Another awesome history lesson! I will never get to travel, so I depend on travelling vicariously through others. Most don't give as much history as you do. The thing that is sticking out most in my mind, though, has nothing to do with the castle. You like Cormac McCarthy! He is one of my favorite authors. Bleak and grim and masterful. I think I'll mosey upstairs to my library and find one of his books...