Under feudalism, monarchs gave much of their land to their strongest nobles as fiefs (estates) in return for the nobles' commitments to provide warriors on horseback (knights) to combat the invaders. Since governments were powerless to deal with these invasions, a new political and military system called feudalism evolved to meet these threats. The third group of invaders, the Vikings or Norsemen, were the most dangerous because their shallow-draft ships allowed them to sail far up the major rivers of Europe, leaving few areas safe from their murderous raids, which culminated in the tenth century. The Magyars attacked from eastern Europe, carrying out their incursions from the late ninth century to the 950s. Islamic forces known as the Saracens took Spain and pushed far into France before being turned back at the Battle of Poitiers (732 or 733), but remained a threat to Italy and southern France. As monarchies such as the Frankish kingdoms grew weaker, outside invaders began to penetrate into the heart of western Europe. Trade with the eastern Mediterranean world withered, leaving governments in the West with no money to spend maintaining expensive fortifications around the decaying urban centers. With the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, urban society collapsed in western Europe people deserted cities for rural communities. Defenders, however, found ways to counter each of these methods of attack. Machines were invented to assist in assaults: towers that could be rolled against the walls and artillery such as catapults to hurl missiles over them. Over time, attackers developed techniques to penetrate these fortifications, ranging from scaling the walls with ladders, to tunneling under them, or using rams to batter them down. The purpose of these defensive walls was to protect the public they were group strongholds. In the ancient world cities were often fortified, especially if they were vulnerable to attack by outside forces. However, by the end of the thirteenth century they had lost their military, political, and social significance and were being abandoned. For several centuries, castles played a crucial role in European history. The evolution of the castle coincided with the emergence of a new political system called feudalism. ![]() Not until the late tenth century, when the first castles were built in western Europe, did a substantive change occur in the construction of fortifications. ![]() ![]() Their design remained unaltered for almost four thousand years. Walled fortifications began with the founding of the first cities in the ancient world.
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