Urban castle

An urban castle (

medieval town or city or is integrated into its fortifications

In most cases, the town or city grew up around or alongside the castle (for example in Halle, Brunswick and Prague), or the castle was built in order to reinforce the defences within or as part of the line of fortification ringing the settlement as, for example, at Erfurt.

Definitions

Creighton draws a distinction between the 'urban castle', where the castle is built in or onto an existing town, and the 'castle borough', "where a primary castle attracts a secondary borough or the two are planned together,"^[1] although he acknowledges that the division between the two is not always clear-cut.

Instrument of sovereign power

The urban castle was also used as an instrument of power, for example by

city wall so that the lord could enter the castle from the fields outside unhindered by the citizens and, through another gateway in the castle walls facing the city, could leave the castle and enter the city.^{[citation needed}

]

Examples

Austria

high mediaeval
urban castle.

Czech Republic

Prague Castle in Prague

Germany

There are examples of urban castles in:

Electoral Cologne Stadtburg (designed as a water castle
) as an instrument of power

fortified city

Esslingen am Neckar: the original outposts on the Schönenberg were gradually incorporated into the town fortifications through the construction of branching walls (Schenkelmauern). Due to the geological situation there, the cost was very high.
Feuchtwangen in Bavaria still has, in the remains of its town walls, a picturesque link to the site of Little Ottingen Castle (Öttingischen Schlösschen), a former water castle, which juts out from the otherwise circular town wall. Later a small hunting lodge was built on the site
Friedberg in Hesse has an imperial castle

Horn-Bad Meinberg in North Rhine-Westphalia has Horn Castle, a castle built into the town's defences
Nuremberg: the double castle is incorporated into the city wall
Schlitz
in Hesse, one of the best-known examples of urban castles in Germany with four castles.
Warburg has Wartberch Castle.
Weißenstein with the old castle of Schloss Weißenstein

Ethiopia

Emperor Fasilides' Castle (part of the Fasil Ghebbi complex) in Gondar

Finland

Turku Castle in Finland

Hungary

Buda Castle in Budapest
Sárospatak Castle in Sárospatak

Poland

Wawel
fortified complex of the Kraków Old Town)

Romania

Brașov Old Town Fortress, Brașov

Slovakia

Bratislava Castle in Bratislava (fortified site history preceding adjacent city)
Trenčín Castle in Trenčín
Nitra Castle in Nitra (parallel evolution of the castle and the city since the early Middle Ages)
Old Castle (Starý zámok) in Banská Štiavnica (secondary Old Town development, late Middle Ages)
New Castle (Nový zámok) in Banská Štiavnica (secondary Old Town development, Renaissance)
Kremnica Castle in Kremnica (secondary Old Town development, late Middle Ages)
Podolínec Castle in Podolínec
Kežmarok Castle in Kežmarok