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What do you think of the medieval punishments?

Inside the Dungeon Walls

The king gave punishment a whole new meaning, he methods were, well, medieval. One punishment was branding prisoners, there were typically three places that prisoners were branded. The cheek, all could see the mark, behind the thumb, and on the chest (easier to hide). Another medieval method was pressing, a wooden board was placed on a prisoner, then, every day more weight was added on the board. The prisoner was only given enough food to survive. One other method was cutting fingers, the prisoner's fingers were locked in a 'head lock' but the holes were made for fingers.

In the medieval castle there were two usual methods of execution, drowning and hanging. In the method of hanging, prisoners stood on a 'stand' with a noose and trap door. The prisoners crimes were said then they were tied to the noose. When the trap door was released the prisoner fell with the rope on his neck, he was chocked to death. Drowning, another method of execution was just as bad. The criminal was either drowned in the village pond or the moat. Now that you know methods of execution and torture, you know why people call them medieval methods.

What Still has an Influence on Today?: Art

Medieval art in castles very much has an influence on today. For example, stained glass still happens today and so does weaving, not necessarily in the form of tapestry though. Even though the exact art doesn’t continue castle art was beautiful. Some of the more common were tapestries, the keep even have a tapestry sewing room. They were made of colored wool and other fabrics and made into awesome deigns. They were sewn HUGE so they could cover large blank spaces on the castle walls.

Especially in castles and churches stained glass was popular. It was made of several pieces of colored glass. The glass was arranged to make people or scenes that were religious. When the sun shown throught the glass the glass the colors shined onto the people in the church or castle. Even today there is stained glass, I even have some in my house, but it's not religious.

Watch out for the…..too late

There were many castle defenses, and they rarely let invaders in. Curtain walls were a BIG part of this; they had battlements so soldiers could shoot them and walkways to get around on so they could move quickly. They were also connected to castle turrets that were towers that had ammo and other necessary things for battle, the turrets also had battlements. Another defense was the moat, a trench filled with water, and sometimes alligators! If you wanted to get across the moat you’d have to be a really good jumper or have the soldiers and the drawbridge gate to let you in.

           
Once inside the outer bailey you would pass all the trees, gardens, and the things mentioned in “Castles can be a Maze, Find out Where to Go.” After the outer bailey there were more curtain walls to pass that had archers on them. At the inner bailey there was the main keep or castle as well as other things (also in post 2 from bottom). The keeps were built to defend, people inside could throw rocks down and the walls were virtually indestructible, even battering rams couldn’t break them down. Now, don't try to invade a castle, bad idea!

Castles can be a Maze, Find out Where to Go

There were two walls, one around the outer bailey, the other around the inner bailey and keep. Separating the first wall and bailey there was a drawbridge that let people in and out. The walls had walkways on the top and battlements to protect from invaders. Inside the outer bailey there were servant huts, recourse, trees, wells, ponds, blacksmiths, carpenters, and tailors. All these were used the keep the castle and its land thriving. I guess you could say it’s a smaller town.

In the inner bailey (behind the second wall) was the keep, or main castle. In the keep, the king/lord lived along with other people like a troubadour that was a person who walked around singing and playing music. There toilet was funny, just a hole in the wall, hope you weren’t walking around outside that part of the castle when somebody had to go to the bathroom. There was also a church in the castle.

Architecture of the Average Castle

This, and the following posts will enlighten you about castles, by the last one you should know a lot, first architecture. Some architecture were curtain walls, they were used to keep out invaders. Another type of architecture was the main building, the keep; they were hollow huge towers with battlements on top. This is where the king and his servants etc.. lived. Their design also protected from battering rams and other things. Inside there were many rooms that will be touched in another post.

Next, castle turrets, they had many functions, as well as defending. Their defenses were battlements on the top that guards could shoot from. Aside form that they had private quarters, an armory, a storeroom, and like the main keep it had a dungeon. The pattern helped keep the walls up and stronger. Another gadget was the moat, the moat was a trench filled with water and sometimes alligators. The moat was always a hard thing to get over, for invaders. In order to gain access across the moat there was a drawbridge that soldiers manned at all times. This wraps up the architecture of an average castle