The Lost Fort
My Travel and History Blog, Focussing mostly on Roman and Mediaeval Times
Unifinshed Perfection - The Architecture of Beaumaris Castle
When work on Beaumaris Castle was finally abandoned in 1330, the curtain walls had been completed and all towers raised to battlement level at least. The inner towers were supposed to have an additional storey and should have been crowned by turrets the way you can see in Caernarfon and Conwy, but that was never done. The harbour was dug out as well as part of the moat. The southern barbican had been completed (but not the gate house). The northern gate house was completed to the first floor, and some of the interior buildings, including the chapel, may have been finished, too, though little remains of them today.
Beaumaris Castle, both curtain walls seen from the moat
But when William de Emeldon, chancellor of the exchequer of Ireland surveyed several Welsh castles after Edward the Black Prince was invested as Prince of Wales in 1343, things didn't look too good in Beaumaris. The chamber above the sea gate was dilapidated, roofs were lacking in several towers and the chambers below therefore ruinous, the chapel tower needed to be completed, the kitchen was unuseable, parts of the battlement had fallen down, and the southern gate house was in bad repair; the twin towers flanking the northern gate house needed their staircases to be completed. William estimated the most important repairs to cost £ 685. We don't know if any of the suggested repairs had been undertaken. Read more »
Edward Longshanks and the Welsh Rebels - The History of Beaumaris Castle in Wales
In 1282, King Edward I was done with rebellious Welsh princes and Welsh risings which had plagued his predecessors ever sind William the Conquerer put a foot west of the Dee and Severn (1). He staged a massive invasion that led to the conquest of northern Wales, in particular the Principality of Gwynedd. Part of King Edward's domination was to build a ring of castles in northern Wales: Caernarfon, Conwy, Harlech, and Beaumaris on Anglesey.
Beaumaris was built on the plain with no geological restrictions upon its layout and therefore follows the 13th century pattern of a Norman castle to perfection. But it was never finished due to financial problems. What we can see today is more or less what the castle looked like since 1396, minus some timber structures and roofs.
Beaumaris Castle, the moat and outer curtain wall
The history of Llywellyn ap Gruffudd's rise in Wales, and King Edward I's conquest deserve a longer post. But to put the construction of Edward's Welsh castles in context, here is a short summary of the events. (With lots of photos - Beaumaris was presenting itself at its best in the summer sunshine.) Read more »
Shiny Things from Viking Times - The Gold Treasure of Hiddensee: The Craftmanship
As promised, here is the second post about the Hiddensee Gold Treasure where I'll take a closer look at the pieces, the craftmanship involved in creating them, and the cultural context in which they were created.
Hiddensee Treasure, the ring
Rings of all sizes are a well-known feature in Mediaeval Scandinavian culture where kings were known as 'ring givers'. Those rings were usually arm rings or neck rings and served as payment as well as decoration (some rings that have been found show that material has been hacked off (1)). Surely, the art was valued, but more so the material. Older jewelry has often been melted down to create new pieces - the whole set of Hiddensee was made of re-used gold (2). Viking goldsmiths were pretty skilled at separating the various metals from an alloy, which explains the high purity of the Hiddensee gold of ~ 97%. Read more »
The Lost Fort is a travel and history blog based on my journeys in Germany, Great Britain, Scandinavia, the Baltic Countries, and central Europe. It includes virtual town and castle tours with a focus on history, essays on Roman and Mediaeval history, hiking tours, and photography.
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- Name: Gabriele Campbell
- Location: Goettingen, Germany
I'm a blogger from Göttingen, Germany, with a MA in Literature and History, interested in everything Roman and Mediaeval, avid reader and sometimes writer, opera enthusiast, traveller with a liking for foreign languages and odd rocks, photographer, and tea aficionado. And an old-fashioned blogger who refuses to get an Instagram account.
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Historical Places
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Bad Sooden-Allendorf
Historical Town and Graduation Tower
Bruchteiche Reservoir
Binz
A Seaside Resort
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Lion Benches in the Castle Square
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Bremerhaven
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Lübeck
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Church of Our Lady: History
Mainz
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Speyer
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Trier
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Hanstein
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A Welfen Seat
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Between Welfen and Staufen
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A Secret Mistress
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Lorsch
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Scharzfeld (Harz)
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Vintage Car Museum, Wolfsburg
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Summer Tour 2016
England
Northumbria Tour
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Tour on the Ouise River
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Scotland Tour
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Denmark Tour, Part 1 /
Part 2
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Baltics Tour, Part 1 /
Part 2
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Baltics Tour, Part 1 /
Part 2
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Riga
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Lithuania Tour, Part 1 /
Part 2
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Czechia Tour
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Poland Tour
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Kraków
The Old Town
Jewish Kraków - Kazimierz and the Ghetto
Wrocław / Breslau
The Botanical Garden
The Wrocław Dwarfs
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Ogrodzieniec Castle
A Virtual Tour
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Belgium
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Antwerp
The Old Town
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Ghent
Medieval Ghent
Tongeren
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Atuatuca Tungrorum / Tongeren
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Luxembourg
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A Tour of the Town
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Strasbourg (France)
A Tour of the Town
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Impressions from the Neva River
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Germany
Baltic Sea Coast
Flensburg Firth
Impressions from Rugia
Rugia: Flint Fields
Rugia: Jasmund Peninsula and Kap Arkona
Rugia: The Pier of Sellin
A Tour on the Wakenitz River
Lüneburg Heath
Hiking in the Lüneburg Heath
Harz National Park
A Collection of Tours
Arboretum Bad Grund / Hübichenstein
Bode Valley and Rosstrappe Cliff
Daneil's Cave
Devil's Wall
Ilse Valley and Ilse's Rock
Klus Rock
Lonau Falls
Oderteich Reservoir
Rappbode Reservoir
Rhume Springs
Southern Harz Karst
National Park Hainich
Oberderdorla and Hainich National Park
Nature Park Meissner-Kaufunger Wald
Blue Dome near Eschwege
Hiking in the Meissner
Hessian Switzerland
Rossbach Heath
Salt Springs at the Werra
Nature Park Reinhardswald
Old Forest at the Sababurg
Nature Park Solling-Vogler
The Forest Pasture Project
Hannover Cliffs
Raised Bog Mecklenbruch
Pretty Places in Göttingen
Spring in the Parks of Göttingen
Winter Impressions
Rivers and Lakes
Autumn at Werra/Weser
The Danube in Spring
Edersee Reservoir
A Rainy Rhine Cruise
Vineyards at Saale/Unstrut
Weser River Ferry
Weser Skywalk
Wildlife
Zoo am Meer Bremerhaven
Harz Falcon Park
Ozeaneum Stralsund: Baltic Sea Life
Ozeaneum Stralsund: North Sea Life
Red squirrels
Fossils and Rocks
Fossilized Ammonites
Baltic Countries
Baltic Sea Cruise
Lithuania
Beaches at the Curonian Spit
Geology of the Curonian Spit
Central Europe
Fossils and Rocks
Loket Meteorite (Czechia)
Great Britain
The East Coast
By Ferry to Newcastle
Impressions from the East Coast
Scottish Sea Shores
Crossing to Mull
Mull: Craignure to Fionnphort
Dunollie and Kilchurn
Highland Mountains: Inverness to John o'Groats
Pentland Firth
Staffa
Summer in Oban
Scotland by Train
West Highland Railway
Wildlife
Sea Gulls
Scandinavia
The
Hurtigruten-Tour
A Voyage into Winter
Light and Shadows
Other Norway Cruises
Fjords of South-Western Norway
Norway by Train
From Oslo to Bergen
From Trondheim to Oslo
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Bearded Seals
Dog Sledding With Huskies
Eagles and Gulls in the Trollfjord
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Photo Parade 2023
Photo Parade 2024
Medieval History
Medieval Life
Warfare
Trebuchets
Late Medieval Swords
Medieval Art
The Choir Screen in the Cathedral of Mainz
The Gospels of Heinrich the Lion
The Hunting Frieze in Königslutter Cathedral
Medieval Monster Carvings
The Viking Treasure of Hiddensee
Craftmanship
Goldsmithery
Medical Instruments
The Hanseatic League
History of the Hanseatic League
Introduction and Beginnings
Hanseatic Architecture
Examples of Brick Architecture
Hall Houses (Dielenhäuser)
Goods and Trade
Stockfish Trade
Towns of the Hanseatic League
Riga
Stralsund
Tallinn / Reval
The Order of the Teutonic Knights
The Northern Crusades
The Conquest of Danzig
The Siege of Vilnius 1390
Vikings
Viking Material Culture
The Viking Treasure of Hiddensee
Viking Ships
The Nydam Ship
Germany
Geneaology
List of Medieval German Emperors
Anglo-German Marriage Connections
Kings and Emperors
The Salian Dynasty
King Heinrich IV
Staufen against Welfen
Emperor Otto IV
Princes and Lords
House Welfen
Heinrich the Lion's Ancestors
The Dukes of Braunschweig-Grubenhagen
Otto I of Braunschweig-Göttingen
The Landgraves of Thuringia
The Ludowing Landgraves of Thuringia
Albrecht II and Friedrich I of Thuringia
Dukes and Princes of other Families
Prince Wilhelm Malte of Putbus
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The Marshals of Ebersburg
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The Lords of Plesse
The Counts of Reichenbach
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Otto IV and Bishop Adalbert II of Magdeburg
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The Lüneburg Succession War
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The Star Wars
Great Britain
Kings of England
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Richard Lionheart in Speyer
King Henry IV's Lithuanian Crusade
Normans, Britons, Angevins
Great Noble Houses
The Dukes of Brittany
The Earls of Richmond
Kings of Scots
House Dunkeld
Malcolm III and Northumbria
Struggle for the Throne: Malcolm III to David I
King David and the Civil War, 1
King David and the Civil War, 2
Houses Bruce and Stewart
The Early Stewart Kings
Welsh Princes
The Princes of Gwynedd
The Rise of House Aberffraw
Scotland and England
The Wars of Independence
Alexander of Argyll
The Fight for Stirling Castle
Wales and England
A History of Rebellion
Llywellyn ap Gruffudd to Owain Glyn Dŵr
Scandinavia
Kings of Denmark
House Knýtlinga
Harald Bluetooth's Flight to Pomerania
Kings of Norway
Foreign Relations
King Eirik's Scottish Marriages
King Håkon V's Swedish Politics
Beginnings of the Kalmar Union
Danish Rule in the Baltic Sea
The Duchy of Estonia
Danish Kings and German Sword Brothers
Feuds and Rebellions
Alv Erlingsson of Tønsberg
Livonia and Lithuania
(Livonia: Latvia and Estonia)
Lithuanian Princes
The Geminid Dynasty
Troublesome Cousins - Jogaila and Vytautas
The Northern Crusades
The Wars in Lithuania
The Siege of Vilnius 1390
Conflicts in Livonia
The History of Riga
The History of Reval (Tallinn)
Poland
Royal Dynasties
The Jagiełłonian Kings
Władysław Jagiełło and the Polish-Lithuanian Union
The Northern Crusades
The Conquest of Pomerania and Prussia
The Conquest of Danzig
Bohemia
Royal Dynasties
The Bohemian Kings of House Luxembourg
King Sigismund and the Hussite Wars
Luxembourg
House Luxembourg
King Sigismund
Roman History
The Romans at War
Forts and Fortifications
The German Limes
The Cavalry Fort Aalen
Limes Fort Osterburken
Limes Fort Saalburg
The Hadrian's Wall
Introduction
The Fort at Segedunum / Wallsend
Border Life
Exercise Halls
Mile Castles and Watch Towers
Soldiers' Living Quarters
Cavalry Barracks
Campaigns and Battles
Maps
The Romans in Germania
The Pre-Varus Invasion in Germania
Roman Camp Hedemünden
New Finds in 2008
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Museum Park at Kalkriese
The Battle at the Harzhorn
Introduction
The Batavian Rebellion
A Short Introduction
Roman Militaria
Armour
Early Imperial Helmets
Late Roman Helmets
The Negau B Helmet
Weapons
Weapon Finds at Hedemünden
The pilum
Daggers
Swords
Other Equipment
Roman Saddles
Infrastructure
Roman River Transport
Roman Life and Religion
Religion and Public Life
Religion
Curse Tablets and Good Luck Charms
Isis Worship
Memorial Stones
The Mithras Cult
Domestic Life
Roman
villae
Villa Urbana Longuich
Villa Rustica Wachenheim
Everyday Life
Bathing Habits
Children's Toys
Face Pots
Other Times
Neolithicum to Iron Age
Germany
Development of Civilisation
European Bread Museum, Ebergötzen
The Hutewald Project in the Solling
Open Air Museum Oerlinghausen
Neolithic Remains
Stone Burials of the Funnelbeaker Culture
The Necropolis of Oldendorf
Bronze Age / Iron Age
The Nydam Ship
Scotland
Neolithic Orkney
The Neolithic Landscape of Orkney
Ring of Brodgar
Skara Brae
Life in Skara Brae
Bronze Age / Iron Age
Clava Cairns
The Brochs of Gurness and Midhowe - Their Function in Iron Age Society
Scandinavia
Bronze Age / Iron Age
The Ship Setting of Gnisvärd / Gotland
Post-Medieval History
Development of Technologies
Otto von Guericke and the Magdeburg Hemispheres
Attempts at Raising the Vasa Wreck
History of the Zoo am Meer, Bremerhaven
Explorers
Fram Expedition to the North Pole
Fram Expedition to the South Pole
Arts and Literature
The Weimar Classicism
