User talk:James$courtney

Medieval castles

Early castle relied on the surrounding landscape to provide much of the protection. Early castle were made of wood and build on hills of mottes. Surrounding by a high, wooden palisade, motte and bailey castle were used widely until the Norman invasion of 1066. These fortifications proved too easy to burn, and stone was then used more frequently. Walls were built high to protect from advancing armies, ad to provide needed lookout positions. In ground floor halls the floor was made 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 chepstew’s  great hall or by stone vaulting. Carpets, although used on walls, tables, and benches were not used as floor covering in Britain and northwest Europe until the 14th century. Floors were strewn with rush and in the later Middle Ages sometimes with herbs. In the 13th century the castle kitchen was still generally of timber, with a central health or several fireplace where meat could be spitted or stewed in a cauldron. In the bailey near the kitchen the castle garden was usually planted with fruit and vines at one end, and pots of herbs, and flowers- roses, lilies, heliotropes, violets, poppies, daffodils, iris, gladiola. There might also be a fishpond, stocked with trout and pike. In the earliest castles, the family slept at the extreme upper end of the hall, beyond the dais, from which the sleeping quarters were typically separated by only a curtain or screen. The lord and lady’s, when situated on an upper floor, was called the solar. In the Middle Ages, when few castles had large permanent garrisons, not only servants but military and administrative personnel slept in a tower or in the basement, or in the hall. Later, when larger garrisons manned castles, other mercenaries, separate barracks, mess halls, and kitchens were build. Rooms opened into each other, or were joined by a spiral staircase, which required minimal space and could serve pairs of rooms on several floors. An indispensable feature of the castle of a great lord was the chapel where the lord and his family heard  morning mass. In the 13th century, the chapel was usually close to the hall, convenient to the high table and bedchamber, forming an L with the main building or sometimes projecting opposite the chamber. A popular arrangement was to build the chapel two stories high, with the nave divide horizontally; the family sat in the upper part, reached from their chamber, while the servants occupied the lower part. By the later 13th century, the castle had achieved a considerable degree of comfort, convenience, and privacy. The lord and lady, who had begun by eating and sleeping in the great hall with their household, had gradually withdrawn to their apartments. Castles were built not only as a defensive measure and offenive weapon, but also as a home. They were used for the storagr of food and the detention of prisoners. A castle would also be a social place where a king or lord could entertain his peers. Castles were expensive, and were built to look impressive, increasing the perceved power of the builder or occupier. Castles were made by their owners for speciic purposes, but often evolved new purposes over time. Some of the larger castles would have the entire village within their battlements. Although castles were associated with noility and most peasants live outside the castle wal, in times when the land were under invasion, all people were taken in the castle in order to provide their prtection. the main distingushing features of castles, as opposed to other defensive structures. firstly, castles were places of protection from an invating enemy, a place of retreat. this is the purpose behind such stereotypilcal castle features as portullises, battlements, and drawbridges. secondly, castles wer offtensive weapons, built in otherwise hostile territories from whichto control surrounding lands, as forward camps. in particular, during the high middle ages,castles were often built for territorial expansion and regional control. a castles was a stornghold from whicha lord could control surrounding territory. lastly, castles were either built as, or evoled into, residence for the monarch or lord who built them.