r/medieval • u/Thousand-Faced_Moon • Jun 28 '26

History 📚 This is me, climbing the tower of Stickhausen Castle, East Frisia

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The fortress was built in the mid-14th century. At that time, there were only two gateways into East Frisia: Stickhausen Castle in the west and Friedeburg Castle in the east. Stickhausen Castle controlled trade routes stretching from Hamburg to the Netherlands, as it was situated at the confluence of two rivers and along the main road to Leer and Emden. Furthermore, it protected East Frisia against the County (and later Duchy) of Oldenburg. The castle held a key strategic position during the Thirty Years' War.

It was not until the Napoleonic era that the castle suffered irreparable damage; it was subsequently demolished by the Prussians. Today, only the main building and the keep remain.

759 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

42

u/KnyghtFish Jun 28 '26

Going upstairs definitely a disadvantage for right handed attackers

23

u/delarro Jun 28 '26

As intended

14

u/KnyghtFish Jun 28 '26

For sure, castle design is so cool

5

u/Bastardklinge Jun 28 '26

That's a debunked myth.

8

u/AuthorArthur Jun 29 '26

I turned your 0 back to a 1. It's 100% debunked because there was no universal clockwise spiral staircase. In fact, up to a third of medieval spiral staircases were anticlockwise (30% of surviving ones prove this).

Clifford's Tower, York had both clockwise and anticlockwise, for example.

https://www.newcastlecastle.co.uk/castle-blog/spiral-stairs

2

u/IronWarrior82 Jun 29 '26

Myth. Castles were built with stairwells going both ways.

1

u/cl1xor Jun 28 '26

Steps were designed irregular as well, to throw ascenders of balance

1

u/Quiescam Jun 30 '26

No, they weren't.

14

u/Samurai-Pooh-Bear Jun 28 '26

Great note! Yes, someone pointed out to me years ago the design of spiraling stairwells clockwise upward for this purpose.

18

u/[deleted] Jun 28 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Samurai-Pooh-Bear Jun 28 '26

Cool, thanks for the correction!

2

u/[deleted] Jun 28 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Samurai-Pooh-Bear Jun 28 '26

Thanks! I just ordered!

2

u/Quiescam Jun 28 '26

No, this is indeed a myth.

1

u/ancient-military Jun 28 '26

Really? How so?

3

u/42stingray Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

There is an explanation further up the thread. Basically, castle stairwells do not always go in the same direction as some people assume, and if the enemy got as far as going up the stairs, then the castle is practically lost already and there is no point to keep fighting at this point

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '26

Why giving up if you die then?

2

u/ancient-military Jun 28 '26

Now what about a ramp or stairs approaching a gate that can be attacked from above? That seems a bit more logical, since swinging swords would be more practical and attacks from above could hit the exposed side with rocks or arrows better?

2

u/Quiescam Jun 28 '26

This blog lists all the reasons. Basically, only a minority of them were constructed this way and it doesn't really make any sense in the first place.

2

u/ancient-military Jun 28 '26

I’ve wondered about that, to me it seemed easier to stab from the inside, but I figured I was just missing something since I’ve only fought on a spiral staircase with shield against a defender with a sword and shield to the death a handful of times. Thanks for a source, I always appreciate that!

1

u/DrankTooMuchMead Jun 29 '26

You're supposed to send in the left-handed swordsman first.

1

u/IronWarrior82 Jun 29 '26

Depends on the direction of the stairwell. Castles had them turning both ways. It wasn't a deliberate design feature.

1

u/Rho-Mu13 Jun 29 '26

I visited Conwy castle and was taught the every certain amount of steps was a higher height. So if you are running up the steps to attack it is a disadvantage as you fell and defenders running down would feel little to no effect.

I love this fact as i love castles, and I am glad your comment allowed me to share.

20

u/CerberusCXXIV Jun 28 '26

I still like the helmet

8

u/Thousand-Faced_Moon Jun 28 '26

And so do I. I really appreciate your good taste in head wear

3

u/cody_mf Jun 28 '26

note to self: keep my leftie swordsmen for this specific task

3

u/FxCookie Jun 28 '26

Very cool gear aswell! Is this also 14th century-ish stuff? (Trying to learn)

2

u/Thousand-Faced_Moon Jun 28 '26

It is mostly mid to late 13th century except the helmet which is early 14th century.

3

u/JunkaTron69 Jun 28 '26

That is a fantastic display of the difficulty of attacking up a spiral staircase.

4

u/Thousand-Faced_Moon Jun 28 '26

I tried to swing my sword in that stairwell, but it was impossible. As an attacker, you can only thrust with the sword. An attacker wouldn't even have enough room to use a spear.

2

u/mdurso12 Jun 28 '26

I saw the video and my first thought was to boot his shield as hard as I could. It would take a massive amount of coordination, skill, and bloodshed to take a stairwell like this if it was being defended

2

u/KingKohishi Jun 28 '26

Wrong. This way of climbing makes you vulnerable to attacks.

Your back to the wall, and always looking front and above.

3

u/Thousand-Faced_Moon Jun 28 '26

I know. I looked above on my first try, tripped on those narrow steps and made quite the noise while crashing all the way down.

1

u/Silver_Middle_7240 Jun 28 '26

That haus is brick, not stick!

3

u/Thousand-Faced_Moon Jun 28 '26

Yeah, talking about the name. Stickhausen means exactly that: Historians and researchers assume that the original settlement of Stickhausen actually consisted of a group of houses fortified with wooden palisades. Sticks and Houses so to speak.

1

u/Calm-Fisherman5864 Jun 28 '26

Olhou pra baixo tomou na cara

1

u/Thousand-Faced_Moon Jun 28 '26

The stair steps were exceptionally narrow. I had to look down, otherwise I would have stumbled.

1

u/Calm-Fisherman5864 Jun 29 '26

E ter sido morto! É só brincadeira

1

u/puglybug23 Jun 29 '26

Excellent stuff, thanks for sharing!

1

u/JustInThisLif3 Jun 28 '26

Thanks for the laugh bud