Work Cited

                    

Biesty, Stephen, and Richard Platt. Castle. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1994. Print. Stephen Biesty's Cross-Sections.

Michael J. "Architecture In Medieval Europe." Facts On File, 2008. Web. 12 May 2011.

Salley, Victoria, Andrea Ferraro, and Rosie Jackson. Castles and Knights. Munich: Prestel, 2001. Print. Adventures In Art.

Singman, Jeffrey L. "Castle Life." Daily Life Through History. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 12 May 2011.

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Daily Life in Medieval Times

The daily life of people in medieval times was sometimes very different, but was also very similar. Of course all people who lived in a castle worked under the king and did what he said. If you didn't live in a castle you were most likely a farmer or a traveler, that would make your life very different from others. You may think a kings life is easy, but it's not just do whatever you want. If you compared a kids life (rules, expectations, responsibilities) you would see they are pretty similar but an adult version and more things to do.

A peasants daily life was hard work, most started working by the age of 6 or 7. Peasants were like the slaves of america, they were abused/mistreated and had almost no rights. Most peasants were used for farming and sometime sacrifices. Whether you were a man, woman, boy or girl peasant you did whatever you were told from pretty much everyone, and anyone that told you to do something. A citizen's daily life would be somewhat the same as todays life you had laws, a ruler (our mayor), and other officials.

Most kings or lords wanted to have big armies of soldiers to protect them and their land. But he also used his soldiers to conquer land so he would need weapons. There were many different kinds of weapons used in medieval times, what weapon you used just depended on the situation. One scenario is that you were under attack at your castle. What would you do? Well you would get a weapon and fight back. But what weapon, a crossbow, sword, or stones? Or use all of them. I for one would use all of them.

 Now lets say you were attacking someone else's castle. What would you use? Well of course a sword and a bow & arrow but another thing you would use is a ballista. Like a giant crossbow it will shoot projectiles far and very accurate. Another weapon that was used and is still used as a smaller toy these days is the catapult. Used to launch rocks. dead animals, and almost anything they could find it was a very useful and effective weapon. All of these weapons were very common in the medieval times of battle.

Who lived in the castle?

                            The king or lord of the castle would live inside the walls usually in the center of the castle. He had a huge building that he and his family would live in. the king also shared that building with others to, he would usually share with nobles, guards, and many more. The knights had barracks that they lived in and that is also where they would be trained. The lords or kings people would live in the manor, or outside of the walls. They had houses with streets but sometimes they weren’t protected. They would go into the castle to get food and other items.

Living in the castle was a great responsibility for the knig/lord. He had many things and places to look over and watch. He or she would want to keep crimes down so they could keep the people happy. Unhappy people= riots, violence, crime, and revolts and no king would want that stress on his shoulders. But when people didn't follow the laws they had harsh punishments, like a hanging, or racking. That is how the king kept order and i wouldn't break the laws, those punshments were gruesome.

What were castles made of in the medieval times?

                        There was many ways castles were made. Stone, brick and even wood, they usually had hay roofs. But most castles out of all the ways to build them were made of stone, thick walls, and pretty high ones to. The lord's people would live in his manor, sometimes there was a moat then there would be an outer wall thick and high for protection, then most of the time an inner building where the main part of the castle is. That’s where the main defense is to protect the lord.

                       

                            The castle to the right is a medieval castle made of stone. It is built on a rocky cliff with a river or moat around it. This is a great example of what medieval castles would look like.

Castles were also made of granite! When castles were made of brick, people had to make it by hand first.