Name: _______________
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Castles and William the Conqueror
Directions: Fill in each blank with the word that best completes the reading comprehension.
There had been castles and other types of fortifications in Europe at least since the time of the
Roman Empire, but it was William the Conqueror who began building (1) ___________ in a big way.
When he invaded and conquered England in 1066, he wanted to make sure that the lands he took over
stayed his. So, he built castles all over the country. He also gave large pieces of land to his most loyal
knights and lords. He allowed those knights and lords to build castles on their land. In return, they
promised to govern their land for the king.
The country was securely under his control, but there were still a few problems with the castles.
Attackers kept (2) _______________________ down his wooden castle walls and even his wooden
towers. If a castle wasn't (3) _______________________ down, the wood started to rot from the damp
English climate.
So, William set out on an even more ambitious (4) _______________________ of castle building.
He began to build stone keep castles across England. Sometimes, he replaced the old wooden keep with
a sturdy stone one. Sometimes, he built a whole new castle.
Stone keep castles were far superior to the old castles. Built of solid stone and lasted for centuries;
some of them still stand today. With their thick stone walls, stone castles were built to
(5) _______________________ any missiles that an attacker might throw at it. Stone keep castles
could also be built taller. This made them better observation (6) ___________________ , since people
inside the castle could see the (7) _______________________ approaching from far away. This gave
them more time to prepare their (8) _______________________ . Stone keep castles could also be
built larger. More people could live inside, and the activities that took place inside the castle wall could
be expanded.
These castles did have a few disadvantages. When the castle was under attack, the residents were all
(9) _______________________ inside, so the castle always needed a large
(10) _______________________ of food and a good (11) _______________________ of water.
Running out of either could be (12) _______________________ .
The keep was the sturdiest part of the castle. Its walls were anywhere from eight feet thick to as much
as twenty feet thick. The top floor of the keep may have been the observation post; below that was the
living area for the lord and his family. The ground floor would have been headquarters for soldiers and
servants. Below that may have been a (13) _________________, a medieval jail. As an added safety
feature, ladders used to enter the keep could be pulled up at the first sign of trouble.
The wall surrounding the main part of the castle was called the curtain wall. It was shorter than the
tower and not as thick, but still a formidable (14) _______________________ . At each corner of the
wall, there may have been a tower, a good place for more lookouts and more soldiers.
A massive wooden gate at the entrance was kept barred for safety, but it was still one of the most
(15) _______________________ points in the castle's defenses. A drawbridge across the moat
provided another layer of (16) _______________________ at the gate for many castles, since it could
be pulled up to prevent unwanted visitors from crossing the moat.
Crossing the moat wasn't the only problem faced by forces trying to attack a castle. They would also
be facing arrows and other missiles fired from inside the castle. Castle walls had specially designed
arrow slits from which archers inside the castle could shoot without worrying about being hit by
(17) _______________________ arrows. Some castles also had murder holes from which boiling
liquids could be poured on attackers who made it to the wall.
One of the stone keep castles that William the Conqueror built was in the city of London. The stone
keep of his castle still stands today and is known as the White Tower at the Tower of London. The
Tower of London has been enlarged and improved many times since the days of William the Conqueror,
and it is now one of London's most famous landmarks. As it was in the days of William the Conqueror,
the Tower of London is still a symbol of England's (18) _______________________ monarchs.