An illustrated, behind the scenes look at medieval castles and how they combined two purposes, a weapon of war and a home for an entire community. Using the beautiful construction of a medieval castle at Guedelon as the starting point for each chapter, the book takes each section of the building itself to explain its design, construction and how it was used and lived in. Using images and techniques learned at the site, step-by-step photographs reveal the ancient skills of stone working, carpentry, dying, rope making, milling and many more, while the text discusses the similarities with other impressive medieval castles from the same period.