Bam!
Bang! That’s the last peg to finish the drawbridge. Now our
castle is finished. Come in! We’ll show you around the castle.
Early
castles were built of wood in 1050 A.D. These castles were easy to
build but easily burned too. Later on, castles were built with stone.
Every once
in a while, the King would check on how the builders were doing.
It took 30 blacksmiths, 400 masons, 2,000 laborers and carpenters to build
the castle. Blacksmiths made the metal parts, masons did the stone
work and the laborers built the castle. Carpenters made the doors
and furniture.
Sometimes
workers would build wooden parts to the castles first, then put the stones
on top of it to finish it. They made the foundations very carefully.
Builders
built castles on hills, near roads, with moats around them. Some
castles had either two walls or one huge wall around them.
Now we
will give you a tour around the castle. The first room was one of
the biggest rooms. This room was called the Great Hall. It’s
where the Lord would settle arguments. They would also have feasts
in the Great Hall. When they were done eating, they would swipe the
food off the table. It would land on the floor. They would
not clean it out. They would cover it with hay and flowers because
of the bad smell.
The next
room was the dungeon. It was like a basement. It was dark and
cold. Prisoners were kept down there.
A third
room was the kitchen. The kitchen was sometimes built away from other
parts of the castle so if they had a fire, the whole castle would not be
destroyed. It was so big it looked like one huge room. There
were sometimes passageways to the kitchen.
The chapel
of a castle was a church. It had stained glass windows and was one
big room of the castle.
The last
room of our tour was the Keep. The Keep was a building with three
rooms on three floors. The lowest level had stored food and weapons.
The second floor might be the kitchen or Great Hall. The room above
was where the King and Queen lived. It was the most comfortable room
and the safest place in the castle.
The King
ruled the castle and all the lands in his kingdom. Once he married
the Queen, the queen’s lands belonged to the King, too.
The Queen
ran the castle and had the children. The children would help run
the castle one day. The King and his family were the most important
people of the castle.
Lords and
ladies are the second most important people in the castle. The lords
were very powerful and they protected the King and Queen. The lords
helped the King keep his lands. The ladies made clothing and quilts.
They helped the Queen and the princesses with work in the castle.
The princesses had to learn to ride a horse and how to become queen.
Princes had to learn how to be King.
Knights
rode on horseback to protect the castle. Knights wore armor to protect
themselves.
Maids and
servants helped with all the work in the castle, like cooking and making
clothes. There were lots of servants in a castle! There was
even a food taster who tasted food to see if it was poisoned.
Entertainers
sometimes came to live in the castle. Minstrels sang songs.
Jugglers and jesters entertained guests and the King while they were eating.
Life was
hard in castle times. There were no refrigerators, no heat, and no
running water. It was also hard because it was cold and dark at night.
Many people had hard jobs like the servants who made all the food and clothes.
Servants
made all food themselves by hand. They made flour by grinding wheat.
Birds were baked in pies to fly out when they were cut open. Servants
did this. Food was baked in brick ovens or over the fire. The
food they had to eat was often rotten or stale.
People
had to make their own candles with wax for light.
People
did many jobs. The police chief was also the judge.
In castle
times, people married at an early age. They were usually about 14
when they got married.
Even though
this sounds like a lot of jobs and a hard life, the men and women who lived
in the castle liked living there!
Animals
in the castle were used for hunting, food, and other things.
Wild porkers
were used for hunting. They were also used for food.
Badgers,
squirrels, wild cats, and geese were all wild animals. They were
hunted for food. Peacocks, swans, and deer were other wild animals
that were eaten. Deer were eaten in thick, spicy sauces.
Dogs were
used for hunting these wild animals. They were also kept as pets.
Hawks were also trained to hunt for wild birds.
Sheep wool
was used for clothing because it was soft and used to keep people warm.
Cattle
were used for food and milk. Longhorns were also used for defense.
The bagot
goat gave milk and had long hair used for clothing. It was not usually
killed for food.
Cats lived
in the castle and hunted for rats and mice. Rats and mice often lived
in the Great Hall. They ate the food that was scraped onto the floor
and covered with hay. Cats hunted the rats and mice that lived there.
Pigeons
were used to send messages back and forth to other castles.
Horses
were used for the King to ride and used in wars.
Most of
the castle animals lived right in the courtyard. Wild animals lived
in the fields around the castle walls.
Bam!
Bam! We were under attack. There were many ways to keep the
castle safe.
The guards
were the people who protect the castle. The chief porter is a different
kind of guard who controls the drawbridge. Under the drawbridge there
was a moat. Some moats even had alligators in them!
The portcullis
was a sliding metal door behind the drawbridge. It raised and lowered.
Behind the portcullis were two wooden doors.
Archers
were people with bows and arrows. The bows were 5 to 6 feet long.
An outer wall was higher than an inner wall. Archers would protect
the castle on these walls.
Every castle
had their own wells inside the walls so nobody could poison their well.
Early swords
were called “slashing swords.” Knights used them in battle.
Horns were
blown when guards saw enemies coming and it was time to protect the castle.
Da-ta-da!
The horn is signaling another warning. It’s time to raise the drawbridge
to keep us all safe.
Bibliography
(Sources Where we Found our Facts)
Castles by David Alderton
Castles by Francesca Baines
Castles by Philip Steele
Castles by Philip Wilson
The Castle Book by Michael Berenstain
Castle Diary by Richard Platt
Castles: A First Discovery Book by Gallimard
Jeunesse, Claude Delafosse, and C. and D. Millet
Castles and Mansions by Alan James
Days of Knights: A Tale of Castles and Battles
by Christopher Maynard
Defending a Castle by English Heritage
Eyewitness Books: Castle by Christopher
Gravett
Imagination Express Destination: Castle
Compact Disc
Kids Discover: Knights and Castles edited
by Stella Sands
Knights and Armor by Daisy Kerr
Knights and Castles by Will Osborne and
Mary Pope Osborne
Knights in Shining Armor by Gail Gibbons
Look Inside a Castle by Laura Driscoll
A Medieval Castle by Fiona MacDonald and
Mark Bergin
Medieval Castles by Brian Adams
Random House Children’s Encyclopedia edited
by Ann Kramer
Stephen Biesty’s Cross-Sections: Castle
by Richard Platt and Stephen Biesty
The World Book Encyclopedia – Volume C,-
2001
New Standards Performance Standards:
E1c Reading to produce written work.
E2a Producing a written report.
E3b Participating in group meetings.
A3a Gathering information to assist in completing project work.
A3b Using information technology.
A5a Working with others to
complete a task.
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