Customer Reviews

Life in a Medieval Castle

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This short book on life in a medieval castle centers around the history of one fortress on the border between England and Wales, and then relates that story to castles across Western Europe. The passages are divided into chapters on all facets of castle life, and are written in a clear, almost "novel" like way.

Some of the facts presented are well-known, but there were enough fresh tidbits and interesting anecdotes that I never found myself bored.

In addition, at the end of the book, is a list of historically important castles, ranging in construction from the 9th century to the 15th century, that can be useful if the reader is planning a trip to England, France, Spain or elsewhere in Europe.

All in all, an entertaining and well written book.

As a 17 year old freshman, I expected to have to force my way through the assigned chapters of what I expected to be a mega-boring dose of medieval torture. I was delighted enough to read the whole book in a weekend, and have picked it, and its sequels (which were not required reading), up again and again throughout the years.

What makes it unique is that its painstaking research is concisely and vividly presented, focusing on specific people within the strata of life within a medieval castle. It doesn't glorify, get bogged down in details, pity or condescend to its subject. There's dirt, disease and war along with everyday chores, pastimes, dining and amusement. It's a must read for anyone interested in an accurate and unembellished picture of the gamut of medieval society. I'm glad to see that it is still in print.

Researching? Expanding your horizons just for kicks? This book is excellent by either account. Perhaps what I appreciated most about this book was that it covered a little bit of everything - from history to architecture to military engagements to domestic uses to the people who actually lived in castles. Castles really come to life in this book - as well as the people housed within. There's enough detail in here to satisfy the researcher - but the prose moves along at a trim pace so you won't get bogged down. If you're interested in a specific facet of castles or castle life, you may have to supplement your knowledge elsewhere, but this is a fine overview of castles and their history.

Life in a Medieval Castle is absolutely masterful! Extremely well researched, each chapter is a goldmine of information. The work not only offers a wonderful summary of the history of the development of the castle but also gives the reader a real feel for castle life. The text is engaging and very well written. Jargon specific to discussions of feudalism and castles is defined in concise tables at the back of the book. Liberally sprinkled with excellent photographs, the book provides extras, such as a schematic drawing of a castle and words and music to medieval songs (although I did find myself wishing that at least some of the plates could have been in color). The geographical guide to castles is comprehensive and examples are chosen with care. Bibliography is provided for each chapter for those readers who wish to study certain topics in-depth. Bibliographic selections are authoritative, current and comprehensive. The index is also well done and easy to use. The book is an excellent addition to reading lists for courses on the Middle Ages as well as an enjoyable read for anyone who wishes to learn more about medieval life.

This book is an excellent start in study the workings of a Castle and how everyday life was in Medieval times. The starts with the Castle arriving in England, and then moves into the various aspects of Castle life, the function of the Lord and Lady, the running of a household, how hunting was not a sport, but a means of survival. It goes into how a knight was made, how the Castle function in warfare and then shows why Castles slowly faded away.

Excellent work for anyone interested in the topic and a must for Historical writers.

I have enjoyed reading other books by Frances & Joseph Gies, this one in particular is one of my favorites. For those seeking an introduction to the military, economic, and cultural signifigance of the castle in Medieval Europe, this is your best choice. Inside you will find a description of a castle's typical staff & personnel, the living conditions of those residing there (better than most would assume), the daily and yearly routine of business in the castle and its lands (mainly agricultural), and the most vital role as a military post for regional defense. The training of the Knight is covered well (Read "The Knight in History" by the same authors). In general, the focus is on castles in Britain, probably the most heavily fortified nation in Europe, after Germany, or maybe France, in terms of quantity of castles. Within you will also find many interesting illustrations: photos of historic sites, and Medieval illumination.

I know that some people like to say that the works of the Gies are dry. Try reading 500 pages of Peter Brown. Now THAT'S dry. It's hard to make history terribly informative and yet accurrate and interesting. The Gies are very clear and personally I found it extremely interesting. It was the only book (out of 7) that I was required to ready for my class on Medieval Europe that I found interesting (and actually read all of!). It is not a novel, so be forwarned. If that's what you want, you WILL be dissappointed, but it is an excellent HISTORY book.

Life in a Medieval Castle takes a broad look at all aspects of castle life and their role in the Western European social system between the 11th and 16th centuries. Most of the examples are English and Norman Castles. Overall I'd give this book 3.5 stars and recommend it to anyone interested in a easy general overview of castles and their structural and social evolution throughout the middle ages. For someone more interested in the military and siege aspects of castles this book may not contain as much info as you'd like. I'm keeping this one for my personal collection.

If you are someone (such as myself) who has never really grown up, one of the tremendous advantages of being a parent is that you get to buy your child lavish toys without the world suspecting that you take at least as much pleasure in them as the fortunate offspring. Hence, my son as a child was the proud owner of four Lego castles. When I was growing up, Lego had just been introduced, but had not specialised to the point of producing something like the Royal Knight's Castle or the Night Lord's Castle. I've always loved castles and the concept of the siege. Joseph and Frances Gies' book has now increased my knowledge and appreciation of them ten-fold.

This book is mainly about castles in Great Britain, and gives special attention to Chepstow Castle, on the border of England and Wales. Prior to the Norman invasion, England had few castles. This is one reason that William the Conqueror had an astonishingly easy time consolidating his power after his initial victory. He then went on a castle building binge. By the year 1100, the number of castles in England had grown from less than a dozen to over 500. Castles were evolving at this time from crude, wooden motte and bailey fortresses to substantial stone edifices, capable of withstanding assaults by forces 10 times those inside. The architecture of the stone castle benefited greatly from knowledge brought back to Europe by Crusaders. Borrowing ideas and styles from their enemies and inventing their own improvements, the crusading Orders (the Templars and Hopitallers) had need to build powerful castles in order to hold out in hostile lands after the majority of their allies returned home.

As residences, castles provided their inhabitants with luxurious living when compared with the hovels the majority lived in. Even so, many of us would blanch at the prospect of living in one. "Floors were strewn with rushes and in the later Middle Ages sometimes with herbs... The rushes were replaced at intervals and the floor swept, but Erasmus, noting a condition that must have been true in earlier times, observed that under them lay 'an ancient collection of beer, grease, fragments, bones, spittle, excrement of dogs and cats, and everything that is nasty.' "

These were dark and violent times, peopled by hard, ruthless, and ambitious men and women. For the sovereign, a disadvantage of the building of formidable castles was that they could serve as rallying points and strongholds for knights plotting against the crown. John Marshall, described by a contemporary as "a limb of hell and the root of evil", chose the losing side in a war of succession between Stephen of Blois (nephew of Henry I) and Matilda of Anjou (Henry I's daughter). Having been prevailed upon to hand over his son (William) as hostage to prevent further treachery against Stephen, Marshall went ahead and reinforced a castle that Stephen was besieging. Stephen threatened to hang William unless Marshall surrendered, to which Marshall replied that he didn't care what happened to his son since he had "the anvils and hammer to forge still better sons." Although some of his entourage would have hanged the lad, while others advocated catapulting him over the castle walls, Stephen was moved by William's "cheerful innocence" and took him on as a protégé. William Marshall grew up to be a loyal servant of the crown, and one of the most celebrated knights of the Middle Ages.

Justice in these times was rough and typically swift. "Thieves were hanged, traitors blinded, other offenders mutilated. Sometimes a criminal was drawn and quartered. Prisoners might be confined in a castle tower or basement to await ransom or sentencing, but rarely as punishment, prison as punishment being little known in the middle ages." By 1219 the custom of trial by ordeal "in which a defendant strove to prove his veracity by grasping a red-hot iron without seriously burning his hand, or by sinking when thrown into water" was outlawed in England. "Judicial combat, by which the defendant or his champion fought the accuser, survived longer." It seems to me that this custom still survives in the form of lawyers duking it out verbally within the adversarial legal system. If you can afford a powerful champion, you might get off whether you are guilty or not.

While males faced the hazards of brutal warfare, females did not necessarily enjoy an extended garden party -"Girlhood was brief. Women were marriageable at twelve and usually married by fourteen. Heiresses might be married in form as young as five and betrothed even younger, though such unions could be annulled before consummation. By twenty a woman had a number of children, and by thirty if she survived the hazards of childbirth, she might be widowed and remarried, or a grandmother." Some women put on armour and went to war, Empress Matilda, Dame Nicolaa de la Haye, and Eleanor of Aquitaine being fine examples.

The medieval castle and its environs celebrated many holidays, most of pagan/agricultural significance given Christian names to make them acceptable to the church. Some have survived to this day (Christmas, Easter, Halloween), but most have vanished and sound exotic and strange today: Michaelmas (September 29 -the start of winter), Kammas (August 1 -the start of autumn, harvest season, Pentecost or Whitsunday (the seventh Sunday after Easter), Candlemas (February 2, when tillage was resumed), Hocktide (the end of Easter week and the start of summer), Midsummer or St John's Day (June 24). Some of the customs practised on these holidays sound as if they were made up by Monty Python alumni -when ploughing resumed after the Christmas break, a 'foolplough' was hauled through the village by a group of young ploughmen who asked for pennies from door to door. If anyone refused, they ploughed up the ground before his door. Their leader was dressed as an old woman called Bessy, with a bullock's tail under her gown; sometimes they were accompanied by a man wearing a fox's skin as a hood and by a fool with a stick and bladder. The Rogation Days (the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension) were celebrated in the countryside under the name of gangdays. The people of the villages went "aganging" in a procession led by the priest and carrying the cross, banners, bells, and lights around the boundaries of the village, "beating its bounds" with willow wands. Small boys were ducked in brooks and ponds and their buttocks were bumped against trees and rocks to help them memorise the village bounds.

I had always assumed that the eating and drinking in castles would be pretty good. Not so. "Wine in thirteenth century England, mostly imported from English-ruled Bordeaux, was drunk young in the absence of an effective technique for stoppering containers. Wine kept for a year became undrinkable. No attention was paid to vintage, and often what was served even at rich tables was of poor quality." Peter of Blois described in a letter wine served at Henry II's court: "The wine is turned sour or mouldy -thick, greasy, stale, flat and smacking of pitch. I have sometimes seen even great lords served with wine so muddy that a man must needs close his eyes and clench his teeth, wry-mouthed and shuddering, and filtering the stuff rather than drinking." What a lovely phrase -"wry- mouthed and shuddering.' Apparently the ale wasn't much better.

This book is absolutely the best place to start if you want to learn about medieval castles. It explains in very accessable prose how medieval castles came to be, how they evolved, the roles they served in medieval society, what they were like at their zenith, how military strategy through the middle ages centered around the castle, and how their relevance declined with the changes in technology and the political scene that came with the late medieval period. The Gieses give the reader a very clear picture of what life was like for the people whose lives centered in or around the castle, from the nobility at the top down through the staff needed to keep the castle running to the villagers at the bottom. In particular, it shows the various functions that the castle staff needed to serve in order to keep things running smoothly, and the duties of those responsible for those functions, from chamberlains, chaplains, seneschals and stewards down to pantlers, haywards and reeves. In many cases, the best things are the historical anecdotes used to show a particular aspect of castle life, from the manner in which meals were served to the ways provisions were acquired in an era where money was by no means a common exchange, and how matters of jurisdiction often overlapped in problematic ways (a lord might have jurisdiction over a castle but not over the forest surrounding it which belonged to the king). This is not what I would call the definitive text on all aspects of castle lore, but it is probably the single best place to start to get a clear and detailed education on, as the title indicates, "life in a medieval castle."