KoRT (Knights of the
 

Life in a Medieval Castle 

Life in a Medieval Castle 
© 1997-2005 Lise Hull

Most of us fantasize about living in a castle. We dream about the ultimate lives of luxury, never having to fend for ourselves, having our every whim taken care of, swimming in jewels or swathed in silk. But, despite all the glamor we see in movies and conjure up in our imaginations, medieval castle life was not necessarily easy. 

Hardships were plenty, and even the wealthiest individuals often found themselves living in less than adequate quarters. There was no central heating, except for the central hearth or fireplace, which had to be tended to be efficient. Of course, that heat was usually saved for the lord and his family. Servants, soldiers, and others made due with tiny lamps and shivered a lot in the cold medieval nights. 

The lord, his family and guests had the added comfort of heavy blankets, feather mattresses, fur covers, and tapestries hanging on the walls to block the damp and breezes, while residents of lesser status usually slept in the towers and made due with lighter bedclothes and the human body for warmth. The lord and lady's personal attendants were fortunate to stay with their master or mistress in their separate sleeping quarters. However, they slept on the floor wrapped in a blanket, but, at least on the floor, they could absorb some of the warmth of the fireplace. 

Even during the warmest months of the year, the castle retained a cool dampness and all residents spent as much time as possible enjoying the outdoors. Oftentimes, members wrapped blankets around themselves to keep warm while at work (from which we derive the term bedclothes). Baths were taken in transportable wooden tubs, so that the summer sun could warm the water and the bather, but the tub could be moved inside when the weather worsened. 

Privacy was ensured with a tent or canopy. And for more delicate endeavors, imagine needing to use the guardrobe (latrine) and having a brisk wind gusting through the privy. With stone or hard wood seats, using the latrine would certainly have been an invigorating experience. No wonder the chamber pot remained close to the bedside! 

Life during the Middle Ages began at sunrise, when one of the guards trumpeted the day's start. Servants had already begun to stir, ensuring the fires were lit in the kitchen and great hall and getting the morning meal underway. Since dinner was not served until between 10AM and noon, they had at least a few hours to fulfill their other chores while the stews or soups bubbled in the iron pots. All floors had to be swept, cleared of any debris, and basins washed out. 

Once the lord and his lady had arisen, chambermaids ventured into their apartments, swept and emptied chamber pots and wash basins, and the laundress also began the day's wash. For their part, the lord and lady of the castle made sure they were tidy before they greeted their household or any guests, washing off with water from their basins while partially clothed to keep warm. 

A small breakfast of bread and drink was taken by all, and then the lord and his family entered the chapel for morning mass. Once mass was complete, the lord tackled the day's business. While relying on certain members of his household staff to manage the castle in his absence or when he had other duties to handle, the lord was the castle's chief administrator when he was in residence. Indeed, in many ways, the lord was king of his own domain, which included his castle, the estates, and his subjects, both inside the castle and in the surrounding peasant villages. 

Often, the lord was granted possession of more than one lordship or earldom so had to divide his time among all of his properties. His powers were political, judicial, fiscal, and also included the policing of his territory. Like his king, he could mete out punishment, collect rent from his subjects, and even mint his own coins. 

When the lord had obligations that took him away from the castle, as was frequently the case, his main representative was the steward, also called the seneschal. The steward actually had substantial power of his own, because he had to know virtually everything that went on at the castle and in the surrounding estates. So, he had to be skilled at accounting and legal matters, as well as personnel management. 

Other key members of the household staff included the chamberlain (in charge of the great chamber/hall), the chaplain, the keeper of the wardrobe, the butler (also known as the bottler, he ensured there was enough drink stored in the buttery), the cook, the chandler (who made candles), and the marshal (who was in charge of the stables). Each of these individuals had their own staff to manage. 

The lady of the castle was served by ladies-in-waiting and chambermaids. She spent much of the day overseeing their work, as well as supervising the activities in the kitchen staff. The lady also kept an eye on her large group of spinners, weavers, and embroiderers who had the enormous responsibility of keeping everyone clothed, and offering the lady companionship. In addition, the ladies were responsible for educating the young pages who, at the age of 7, came to the castle to learn religion, music, dance, hunting, reading, and writing before moving into knight's service as squires. 

At 14, young boys became squires, and the lord placed them under the guidance of a knowledgeable knight who would teach them about chivalry as well as how to wield a sword or ride a horse into battle. A youth's ultimate goal was knighthood, which could be attained at the age of 21 when the boys officially became men. Many knights became highly skilled warriors and spent peacetime traveling to tournaments to pitch themselves into individual combat with other aspiring knights. The tournaments were good training grounds for real warfare. 

When a group of soldiers was stationed at a castle, they comprised its garrison. Individual members included the knights, squires, a porter (to tend the main door), guards, watchmen, and men-at-arms. All were prepared to defend their lord and his household in an instant. Each soldier had his own place in an attack and his own skill to rely upon. Some were crossbowmen, archers, lancers, or wielded swords. 

Medieval warfare was definitely a highly complex process, despite the simplicity of the weapons. 

Castles must have been noisy - and smelly - places. Livestock roamed inside the stables, blacksmiths clanged out ironwork in the forges, the soldiers practiced their skills, and children played when lessons were completed. Various craftsmen worked diligently in the inner ward, including cobblers (making shoes), armorers, coopers (who made casks), hoopers (who helped the coopers build the barrels), billers (making axes), and spencers (who dispensed). 

The interior walls were used to support timber structures, like the workshops and the stables, and, sometimes, stone buildings also leaned against the walls. Fires burned. The well and cisterns offered water. Servants were constantly bustling, taking care of the personal needs of the household, but also finding time for gossip and flirtation. 

At mid-morning, dinner was served. This was the main meal of the day, and often featured three or four courses, as well as entertainment. After dinner, the day's activities would resume, or the lord might lead his guests on a hunt through the grounds of his nearby deer park. Recreation was never ignored! 

The evening meal, supper, was generally eaten late in the day, sometimes just before bedtime. While not as formidable as dinner, this meal ensured residents would never be hungry when they settled down to sleep off the day's labors. 

We can only imagine that, though the people worked hard during the Middle Ages, they also compensated by playing hard. Holidays were times for letting loose of inhibitions and forgetting the stresses of life. The peasants as well as the castle's household found time for pleasure, and made up for their struggles as best they could. In this modern age of technological convenience, we must admire their perseverance.
 

Bathing and Washing During Medieval Times 
© 2001-2005 by Marvin Hull

One of the modern myths about medieval times is that no one took baths. This is not true. Baths were normally taken in wooden tubs. Often times some privacy was provided by a canopy or tent. In warmer weather the tub was placed in the garden of the castle, and in cold weather near a fire inside the castle. When travelling, the tub often accompanied the lord, together with the bathman. 

In some castles the bathrooms were built in. At Leeds Castle, in 1291, there was a chamber 23ft by 17ft, lined with stone, which could contain 4ft of water taken from the lake that surrounded the castle. There was a ledge for accessories, a recess for the bath, and a changing room located right above the bathroom. Some castle bathrooms had piped-in hot and cold water. Some lords even had bath mats to protect their feet from the cold. 

A lavabo, slop basin, or laver was a stone basin built into the wall. It was used as a wash basin and sink for washing the hands before and after meals. Often, a refillable tank with copper or bronze taps sat above the basin. Some lavabos were highly decorative and had spouts in the form of animal heads. Some examples of castles with lavabos are Goodrich and Conisbrough Castles in England. 
 

Medieval Food 
© 2000-2005 by Lise Hull

Eating was one of the castle dweller's most popular pastimes, for not only did food provide needed sustenance, it was a means of entertainment. In particular, the banquet was used to impress a lord's guests with his generosity and his wealth. Robert Dudley's 19-day festival of fun and feasting in honor of Queen Elizabeth is perhaps the most notorious of all, and the masses of food consumed are staggering by our modern, weight-conscious standard. 

For Dudley's feasts in 1575, ten oxen were eaten each day! The behavior we call bingeing is nothing compared to the mounds of food eaten during one of these feasts. As Mead (1928) stated, "their appetites corresponded to their activity, and they were not appalled when confronted with the mountainous heaps of food prepared for their consumption". And many lords bankrupted themselves in an effort to show their guests a good time. (It seems that Dudley's queen must not have had a good enough time, for she never accepted his marriage proposal!) 

Generally, meals were taken three times a day. A small breakfast of bread and cheese at sunrise was followed between 10 AM and noon with the main meal, dinner. Then, towards sunset a lighter supper would be served, consisting of bread, cheese and perhaps a small dish like a stew. After supper, entertainment might be provided by minstrels, storytellers, acrobats or contortionists, or games and song enjoyed.

A lord's dinner usually had two to three courses, mainly meats and pastries, bread, wine or ale (usually the drink of the lowest classes), fruits, cheeses, nuts, and the like. But a feast was something so much more - even our modern day attempts at medieval banquets fall way short of the mark. Beef, pork, mutton, venison, poultry, fish, eggs, bread, milk, cheeses, vegetables (in lesser quantities, because they were considered "common"), and a profusion of wine, ale, cider, and mead were in ample supply. Mead cites the feast celebrating the installation of Archbishop Neville of York in 1467 as typical. 

For the 6000 or so guests, the following was readied: 300 quarters of wheat, 300 tuns of ale, 100 tuns of wine, 1 pipe of hipprocras, 104 oxen, 6 wild bulls, 1000 sheep, 304 calves, 304 "porkes", 400 swans, 2000 geese, 1000 capons, 2000 pigs, 104 peacocks, over 13,500 other birds, 500 stags, bucks and roes, 1500 venison pies, 608 pikes and breams, 12 porpoises and seals, 13,000 dishes of jelly, cold baked tarts, custards, and spices, sugared delicacies and wafers! 

During the spring and summer months, food stuffs were in ready supply, and included: "starlings, vultures, gulls, herons, storks, cormorants, swans, cranes, peacocks [often displayed in full feather after cooking], capons, and chickens... dogfish, porpoises, seals, whale, haddock, cod, salmon, sardines, lamprey, dolphins, tunnies, and eels (Kenyon, 1995)", as well as mullet, sole, shad, flounder, plaice, ray, mackerel, trout, crab, crayfish and oysters (Gies, 1974). 

Fruits were also eaten, as were onions, garlic, peas, and beans. So what fruits were available? Wild cherries, grapes, and plums. Apples and pears were usually cooked. Roasted apples were popular. Citrus fruits began to be imported around 1290. Fresh and pickled lemons, and also Sevelle oranges. Other imports for the wealthy included currants, raisins, figs, dates and prunes. Roasts, stews and soups were the favored ways of preparing a meal. Potatoes and corn was not used until the 16th century. 

The winter months were a time of scarcity, and preparations were made during the rest of the year to ensure the availability of meat. Wild animals were always hard to find during the winter, so most of the cattle were eaten. Beef had to be dried, though, or would rot if kept for any length of time. One imaginative, yet practical, addition to the winter meat supply was the harvest of pigeons. Dovecotes were built to house and breed pigeons during the year; when winter came, the birds were killed for the lord's table. 

Fish from the castle's pond were also gathered to augment the winter's food stores, as were others from nearby rivers or the sea. Like meat, fish were salted or smoked for longer preservation. And as far as drink was concerned, where water dwindled, wine was abundant, popularly shipped in from the Continent. Apparently, England was the primary consumer of wine during the Middle Ages. It seems that Henry II acquired a vast wine-producing region upon his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, and "for three hundred years the wines of South-East France flowed without hindrance to England and, apart from some ale, was the main beverage (Warner, 1971)". 

The lower classes, on the other hand, had a tough time surviving, and not just in the winter. Their main foodstuffs consisted of vegetables such as turnips or salad, dark breads (deemed not fit for nobler individuals), porridges, an occasional fish, cheese curds, beer, ale, or mead. It is a wonder they survived as well as they did, and were able to fend off disease. Ironically, the rich, who should have had better methods of staying healthy, suffered from a variety of ailments, such as scurvy, tooth decay, heart problems, skin eruptions, and infections caused by rotting meat and lack of proper nutrition. 

So, while the banquets offered diners respite from the harsher realities of the day (although one wonders just how harsh things were, at times), and provided excitement and full bellies for the attendants, there was a downside to the types of food the rich enjoyed: their health suffered. Yet, the quality of food was not the only reason for poor health. Lifestyles played a major role (but that is a topic for another article...). Since medieval and Elizabethan peoples relished their feasts with such lust, it is highly unlikely that gaining better health would have enticed them to give up one of their most favored activities. 
 

Castle Keeps 
© 1999-2005 by Marvin Hull

A keep was a self-sufficient structure that castle defenders could retreat to as a last resort during a battle. The keep was originally called a donjon or great tower. In medieval documents the great tower is referred to as "magna turris", and the word "keep" didn't come along in the English literature until the later half of the 16th century. Sometimes the basement of the keep served as a prison, so the word dungeon soon developed as slang for the keep. 

There were two basic shapes of a keep, square and round. Almost all early keeps were square or rectangular, and were the easiest and fastest to erect. Square keeps had one major drawback. They could easily be damaged at the corners by undermining or bombardment. 

Then came the development of the round keep. They were very difficult to successfully undermine. Arrows and rocks glanced off the rounded walls. Even in later times, after the invention of cannon, the cannon balls also glanced off the keep walls. The earliest round keep in Great Britain was at New Buckingham Castle, built in 1150. 

Even after the military importance of castles changed, keeps were still being built. The role of the keep changed from a last resort stronghold to only a lord's private residence or chamber. 

Another type of keep was the hall-keep. These were longer than they were high, and had very thick walls. They combined the castle keep, hall, solar and other chambers. One of the first stone keeps to be built in Great Britain, during the medieval period, was at Chepstow Castle. This was a hall-keep erected in about 1070. 

A shell keep was a masonry building completely surrounding the summit of a motte. They were round or polygonal and originated as a replacement of a wooden palisade crowning the motte. These types of keeps were hollow because mottes were not strong enough to bear the weight of a solid tower. The walls varied in height from 20-25ft, and were from 8-10ft thick, strengthened by a buttress and, sometimes, wall-towers. 

The interior was usually an open court with surrounding buildings backing onto the walls, and the domestic buildings of the lord were usually placed within the circular enclosure of the shell keep. By the 13th century, these types of keeps had generally replaced the wooden tower on the motte, and often an additional stone gatehouse and towers were inserted into the shell keep. Examples of shell keeps are at: Arundel, Berkhamsted, Brecon, Wiston, Cardiff, Restormel, and other castles. 

Yet another type of keep developed, this being the keep-gatehouse. Complete control for the entrance of the castle was gained by combining the gatehouse and keep into one structure. The inner gates were open and closed from within the gate passage, and not from the castle courtyards, providing isolation from the rest of the castle. The living quarters were in the upper floors. Some of the castles having a keep-gatehouse are Richmond, Ludlow, and Newark. 

The House Keep, or strong house, became common in the 14th and 15th centuries. It was a high rectangular structure, and often had towers on each corner. The pele tower and Scottish tower houses are simular in looks. The stables, or barn, would be located on the bottom floor, or basement. The living quarters would be on the upper floors, and could only be accessed by a removable wooden ladder. The upper floors would also have very small and narrow windows so that no one could enter via a window. 

Castle keeps varied in size. The round keep at Pembroke Castle is four stories, over 53 feet in diameter, 80 feet in height, and has walls 16 feet thick. It is one of the greatest keeps ever built. Here are some other heights and thickness of keeps: 
• Castle Rising Castle: 50 feet high with walls 7 feet thick. 
• Dover Castle: 83 feet high with walls 12 feet thick. 
• Newcastle Castle: 75 feet high with walls 18 feet thick. 
• Norham Castle: 90 feet high with walls 15 feet thick. 
• Kenilworth Castle: 80 feet high with walls 14 feet thick.

The earliest known stone keep built in Great Britain is at Chepstow Castle, built in 1068.
 

Castle Windows 
© 2001-2005 by Marvin Hull

Openings for light in the castle tended to be either loops or windows. The loops did not provide an overall good view, and windows offered little protection for defenders. In the basement and first floor areas there were no windows and very few loops. The loops were provided with no closure, except maybe a thick curtain. The second and third floors would have had windows fitted with seats. The larger windows would be closed with wooden shutters or with parchment. The parchment would be made of oiled sheepskin or goatskin. Windows would also have been protected from intruders gaining entrance, or protection from missiles, by a external iron grill embedded into the masonry. 

In the 11th century, windows above the first floor were about 4 feet high and 12 to 18 inches wide. The heads of the windows were either round or flat, and were splayed or set at the end of a tall, wide recess. What is meant by splayed? This is an opening which widens as it progresses inwards. These early windows did not let much light in, but provided good protection from incoming missiles. 

By the late 12th century, windows became larger. Two openings were made to one internal recess with window seats. In later times of the 13th century, the oriel and lofty hall windows were developed. An oriel was like a nook, with a window and often times contained a fireplace. In the 14th century this developed into a delightful and aesthetically pleasing upper bay-window. An oriel was built by King Edward I at Stirling Castle in 1304 to provide his queen an observation area for a siege. 

The origin of the invention of glass is lost. Sand of high silica content and a fluxing alkali (often soda or potash) are combined and heated to a high melting temperature. Throughout the middle ages the limited amounts of glass produced were crude in shape and quality of metal. 
Glass was expensive, so it was rarely used in castle windows. Diamond (or "angled") mullions, which indicate a window without glass, were found from at least the 14th century, and were used for bedrooms, store rooms and other chambers until the late 17th. These windows usually had grooves for sliding shutters; some windows had hinged shutters. 

In later periods, some castle upper hall windows contained glazing. From the late 16th century diamond mullions were gradually replaced by ovolo (or "sunk quadrant") mullions or by roll moulded mullions. Both types were used with glazed windows, some of which still retained sliding shutters. Glass was so valuable that it was removed from the windows and replaced by wooden shutters in the absence of the lord. 
Glass was also heavily taxed, and this was not abolished until the 19th century. Some manor houses were fitted with window coverings made of animal horn, as this was a cheap alternative to glass. 12th century glass has been excavated at Ascot d'Oilly and Deddington castles.
 

Castle Solars 
© 2001-2005 by Marvin Hull

Originally the word solar, or soller, was used to describe any room above the ground level of a building. It refers to a well lighted parlour or chamber facing south, no matter the floor level. 

In relation to the castle, the solar or great chamber was the lord's private apartment, or withdrawing room. Its location was beyond the dais (a raised platform for the high table) or high table end of the hall, usually on the first floor level over an undercroft (plain room used for storage). Sometimes, builders placed a solar in a mural tower or in the keep. In a keep, the solar was located on the protected side so that it could have windows instead of slits to take advantage of the sun. In later medieval fortified manor houses, the solar wing was located in a tower. 

Oftentimes the lady of the castle reserved the solar for her use. This type of solar or apartment is referred to as a bower. These often had elaborately plastered walls and decorative fireplaces. The bower became an essential part of medieval domestic accommodation. 
It is unclear what date solars first came into use, or who was responsible for their invention. 
 

Castle Stairs 
© 2001-2005 by Marvin Hull

There were several types of stairs in castles, from moveable ladders to grand masonry ones. The earliest were movable wooden ladders. Most entrances were on a level above the ground, so when the defenders of the castle went to bed or needed to isolate the tower or keep, they would just pull the ladder up and store it. 

Access to the wall walk seems most commonly to have been gained by temporary ladders or wooden stairs. The exterior wooden stairs would soon rot from the weather or could easily burn. 

There were also non-movable wooden staircases. These were found throughout the castle, but mostly in the interior rooms. 

Masonry stairs were found mostly in walls or towers and were either straight flights or rose in a spiral direction. There was a great concern for security, but the stairs also had to be convenient. The newel stair was common. This consisted of a central column or post around which a spiral stair revolved. Each step took the form of an eccentric keyhole. The circular terminations fitted on top of each other to form the newel, while the opposite and much broader end was built into the wall. 

The first spiral stairs were laid on concrete vaults, but by the 13th century they were cut into slabs and fitted into the walls. Also, the spiral stairs in castle towers were designed to ascend clockwise, to make the attackers expose more of their body in order to use their swords in their right hands.