River Fork Castles

[Uruush]

Warning: Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin spoiler below.
**********
"You have never seen Riverrun, Ser Harys, or you would know that Jaime had little choice in the matter. The castle is situated at the end of the point of land where the Tumblestone flows into the Red Fork of the Trident. The rivers form two sides of a triangle, and when danger threatens, the Tullys open their sluice gates upstream to create a wide moat on the third side, turning Riverrun into an island. The walls rise sheer from the water, and from their towers the defenders have a commanding view of the opposite shores for many leagues around. To cut off all the approaches, a beseiger must needs place one camp north of the Tumblestone, one south of the Red Fork, and a third of it between the rivers, west of the moat. There is no other way, none."

 

[Uruush]

Hit 'ENTER' before the meat of my query....

I'm wondering if there are any real-life castles situated as Riverrun is from Martin's novel, with a 'moat as needed.' I'm guessing there are, but I don't know much about castles or military history.

I'm working on a campaign, and I think it would be cool to create a castle stronghold as described above. Anyone ever heard of such a configuration, or have one in their campaign?

 

[Mark]

Later castles of the Middle Ages were more prone to using natural features, such as river forks, for natural defense than those of earlier days. Check here and I'm sure you'll find tons of information-

http://www.castlesontheweb.com/

Hope that helps!

 

[jgbrowning]

Warning: Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin spoiler below.
**********
"You have never seen Riverrun, Ser Harys, or you would know that Jaime had little choice in the matter. The castle is situated at the end of the point of land where the Tumblestone flows into the Red Fork of the Trident. The rivers form two sides of a triangle, and when danger threatens, the Tullys open their sluice gates upstream to create a wide moat on the third side, turning Riverrun into an island. The walls rise sheer from the water, and from their towers the defenders have a commanding view of the opposite shores for many leagues around. To cut off all the approaches, a beseiger must needs place one camp north of the Tumblestone, one south of the Red Fork, and a third of it between the rivers, west of the moat. There is no other way, none."

I'd divert the rivers. More than likely its the only source of water as river towns/citadels tended to be lax concerning wells/cisterns.




joe b.