For Anyone Who Desires Living In A Castle

I woke up this morning and had nothing to write for this week’s article, so I thought about how real estate construction managed in medieval times, and how people lived and functioned. It occurred to me to go back in time and see how life was for the elite, living in a castle over 1,000 years ago, and what, if anything, those vast edifices have in common with the large houses being built today. So, I researched castle construction and life back then.

The great age of castles began almost 1,000 years ago and lasted for nearly 500 years. The first proper castles built in England were introduced by William the Conqueror when he invaded England from his homeland in France. William needed to show his authority and protect his new kingdom. The early years of the Norman occupation saw a frenzy of castle building.

The original castles of stone comprised rectangular towers surrounded by high stone walls. These towers, also called “keeps,” were built with several levels within the keep, dependent on its size and the wealth of its owner, but the ground floor would make up the castle’s main hall (also known as the Great Hall). This “Great Hall” was the equivalent of a combination of our modern-day living room, dining room, and den with a little kitchen tossed in, with 40- or 50-foot vaulted ceilings. Burning in the center of the room would have been a large fire, its smoke turning the air acrid. The only natural light filtered through narrow lancet windows. It was here that the nobility ate, drank, and even slept. On special occasions, magnificent banquets were held here. The nobleman, his family, and important guests sat at the high table, which was raised above the other diners and covered with a tablecloth of fine linen. (I wonder if this is where we get our dais setup from?) The Great Hall was the heart of castle life.

Inside the castle walls, besides a magnificent hall, there would also be comfortable chambers and a chapel. These chapels were extravagantly customized with stained glass windows and gold everywhere. A chapel seems to have been on the must-have list of castle builders back then, pretty much as a beautiful kosher kitchen is on the must-have list of houses built today.

Castles did not have bathrooms; instead, people sat on wooden seats in rooms called “garderobes.” These were wooden or stone benches with holes built over a very long chute, all contained in a large room (or chamber). Waste from the toilet fell down the chute into the moat. (That moat was definitely not the place any of us would want to picnic next to on a nice day.) The garderobes (to “guard” the “robes”) were so called because people also stored their clothes in them. The foul smell kept the moths away.

For fresh water, almost all castles had a well within their walls. This was essential as a source of water if someone laid siege to the castle and everyone had to stay within the castle walls (what a life).

Early castle life was far from comfortable. The wind blew through the wooden shutters in the windows, and most people slept on benches or on rough mattresses in the great hall—on top of hay or straw on the floors, which would be replaced daily. Insulation as we have today was unknown. By the 1200s, castle amenities improved and people slept in well-furnished bed chambers and living rooms that were built on in added wings within the castle usually above the main hall and in surrounding wing additions, heated by large open fires and lit by candles.

Ironically, when large homes are built today, many build them fantasizing about living in a castle.

We dream about the ultimate lives of luxury, never having to fend for ourselves, having our every whim taken care of, swimming in jewels or swathed in silk. But despite all the glamour we see in movies and conjure up in our imaginations, medieval castle life was not necessarily easy.

Hardships were plenty, and even the wealthiest individuals often lived in less than adequate quarters. There was no central heating, except for the central hearth or fireplace, which was reserved for the nobleman and his family. Servants, soldiers, and others made do with tiny lamps and shivered a lot in the cold medieval nights. The nobleman, his family, and guests would also have had the added comfort of heavy blankets, feather mattresses, fur covers, and tapestries hanging on the walls—at least in later years (as castle life became more developed after the 1200s) to block the damp and breezes, while residents of lesser status usually slept in the towers and made do with lighter bedclothes and just got used to being cold most of the time.

Even during the warmest months of the year, the castle retained a cool dampness and was very dark since in order to keep the wind and cold out, very few windows were included in the structuring of a castle, so most residents spent as much time as possible outdoors. There were no bathrooms with baths, showers, and running hot and cold water. Baths were taken in transportable wooden tubs, so that the summer sun could warm the water and the bather, but the tub could be moved inside when the weather worsened.

I think the only thing I found interesting after having researched actual castle construction and life were the large rooms with the high ceilings and the use of stone. Everything else, although beautiful when looking at a picture or seeing a castle on a museum tour, is just that—a beautiful picture totally removed from life. So, remind me again why we all dream about owning our own castles? 

Anessa Cohen lives in Cedarhurst and is a N.Y.S. Licensed Real Estate Broker (Anessa V Cohen Realty) with over 20 years of experience offering full service residential, management and commercial real estate in the Five Towns of Long Island as well as the tri-state area. She can be reached at 516-569-5007. Readers are encouraged to send any questions or scenarios by email to [email protected].