City Walls

ejprincess

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I feel silly asking this but I was doing my research for my work, I could not find anything on city gates. Beside the usual architecture and the purpose they had on coastal cities.That's not really what I'm interested on.

But rather how did the city gates operated, have any insight how did opening and closing of the city gates worked?Was it on a set schedule?How did the city official knew when to open or close the city gates? And my final question, once were they close..could a citizen be allowed in if he or she had miss the curfew and the city gates closed?

Thank y'all for your help.
 

ZachJPayne

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In most cases, city gates would be made of wood and/or metal, and could be barred.

Your questions depend on the state of the city, and what's going on.

A city in relative peace might keep the gates open all night, with a rotating guard in order to check the traffic coming in and coming out.

A city with some minor trouble (brigands and thieves, wild animals in the area, etc.) might decide to close the gates after dark, but allow valid travelers and citizens in at any time. A less kind city might simply bar travelers from entering until the morning.

A city involved in a conflict might keep the gates barred day-round, but will let in citizens or merchants with actual business in the city.

A city under siege will not open that gate come hell or high water. If you're outside, you're screwed.

You might also want to consider natural defenses for your city -- a good example of this would be the Eyrie and Riverrun in ASOIAF. I'd also check out descriptions of King's Landing from ASOIAF, as well as Bree and Minas Tirith in LotR, and pretty much any city in Paolini's Inheritance series.
 
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ejprincess

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I should had specify in my original post what kind of city I was referring, that could been little bit helpful for y'all. I'm referring to a coastal city, a city like St.Augustine or even New Orleans where threat of piracy or sea invaders was high. How would city gates work in cities like that?Sorry for the confusion.
 

ZachJPayne

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I should had specify in my original post what kind of city I was referring, that could been little bit helpful for y'all. I'm referring to a coastal city, a city like St.Augustine or even New Orleans where threat of piracy or sea invaders was high. How would city gates work in cities like that?Sorry for the confusion.

Ah, much more helpful. I can't speak for those cities specifically, but the first one that comes to mind would be the city of Teirm from the Inheritance series:

Teirm was encircled by a white wall a hundred feet tall and thirty feet thick. There were two main gates: one on the western side of the city, facing the sea, the other on the southern side, opening to the road. In the northeast sector of the city was a towering citadel, which housed the lighthouse. The city's buildings grew progressively taller from the outside in; the tallest buildings were near the citadel. As explained by Brom, the city was laid out in such a way that pirate attacks could be easily repelled. It is also stated by Jeod that the layout of the city also makes it easy for thieves to run along the rooftops. This measure was only added after Teirm was almost destroyed by one such attack. (x)

Another idea, if you have the money and the inclination, would be to play the game SKYRIM, and just pay special note to the cities and the walls. I remember the city of Solitude being on a waterfront, and a couple of others as well.

I'm sure others can help you with some real-world parallels, like for the RL cities you mentioned.
 

little_e

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If you haven't seen this yet, it might help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:City_Gates_St_Augustine_Florida.jpg
Also, kind of small, but perhaps useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St._Augustine_Map_1763.jpg
Looks like a wall on three sides, with one open gate that may or may not have had a door. No wall on the sea side, from the looks of it--probably too impractical. But they do have a big fort with big guns.
Another view of the fort/waterfront :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St._Augustine_Florida_Panoramic_View.jpg

Good luck!
 

SpinningWheel

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What period? If it's the early modern period you're after, there's some useful stuff answering exactly those questions in At Day's Close by Roger Ekirch, which is an amazing book about the history of night-time.
 

ejprincess

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Thank you y'all for answers!That book At Day's Close seems awesome, I'm going order it. It might provide the insight that I need.
 

benbenberi

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A lot of dependencies here.

For many cities the primary function of walls/gates was actually not military defense, but financial - for customs control & toll/tariff collection. So the rules around opening/closing and letting people & conveyances through would be focused on that.

Depending on the layout of the harbor & the surrounding terrain, coastal defenses & traffic control may be at some distance from the city proper, and there may not be any actual gate(s) per se on the waterfront.

Depending on the level of military technology & the types of military activity typical of the locale, walls, gates & defensive works might consist of what we normally think of as "walls" (tall, relatively narrow & probably straight(ish) , normally built of stone or brick, with defensive towers in key locations) or they may be a defense-in-depth with low, broad, angled earthworks & outworks - the typical "star defense" structures of the gunpowder era. The structure & operation of gates for these is rather different.

It also matters who controls the gates - are they a municipal function, or are they run & staffed by some military authority separate from the town? If the latter, how friendly/cooperative/connected are they with the community?

And -- how easily could enemy individuals blend into the town population? Are the gates & defenses aimed exclusively at the outside, or are they also concerned about betrayal/subversion from within?