posted 04-05-2001 02:21 AM            

For a general impression – this is what the poet Oswald von Wolkenstein (1377 - 1445) wrote about his life on castle Hauenstein (South Tirol):

«My life is a misery, I have to worry about my bread, I don't see anything except calfs, goats, rams, cows and clumsy people, black, ugly, sooty from heating; I don't hear anything except the cries of the donkeys and the peacocks, and the castle is always full of sorrow and bad news.»
[translated from J. Zeune, Burgen – Symbole der Macht, p. 171]

A bit pessimistic perhaps, but living in a small castle in the mountains sure wasn't pure luxury at the time...