Abstract
Fortifications are a substantial part of the medieval cultural landscape. The large number of medieval strongholds erected in Poland includes small ring forts from the ninth and tenth centuries, which are mainly interpreted as residences of tribal chieftains; large strongholds of the first Polish state under Piast rule (tenth/eleventh – thirteenth century), which served as military, administrative, economic and/or religious centers; as well as stone built castles andprivate motte-and-bailey castles, which began to be erected in the thirteenth century duringthe course of feudalization and owing to cultural influences from Western Europe. Twinstrongholds were also built in all of these periods. This article examines the phenomenon of these two-part complexes on the basis of a variety of fortifications from Silesia, Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, and Transpomerania.