In correspondence between AV Reid Milner and Dr. Meyer-Margreth (Note: The
CVA does not use titles. Everyone is an "Anchor Friend", whether king
or commoner. But Dr. Meyer-Margreth was the world's expert on Anchor
until he died in 1984. In that year, the CVA decided to admit foreigners
(non-Dutch) members. Not a coincidence.) M-M included photographs
of some of his buildings. A series of six pictures -- all out of focus
and poorly exposed -- were of Karlstein Castle. Karlstein is about
30 km west of Prague, in the Czech Republic. The crown jewels of the
German Empire , as well as the state records and religious relics, were stored
there. Few castles currently in existence were so clearly built as
a military stronghold. Karlstein has been rebuilt several times and
is worth seeing, though I have not been there (yet).
Built up against a cliff, defenses were centered around the entrance. This castle was built to be a stronghold. To get to the final keep (the large tower with the four corner towers) one had to pass through a number fortified stages. The loss of any one did not give easy access to the next. The only entrance to the keep is a bridge, which is high above the lower levels and would be easy to collapse, from the tower next to it.
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The defences were not needed on the back side, as the castle was built right at the edge of a very high cliff.
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This picture gives a good idea of the defensive arrangement. One had to attack the main gate and win the outer (left) inner court. Note that that court is a trap, capable of being attacked from all four sides. The next (right) inner court required assault on the next gate. The walls and towers in front were all supported from the large barracks on the far right, not from these two inner courts. The inner court gave access to the barracks building by means of a narrow, angled entrance, which was covered by cannon. The defences between the barracks and the far right building were weak, but attacking the tower in the middle would have been a major effort. Even if everything already described had been lost, the defenders would have collapsed the high bridge to the tower keep entrance. At that point the defenders were still quite safe and would have been fully able to hold off the attackers. One should remember the odds really were with the defenders. At Hirschhorn 100 'men-at-arms' held off an army of 8,000 attackers. The attackers quit due to inability to forage enough food to keep from starving.
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A few of you may wonder what
I look like. Here is a picture from this Christmas. This picture
is about as good as they get.
For those who are really interested in Anchor stones, I have written a book about them. (I just got tired of either looking up the same information again and again, or trusting my memory on specific details such as dates and names.) It is expensive, $70 (or 100 DM) ppd, because I print it myself on my PC and color ink is expensive. The book undoubtedly contains far more information about Anchor stones and sets, the Richter company, etc. than you'll ever want to read. This book is a lot of work to print (I print about a dozen at a time, in either English or German), so please don't think I am urging you to buy one.
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