Life in a Medieval Castle: The Definitive Social History and Reference on Daily Life in the Middle Ages (Medieval Life)

A very readable, extremely well organized survey that brings us close to life in and around castles of the 10-12th centuries, mainly in England and France. Conveying passionate interest of the authors, the book covers the seasons, times of day, conditions of life, work, pleasures and meals of each social class: including daily activities, economics, as well as military techniques of attack and defense of castles. The book also provides a clear explanation of English and French feudalism and its evolution. This book is best read together with a historical survey of the period such as R.H.C. Davis's brilliant "History of Medieval Europe". The current paperback edition of "Medieval Castle" however is ruined by poor quality production from HarperCollins. Printed on rough paper that will age quickly, the many excellent black and white photos are so badly reproduced that some are nearly indecipherable. With today's technology there's no excuse for this shoddy production. Many low volume books at this price level have excellent photo reproduction. Get an older used copy of Gies, if possible from another publisher, which might well have better and more lasting reproduction of this excellent book and its illustrations.

This is the second book in the series of "Life in a ..." by the authors that I have read. The book is certainly filled with valuable information that is overall well integrated with life outside of the castle as well. The highlights, for me, where the chapter on the castle as house, a day in the castle, the household and the castle at war (out of a total of 12 chapters). Collectively, these chapter generate a good understanding of the logistics and day to day living related to castle dwelling for a variety of the inhabitant, from the Lord and Lady to servants. The chapter addressing siege warfare does a good job at addressing the relevant logistics. The chapter on The Castle Year is an excellent companion to the author's Life in a Medieval Village and provides an excellent summary of the seasonal relationships between the villagers and the inhabitants of the castle. The book provides two glossaries of great use, one addressing terminology related to castles and one the feudal system. The chapters are interspersed with quotes from the period to emphasize the points and add some humor, while making a point (as in relation to human waste disposal systems). Who does not like a good poop joke!? A the end the book also has an overview of castles throughout the Christian Medieval world. It is superficial by necessity (there were many castles) but provides a brief at a glance summary of the variety of castles. Overall, this book is a valuable resource for the scholar and interested amateur. If you are looking for a fun read above information gathering maybe seek some other source. Some minor "dings": The chapter on The making of Knight is rather generic and by my reading did not do a great job at integrating the knight into life in the castle. It's a basic 101 chapter on medieval knights. Not bad in and of itself, but it seems to lack full integration to the main theme of the work. The publishers (not the authors) did a very poor job with the photographic reproductions for the paperback (which is what I own). There are many photographs of castles throughout, but they are printed with such high contrast as to appear more as attempts at modern art than useful visual data for historical purposes. In conclusion, the books is an excellent resource for the reader interested in reading for information gathering purposes, but perhaps not for the reader who seeks amusement. The books in this series are historical works, not historical fiction intended to entertain. By providing a focused analysis of village, castle, city etc etc each book generates a rather comprehensive picture of that aspect of medieval life.

Life in a Medieval Castle takes a broad look at all aspects of castle life and their role in the Western European social system between the 11th and 16th centuries. Most of the examples are English and Norman Castles. Overall I'd give this book 3.5 stars and recommend it to anyone interested in a easy general overview of castles and their structural and social evolution throughout the middle ages. For someone more interested in the military and siege aspects of castles this book may not contain as much info as you'd like. I'm keeping this one for my personal collection.

I am fascinated by castles, and this book answered a lot of my questions about why they were built, and medieval life of their residents.

I liked "Life in a Medieval Castle" very much. Not only does it give a detailed insight into everyday life and "management" of a castle, it also describes the politics in and around it. I very much appreciated the description of how the connections between various lords and the king play a big role in how the castles are built and run. Rather than being self-centered single units, there are intricate political networks between the lords and the manifestation of their power, their castles.

Let me start of by saying: I love my Kindle and I really like the book "Life in a Medieval Castle". That being said these two are not made for each other. In the book there are photographs and drawings interspersed with text. This is easy to follow in hard copy. On the Kindle, the text is interrupted by sometimes one or more illustrations with captions. As a result this reader lost the train of thought from the written text. The book itself is easy to read and understand, even if you are not a Medieval scholar. You can appreciate the engineering genius that helped the castle evolve. Many people may not realize that William the Conqueror had a relatively easy time consolidating his hold over England, The Saxon Lords only had 5 castles before 1066. There were hundreds by the 1100s. What I liked most about the narrative is that this was not a romanticized or patronizing account of Medieval times. The descriptions were easy and interesting enough for the lay reader. I found myself always wanting to read a little further. If the next chapter was about, say ,the castle gardener, I still wanted to go on based on the interest that was built before it. It definitely is not a novel. It could, though, provide source material for an aspiring Historical or Fantasy novelist, To sum up buy the hard copy book and not the digital edition. The book is only .20 cents more. Sorry Kindle not this time.

It was a very good over view of medieval life that surrounds the castle.

This tome could have been greatly improved by some attention to the quality of graphics. A high percentage of photos/graphics are nothing more than black globs. For this reason i have downgraded my rating. It would have been much better to have left them out. I appreciated the way the chapters were used to transition between themes.

I've been delving a bit into history, from the neolithic to the medieval, and have a fascination with castles to boot. This was a great introduction that will help me both with fiction writing and building relatively authentic Lego castles. This book goes into the depth level that I was interested in; it gave more detail than most internet sites about castles, and included a lot of quotes from period sources. At the same time, it didn't read like a academic journal article, nor did it try to capture everything about every castle. It covered the physical castle layout and also the life that went on there; altogether there was enough info that one could figure out areas of interest where one can do additional research by consulting other sources. The approach of using a specific castle as a reference and then expanding from that worked for me. I learned a few things I didn't know before, for example that the medieval cooks were usually men and that the kitchens were in a separate building from the main hall.

This is an excellent book !! It touches upon all topics surrounding life in a castl and the surrounds, taking ofset in one specific British castle as an example, but expanding also to castles in France. Each chapter is sufficiently short so that the book does not become tedious, but on the contrary wets the appetite for further reading. The text of the author is supplemnet with numerous quotes from original sources, giving a fine illustration of the text - as does the numerous illustrations, whose only downside is that they are all in B/W.

For a bibliophile such as me, reading about a historical way of life is always interesting and this book fits the bill perfectly.

Todo bien, muy rapido.

This was the first book I have read by these authors- it is a fascinating exploration of socio-political history the authors help to put flesh on the `bare bones’ of the crumbling stone ruins and empty shells which are all that sadly remains of castles today. They go beyond examining only the political or military function of castles (though this is covered) to explore castles in their roles as homes, and the `headquarters’ of estates with the central focus on Chepstow on the Welsh borders, but also other castles. In chapters under titles such as `The Lord of the Castle’ `The Lady’ and the `The Household’ the inhabitants of castles are vividly bought to life, from the highest to the lowest, and the society in which castles played such an important role is examined. Along the way there are many gems of information, useful, enlightening and entertaining. One of my personal favourites was the section on table manners and dining etiquette which belies the popular misconception that medieval people were uncouth, uncivilized and vulgar- and reveals striking parallels between the etiquette of the middle ages and today. The sections on hunting, which reveal its roles as a social activity, `The Making of a Knight’ and `The Castle as a House’ are also fascinating. My only complaint was that some of the information the first chapter did seem a little over simplified in some parts, and the claim that the Normans beat the English and Hastings because they were `better’ than them seemed represent a rather outdated interpretation- although this may be a reflection of the fact that the book was written in the 70s. As a result of the nationality of the authors there are some Americanisms (such as Richard the Lionhearted) which may prove a slight annoyance to British readers, and some might find the numerous photographs peppered throughout a history book distracting or irksome. Personally I had to problem with these, and felt they illustrated some of the themes and points made rather well. The writing style of the authors makes the book accessible and not too high-brow or scholarly but not at the expense of primary source material which is used and included throughout the book. This said, those looking for a more detailed and in-depth examination of some of the subject matter with and academic slant which analysis and some of the sources won’t find much of it here. Although written by Medievalist Historians, `Life in a Medieval Castle’ is very much popular history- and very good popular history too