If you haven’t checked out the Medieval History Lesson I posed yesterday, well its a good place to start for this. I always mention that while many of our lessons are using Minecraft, we also do a lot out of the game too. Do more research than what I’ve given. So in the article linked above, I mentioned that there are 4 types of Medieval castles: Motte and Bailey, Shell Keep, Concentric Castle and the Palace or Royal Quarters.
As you can see, in all 4 types of castles, they are made by stone. The reason being is that they realized wood burns and would not make a good fortress for when enemies attack. They are also all on a hill or cliff to have a high point advantage. Check out English Heritage for more, as well as Wikipedia, which has divided it up by countries. There are Hundreds of castles spanning all over Europe and Asia that were built during the Medieval time period. Here is just some of the most recognizable from all over.
Eltz Castle, Germany
Bran Castle, Romania
Bojinice Castle, Slovakia
Predjama Catsle, Slovenia
Windsor Castle, England
Brunnenburg Castle, Italy
Himeji Castle, Japan
Trakai Island Castle, Lithuania
Oreo Castle, Sweden
Conway Castle, Wales
Guaita Castle, San Marino
Abash of the Udayas, Morocco
Gravensteen Castle, Belgium
Kilkenny Castle, Ireland
Hochasterwitz Castle Austria
Mechrangarh Fort, India
Topkapi Palace, Turkey
Alcazar de Segovia, Spain
Ksiaz Castle, Poland
The Forbidden City, China
Citadel of Carcassonne, France