If a moat is created and filled with water or connected to a river through artificial channels or is lake adjacent still a moat the purpose of it is to be a deterrent a defense during siege . Also artificial lakes exist also moats can dry up depending on seasons that doesn’t mean its purpose was to be filled with water .
Some castles had ditches but tons of them had fully functional moats some of them with a drawbridge others with a fixed bridge with water flow or drains and all sorts of structures outside or inside the moat . Barbicans existed for the main purpose of having deterrents before the moat some of them had barbicans with battlement walls.
Idk what’s going on in this subreddit but you guys need help.
by theh0veringeye
30 Comments
Guess I’m out of the loop, what the heck is up with all these moat posts?
We are in the midst of Moat-Gate.
Historians, take copious notes for löre purposes.
A bucket with water in it isn’t a puddle.
A ditch is always more effective when it’s full of water, but you gotta take what you can get sometimes.
Question since moats actually did exist how did they handle what the AI post claimed was the reason moats didn’t actually exist; that a stagnant body of water surrounding your house would be a literal nightmare
That dude should be banned from this community just for the castle slander, one simply does not slander the coolest parts of the middle ages
The MacNeil clan must have spent a long time digging [this ditch](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gps-cs-s/APNQkAH2Wafu_G2lXIxrIrGwQN_4BNIK7HNm5q8M4ntII-Sa9yyFVvDrqs4CpPm8JvY4dM-YwdXI7AM221MfbiPePsBfVddWvm5yQjCDZTXccPHvR-_G7A1D983af_xyw8ogZ3sf_4qmyA=s1504-w822-h1504-rw)
Jesus. Castles varied wildly in terms of size, materials and complexity due to the socioeconomical status of the family that owned them, the region, the age they were being built (or upgraded) etc.
Most of the castles that we see surviving today were usually the top notch of the region, whith their respective aristocratic families or whoever occupying them up to the victorian age and sometimes turning them into palaces. Those were the ones that would have moats with water, because they needed some sort of filtration system or be connected to a river to avoid stagnation.
So, can we all agree that while yes, in medieval times moats with water did indeed exist, most were just dry moats for cheaper price and easier maintenance?
Ngl I haven’t seen people claim that wet moats don’t exist
This entire moat ditch drama is the best thing I’ve seen in this sub. I want to thank to all the posters of truth, and also thank to the troll that posted the ditches image.
This is the battle I need today
Some did, some didn’t, depends on a castle. Majority of Bohemian castles didn’t have moats filled with water for example, because they were on top of hills, and that doesn’t really work
Moats and ditches really have people riled up lately.
“but standing water bad” MFS when they find out about aqautic plants, bugs, fish, ducks and geese
For curiosity, which castles are shown in the pictures?
Well how is it? Was every moat in Europe a deep ditch or a water filled moat?
This post doesn’treally disprove anything. Those are all castles that have been renovated to look like they once did, and they likely had moats that were similar enough, but those are exceptions. Most castle moats were, in fact, ditches. However, most were also connected to a body of water, so were unlikely to have been completely stagnant.
That being said, if the pro ditch moat people meant the were NO non-ditch moats, that’s obviously bs.
Just the idea the one guy said of the moats all being stagnant water was hilarious to me. Understanding irrigation and water redirection were key aspects of survival in medieval times. They built fucking castles, you think they didn’t have any grasp on how to engineer a primitive hydro system?
Might not look like what you would picture today, but a lot of primitive hydroengineering was literally just digging ditches at the right place.
We having a definition war about moats now?
I immediately take your side in this simply because you didn’t use dogshit ai to make your image
Sure, OP. I bet next you’re going to tell me that most knights were actually massive douchebags who war-crimed for the lols.
I’m gonna need the name of each of those castles.
Who are you arguing with, OP?
Ha ha ha! You fools! You think castles are real? What’s next, you think that Rome existed?
Well, I want a moat filled with either lava or blood. And no I don’t care to know the consequences.
Moot point or moat point?
Someone should make a post about how mountain based castles are superior
The still water argument is stupid. Bunch of nice ponds in my area that are clean and have fish in em and stuff.
I’m glad I learned what “riverine” means at least
Yo, I seriously didn’t realize that most castles I see in movies are real castles.