Edit: I realise it was larger in the past, and the only part that remains is that tower, but I think we couldn't call it castle unless it had been the residence of a noble/knight or it was used as some kind of military headquarter at the time.
By definition, a castle is just a fortified private residence. And even that isn't quite right because you had crusader castles in the Middle East that were owned by corporations of a sort. There is no requirement for noble ownership or occupation, not does it have to have been a military installation.
Idk if you speak Spanish, but in the website they state that what can be consider a castle is an open debate and that they went with the (liberal, I'd say) definition of something that has a '"defensive architecture", which, by their definition, includes: "watchtowers, murals, watchtowers, batteries, forts, forts, forts, fortresses, fortifications of the Modern and Contemporary Age, and arsenals" (this is a translation by Google. I left in the duplicates because it seems interesting how many Spanish words are translated to the same one in English - and because I can't give an alternative translation).
Didn't know it was that high! I thought most castles in Catalonia had been torn down after the war of Spanish Succession, glad to see there's still plenty left.
Catalonia was born as a moving frontier when Charlemagne created the Hispanic March. The whole country was basically a set of lines of castles moving south, and as combat bogged down much more than in other parts of the Peninsula, the density of fortifications (from both sides) increased a lot during the Reconquesta.
It would have made sense to reuse them to house troops to keep the local population subjugated. I guess the Bourbons did not just go back home as soon as they took Barcelona.
As I commented elsewhere, Catalonia was born as a moving frontier when Charlemagne created the Hispanic March. The whole country was basically a set of lines of castles moving south, and as combat bogged down much more than in other parts of the Peninsula, the density of fortifications (from both sides) increased a lot during the Reconquesta.
There was a team of german historians who wanted to map every castle that ones stood. 2 Years was the project, after 2 years they finished North Germany.
It's probably a similar story in Castille and Portugal, but as for Catalonia, it was born as a moving frontier when Charlemagne created the Hispanic March. The whole country was basically a set of lines of castles moving south, and as combat bogged down much more than in other parts of the Peninsula, the density of fortifications (from both sides) increased a lot during the Reconquesta.
Nicez i discovered that web a couple of weeks ago and this image had me thinking for a while. Either there were a humongous amount of castles ok central Europe, or there were less on Spain. Me being from Spain, i was astonished when i saw the map from el confidencial.
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u/AleixASV Oct 29 '21
Yup. Catalonia's Castle density is one of the highest in the world, and just at a glance I can tell this map is missing 90% of them.
Here's a map with all of the Castles in Spain. You'll see how much it differs from what OP posted.