between the Dirnita and the Kernenate; the drawbridge of the outer one is at No. 16. The space between the two gates, enclosed in every case by walls of its own, served in time of war to shelter the retain ers of the castle; in time of peace it was either cultivated or used as a pleasu re-ground.
In the Wartburg a part of the outer court was occupied by the so-called "knights' house" (No. 3), intended for the entertainment of guests, and by servants' quarters (No. 11). The stables (No. io) stood opposite the Palas in the inner court. Visitors usually rode up to the stairs of the banquet-hall, where grooms took charge of their horses. No. 9 indicates the cistern; No. 7, a third court, formed by two walls extending from the cistern: a bath-house, with which all superior houses were supplied, was connected with the Palas. No. 12, we may remark, is the room famous as having been the abode of Luther.
The Wartburg, though constructed on a far larger scale than the old feudal castle, displays the same characteristics in ground-plan (p1. 39, fig. 4) An interesting parallel is furnished by the imperial castle of Nurem berg (fig. 2), the first foundation of which dates from the eleventh century. No. t designates the castle proper, which was built on a rocky eminence. The principal part of the extreme left, corresponding to the Palas, was the residence of the emperor during his visits to Nuremberg; the wings, which were added later, were occupied by the castellan and the imperial prefect. No. 2 is a deep well in the fore-court. No. 4 is a double chapel, probably built by Frederick I., which is most interesting as a piece of architecture. Adjoining it is a tower (No. 12), which, from a misinterpretation of its decorations, has been called the " pagan tower " (11e/do/M/17-m).