The Middle Ages

Cathedrals Cathedrals are any church where a bishop had an office that he operated from. They made cathedrals to pray to god. Many cathedrals were constructed in the shape of a cross. When you built a cathedral you would have to be patient during the decades that it took to build it. You would also have to be rich to build a cathedral because it was very expensive. Most cathedrals were made between 1000 and 1600 AD. Even with many candles’ light in the cathedral, it was dark, so you couldn’t see the beautiful paintings and sculptures.

Knights Knights were people who fought in Crusades. Their armor was so important because without it they would die as soon as they got shot or stabbed. Their armor included a helmet, a cuisse, a greave, a gauntlet, a coat of mail, a visor, a shoulder piece, a elbow piece, a knee piece, a gorget, a tasse, a cuirass, a sabaton, and a brassard. This is what kept knights safe and protected during the Crusades they fought in. Knights also had to obey the code of chivalry. The code of chivalry was the ten commandments of knighthood. One of them was they have to love their country. Another one was that they had to be loyal to truth and to the pledged word.

Illuminated Script Illuminated alphabet was fancy writing written by hand surrounded by gold leaf. In the Middle Ages illuminated script included letters mixed with plants and animals. Illuminated script was lit up with gold leaf. The gold in the pictures and letters picked up light and appeared to shine on its own. Gold leaf, once applied, was polished with an animal tooth [ox, horse, or dog]. They did that because a tooth is just hard enough and is completely smooth, so the gold won’t tear.

Weapons Weapons were used to attack and defend. Weapons were very important because without them you could not attack people or defend yourself. One of my favorites is the mangonel. A mangonel was used for attacking people by putting the cup part on a hook and putting a heavy boulder on it and taking the hook off to launch. You could move this anywhere because it has wheels. There are other weapons such as a tower, a battering ram, and a ballista. A tower was a staircase on wheels so that you could get over a castles walls to attack. A battering ram was used to ram into the doors and break in. A ballista was a crossbow on wheels to wheel to the enemy castle and shoot.

Castles Castles are the royal shelters in the middle ages. Castles are very important because they cost a fortune and the royals live there. That is why they load the castle up with defensive equipment. Castles have a moat, a tunnel, a portcullis, a thick wall, a rocky ledge, a postern gate, arrow-loops, and murder holes for defensive reasons. A moat is a ditch filled with water and sometimes with scary dangerous animals inside. A tunnel is a passageway to another castle to make the walls weak and collapse. A portcullis was a device for protecting the castle usually made up of heavy wood and iron crossbars. A thick wall was a wall that was ten feet thick used to protect the castle. A rock ledge was built to not be affected from tunnels. They had ridges that gave the castle more height. A postern gate was a secret back gate in the castle and was used to sneak out and surround their opponents. Arrow loops were narrow openings in the towers of the castle used to shoot arrows. Murder holes were holes in the flooring above the entrance used to heavy and hot objects down to hit the intruders.

Castles Castles also had many parts such as the outer baily, the inner baily, the wall, the keep, the drawbridge, the parapets, the barbican, the gate house. The outer baily was the first courthouse inside the outer walls of the castle. The inner baily was the inner courtyard protected by two walls. The wall was a wall surrounded by the courtyard of the castle and was ten or more feet in thickness. The keep was built round and was the most fortified part of the castle. It usually housed the owner of the castle and his family. The drawbridge was a bridge that raised and lowered usually found near moat. The parapets were low walls around the top edge of the castle. Machicolations were the reason parapets were built because they were holes in parapets used for dropping hot water, stones, and boiling oil just like murder holes. The barbican was a forward gate of the castle located before the main gate that offered extra protection since the weakest part of the castle was considered to be the entrance. The gatehouse was the living quarters that were located above the main gate of the castle that became heavily fortified over time. Some famous castles in the Middle Ages are The Tower of London, Warwick Castle, Leeds Castle, Windsor Castle, Caernarvon Castle, and The Chateau Galliard.