Medieval Castles
The era of building medieval type castles covers about 400 years. The arduous task of building a castle meant transporting huge stones, chiseling them into blocks then using human powered cranes to move them into place, which could take years depending on the immediate resources of the landowner.
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According to Webster's English Dictionary, the medieval era (also know as the Middle Ages) lasted from 500 A.D. to 1500 A.D. The castles that most of us are familiar with were first built in the 12th century. They were built with defense in mind, always looking to maximize the castle’s strengths. The surrounding moat might have been filled with water or was dry. The curtain wall surrounded all structures within and the only entry was through the front gate. The tower on either side of the gate entrance fortified this area and any visitor (or intruder) would have to then pass through the gatehouse. This was another primary means of human defense since there were arrow-slits built into the walls and as a person progressed through the gatehouse, objects might be dropped on them in order to defend the house.
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The bailey was any building, such as barracks for stables, living quarters, garrison and storage, used by the staff that lived on the grounds. The landowner or lord resided in the keep, which was the tallest building or tower in the complex. The keep was to be protected at all cost. It was considered the last line of defense for the aristocracy and any prized possession that they owned were kept within.
Bedroom
Medieval beds were often hay or straw stuffed into a sack ('hitting the hay' had a literal meaning, back in the day). You just needed a cloak or blanket to cover yourself. Simple medieval beds were designed to be shared by the entire family. Etiquettes were developed about how to take your position in a communal bed, which might be a huge stuffed sack bed nine feet long and seven feet broad. When the seventeenth-century, if a wife didn't feel like having sex with her husband, she made her children sleep in the middle of the bed, rather than taking their usual position at the sides!
Medieval beds were often hay or straw stuffed into a sack ('hitting the hay' had a literal meaning, back in the day). You just needed a cloak or blanket to cover yourself. Simple medieval beds were designed to be shared by the entire family. Etiquettes were developed about how to take your position in a communal bed, which might be a huge stuffed sack bed nine feet long and seven feet broad. When the seventeenth-century, if a wife didn't feel like having sex with her husband, she made her children sleep in the middle of the bed, rather than taking their usual position at the sides!
Bathroom
Medieval people remained blissfully ignorant about the health consequences of poor toilet hygiene until the link between sewage and disease was made around the 18th century. Most toilets were simply small antechambers, which held a bench with a hole in it. The refuse would fall from a great height into a cesspool or a moat. A moat usually meant stagnant water so the smell might became unbearable especially during the summertime.
Medieval people remained blissfully ignorant about the health consequences of poor toilet hygiene until the link between sewage and disease was made around the 18th century. Most toilets were simply small antechambers, which held a bench with a hole in it. The refuse would fall from a great height into a cesspool or a moat. A moat usually meant stagnant water so the smell might became unbearable especially during the summertime.
Living Room
Primarily, the living room’s a place for spending your leisure hours. But it's also a place for display - a room for impressing your guests with your taste and wealth. At its heart is the chair, originally reserved for the household's head. The original 'chairman' sat down while his servants stood, or sat upon lowly stools not chairs with arms.
Primarily, the living room’s a place for spending your leisure hours. But it's also a place for display - a room for impressing your guests with your taste and wealth. At its heart is the chair, originally reserved for the household's head. The original 'chairman' sat down while his servants stood, or sat upon lowly stools not chairs with arms.
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In a grand Elizabethan house, there were three gigantic spaces all of which could be described as living rooms. The first might be used for receiving guests, for ceremony and formal entertainment. The enormous long gallery next door could be for gentle exercise and the display of family portraits. It also had another use: it was the only place in the entire crowded house where one could be sure of holding a private conversation, because an eavesdropper could not creep up unobserved.
The Kitchen In the seventeenth century, the word 'disgust' was coined to describe a new revulsion that people felt towards tainted food. (Before that no one could be certain enough of the food supply that they could afford to be disgusted by anything.) Many started to think that the activity of dining should have its own separate space. Cooking was done at central hearthstone or flat rock upon which a fire was laid. Over the flames hung an iron pot with a rounded bottom: easy to make and to nestle into a sandy floor. You could throw any vegetables that came to hand into your pot to make the soup called 'pottage'. This kind of perpetual soup was the mainstay of peasants' diets. If a peasant were lucky enough to own a cow or chicken, he would have valued it far too highly to eat it. Farm animals were for transport, milk, wool or eggs. Bacon and egg is a classic peasant combination because the annual killing of the pig provided the year's greatest treat. |
In the grandest homes, though, fresh meat roast over an open fire was the most highly desirable form of food. The meat itself was expensive, so was the wood to feed the fire, and turning the spit was very labor intensive. Meltingly soft roast meat was enormously desirable.
