Castles of the Middle Ages
Castles in the middle ages were dark clammy and cold. Their purpose was to protect the community during hard feudal times. Castles were first being built around 1000AD and were just stopping being built around 1450 AD. They were located throughout England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Wales. The first castles were being built on hills or large open plains so that knights and guards could see enemies coming from far away. Castles were built for protection and safety. They had lots of ways for defending themselves. Most castles would have moats and drawbridges but there were many more ways of defense such as the portcullis, (a portcullis is a heavy iron gate that can be lifted to let people in or out.) It would be located on the in side of the drawbridge. Nowadays walls are made to keep out rain, weather, animals, and also to have privacy, but in the Middle Ages castle walls were for keeping enemies out and were sometimes up to 12 feet thick. Guards would walk along the tops of the walls with bows and arrows in case of an attack. It was a common thing to do, if enemies were climbing the walls, for guards to dump hot oil from the top of the wall to prevent the enemies from climbing any farther.
In castles there would be lots of food stored. Other popular types of entertainment were jugglers, jokers and the most popular of all were the dancing bears. Nowadays houses are very comfortable and luxurious but castles were a very uncomfortable place to live. The bread was baked in huge stone ovens. This would work because it kept the warmth in and the cold out. In most attacks they would surround the castle and not let anything out or anything in. Since there weren't radios, Cds, tapes or records all music was played by musicians and that was what a minstrel was. In the Middle Ages they didn't have any refrigeration so spices were a big part of cooking, this is because it got rid of the rotten flavor. He would help put on the knight's armor, help him mount his horse and other knightly jobs. Knights lived well when they weren't off at battle or on a quest. The reason they were dark was because the only windows they had were slits, this was so that arrows would not come thru the window. Sometimes on cold nights whole families would sleep in one big bed to stay warm. They were dark, damp, and cold because they were made out of stone. After these had been used they gave them to the poor, to eat.
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