Medieval Life
...the village with church and the surrounding farmland. The lord who owned the manor lived in a manor house and sometimes in a castle. The farmland consisted of three large fields. Every field was divided into long strips. Each peasant owned some strips of each field so everyone had some good land and some bad land.
The peasants lived in cruck houses, which were usually built by them because they could not afford to pay someone to build them. Most of these houses were cold, damp and dark and sometimes there was warmer and lighter outside. Windows were not very common but if they were present, they were very small. So the people inside could see out, but from outside was almost impossible to see in.
In 13th century the peasant houses were about 4.5 meters wide and 10 meters long. In 14th century they were already 6 meters wide and 25 meters long. In this case they had an attached barn, which was used for storage or for animals and so the family shared the space with them. Near of this place people usually slept, because the animals made warm.
The houses had rarely more than one or two rooms. In the centre of the room there was an open fire with a smoke hole in the roof above. Here meat was dried in the smoke. This was not only where the cooking took place, but also the source of central heating. In simpler homes there were no chimneys.
The homes of the rich were more elaborate. They were made of stone whereas the normal peasant houses were from timber and wattle. The floors were paved as opposed to being strewn with rushes and herbs, and sometimes decorated with tiles. There were tapestries on the walls, providing decoration but also an extra layer of warmth. Windows were with lattice frames for safety and defence. Only the rich people could afford panes of glass. Sometimes only churches and royal residences had glass windows.
The kitchens of manor houses and...
View Full Essay
