Architecture

From Medieval Wiki

By Cassandra Alter

Medieval Times

The Medieval times flourished. Knights, technology, clothing, Vikings, King Arthur, medicine, Joan of Arc, Crusades, and many more. Architecture was outstanding. Many buildings from the Medieval Times still stand now. This wiki is all about the architecture of that exiting time. There were castles that the knights and kings spent there time in. There were houses that all the towns folk went to to flee from the attackers and to cook and live. That architecture that made this time so amazing is what you will learn more about.

This is a drawing of a Medieval village with a church, a castle, a few houses, and a few tudor houses. This was drawn and colored by Cassandra Alter.

Romanesque Style

The Romanesque style was normally used on castles and churches. The buildings were commonly found in France, Italy, northern Spain, England, and Germany. They were mostly made of stone and had wooden roofs because the wall would have to be much thicker to hold up a stone roof. There weren't many windows because that weakens the buildings walls and the roof and floors become harder and harder to hold up. Since there weren't many windows, it was very, very dark inside. There were round arches and column capitals. The style also changed because the carvings on the wall of people or animals instead of plants.

Gothic Style

The History for Kids web site says "But there are a lot of other differences as well. Gothic churches have many more windows, and much bigger windows, and so they are not dark like Romanesque churches." The gothic buildings were usually churches or cathedrals. These buildings had more windows than the Romanesque style and bigger windows. It was pretty light inside and was very expensive. The roofs were stone rather than wood as it was before because buildings were always catching on fire. The roof went up into pointy towers and barley ever had a dome. The roofs were different levels. The windows were angular and had shapes inside the glass.

Cathedrals

This is a picture of a Medieval church.

Cathedrals were beautiful. A cathedral is a church that has a bishop living in it. A bishop is a high-ranking Christian working at a church like a preacher. Most of the Christians lived in Europe because that is where most of the cathedrals were. Many people got married there. They prayed there. They got baptized there. People also had funerals there. Not only religious ceremonies happened there, when the lord, king, or bishop had something important to say. They gathered there because it was the biggest roofed place in the town other than the castle, but royalty didn't want peasants in there castle. The whole town would gather there and listen to the higher-ranker person speak.

Castles

The castles were normally domes and they were very circular. The wall and pillars were wavy. The Romans didn't live there because they lived in villas. Soldiers lived in the castles. A lot of the military folk lived in the castles. They would stay there until they were strong enough to wage war. Castles had long wooden drawbridges and deep moats. The workers inside the castle a worker would call out, "Who goes there?" and the traveler would answer who they were and why they came. If the worker would decide if they could enter and if they could he would lower the drawbridge. At the beginning castles were made of wood, but after time they advanced to stone and brick. The detail was outstanding on a lot of the castles. They would tower over the county side. They were the most impressive both in looking good and being architecturally safe. After a while, the economy got better and they started to make castles pretty, rather than strong and sturdy.

This is a picture of a medieval castle.

William The Conqueror

This beautiful castle is one of the most well known and most visited medieval castle. It is wonderful. It has a deep, deep moat so enemies couldn't get inside and batter on the walls of the castle. This castle was called the Castle at Caen. If they jumped into the moat and tried to swim across the moat, they became easy targets and the shooters would aim and fire. It also had a wide wooden drawbridge, lowered when someone was let in. If the people enemy did get in, there were holes in the ceiling making it possible for workers to pour boiling water on to the enemies, making them have a slow and painful death. It was better put be History for Kids. They said, "People inside the castle could drop rocks and pour boiling water on them through holes in the ceiling."There was and iron gate and a thick wooden door. Even if the enemy got past the shooters and into the holding room and survived the boiling water, they still had to get through that thick, wooden door. If you were lucky enough to get inside the castle you would see many buildings. There were barns, tool sheds, chicken coops, houses (people lived there and slept there), meeting halls, eating halls, workshops for workers, and court houses.

Medieval Houses

The Medieval towns folk grouped together in little villages for safety. Having more people meant they could defend themselves from an attack. They lived in structures almost like condos. They had fireplaces with chimneys to cook and to heat the house in the cold winter climate. The fireplace was a newly added part of the house, it was helpful because it made the house less smoky. They would also cook in little clay bowls called braziers. The kitchen was crowded even with only one person in it. It was very dirty, meaning a lot of people got sick. There were clay ovens with a burner on top. They had a wooden cupboard with pot racks for pots and pans. These petite cottages were made of mud brick or stone. They were narrow and tall, so they would sometimes fall over due to bad craftsmanship. They had small high windows. They didn't have any bathrooms in the house, they had to a specific restroom across the town. They kept it sort of far away so the smell wouldn't stink very badly. The fountain or well was in the middle of the village so it was protected and accessible to everyone. There wasn't much room in the house so the whole family lived in one room.

Vocabulary

1.) Baptized: Dumped in a tub of water at a Christian church.

2.) Column capitals: A beautiful column.

Bibliography

Web Sites

1.) "Medieval Architecture". History For Kids. December 7, 2008 <http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/medieval/architecture/medarch.htm>.

2.) "Gothic Architecture ". History For Kids. December 7, 2008 <http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/medieval/architecture/earlygothic.htm>.

Books

1.) Christopher, Gtavett. Castle. Singapore: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. , 1994.

2.) Simon, Adams. Castle & Forts. New York: King Fisher, 2003.

Articles

1.) Stones, Alison. "Medieval Art and Architecture". December 7, 2008 <http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/>.