What was daily life like in medieval times?

Daily life in medieval times was a very routine life style and most people who lived during that time were just farmers. Farmers only work was really just growing enough food for his family to live of for the year. There was a calendar used in medieval times called the agrarian and everyone fallowed that for scheduling. There wasn’t much that went on in a village and citizens rarely celebrated, but on one occasion they did, weddings!                   

   There were not many social events but when there was they were very important to the people of a village. Once castles had started to get popular the villages were dominated by castles. Hospitals had gotten very popular and one of the things that happened was medical schools had begun to be constructed and finished.

How were castles made?

You have to remember castles would have had to been able to withstand attack because as almost every post states they were in fact the center of defense for a town or city. A main reason castles were constructed on a hill top was for looking out to see if invaders were coming, the strategy for water was so invaders would not attack; me personally I would put boats in the moat therefore I could attack, but that’s just me. One castle constructed in medieval times was said to have taken 400 masons, 2000 laborer, 30 smiths, and 200 carters; there wasn’t even enough room for the castle either because they then had to destroy many homes in order for the castle to fit, if my home was being destroyed I would be so angry.

  There were many tools used to construct castles probably because there was a lot of workers who worked on the large structures. Castles being built was very dependent of the weather because if it was cold and snowy usually they would call the day off for building. Walls surrounding the castle could be about 20- 45 ft tall and 7- 20 feet wide, they must have been HUGE! You could say that castles grew because they got about 8-10 feet taller every year from added construction. The most important thing about constructing a castle was having money.

Work Cited

Gravett, Christopher. Castle. London: Dorling Kindersiey, 1994. Print. Eyewitness Books.

O'Neal, Michael J. "Architecture in Medieval Europe." Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts On File News Services, 2008. Web. 12 May 2011.

Salley, Victoria. Castles and Knights. Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2001. Print.

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Who worked in the castle?

 Castles were really big so you might make the assumption that they had a lot of people who worked at them in order to keep them looking nice and keep others in the town happy. A few workers at the castle were; the constable, who looked after all of the buildings in the castle. A Marshall who looked after all the animals held at the castle, many servants worked at the castle, the Chamberlin was the head chef a prepared most foods served, and a steward who looked and advised the finances. Slaves and maids who worked at the castle had separate buildings on the peremesis of the grounds in order for them to be close when needed, which I thought was a very interesting idea.

   The chefs had one of the most important jobs of preparing food because they also stored a lot of food and I said earlier the 3-6 month supply of food was just in case of a siege occurring on the castle. Now you might be wondering that seems like a lot of people for on building and yes that is true, there was about 100+ people that worked or held a job at the castle.

What are some architectural and unique features in castles?

  Castles were very luxury a lot of times because the people who lived at the castle were usually very wealthy. Something unique about the location of a castle was they were usually built on top of a hill or around water in order to protect from invaders; that goes along with the fact that castles were the center of defense for a town or city in ancient Europe. The way a castle looked or was shaped all depended on how wealthy the owner of the castle was, in most cases you could tell how rich a person was by looking at the size and shape of the castle. One of the things that made a castle gross and dirty was the fact that animals were held in the castle pigs, sheep, and chickens were among some of the creatures held at a castle. A really interesting thing that I thought about a lot was the fact that castles were originally made from wood, doesn’t that surprise you? Now days when I see a castle it usually is a giant stone structure.

  There was two very important things that a castle had that the owner probably wouldn’t survive long without, there must have been a lot of pressure on the builders to perfect them. First thing was the highest tower which would have been important so a guard could watch over if invaders, which was probably a life a death structure; meaning, if you didn’t have a watch tower you wouldn’t be ready for battle and you would probably die. The second most important thing was the kitchen which was the heart of the castle, this is a life or death room because we all know you can’t survive without food. And there was TONS of food because if the castle was in the middle of a siege there would have to be enough food in the supply to last long. And each supply usually held up for about 2-3 months, they must have had a grocery store in the castle!!!!

What were castles used for?

Alter inside of castle

  Imagine a wealthy land owner constructing a huge castle taking up the skyline of your village, wouldn’t that be rude? That’s what a castle was like in medieval Europe; you might me thinking what is a castle used for, well I guess I could answer that question. A castle involved everyone in the city and contained many things, jobs, and places. One of the things that was in the castle was a house, where the owner, children, wife, and noblemen lived. Castles were a public gathering place so everyone enjoyed them, but they were described as noisy, dirty, and smelly, grody, that doesn’t sound like a fun gathering place. Castles were one of the main gathering places in midueval Europe, people visited there for public meetings or gatherings. Those are just some of the common things that occured at castles.
  The most important use for a castle was to protect citizens from invaders; castles were able to hold people for months in the case of a siege occurring. One of the weird things was each castle contained a chapel where an alter was held for praying and small gatherings for a church service could have been held. The weirdest thing that a castle had was prisons, why would you keep criminals in your house?; I thought that was really crazy and seemed kind of dangerous, what is one escaped and hurt your family? Those are some of the many things and uses a castle aided for a city or village, that I learned when researching.