MEDIEVAL WARFARE

Life in the Medieval Castle

Not every member of the warrior class could afford his own castle -  even one made out of wood.  The majority of medieval warriors served other, more important members of their class; and many of them lived in the castles of the men whom they served.  In medieval society, a warrior who served someone else was known as a Vassal; the person whom he served was his Lord.
For lord or vassal, life in a medieval castle, whether it was wood or stone, would have been relatively uncomfortable.  Such structures were cold, damp, and drafty; and tended to be quite crowded.  Privacy for the inhabitants of a castle was usually at a minimum. The move from wood to stone tended to make castles colder, since wood is a better insulating material.
Relatively few varieties of furniture existed, even for the use of the upper classes (chairs, tables, benches, stools, chests for storage, beds for the leading figures in the castle.)
Although the more important occupants of the castle, such as the lord and his family had beds, the majority probably slept on pallets or bedrolls brought out at night and thrown on the floor.  Four poster beds with bed curtains increased warmth and privacy for the few people in the castle, like the lord and his lady, who possessed them.
Starting around the time of the crusades, rugs (floor coverings) and tapestries (wall hangings) were added to the castle's furnishings.  These helped make castles somewhat warmer and more habitable places.  However, both continued to be luxury items throughout the Middle Ages.
Most castles, especially in the earlier period, had as their only form of insulation a layer of straw thrown down on the floor, in order to help protect against the winter cold.
Disadvantages of a straw floor-covering:
(1)  Food thrown to the animals would often get into the straw and decompose.
(2)  The animals which frequented the castle would urinate and defecate into it.
By spring, the inhabitants of the castle were usually glad to see the winter covering swept out the door!
Clothing:  The selection of clothing available in the Middle Ages was relatively limited.  Most of it was made of either wool or hides.  Although silk was also available, it was an extremely expensive import from the Far East or the Byzantine Empire, beyond the price range of low-ranking members of the warrior class.  Cotton, which had to come from India, was virtually unknown.  Linen was widely used, but probably more costly as wool; brocades were expensive.
There was no underwear until around the thirteenth century; nor were there special nightclothes.  People habitually slept at night in part of the same clothing they had worn during the day; and, in cold weather, spare clothing often served as blankets.
The problems of cold, lack of privacy, and lack of clothing are all reflected in the design of medieval beds.  These tended to have high bedposts at the four corners; from which were hung bed curtains.  These bed curtains provided both warmth and a certain measure of privacy to those lucky enough to have such a bed.
The interior of a castle, especially in winter, was more often than not filled with smoke which came from both the sources of heat (an open fire either on the stone floor or in an iron brazier) and of light (primarily torches, and occasionally the more expensive candles).
Chimney and fireplace:  It was not until later in the Middle Ages that the chimney introduced into western architecture, making possible the kind of enclosed and vented fireplaces we know today. The appearance of the chimney caused a revolution in the lifestyle of western man.  It made it possible to construct a number of rooms, each of which could be heated by an individual fireplace.  No longer did everybody have to huddle around the common fire in the main hall.  This, in turn, greatly promoted the growth of privacy in the west.
Getting enough food tended to be a much more serious problem in the Middle Ages than it is in modern western society.  Given the technology of the period, agricultural surpluses were smaller and harder to store successfully than in the modern world.  Nor was it usually possible, given the primitive system of transportation, to move food supplies from one district to another.  As a result, medieval men and women were far more vulnerable to famine than their modern counterparts.  Although this critical problem particularly threatened peasants, it could, upon occasion, affect aristocrats as well.
A member of the warrior class not only got larger quantities of food than the average peasant; he ordinarily enjoyed a far greater variety.
Food varieties available to aristocrats:
(1)  Meat from domesticated animals (beef, pork, lamb, pigeon)
(2)  Wild game
(3)  Vegetables (in season)
(4)  Bread
(5)  Drinks (fruit juice, ale, wine, beer, mead; and, later in the Middle Ages, distilled liquor
Distillation Process:  Increases the alcoholic content; appears to have been developed in the monasteries, probably by the Benedictine Order, and became a significant source of revenue.  The process soon spread into the secular world.
Butler:  One who cared for the butts (large kegs) that contained wine.
The aristocrat's major food problem was normally neither abundance nor variety, but rather preservation.  The primitive methods of storage guaranteed that much which was served, especially during the winter, would reach the table in a moldy, rancid, or semi-spoiled state.  Knights, as well as peasants in the Middle Ages, had to have good digestive systems!
Other than fingers, the only eating utensils common in the Middle Ages were the spoon and knife, often one's own dagger for cutting and spearing meat.  An aristocrat's dagger rarely left his person.  (If a woman did not have a dagger, she would borrow one from the nearest male at the table.)  Forks, which were only introduced late in the Middle Ages from the Byzantine Empire, took a long time to catch on.
Although plates were used with some kinds of food, eaters often dispensed with them.  The bread trencher shaped like a bowl was often used.
Table scraps were thrown to the animals or saved for the poor.
Entertainment of medieval aristocrats (other than combat related):
(1)  Games:  backgammon, dice, and chess.  Cards seem to have been invented only in the later Middle Ages; according to tradition to entertain an insane, late fourteenth century French monarch known as Charles the Mad.  They quickly spread and, by the late fifteenth century, were highly popular in Europe.
(2)  Dancing
(3)  Occasionally, traveling entertainers would arrive at the castle and put on a show.  These included acrobats, jugglers, animal tamers, musicians, and strolling players to put on what passed for drama in this period. 
Most popular of all were the story tellers who were called minstrels (England), troubadours or trouveres (France) and minnesingers (Germany).  They recited the great epic poems, known as chansons de geste (literally "songs of deeds") which told of great heroes such as King Arthur, Roland, and Sigfried.
(3)  Visiting the medieval fairs
(4)  The old standbys:  feasting, drinking, sex
Reading has not been included among the common entertainments of aristocrats.  Although there were exceptions, throughout most of the Middle Ages, a great many members of the warrior class were no more able to read than the peasants whom they dominated.  Reading was largely confined to clerics or churchmen.  In fact, at one time, simply demonstrating an ability to read was regarded as sufficient proof that one was a member of the clergy.  It would only be toward the end of the Middle Ages that the aristocracy would become literate when it was to their advantage to do so.  One of the great changes associated with the Renaissance was the spread of literacy into the aristocratic class.