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Author Topic:   castle chapels and furniture
MysticLady
Member
posted 07-14-2001 09:43 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for MysticLady   Click Here to Email MysticLady     Edit/Delete Message
I've been looking for drawings, pictures, or information on two different subjects. First, whether just the larger castles or most castles in general had/have chapels for the inhabitants. And secondly, if the sleeping accommodations of castles had beds which were constructed of mere raised planks of wood or made of a wooden frame with straps of leather stretched across.
I am by no means an expert in medieval life but I have an insatiable appetite for knowledge of the period.
I have a few more years before completing by doctorate degree. After that, I will search for a suitable building site for my castle. I wood like things to be as true to realistic as possible ( depending on how comfortable it is ). At my age (30 something), at least my bed has to be a comfort.
I have not found sufficient information to answer these questions.

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MysticLady

[This message has been edited by MysticLady (edited 07-15-2001).]

Gordon
unregistered
posted 07-15-2001 11:10 AM           Edit/Delete Message
The key to your question is status.
Yes the larger castles would have had private chapels for the Lord and his family, and the furniture for the higher status residents would also have been of some quality given the means.
Beds of such standard would have been sturdy, and most examples I've seen have been in oak with accomodation for horse hair mattress. Most higher ranking nobles with several castles would have carried their furniture and belongings with them on their travels, and so it required to be sturdy and durable.

duncan
Senior Member
posted 07-15-2001 02:10 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for duncan   Click Here to Email duncan     Edit/Delete Message
Also mattress's were filled with Galium Verum
"ladys bed straw" which is part of the family of sweet woodruff. Which is not commom wheat straw.
The plant was used to make red dye for cloth, as an exturnal blood coagulant, in cheese makeing and it has many other uses too.
The plant has a fresh new mown hay smell from the coumarin in the leaves.
Forgot to add that the mattress covers were often a twill weave in some house holds and some used a more canvas type of cloth, again it may have had to do with statis.

[This message has been edited by duncan (edited 07-15-2001).]

MysticLady
Member
posted 07-15-2001 04:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for MysticLady   Click Here to Email MysticLady     Edit/Delete Message
Thanks so much Gordan and Duncan for your input. Just one more question. When did down and feather mattresses come into play? I have read that the extremely wealthy were privileged to have them. Were they used at that time in history or did they not come into use until later?

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MysticLady

[This message has been edited by MysticLady (edited 07-15-2001).]

duncan
Senior Member
posted 07-15-2001 04:41 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for duncan   Click Here to Email duncan     Edit/Delete Message
I have an idea that down was used since time began but i have no idea of the exact date of its beginings.
I do know that the down from geese was and is plucked while the goose is alive so the feathers regrew to be plucked again and again.
The down mattresses do reguire turning often to help keep the lumps from forming. The feathers should be dry when placed in the sack.

[This message has been edited by duncan (edited 07-15-2001).]

MysticLady
Member
posted 07-16-2001 08:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for MysticLady   Click Here to Email MysticLady     Edit/Delete Message
Thank you for the your input Duncan. You've been very helpful.

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MysticLady

Merlin
Senior Member
posted 07-17-2001 08:12 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Merlin   Click Here to Email Merlin     Edit/Delete Message
Sorry to be late... Just one more point about chapels.
Every castle had something like a 'chapel', it was most important in the life of a medieval nobleman and his family. The minimum-version in small castles was some sort of opening in the wall which contained a cross and other religious items. The maximum-version was one, two or even tree chapels in very large castles and royal palaces, some of them 'double-chapels' with two floors (the upper floor for the noble family, the lower floor for the other castle-residents) like at the royal palatium at Goslar / Germany.

MysticLady
Member
posted 07-17-2001 09:45 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for MysticLady   Click Here to Email MysticLady     Edit/Delete Message
Thank you for the info on the chapels Merlin. I've seen a lot of photos of castles with small chapels, but I have never seen or heard about a castle with a chapel having two separate floors. That is VERY interesting. I will have to do some more research into that. Thanks

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MysticLady

Merlin
Senior Member
posted 07-27-2001 11:53 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Merlin   Click Here to Email Merlin     Edit/Delete Message
After doing some research I see that it's hard to find usefull information about double-chapels on the web. The best link I found so far is:
http://www.stadt-landsberg.de/source/sehensw2.html
for the castle Landsberg in Germany. Most parts of the castle have vanished, but the romanic double-chapel is still in existence and one of the most famous examples of it's kind.
Another one (and even more famous) is the imperial chapel of Charlemagne in Aachen (early 9th century), the only remaining original part of the impressive royal palace that once stood there and the place of inthronisation for all medieval german kings.
Some pictures at:
http://geschichte.2me.net/dch/dch_257.htm
A much smaller double-chapell was part of the royal palace of Zurich/Switzerland (destroyed in the 13th century). It stood on the remains of an old roman watchtower, had the shape of a regular cross and was accessible on both floors from the main building of the royal palace.

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[This message has been edited by Merlin (edited 07-27-2001).]

duncan
Senior Member
posted 07-27-2001 01:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for duncan   Click Here to Email duncan     Edit/Delete Message
Bolton Castle chapel still has its corbels that once supported the simicircular Ladys Gallery on the west end dedicated in 1399.
Warkworth Castle has corbels also in its chapel which supported the western gallery and Bodiam has such a gallery approched from the solar.
I'll try to make a list of double floored chapels as soon as time allows.

[This message has been edited by duncan (edited 07-27-2001).]

MysticLady
Member
posted 08-02-2001 06:26 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for MysticLady   Click Here to Email MysticLady     Edit/Delete Message
Thank you both for all your help and the links you provided me.

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MysticLady

Levan
Moderator
posted 09-06-2001 03:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Levan   Click Here to Email Levan     Edit/Delete Message
Not quite ALL castles had chapels. In many states, noblemen and church were deadly rivals. In Britain it is not uncommon to find significant churches built alongside, rather than within the major castles. I guess this was the church's way of expressing to those in power that they considered their dominion to only by the grace of God (as represented on earth by the church).

Very few of the smaller Scottish had chapels, or even religeous alcoves for that matter (maybe we were just a dominantly ungodly lot - or I suppose popped into the church next door!).

Levan

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