The barbarian invasions caused a depopulation of the countryside and the construction of fortified farms. With thick walls, they had a defensive military purpose that joined the housing and working ones. After the period of invasions in the centuries around the year 1000, a different type of construction began to spread, that of the tower-houses.
The tower-houses had a heavy structure due to the very thick walls as a result of poor construction knowledge and the building materials used. They had few openings to the outside, both to facilitate defence against enemy attacks and to better remedy the climate against which poor results were obtained with wood heating. These tower-houses which were initially ideal for defence, later became only a symbol of the social, economic and political position of the family to which they belonged.