The architecture of Philip Augustus

The future castle of Guédelon is an entirely new construction; there are no vestiges of a former castle in or around the site.  The castle’s design is based on the architectural canons laid down by Philip Augustus in the 12^th and 13^th centuries.

Philip II Augustus, King of France from 1180-1223, is attributed with standardising the military architecture of castles in the French kingdom. Examples of this standard plan include the Louvre in Paris, Yévre-le-Châtel castle in Loiret, or more locally, the castles of Ratilly or Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines in Yonne. 

Castles built to this standard plan have the following characteristics: a polygonal ground plan; high stone curtain walls, often built on battered plinths; a dry ditch; round flanking towers pierced with single embrasured arrow loops, the position of which is staggered on each floor of the tower; one corner tower, higher and larger than the rest: the tour maîtresse;twin drum tower protect the gate.

During his reign, Philip Augustus established – by way of treaties, alliances and politically advantageous marriages – a long-term Capetian policy of expansion, this fact justifies the choice of a French, as opposed to a Burgundian, architectural model in this particular part of France.

The modest status of Guédelon’s lord in the feudal hierachy and his limited financial means, prompt him to raise a “small” castle, a fortified manor house, far removed from the scale of the royal castles of the Louvre in Paris or Brie-Comte-Robert in Seine-et-Marne.