Customer Reviews

A Medieval Castle

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This is an illustrated book on castles that also shows medieval life from the peasantry to the nobility.

We found this book to be terrific for our younger boys; not too many grim details. This is a very enjoyable book.

If you are going to write a book about castles for the children, "Castle" by David Macaulay is the elephant in the room. Macaulay is such a gifted illustrator and writer that a competing castle book needs to do something different. Luckily Macaulay is so interested in the construction techniques of building a castle, he leaves room for a book that can address the social and military fuctions of a castle.

Fiona MacDonald is a talented children's writer who has been entrusted to literally write hundreds of non-fiction children's book. In "Medieval Castle" MacDonald comes through with a well written and informative text. Unfortunately, the illustrator Mark Bergin is not up to his best in this book. Usually, he can be counted on to provide excellent accompanying illustrations. Unfortunatley, Bergin hits a real wall in "Medieval Castle". Many of his drawings have serious problems with perspective. In my opinion, Andrew Langely's "Castle at War" does a much better job of addressing the social and military aspects of a medieval castle. Peter Dennis' illustrations are first rate and will captivate child and parent alike.

This went from 1000 AD to 1450 AD to gain territory. The king divided lands to barons who sold it to the knights, freemasons found work and most people were peasants. The first castles appeared about 1070 AD and were built from timber. By the 12th century they were stone with a huge keep. By the 1300s the size increased. By 1350 castles were a small town. Most had a church. They had a drawbridge over the moat. Jousting was popular and by the 14th century knights wore full plate armor. If you weren't wealthy enough you remained a career squire.