Slighting

Slighting is the act of deliberately damaging a high-status building, especially a castle or fortification, which could include its contents and the surrounding area.

[7] In some cases, it was used as a way of punishing the king's rebels or was used to undermine the authority of the owner by demonstrating his inability to protect his property.

[8] As part of the peace negotiations bringing The Anarchy of 1135–1154 to an end, both sides agreed to dismantle fortifications built since the start of the conflict.

[9] Similarly, in 1317 Edward II ordered the dismantling of Harbottle Castle in Northumberland in England as part of a treaty with Robert the Bruce.

[13] In the Levant, Muslim rulers adopted a policy of slighting castles and fortified towns and cities to deny them to Crusaders; Sultan Baybars, for example, instigated the destruction of fortifications at Jaffa in 1267, Antioch in 1268, and Ashkelon in 1270.

[24] The impact of slighting ranged from almost complete destruction of a site, as can be seen at Deganwy Castle, to a token gesture,[25] for example damaging elements such as arrowslits.

[29] In 1648, Parliament gave orders to slight Bolsover Castle but that "so much only be done to it as to make it untenable as a garrison and that it may not be unnecessarily spoiled and defaced.

[32] Documentary sources for the medieval period typically have little information on what slighting involved, so archaeology helps to understand which areas of buildings were targeted and how they were demolished.

[33][34] For the English Civil War, destruction accounts are rare but there are some instances such as Sheffield Castle where detailed records survive.

The shattered remains of a stone building, with two walls of a tower standing higher above the ruins.
Corfe Castle in Dorset was slighted in 1646 during the English Civil War . Parliament slighted or proposed to slight more than 100 buildings, including castles, town walls, abbeys, and houses. [ 1 ]
A ruined stone structure with a wooden walkway halfway up the wall.
Each method of destruction leaves a distinctive trace. At Newark Castle in Nottinghamshire the use of gunpowder left a crater damage pattern. [ 15 ]
A manuscript drawing of a castle with four people being hanged in the bottom right.
After the siege of Bedford Castle in 1224, Henry III had the garrison executed and the castle slighted, as illustrated by Matthew Paris . [ 21 ] [ 22 ]
A patch of dense tree coverage surrounded by flat grassy ground.
The site of the former castle at Mała Nieszawka in Poland, which was demolished in 1422–1423.