What were castles used for?

Alter inside of castle

  Imagine a wealthy land owner constructing a huge castle taking up the skyline of your village, wouldn’t that be rude? That’s what a castle was like in medieval Europe; you might me thinking what is a castle used for, well I guess I could answer that question. A castle involved everyone in the city and contained many things, jobs, and places. One of the things that was in the castle was a house, where the owner, children, wife, and noblemen lived. Castles were a public gathering place so everyone enjoyed them, but they were described as noisy, dirty, and smelly, grody, that doesn’t sound like a fun gathering place. Castles were one of the main gathering places in midueval Europe, people visited there for public meetings or gatherings. Those are just some of the common things that occured at castles.
  The most important use for a castle was to protect citizens from invaders; castles were able to hold people for months in the case of a siege occurring. One of the weird things was each castle contained a chapel where an alter was held for praying and small gatherings for a church service could have been held. The weirdest thing that a castle had was prisons, why would you keep criminals in your house?; I thought that was really crazy and seemed kind of dangerous, what is one escaped and hurt your family? Those are some of the many things and uses a castle aided for a city or village, that I learned when researching.