Tactic often used to capture a castle feudal Europe?

Answer 1

Seige - closing off supply routes to a castle, hoping to eventually starving them out before someone can come to their aid, while at the same time building seige machines such as catapults, mangonels, and trebuchets to destroy the castle walls. Against very heavily fortified defensive structures there are fewer option, and this is a good one if over quickly. Besieging can get expensive, not to mention problems such as diseases in your own ranks arising are always a very likely possibility in places where there's no sanitation or starvation of your own army where you don't have unharrassed supply routes or can't live off the land. Restless soldiers can also become demoralised. Added to that, there is the possibility that another army would come to their aid while your army is weakened due to these problems.

Where ever possible, trying to kill as many as possible without direct involvement, or demoralise. Biological warfare, medieval style, such as throwing rotting corpses over their walls or remains of their own dead.

Undermining castle walls by tunnelling to them and weakening them enough to cause them to colapse. Slower than tearing it down with a siege weapon, but effective.

Try to inflitrate in some way, cause one or some of their own to betray them. Possibly the cheapest way to win a siege, even if there are hefty rewards for the traitors.

By trying to get over the wall with siege towers or, if there's less money and resources to build one (which has to be on the spot, it's not something you can take with you) then ladders or cheap equivalents. It's more risky though since exposure to their defenses is way higher.

Psychological warfare or plain downright extortion to get them to open the gates for you. This wouldn't be successful unless in special circumstances.

Trying to provoke them into battle on grounds of your choosing.

Answer 2

catapult