What life was really like in a medieval castle?
Life in a medieval castle would have been ordered and organised, full of pomp and ceremony, and also very cold and smelly! Essentially, castles were at the heart of Medieval society. Castles were built in England and Wales after 1066.
What was life like in a medieval castle?
Life in a medieval castle was filled with a constant hubbub of busied work in the kitchens, preparations for celebrations in the Great Hall, and religious worship in each castle’s own chapel. And the layout of a typical Medieval castle tended to be influenced by domestic needs rather than defensive concerns.
How many people are needed to build a castle?
How many people does it take to man a castle? Castle building employed about 3,000 workers (like carpenters, masons, diggers, quarrymen and blacksmiths) under the direction of a master builder (Master James of St. George built the Welsh castles of King Edward I). Castles generally took two to 10 years to build. How many guards are in a castle?
What was castle life like in the Middle Ages?
Life in a Middle Ages Castle Description - The Residence The medieval castle of the Middle Ages formed a good fortress, but a poor home. Its small rooms, lighted only by narrow windows, heated only by fireplaces, badly ventilated, and provided with little furniture, must have been indeed cheerless.
How many people usually live in a castle?
An English medieval castle, if a large one, could have a household staff of at least 50 people, which included all manner of specialised and skilled workers such as cooks, grooms, carpenters, masons, falconers, and musicians, as well as a compliment of knights, bowmen, and crossbow operators.
Who lived in Medieval castles?
During the late Middle Ages, from the 10th to the 16th centuries, kings and lords lived in castles. As well as the lord, the lady (his wife), and their family there were lots of staff. Some were important officials, such as the constable who took care of the castle when the lord was away.
How did people live in Medieval castles?
Castle owners always had private 'apartments', or at least a bedroom with an en-suite loo and a chamber where they welcomed visitors. There was often a private chapel too. These were usually in the safest part of the castle, and only trusted servants or honoured guests were allowed in.
How big was the average Medieval castle?
The average size of a castle depends on how you count them. If we look at only those that are still intact, then they range in size from 12 to 200 acres (5 to 80 hectares). If we include those that are ruined or abandoned, then their average size is much larger - about an acre (0.4 hectare).
How many knights live in castles?
In peace time, there might be only 10 or 12 knights and their horses staying in the castle, but when war threatened there would be many more. The knights and their servants and their mounts all had to eat, as did the lord, his family, and his servants and officials, and their families.
Does anyone live in a castle?
Located in the English county of Northumberland, Alnwick Castle is the second-largest inhabited castle in England. It is owned by the 12th Duke of Northumberland, the current head of the House of Percy. His family has lived in the castle for more than 700 years.
What did it smell like in the medieval times?
They were ankle-deep in a putrid mix of wet mud, rotten fish, garbage, entrails, and animal dung. People dumped their own buckets of faeces and urine into the street or simply sloshed it out the window.
Was it cold in medieval castles?
Castles weren't always cold and dark places to live. Castles are always depicted as dark and cold and some probably were. But, in reality, the great hall of castle had a large open hearth to provide heat and light (at least until the late 12th century) and later it had wall fireplace.
Were there bathrooms in castles?
In the medieval period luxury castles were built with indoor toilets known as 'garderobes', and the waste dropped into a pit below.
How often did Royalty bathe in the 1500s?
Clean water was hard to get but even those, who had access to it, rarely bathed. It is believed that King Louis XIV bathed just twice in his lifetime. Not just him, Queen Isabella of Spain bathed once when she was born and once on her wedding day.
Why did castles stop being built?
Why did they stop building castles? Castles were great defences against the enemy. However, when gunpowder was invented the castles stopped being an effective form of defence. By the end of the 1300s gunpowder was widely in use.
Why do castles have so many rooms?
As the seat of power for lords and monarchs, medieval castles were often large enough to house a considerable staff, as well as members of the court and important guests. As a result, they needed a series of rooms, not just residential chambers like bedrooms, but functional spaces too such as kitchens and stores.
A Picture of Domestic Life in A Medieval Castle
When you’re exploring a castle today, it’s hard to grasp just how busy and how bustling that same castle would have been at the height of medieval...
The Quarters For The Lord and His Family: The Solar
The Lord and the Lady were the heads of the household, but the Lord would often be out of residence. His duties would have generally called him to...
Life in A Medieval Castle: Cold, Dark, and Very Smelly!
Don’t be tempted to over-romanticise the unpleasant realities of life in a Medieval castle. To our modern standards of living, most Medieval castle...
The Lord, His Servants, His Vassals and The Peasants: Feudalism, and The Structure of Life in A Medieval Castle
When castles arrived in England and Wales, they brought with them an entirely new social order: feudalism. The King, in effect, owned all the land...
What was life like in medieval castles?
Life in a medieval castle was filled with a constant hubbub of busied work in the kitchens, preparations for celebrations in the Great Hall, and religious worship in each castle’s own chapel. And the layout of a typical Medieval castle tended to be influenced by domestic needs rather than defensive concerns.
What was the role of castles in medieval society?
They cemented a new social system of feudalism in place. Each new castle secured the power of the local lord over his vassals. To serve the lord, most castles would have been places of frenzied domestic activity.
What were medieval castles made of?
Well, most Medieval castles were made of stone. Although stone was a perfect material for creating strong, defensive fortifications, Medieval building techniques were basic. The Keep of Goodrich Castle, built in the 1100s, only had tiny windows – which meant that little light could enter the castle.
How did the invention of the fireplace make life in a medieval castle more bearable?
The invention of the fireplace made rooms warmer, as it heated the stones as well as the chamber itself. This made life in a medieval castle much more bearable. When it came to sanitation, though, things were always truly disgusting.
How many people were in the Goodrich Castle?
Well, it evidently depends on the size of the castle, but, for a site like Goodrich Castle in England, you could expect around 100-150 people to surround the Lord’s family. These would have included everything from cooks to gardeners, grooms and horse-men, and all important treasurers, who would look after the finances of the entire estate.
What is feudalism in medieval England?
The Lord, His Servants, His Vassals and The Peasants: Feudalism, and the Structure of Life in a Medieval Castle. When castles arrived in England and Wales, they brought with them an entirely new social order: feudalism. The King, in effect, owned all the land in the country, and parcelled out chunks of it to loyal Lords, ...
What was the focus of domestic life in a medieval castle?
The focus of domestic life in a medieval castle would have been the Great Hall, which was a common feature to almost every castle in England. This large hall was the focus of hospitality, celebration and the pleasures of life in a medieval castle – including dances, plays or even poetry recitals.
What was the daily life in a medieval castle?
Daily life in a medieval castle was filled with a constant hubbub of busied work in the kitchens, preparations for celebrations in the Great Hall, and religious worship in each castle’s own chapel. However, of course, life in a Medieval castle would have also included military activities.
What was the focus of domestic life in a medieval castle?
The focus of domestic life in a medieval castle would have been the Great Hall, which was a common feature to almost every castle in England. This large hall was the focus of hospitality, celebration and the pleasures of life in a medieval castle – including dances, plays or even poetry recitals.
What was the role of the castle in the Medieval social system?
The entire Medieval economic and military system was a very complex pyramid of reciprocal duty – with the King, and his Lords, at the apex of the pyramid. The castle was symbol of the Lord’s power, and therefore cemented the entire Medieval social system firmly in place.
What castle had its own wine cellar?
The Earls of Northumberland’s Great Tower within Warkworth Castle had its own wine-cellars, kitchens, hall, chapel and bedrooms. Warkworth Castle. Often, Lords would be summoned to supervise or even participate in military activities further afield, too.
What was the safest part of a castle?
There was often a private chapel too. These were usually in the safest part of the castle, and only trusted servants or honoured guests were allowed in. Some castles had their lordly living rooms in a completely separate building; a castle within a castle, which could be defended even if the rest of the fortress fell.
What would the Lady of the Castle do in his absence?
In his absence, the lady of the castle would often be in charge of the day-to-day domestic affairs – but the nitty-gritty of running the castle would generally fall to her own servants. When the Lord and Lady were in residence at the castle, they would have had a number of chambers exclusively for their use.
What was the Great Hall at Kenilworth Castle?
The Great Hall at Kenilworth Castle. After breakfast the castle inhabitants would begin their daily assigned functions. The Lord would take meetings regarding diplomacy, trade, warfare, or legal and financial matters and the Lady would often meet with her guests or pursue her personal projects such as needlepoint.
They had lots of rooms
The great hall of Chillingham Castle, a medieval castle in the village of Chillingham in the northern part of Northumberland, England. It dates from 1344.
Children played in castles
There would have been lots of upper-class children in castles. Though social norms involving children were different to today, children were loved and educated, and there’s lots of evidence that they had toys such as miniature items of furniture which were probably supposed to educate them about their future lives. They shared feather beds.
There were hordes of servants
Castles were full of servants. The poshest were pages and damsels, who would likely work more closely to the lord and lady and attend to their needs.
What did the Lord of the Castles take with them?
While castles were homes, they weren’t permanent residences – the lord, lady and household moved from castle to castle and took their things with them – beds, linen, tableware, tapestries, candlesticks, chests and perhaps even plants in pots!
What are the little square apertures in castle walls called?
Castles have little square apertures in the walls called lamp rests where one could place a candle or lamp throwing out warm light. And further up the social hierarchy one had better, clean-burning candles that smelled more like beeswax that animal fat.
What is the name of the plant that was found in Harlech Castle?
Many other known medicinal plants such as white dead-nettle ( Lamium album) at Flint Castle and wild rocket ( Diplotaxis tenufolia ) which was only found on the walls of Harlech Castle were noted in Trotula’s Treatments for Women: “ Some women…have a sanious flux…with the menses.
What did women do to the altar?
However, many women donated their clothes, or made personalised altar clothes for the church or priests. This meant that clothes that had touched them, that they had owned, made or worn, eventually came to be worn by clergymen or used to wrap the altar – one of the most sacred parts of the church.
Did medieval noblewomen remarry?
They elected not to remarry. Widows had a special place in society – they almost operated as men, especially in relation to property and wealth. Medieval noblewomen had a similar level of power to the lords in the household. The security of the lordship came from the united married couple who produced hiers.
Was feministism present in the medieval period?
Feminism as it currently exists today was not present in the medieval period. What we can talk about is female agency. In other words how women acted within the constraints of a patriarchal society either as individuals or as a group.
Is a castle always cold?
4. Castles weren’t always cold and dark places to live. Image: a feast scene from the Bayeux tapestry (public domain/ Wikimedia commons) Castles are always depicted as dark and cold and some probably were.
How many people were in a medieval castle?
An English medieval castle, if a large one, could have a household staff of at least 50 people, which included all manner of specialised and skilled workers such as cooks, grooms, carpenters, masons, falconers, and musicians, as well as a compliment of knights, bowmen, and crossbow operators. Most staff were paid by the day, and job security was often precarious, especially for the lowest servants who were dismissed when a castle lord travelled away from the castle. More skilled workers such as the castle chaplain, the steward or general manager, and the marshal, who supervised the men-at-arms and stables, were paid by the year and might receive money and land in return for loyal service. A microcosm of the medieval world, the household staff worked as a team to meet the castle's often extensive needs of nourishment, defence, and entertainment.
What are the two groups of staff in a castle?
The staff of a castle may be divided into two broad groups: men-at-arms and domestic servants . The former, sometimes known as the mesnie personnel, were led by the marshal and made responsible for the castle's defence.
What was the role of a steward in the castle?
The steward was also responsible for all financial and legal matters concerning the castle's estates. Such was the importance of the role and the weight of a steward's duties that by the 13th century CE a large castle might have two of them, one for the internal affairs of the castle and one for its estates.
What did the blacksmith do in the castle?
The blacksmith made such necessities as horseshoes and sharpened knives, sheers and other agricultural tools, while the carpenter might be called on to make furniture and erect small buildings inside the castle. There might also be a master mason for repairs to the castle's stonework. Medieval Falconry.
Why were there chambermaids in the castle?
There were chambermaids to tidy up and make rooms ready, prepare the fires, and empty the cha mberpots, and in larger castles, a resident barber, doctor, and dentist. Most domestic servants would have slept in shared chambers in either the cellars or attics of the castle buildings.
What were the entertainers in medieval England?
There were many kinds of professional entertainers in medieval England such as troubadours, actors, acrobats, and jesters, who toured and sought their living where they could. Minstrels ( jongleurs ), on the other hand, were in the permanent employ of the castle. They sang and played the lute, recorder, shawm (an early version of the oboe), ...
Who was paid by the year at the castle?
More skilled workers such as the castle chaplain, the steward or general manager, and the marshal, who supervised the men-at-arms and stables, were paid by the year and might receive money and land in return for loyal service. A microcosm of the medieval world, the household staff worked as a team to meet the castle's often extensive needs ...
