What is the layout of a medieval castle?
The arrangement of buildings and walls created large, outdoor spaces that were considered part of the castle layout. This might include multiple courtyards, some used for allowing animals to graze and others reserved for formal events. Some castles contained elaborate gardens or orchards.
What kind of rooms are in medieval castles?
Solars, Cabinets and Boudoirs have become sitting rooms, libraries and dressing rooms. Ice houses have been replaced by refrigerators. Below are the main rooms found in medieval castles and large manor houses.
What are floors made of in a castle?
Floors were of vaulted stone in the lower parts of buildings (Some to 3 levels), and wood on the above levels. A point to note, I have seen several castles in Switzerland with massive wooden ceilings which are covered with a layer of gravel topped with flat stone, brick or roof tiles to make the floor above (VERY HEAVY).
Can you build a medieval castle from scratch?
As an experiment in archaeology, Michel Guyot and Maryline Martin have assembled a team of 50 workers (architects, archaeologists and skilled workers) to build a medieval castle from scratch by using techniques and materials of the Middle Ages.
What is the average size of a 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).
What kind of floors did medieval castles have?
In a ground-floor hall the floor was beaten earth, stone or plaster; when the hall was elevated to the upper story the floor was nearly always timber, supported either by a row of wooden pillars in the basement below, as in Chepstow's Great Hall (shown left), or by stone vaulting.
Did medieval houses have floors?
Not all medieval floors were equal. In most houses, the floors of the rooms on the ground floor were simply beaten earth.
What kind of floors are in castles?
Medieval Times Typically, hardwood flooring was not just about aesthetics, but installed for practicality. Since oak and pine were readily available, those species are the most abundant in homes and castles from the middle ages.
How tall were ceilings in medieval castles?
Some later medieval castles had walls that were only about 15 to 20 feet (4.6 m to 6 m) high, but the walls of the stronger castles typically measured about 30 feet (9 m) in height and sometimes more.
Were medieval castles dirty?
Castles were very difficult to keep clean. There was no running water, so even simple washing tasks meant carrying a lot of bucketfuls of water from a well or stream. Few people had the luxury of being able to bathe regularly; the community was generally more tolerant of smells and dirt.
What were Medieval floors made out of?
During the Middle Ages the floors of most churches and dwellings consisted of compacted earth, and rushes (commonly "sweet flag" Acorus calamus) or other herbs and grasses were strewn over them to provide a sweet smelling, renewable covering for insulation.
Did castles have wood or stone floors?
They were mainly made of stone, brick, or even wood, and had hay roofs. However, most castles, regardless of how they were built, were made of stone, with sturdy and rather high walls.
Why was straw put on floors?
They were used in all areas of the house, including kitchens, dining halls and bedrooms. The herbs were laid on the floor along with reeds, rushes, or straw, so that pleasant odours would be released when people walked on them. Certain plants would also help keep pests such as fleas at bay.
Can Medieval windows be opened?
Examples of medieval mullion windows can be seen in Merchant Adventures' Hall in York, and oriel windows can be seen in some of the medieval colleges in Cambridge and Oxford. During the Tudor era, glass became more readily available to the middle classes, and more and more houses started to be glazed.
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.
Do castles still exist?
Castles are a staple of world history, particularly European history, as several of them still stand today. The earliest parts of these ancient castles were built as fortresses to protect the area's people against invading armies.
What were medieval castles?
Rooms in a Medieval Castle. Medieval castles were undeniably powerful defensive fortifications, designed to protect a territory from attack by enemy forces, but they also had a domestic function. As the seat of power for lords and monarchs, medieval castles were often large enough to house a considerable staff, ...
What was the primary room of a castle?
In a similar vein, as the great hall was the primary room of a castle it was often adorned with other decorations – these impressive rooms would often feature vaulted ceilings and intricate window frame mouldings, for example. As the medieval period progressed, great halls became larger as the size of castles increased.
What is the solar room in the castle called?
In some cases, the private bedroom of the lord would have a small hole leading to the great hall, which would allow him to overhear conversation there. These upper floor chambers were also known as the ‘Great Chambers’ or alternatively as the ‘Solar’. The solar was the private living quarters of the lord of the castle.
What was the fireplace decorated with?
Fireplaces, and in particular mantelpieces, were often elaborately decorated with coats of arms and other heraldic devices carved out of wood, plaster or stone.
What is the function of the Great Hall?
The great hall had many different functions: it could be used to receive guests and hold ceremonies; it could be used as a dining space, both by the family and household of the castle’s lord and by guests; the hall could also double as a sleeping space, with members of the household bedding down on the floor.
Why were the kitchens separate from the Great Hall?
Castle kitchens were separate from the great hall and other living quarters, primarily so that the noise and smoke from the kitchen did not reach residential parts of the castle. Cooking was conducted using large open fires, over which food was cooked on spits, as well as ovens.
How was Chateau Gaillard captured?
Chateau Gaillard in France was captured when besieging soldiers climbed up the shaft and entered the castle through the garderobe. The lord of the castle would have had an en suite garderobe, while the rest of the castle’s inhabitants would have used a communal toilet, or else made use of chamber pots.
Where were the dungeons in medieval castles?
Usually the dungeon was situated underneath the castle in the basement, or else in the gatehouse of the fortification.
Why did the walls of the castle have lime plaster?
The walls were often whitewashed in lime plaster to try and mask the dreadful smell.
Why are moats important in castles?
Moats were useful for deterring attacks and making it more difficult for enemies to access the castle. Most castles with moats used them for defence, but others had moats for more decorative purposes. Some moats contained freshwater, but many did not.
What were the bed chambers called in medieval times?
At first, bed chambers were typically attached to the great hall, but castles built in the later middle ages had bed chambers (sometimes called solars) on a higher floor of the castle. The solar also incorporated living quarters of the lord of the castle.
Why are gates used in castles?
Their purpose was to provide an easy access point for people who needed to enter the castle, without making it too easy for attackers to come in.
Why did people work in separate rooms in the middle ages?
As the middle ages progressed, cooks began working in a separate wing or sometimes even a separate building, primarily to keep the smoke and smell of cooking away from residential rooms. Depending on the number of people who lived in a castle, the kitchen staff could be huge.
Why were prisoners not common in medieval times?
Holding prisoners was not a common practice in medieval times, as it was expensive and used up precious space in an already cramped castle interior. Punishment in the form of fines, mutilation or execution was more common. Noble prisoners would not have been kept in the dungeon, but rather in the castle apartments.
What is the interior of a medieval castle?
Most frequently, an interior of a Medieval Castle contains a complex of rooms like ; Some of the words might sound quite odd as they are not in use anymore, but you will have a clear picture of what it was like inside a castle after reading the article.
What is the heaviest part of a castle?
As the castle gates were the enemy’s primary target during the siege, the gatehouses will typically be the heaviest armoured part of the castle. Firmly fortified gatehouses will usually have drawbridges, portcullises, arrow loops, machicolations and sometimes murder-holes.
What were the bathrooms called in medieval times?
Bathrooms, Lavatories and Garderobes in a Medieval Castle. The bathrooms were known as garderobes back in the Middle Ages and were relatively small. In some castles, the Lords would have their private Garderobes, which contained the bath and the latrine (toilets).
What was the first example of a toilet within the castles?
The latrine was the first example of a toilet within the castles in a tiny room with a hole in the floor pointing outside, usually in a moat. Picture by Prioryman on commons.wikimedia.org. The later examples of latrines even had decorated walls, floors and ceilings.
What is the room called in Norman castles?
Also called sollar was a room in the castle smaller than the great hall where the Kings will rest in privacy after the daily activities. In many Norman and Frech castle, it was considered the key inner family room.
What is a larder in a castle?
The larder was a cool, dry place before refrigerators took their place, often close to the castle’s kitchen, keeping the food fresh before serving. Larders had shelves inside for easy food storage and were kept clean, in some cases tiled or painted.
What is a castle well?
A castle well was a water well built within a castle to supply the court with potable water. Picture by Efraimstochter on pixabay. Obviously, one of the most vital elements when it comes to the siege, as the water wells outside the castle’s walls will get poisoned by the enemy.
What are the rooms in a medieval castle called?
Kitchens are still kitchens. So are pantries and larders. So are cellars. Bed chambers are now known as bedrooms. Latrines have become lavatories and bathrooms. Halls have morphed into entrance halls ...
What was the first floor of a manor house called?
Later, the hall reserved for the lord and his high-ranking guests was moved up to the first-floor level. This was called the salle haute or upper hall (or "high room").
What is the Lords and Ladies Chamber?
The room in the castle called the Lords and Ladies Chamber, or the Great Chamber, was intended for use as a bedroom and used by the lord and lady of the castle - it also afforded some privacy for the noble family of the castle. This type of chamber was originally a partitioned room which was added to the end of the Great Hall. The Lords and Ladies chamber were subsequently situated on an upper floor when it was called the solar.
What is the name of the hidden hole in a manor house?
In many French manor houses there are small peep-holes from which the lord could observe what was happening in the hall. This type of hidden peep-hole is called a judas in French. Many great halls survive. Two very large surviving royal halls are Westminster Hall and the Wenceslas Hall in Prague Castle.
How long is a great hall?
A typical great hall was a rectangular room between one and a half and three times as long as it was wide, and also higher than it was wide. It was entered through a screens passage at one end, and had windows on one of the long sides, often including a large bay window.
What is a great hall?
A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, nobleman's castle or a large manor house in the Middle Ages, and in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Great halls were found especially in France, England and Scotland, but similar rooms were also found in some other European countries.
Why did the Middle Ages have a kitchen?
In most households, including early castles, cooking was done on an open hearth in the middle of the main living area, to make efficient use of the heat. This was the most common arrangement for most of the Middle Ages, so the kitchen was combined with the dining hall. Towards the Late Middle Ages a separate kitchen area began to evolve. The first step was to move the fireplaces towards the walls of the main hall, and later to build a separate building or wing that contained a dedicated kitchen area, often separated from the main building by a covered arcade. This way, the smoke, odours and bustle of the kitchen could be kept out of sight of guests, and the fire risk to the main building reduced.
How long did it take to build a castle?
George built the Welsh castles of King Edward I). Castles generally took two to 10 years to build.
How much did Edward I spend on Warwick Castle?
Castle construction was an expensive undertaking; King Edward I nearly bankrupted the royal treasuries by spending about 100,000 pounds on his castles in Wales.
Where is the Gueledon castle located?
The project, in Treigny in the Burgundy region of France, is called Project Gueledon. The design is based on 13th-century castle architecture -- it consists of a dry moat, curtain walls, corner towers and a large tower keep. Construction started in 1997 and is expected to last about 25 years.
