Group items tagged

There were kitchens and pantries where food was stored for everyday preparation. The Great Hall and the bedchambers were there too.

The Great Hall

The Bedchamber

Kitchen

A wealthy knight, his family and guests ate well. Unlike most people, they had plenty of meat like deer, goose and rabbit. On Fridays and Holy Days meat was forbidden by the church, so they ate fish or eels. If there was a special feast, the people working in the kitchens would prepare wild boar, roast swan, or even roast peacock, served with all its feathers as decoration. Some of these would be caught by the lord of the castle and his friends while out hunting with their hawks.

Many castles had stone toilets built over holes in the outer walls. These emptied into a pit way below.

Medieval castles did not have running water, yet people did like to bathe at least once a year. In some castles there was a room next to the kitchen where they bathed in groups. The lord might have hot water brought to his bedchamber and poured into a big wooden tub, where he sat on a low stool in. The water might have perfume or rose leaves sprinkled in it. Soap was made of sheep fat with ashes and soda. Teeth were cleaned by scraping them with a hazel twig and rubbing them with a woollen cloth.

However, medicine became steeped in superstition and the Roman Catholic Church effectively dominated what direction the medical world took. Any views different from the established Roman Catholic Church view could veer towards heresy with the punishments that entailed

when the Roman Catholic Church stated that illnesses were punishments from God and that those who were ill were so because they were sinners, few argued otherwise.

Urine charts were also used to help physicians diagnose illnesses. Certain coloured urine indicated certain illnesses. Combined with a table of the planets, these gave physicians enough information to diagnose a disease. Once the disease had been diagnosed, a treatment was decided on.

letting blood.

Blood letting was a popular treatment for many diseases. Many diseases were thought to be caused by an excess of blood in the body and blood letting was seen as the obvious cure. When a large quantity of blood was required, the appropriate vein was cut. If only a small amount was needed, a leech would be used.

Diagnosis was also influenced by astrology

They believed that the human body and the planets were made up of the same four elements (earth, fire, air and water). For the body to operate well, all four elements had to be in harmony with no imbalances. It was believed that the Moon had the greatest influence on fluids on Earth and that it was the Moon that had the ability to affect positively or negatively the four elements in your body. Where the Moon and planets were – and a knowledge of this - was considered important when making a diagnosis and deciding on a course of treatment.

Remedies for diseases were still crude and based on herbs, potions or more drastic cures.

A man’s son inherited his lands and his obligations to fight

The castle was both a residence for the lord and his family, and a fortification. It was a strong place for the lord to defend himself against his enemies (and the king’s enemies, and his overlord’s enemies), a safe place for him and his knights to return to, and a place to live which emphasized his power.

  Castles were built to keep out enemies. When an attack was expected, the drawbridge was raised, the gates and portcullis were closed, and archers were stationed on the towers.

The walls were not only high, in a well-planned castle, but they were arranged as much as possible so that anyone climbing the walls could be shot at from two directions.

The castle’s defenses invited a great deal of ingenuity from the attackers. Rolling wooden towers, covered with thick hides to stop arrows and kept wet so they could not be set on fire, were brought up to the walls in an attack. Sometimes they even worked. Catapults threw heavy stones at the walls to make a breach or loads of rocks (or diseased livestock, or fire bombs) over the walls. The battering ram—generally used against a door—was an old favorite.

he knights and their servants and their mounts all had to eat, as did the lord, his family, and his servants and officials, and their families. Many castles grew certain types of food inside their walls, to add variety to the diet of those inside the castle, but it was not nearly enough to feed the people in the castle, much less their guests. Castles might have beehives, herb gardens, fruit trees or a fishpond. Because the land inside the castle walls was not enough to feed all these people, they got their food from the peasants who farmed outside, and from hunting. There were restrictions on hunting by the peasants, and sometimes it was forbidden entirely, so that the lord and his retainers would have plenty of game to hunt. Hunting was also a major recreation for the lord and his men.

punishment from God for sins committed and the only way to cure someone was to pray for their forgiveness

using herbal remedies and potions were seen as witchcraft and outlawed by the church

Spears were very popular medieval weapons as they were cheap and easy to make and very effective,

Bill and Staff weapons on the battlefield and these consisted of bladed weapons such as polearms, pole hammers and mainly long staff weapons were very popular.

Great swords, and lets not forget one of the battlefields most treasured weapons in medieval times because of their effectiveness, Longbows (Popular in England) and Cross Bows (Popular in Europe).