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Walls up to 30 feet thick and pure stone and mortar, the castles were the main weapon as well as beauty
of the middle ages. These majestic buildings covered the landscapes of medieval Europe and faced long years of warfare. During
their time they were the greatest forms of architecture and defense possible.
However life in a castle was harsh, one of the many issues was the lack of heating. The stone it was made
of did not keep out any cold air and the floors were usually freezing. Heating was only accesible by the nobles who had fireplaces
and slept wrapped in warm fur, unlike the other lower class serfs and soilders who slept either on the floor or on cots.
The floors whiich were often covered in spit, food, and droppings of various animals such as cats and dogs.
The windows were small and the air was mostly foul. The only time of day worth looking forward to was the evening feast, which
took place in the great hall. The hall was large with grand windows, the only windows in which you could see a nice view.
The hall was warm and merry, and the feasts really were quite grand. The feast was a great relief after a hard working day
and little sleep on freezing cots.
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All that castle life was work.Blacksmiths who worked day and night to make weapons
for the army, Knights who trained on the fields each day, serfs who cleaned the vast castle, lords who settled affairs of
various political sorts, or architects working on new innovations for the castles. The main purpose of these castles was protection
of trade routes,people, or water sources and all life revolved around this. Yet, castles were often built to show wealth and
prosperity of a feudal lord. They were still the main military targets in war. Each castle represented wealth and when
one was conquered it showed military power of the conqueror. Since to take a castle was almost impossible, the walls which
were made of solid stone were indestructible by sword or fire and inside of each castle stood an army of knights and commoners,
atop the walls stood archers who could send a hail of arrows upon any troops who came in range. The stone was so thick and
well constructed that it withstood long sieges with constant pounding of rock against rock, trebuchets and catapults which
fired rocks each the size of a human or bigger. The castles stand tall today as they did hundreds of years before because
of their great architecture. They stand just as tall, just as strong , and just as amazing as the days in which they faced
wars and sieges.
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This was released March 2, 2006
Created by Maciej Kadluboski and Anubhav Sodhi
Mr.Berger's 8th Period Class
Grover Middle School Team 8D
Medieval Museum
March 2, 2006
To Grover Middle School
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