Upper Floors Of The Castle The Walls example essay topic

Medieval Castles and their Interior Maura Kennedy British Lit. Period 212-10-01 Although it is thought that medieval times were barbaric they too enjoyed many comforts we still do today. There is much more to the castle then its's ize or the stone arches inside which are still used in many homes today. Castles today are still flocked to by millions of people every year. Sometimes you even see copies of castles right here in the U.S. A but they are not quite the same. Although they were originally built to protect the King, Castles became more and more popular among other nobles as well.

Each family castle had their own special design and touch but most castles of medieval times had a lot of the same basic elements in their interior. Within the shell keep and behind the great walls of these castles there was always one basic element: the great hall. It was often on the ground floor but sometimes it was raised to the second floor for extra security. "The great hall was a large one-room structure with a lofty ceiling" (Gies 58). This was where all the people of the castles slept (excluding the lord and the Lady).

There was of course a great big curtain put up so the ladies would be separate from the men. It wasn't until the end of the century when separate rooms were invented. The great hall was usually located in the very center of the castle and walls built out of stone surrounded the whole room. The entrance was in a sidewall near the lower end of the hall. An outside staircase would be built if the hall were on the second floor. The family would usually have its feasts in this room (Gies 60).

For even more security they would have guards stand outside the great hall on all sides of the room so guests would feel safe when they were feasting (Nardo 57). Early halls were aisle d like a church, with rows of wooden posts or stone pillars supporting the timber roof. Windows were equipped with wooden shutters secured by an iron bar but they were rarely glazed. It wasn't until the 13th century a king or a great baron might have white or greenish glass in the windows. Then later in the 14th century that glazed windows were in every castle (Gies 59). In the castle, the first floor or ground floor (it was sometimes called) was the actual earth itself.

They would have to pack and pat down the dirt in order to have an even floor. In some castles the floor was made of stone or plaster. The upper floors of the house were made of wood so it could be easily supported. Most of the floors were left bare because the carpets were hung on the wall or used for table coverings.

"The floors of a castle were usually strewn with herbs and flowers to mask the collection of beer, bones and excrement of dogs left on the floor" (Gies 60). This nasty stuff would sometimes be left there for weeks at a time hence the flowers and herbs. The great room a place for entertaining, dining, and sleeping. Even though so much went on in this room it was sparsely furnished. It would have some large tables for feasting, a few chairs, and cupboards for dishware, barrels and some chests for other storage.

It was also said that the bigger chair you had at the dinner table the higher you were in rank. This then gave the lord and the lady the biggest chairs. In the upper floors of the castle the walls would have been painted. The colors they used were reds, green, yellows and sometimes blue. These were the only available colors for decorating the castle interior at the time. In some castles they would often have the color gold but mostly you would find this in the chapel.

The color of the house was most often seen in the painted clothes that hung on the wall. These clothes were used to decorate but also served as good insulation in the rather drafty castle (Singman 131). The next rooms were the bedchambers, which were mostly found on the upper levels of the castle. In the early medieval times the nobles slept on the upper end of the great hall in order to receive the least amount of draft possible. The upper floors were used for a place of storage and a place to keep guard for the King. Soon they felt it was safer to sleep on the second floor.

It also gave room for the lord and the lady to become more elaborate in the rooms. The lord and the lady always had separate rooms. The larger the chamber the more wealth the family had. So often the bedchambers were the nicest part of the castle. The main piece of furniture in the room was the bed. The bed was usually very large and took up a good part of the room.

It had a wooden frame and four long pillars set at the corners of the bed. Sometimes the bed would even have a roof over it. From the posts they would hang linens to give them more privacy and make the room warmer. The walls of the bedroom would also be twice the thickness of the walls in the rest of the house so the draft would stop from blowing in. Even though the beds were big and grand that didn't stop them from taking them with them when they visited other castles. All the beds were built so they could be taken apart easily and taken on a trip (Gies 68).

Often times the lord and lady would have servants sleep by they " re beside so if they needed assistants in the morning or middle of the night they would be right there. They had a small mattress sitting next to the bed. The rest of the room had chests strewn about that were filled with garments and other possessions. There would also be a few chairs, small tables and some stools. Other then this that was all the furniture in the bedroom. "Although their bedroom pieces were few in numbers by today's standards, their dressings were quite elegant and comfortable" (Nardo 61).

Most of the decor in the room was designed to keep the room as warm as possible. Their sheets were mostly fur from animals they kept themselves and the same was true for their wall coverings. The lords room would be painted with deep colors of red and greens while the lady's chamber would be much brighter and usually had flowers somewhere in the room (Singman 129). The lady's chamber would also be equipped with a number of small wooden pegs some she could hang up her many garments. The royal bedchamber was among the best in the keep, and had its own fireplace, which had just, been invented for castles. Once the fire was lit the room would be quite warm but it would not stay lit all night because of possible dangers.

It would also have its own privy attached to it. There was usually only one in the great room that was used by everyone else. Some would have chamber pots, which saved a trip to the privy in the middle of night when it was really dark and cold (Singman 130). On the lower floor of the castle was the kitchen. It always branched off of the end of the great hall.

It was there were all the meals were prepared by a cook and some servants. It generally had one huge hearth and off to both sides of it was several small fireplaces that had their own special purpose. Some cooked the bread, which was always a part of every meal, others cooked the meat and the large hearth always had something bubbling in the huge black cauldron. Next to the kitchen were the pantry and the buttery.

The buttery was used for serving drinks and as a preparation area before the food was served. The pantry had tons of shelves used for storing the bread and other goods they ordered. The pantry had a special passageway that led down to the basement bellow the Great Hall; their supplies could be drawn up from boats on the river bellow (Gies 64). There was also another passage in the basement that led directly up to the kitchen. Except for the kitchen passages, the domestic quarters of medieval castles contained no internal corridors. Most all of the rooms opened to each other.

Just outside the kitchen was the scullery, or the sink. This was were the water was for washing utensils and cooking food. Also outside was the castle garden where all the herbs, fruit trees / vines, vegetables, and flowers were found. Often times there was a pond in the center of the garden, which was stocked with trout and pike. Just off the garden was an area where they kept all the animals that would eventually be part of their feasts. When they were expected to have a large feast they would set up another kitchen which was on the other side of the main kitchen.

The servants would also spend a great amount of time decorating and preparing for large feasts. "The dishes would be far more varied then that of any available to peasantry" (Singman 135). They would replace the floor by clearing out all the nasty things left on the ground from the last couple of meals they had. All the water that was needed for washing and drinking was available at one central place on each floor of the castle. There was also a well where much of the drinking water was drawn from.

Inside there would be a cistern or reservoir on the upper level whose pipes carried water to the floors below. Hand washing was sometimes done at a laver or a built-in basin in the great hall's entrance, with a projecting trough. Servants filled the tank above, and a lead pipe below, inflow and outflow controlled by valves with bronze or copper taps and spouts carried wastewater away. Baths were taken in a wooden tub, protected by a tent or canopy and padded with cloth. In warm weather the tub was brought outside to the garden; in cold weather, it was in the chamber near the fire (Gies 71).

The last part and the most important of each castle was the chapel. Every castle had a chapel. It was the indispensable feature of the castle of a great lord (Nardo 68). It was where the family went every morning to hear the daily mass. Each castle had it's own place for the chapel. Sometimes it could be found in on the first floor or the second but most often though it was on the basement level.

As the great hall got bigger the chapel soon took a permanent spot on the first floor around the later medieval times. A popular arrangement at this time was to build the chapel two stories high so the lords and ladies could sit in the upper part that branched out from their chambers. Towards the end of the 13th century of medieval times the castles had become very comfortable and a lot more private. The lord and lady's chambers were like there own apartment. As the Middle Ages progressed so did inventions including the invention of gunpowder and cannons. With these new inventions the castle no longer provided adequate protection and so castles soon began to be abandoned.

All that remains now are ruins that dot the countryside every where throughout England. Even though the castle has disappeared it has not been completely forgotten. Today many decorators and homeowners borrow and try to recreate the barbaric look. A lot of people find in quite romantic. People are reminded of royalty and all the important people during this period like King Arthur and Robin Hood.

In conclusion, the Medieval Castle's interior decoration began to have importance and much of its' innovations are still used today.

Bibliography

Nardo, Don. The Medieval Castle. California: Lucent Books, 1997.
Singman, Jeffery L. Medieval Europe. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999.
Gies, Frances, et. al. Life in a Medieval Castle. New York: Thomas Crowell Company, 1974".
Interior Design". World Book Encyclopedia. 1995.
ed. Medieval Castles. 12 Dec 2001.