Castles of the Middle Ages
Castles in the middle ages were dark clammy and cold. Their purpose was to protect the community during hard feudal times. Castles were first being built around 1000AD and were just stopping being built around 1450 AD. They were located throughout England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Wales. The first castles were being built on hills or large open plains so that knights and guards could see enemies coming from far away. Castles were built for protection and safety. They had lots of ways for defending themselves. Most castles would have moats and drawbridges but there were many more ways of defense such as the portcullis, (a portcullis is a heavy iron gate that can be lifted to let people in or out.) It would be located on the in side of the drawbridge. Nowadays walls are made to keep out rain, weather, animals, and also to have privacy, but in the Middle Ages castle walls were for keeping enemies out and were sometimes up to 12 feet thick. Guards would walk along the tops of the walls with bows and arrows in case of an attack. It was a common thing to do, if enemies were climbing the walls, for guards to dump hot oil from the top of the wall to prevent the enemies from climbing any farther.
Knights were of noble birth and around the age of 8 would be sent off to a knights home to learn how to become a knight. First a boy in training would be a page, then he would be a squire, squires would help a knight. He would help put on the knight's armor, help him mount his horse and other knightly jobs. He would become a knight after he proved himself worthy in battle. s were the soldiers of their day. They would train and go to war just like nowadays except that when they fought they didn't use guns and bombs, instead they used swords, axes, bows and arrows and many other primitive weapons. Knights lived well when they weren't off at battle or on a quest. In the Middle Ages if you wanted entertainment you couldn't just go turn on the TV, because there weren't TVs back then. For entertainment Kings and Queens had varied types of entertainment. One thing that the whole castle could participate in was jousting tournaments. Jousting is when two knights on horseback charge at each other with long poles that they try to knock the other rider off with. Other popular types of entertainment were jugglers, jokers and the most popular of all were the dancing bears. They could do tricks as well as dance. Another popular thing were traveling minstrels. Since there weren't radios, Cds, t
Some common words found in the essay are:
Middle Ages, Kings Queens, Ages Nowadays, Germany Wales, , middle ages, castles built, enemies climbing, types entertainment, comfortable luxurious, bows arrows, served purpose,
Approximate Word count = 886
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
