Illustrator
Chris@ChristopherCant.comI was playing Six Second Scribbles recently, a fun game that asks you to draw 10 things from a given category in 60 seconds, and other players need to guess what you’ve drawn. Guess right - we all get a point, yay! As fate would have it, just before writing this article I needed to draw both a castle and a palace in the same category and it became apparent that it can be tricky to differentiate them.
The basic difference between the two is this: castles are primarily built with defense in mind and are fortified, while palaces serve no defensive purpose and instead showcase lavishness, wealth and power.
But of course there’s more to it.
Castles are all fortified dwellings used for military, administrative and domestic purposes. They do vary from each other quite substantially. Some of them will have only few of the most common traits:
Castles were primarily built by the royalty in the middle ages. The earliest fortifications (e.g. hillforts in Northern Europe) were seen in the Bronze Age all over the world from Europe to East Asia - they grew out of the need for larger structures for defense and they’re seen as preceding castles and other castle-equivalent fortifications all over the world.
The word itself we know in Europe - castle - derived from Anglo-Norman French ‘castel’ which means ‘village’. Villages were fortified, and in time with expansion and eventually times of peace, the fortified parts of the towns and villages became Castles.
While there is plenty of debate over it, it’s likely that castles in Europe began to be built in the 9th and 10th centuries, out of the need for defence from Magyars, Muslims and Vikings.
At the end of the 12th century the wooden castles decayed and were slowly replaced and rebuilt with stone and brick, and their architecture was impacted by specific military tactics and the lay of the land. While owned by the nobility, hundreds of people lived in the large castles - from soldiers to blacksmiths, to farmers, to tradesmen.
Over time with the advancement of artillery, castles lost some of their military significance; this is when the visual aspects and size of the castle started to matter more as a reflection of status instead.
Grand castle-like fortifications were not just a European thing. Some examples would include Mehrangarh and Jaisalmer Fort in India, Himeji Castle in Japan and Alamut Castle in Iran.
And while in their own language the literal translation might not mean ‘castle’ (because of the word’s Old English origins) they absolutely were fortified dwellings used for the same sorts of things by the same sorts of people as European castles.
To see the core of what is a ‘palace’, we can try to examine the etymology.
The word ‘palace’ is derived from Old French palais meaning imperial residence, which is further derived from Latin Palātium - word that came to mean ‘residence of the emperor’.
There’s also some literature of the word ‘palace’ used to refer to ‘government’.
If you start to look at specific examples, and then keep the etymology in mind (most European languages will have their own version / equivalent of the word e.g. palais, palazzo, palacio) - ‘palace’ is actually a term that encompasses quite a wide variety of buildings.
So where does this leave us? It always seems to boil down to the same thing - a palace is a residence for people in power. The more common traits of a palace seem to be:
And if you go beyond Europe and release yourself from the Old French - there is an obvious abundance of lavish, grand residences of royals or other high-ranking people. Most of them are translated as palaces in English.
So how does it differ from a castle? Palaces are not intended for any defensive purpose. It’s all luxury, elegance, lavishness, showcasing wealth and power. It usually incorporates intricate architecture and decor, and aims to display importance. It is used by royals and high-ranking people, many times for administrative purposes too, but the only way they would relate to war and military is that palaces would sometimes be used to display spoils of war.
Generally, using the information above, you’d be able to figure out if whatever you’re interacting with is a castle or a palace. But of course there will be times when it’s confusing, and in those times it’s helpful to look at the individual history of the case.
Many English country houses tick off most boxes for what a palace has, but will not be called palaces. This is because of the roots of the word and history of England. The word ‘palace’ can’t be used in cases where it’s not connected with the royal family or bishops.
At the same time sometimes buildings that were not used for any military purposes are called castles. One of such examples, albeit not medieval, would be Hearst Castle in California. Formerly known as La Cuesta Encantada (Spanish for ‘The Enchanted Hill’) the Hearst Castle is a historic estate, built in the early 20th century, and has no connection to royalty or military whatsoever.
Not to mention nowadays the word ‘palace’ is used for large, impressive buildings that do not have any connection with royalty (e.g. Alexandra Palace in North London, which is an entertainment and sports venue).
So now you know.
Castles are castles (most of the time) because they are fortified dwellings used for military purposes. They serve other purposes too, especially nowadays, but the military aspect is a core part of a castle, because castles grew out of the need for fortifications and defense.
While a palace is called a palace (most of the time) because they are lavish, exquisite, extravagant residences of royalty, aristocracy or other people of high rank. They serve many purposes, including administrative, but they do not serve as offensive or defensive military stations.
If in doubt - look into the specific history of the place, it may just hold some more answers.
And when it comes to silly drawing games - you draw baroque swirls and sparkles on the palace, and a thick wall with tiny holes for the castle. Maybe a moat too, moats are cool.
We are both massive fantasy, sci-fi and mythology nerds!
I started making digital art in 2009, and became a full-time freelance artist in 2016, able to work on my own schedule from anywhere in the world.
I created this blog to help young artists make the same journey.
