I did not finish the video yet. But I would like to mention one very important thing ... especially with stone castles, it is much cheaper to add an additional floor. So the very first thing would be to move lord's private room one floor up.
Completely agree. For the sake of this video it was harder to show the room divisions visually when they were on top of one another (as you might have noticed when I did add a second floor) as opposed to side by side, the floor above blocked the view of the floor beneath.
One beautiful example is Carew castle in Wales. It started basically with 3 floors - private bedrooms, great hall and basement which served as lockable storage for food and private properties (it was used in times when the lord left the castle). By the time the castle grew bigger and bigger. Funny thing is that during its medieval history, castle was rented by multiple tenants, it was a very first castle that I heard that it had more than one 'lord' occupying the castle. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carew_Castle#History
Hey Shad love your videos and I actually did make a mockup of a castle in a very small text based rpg i take part in an a big issue for me was width of walls and size of rooms etc, could you maybe make a video where you speedbuild with a commentary of what you are doing? You build the castles anyways so maybe it would work to give some tips and tricks. Thanks a ton for what you do.
In later period, especially in rennaisance, 1st floor (above entrance!) was considered the "noble floor". Also, servant quaters and additional rooms of lower status (and even some storage) was put on additional floors put inide roof construction, Speaking of which, floor height matters. You can put 2 "servant floors" where one "hall" floor fits. Minor thing to note: heating. This is not trivial in northern clmates, and you want to conserve energy by not heating the outside walls! (having beds on/near fireplace is a thing too). Then you have total end of luxury and technology: hypocauston system. Maybe of interest: ruclips.net/video/2G6ShZCPneo/видео.html
I'm spitballing, based on floor plans I've seen and the White Tower floor plan of this video, but it looks as if the outer walls of the towers (and likely the other fortifications) were several feet thick. Aside from protecting against siege engines and other attacks, they're thick thanks to the inverse square law. (This is the law that makes brick skyscrapers implausible and the Amazing Colossal Man impossible.)
Biggest takeaway for me is how gross, how fast, would your keep full of dozens of soldiers get when in a siege. EVEN THE LORD SHITS IN A BUCKET ON A GOOD DAY AND NOW WE CAN'T GO NEAR THE WINDOWS
There's a reason the German language has two different words for this. -Burg (Fortress type Castle) and -Schloss (post fuedal "castle" that's really more of a palace).
That may be partly because in quite a few languages, the words " castle " " palace " and " mansion " are the same or similar, for example, in French, " chateau " refers to castles palaces and mansions. Even though the word " chateau " technically translates to " castle " it's often used for luxury homes that don't even look A BIT like castles! Also, popular culture tends to depict castles as much more fantasy looking than real, medieval castles.
I have a PhD in history. And I have not seen a video that is so accurate and in depth. It is exactly the video I would have liked to have seen in my early education. Well done
First thing you should learn at history is that it was written by the winners and not by honest unbiased people. It should be called winstory. The real history is very different from what we learn at history.
That is legitimately half the reason I watch Shad's videos on castles. I have a playlist dedicated entirely to collecting videos which will help me turn bases which just hold everything I need for gameplay, into legit fortresses. Some things will need adaptation due to the game itself (I play ARK, so you gotta account for Rexes and Brontos and flying raiders) but I'm putting a lot of thought and analysis into making sure I do so in a way that doesn't break the genuine functionality of basing it on real working fortresses. The other half of the reason I watch them is because they're fascinating!
@@Renesh2 Like building the entrances (bridges) out of wood so you can destroy it easy or if it is destroyed, they can't get to the door cause it's too high.
Videos like this make me appreciate just how much nicer things are today. I mean, running water. _Running fucking water._ Kings would kill for that kind of luxury.
So so true. And not only water but on demand hot water too. Light with the flick of a switch, on demand heating that doesn't require collecting and burning of firewood. An ability to keep food cool or frozen for storage. a toilet that cleans and removes waste with the press of a button. And magical screens that provide endless entertainment and information. We live in an world of miracles.
I think Romans actually had running water in some homes of the wealthy via diverting water from the aqueducts. Not heated, but there were public baths with heated water in case you didn't want to wait. Don't forget Roman sewers.
Many roman buildings had under floor heating, there was a space under the floor that would have hot air from a furnace flow through, sometimes channels were built into the walls to allow the hot air to heat walls as well.
@@lucasriley874 When I went to Rome or guide told us that in the ruins of a small palace there were holes between the walls to get to the top of the building and pour water in those holes, cold water, so they had a cooling system already during the hot stages of the year lol
It's crazy to think about the fact that the average person today lives a far more luxurious lifestyle than the wealthiest people in the world just a few hundred years ago.
Not even 100 years ago. Indoor toilets weren't ubiquitous in Europe until after ww1. Even then houses often didn't have their own lavatory, it was fairly common for people to use local toilet blocks well into the 1930s
the banquet hall is the size of two american homes, its drapped in goold and had hot water and plumbing. More lux. No. People often confuse the filth of late renicanse and enlightment with the medival
Especially if you want a more realistic setting. Magic would affect the way castles would be built. Hell in 5e you have the spell mighty fortress (something like that from xgte) that let's you sprout a fort out of nowhere and if you cast it in the same spot every week for a year it becomes permanent.
@@joejack2975 There's another option introduced in the _Lost Laboratory of Kwalish_ adventure (a module released for the Extra Life charity): Galder's Tower. A 3rd level conjuration spell that creates a two-story tower - each level being 100 square feet - that comes equipped with amenities chosen by the caster (also, the tower is climate controlled, because Magic). Like the aforementioned fortress spell, Galder's Tower can be cast every day for a year to make it permanent. Unlike other spells of its type, though, Galder's Tower doesn't cost outrageous sums of money in the form of material components. So long as you have "a fragment of stone, wood, or other building material", you can just cast it. Making it very affordable if you can spare the time and want some extra space. (Higher level Wizards can also up-cast the spell, adding additional levels per level of spell slot above 3rd). I can imagine an enterprising Wizard (who wouldn't need to be THAT high level) making deals with local lords. The Wizard hangs around for a year, making their tower permanent. The lord pays for the Wizard's living expenses, and perhaps any "salary" for magical or academic services the Wizard provides the lord; things as complex as writing spell scrolls or entertaining the lord and guests with illusions, to simply teaching the lord's children mathematics and history (since Wizards, in general, tend to be highly learned individuals). When the year is up, the Wizard moves on to a different territory, while the lord gets to keep a full stone building with at least two stories, that is also slightly magical.
IKR I had a session a while ago and while the party wont be getting inside the castle anytime soon. This really helps me prepare for the time when they do :)
I’m studying architecture at University and even though I’m not specializing in medieval architecture I took a class on the subject last semester. We spent most of the time studying Christian architecture from its formation through the 1500s but only spent 1 day on castles which was really unfortunate even if I did love the churches. Your videos have become an amazing source of knowledge satiating my desire to learn more of medieval military architecture.
That is something of a shame, yes. Then again, the great innovations of Gothic architecture (preceded to an extent by some Romanesque inventions) were pretty much all leading to taller, more open spaces with fewer thick walls needed to support the structure, and since thick walls are actually desirable in a castle, there is a certain irony there; medieval architectural innovations going against the principles of the most iconicly medieval buildings.
Yes, but from a design perspective, wouldn't it make more sense for the nobles to be on a higher floor, even if it meant extra work getting around? As someone besieging a castle would be forced to use ladders or stairs to get to them and they could use the high ground to their advantage?
Before I start the video, and hopefully Shad mentions it, if you want to see a real complete 1300's castle with all the rooms and a moat and everything you wanted to know... go to Muiderslot in the Netherlands. It's a real, full, complete castle from the middle ages that survived and is now a major museum, fair grounds, and restaurant. One of the best things I saw in the country. In my opinion, tons better than Amsterdam.
I just checked it and it's just beautiful, everything about it is amazing. Though that one painting with so many severed heads is beyond bizarre, wondering what's that all about?
It would be interesting if someone today made a medieval like castle, city or maybe a skyscraper made with medieval aesthetic, it was always strange to me that so many of today's skyscrapers are made out of glass and steel and nobody thought to make them in Gothic style and I mean full blown Gothic with new materials not a fusion of modern and Gothic styles.
Лк шквћ Some people in France are, in fact, building a castle. They are trying to build a 14th century castle by living a 14th century lifestyle, looking at surviving castles, and improvising where they need to. It's pretty cool.
Лк шквћ although a gothic style skyscraper would be cool its impossible. Skyscrapers are made out of glass, metal, and concrete for 2 main reasons. They are cheap and they are light weight yet sturdy if built in a proper manner. The problem with a gothic style skyscraper is it doesnt follow either of these criteria. The stone would add an enormous amount of weight compared to steel, the stone would be extremely expensive, and lastly the architectural style of gothic building is not stable or practical enough to be able to go up more than a few floors. I do agree however that if it were possible, it would be a beautiful thing to look at!
Race Rucki is right, the laws of physics will greatly make the use of stone or masonry much more expensive and weighty as it needs to be thickened at the bottom. Take the Monadnock building in Chicago, that is the tallest load-bearing masonry building, and the 1st floor has solid exterior walls 6 feet thick, and it's 17 stories which is not much compared to modern skyscrapers. If you'd raise it to 50 stories, the bottom walls will be so thick that the amount of rentable space will be so small it won't be worth the cost.
and just like that i'd watched 20 minutes of castle architecture, room distribution and interior design, PLUS learnt the difference between castle and palace (which i had, mind you, never even realized it was a thing). great video!
3:43 " And then separate to this a chest of some kind for storage." A possibly interesting aside. The chest you have in your residential quarters has a vaulted top (what is sometimes called a camel back chest today). It's highly likely that it would have had a flat top for a couple of reasons. Firstly vaulted chest tops are usually done with shipping in mind. It's a clever way to insure that it won't have other items stacked on top of it when being moved with luggage or other goods. Chests are typically built well enough that they can often easily take the weight of other things stacked on top of them. So the concern wasn't to protect the items in a vaulted chest more than others during shipping. The idea was to have ready access to the items one might be using the most during and immediately after a trip that were too large to keep on their person. Such chests must necessarily be the last thing to be loaded on and first thing to be taken of before and after transport. Also they are easily opened during transport being on top of everything else. Shipping chests would often go into storage them selves once arriving at a destination. Their contents being transferred into something else. They were effectively a type of luggage. Secondly chests made for residential quarters are usually at the foot of a bed (as shown in your render). The reason for this is that they would often be used to temporarily set things down (such as meals) or be used as bench (such as to aid with the dawning of stalkings and the putting on of shoes). As such they would often have thick flat tops. No reason to have a vault where an additional flat surface is more useful. Additionally it was typical among a common household chest that it would be flat bottom (again as shown in your image) unless it was located on a ground floor where it might be more susceptible to flood damage. In which case (no pun intended) it would be footed to a height deemed acceptable to avoid any such likely damage should flooding occur. Which is almost always a possibility, although very slight in many cases, for many ground floors of buildings. Now I don't know how far back this tradition I'm about to describe goes. But at least within the last few hundred years in the western world such bedroom chests were "hope chests". A container that was the sole property of a wife (most of what she might own or have some legal claim to otherwise would likely become her husbands property once they were married. This would have been an exception to that). It usually contained things from her life previous to marriage. Heirloom quilts, an inherited wedding dress, a grandmothers gloves etc. They were to give her comfort through bad parts of marriage or if her husband died and left her little to no resources (ideally she would sell the contents and the chest to provide for herself should things come to worst).
Welcome. I used to be what people would now call a flipper (buying old shit and reselling it). One learns a lot of little things like this doing something like that for a while.
This really puts into perspective how ludicrously large some fantasy castles are. We tend to design the interior of those more like modern skyscrapers than like medieval castles.
Well, they are fantasy so could of used magic. In my opinion they don't use magic nearly enough in fantasy, at least not in their world building. Most just set it in a basically medieval world, and throw magic on top. Really a waste of potential. People could create truly unique worlds if they were willing to just think about how such magic would influence the way people live and how they get things done.
@Iafiv Iv Or just limit what humans are capable of. I mean some people exercise constantly but you don't see them throwing trains around. But since it magic let's say one in a trillion can ascend to godhood. But guess what. The gods that govern the world likely would get in that beings way. Or even if he ascends beyond them how many eons would that take? Make him just as likely as any other world ending disaster.
@Iafiv Iv Did you figure that out all by yourself? Color me impressed. I didn't think you had it in you. But seriously. I meant a reasonable magic system is rather easy to weave into stories.
As a fantasy writer with a love of realism, I find your explanation of the fundamental ideas behind castle construction/design invaluable. You've provided me a tool I didn't have before, and I now feel like I could easily design castles of all sizes with very little effort. Thank you.
If I ever find myself transported to the past and somehow managed to become a wealthy lord, the first addition I'm building is a dedicated disco room. My court shall be the funkiest in the entire land.
When I was in Scotland I toured the Edinburgh Castle and saw where Mary queen of Scots gave birth to her son. The room was big enough to hold a small bed and had some room at the bottom of the bed. Only window was a stained glass one at the far end of the room. Considering how many people were crammed into that tiny room to be in attendance for the birth it must have been positively claustrophobic.
Fallen Empire I'm starting to think that with some modern innovations, like new building materials, solar panels, affordable wind power, engines that run on all kinds of fuels that can provide heat and power, greenhouses/hydroponics, water pumps for wells, satellite and wireless connections, and on and on, it is possible to build a modern self-sufficient house and decorate it as a small castle. It would be rather expensive, though.
Dash Rendar No need for the insult. I was being flippant. I am not a twerp but a well educated great grandmother who has a pawky sense of humour. When I did Ancient and Medieval History over 50 years ago I was awarded Honours so I have more than a passing interest in that era. For me, there was not a Medieval lord to be seen in this video. They’ve all been dead for centuries, and no videos or photos exist! (Apologies to any who did not understand or who were offended.) Most of the illustrations in this presentation seemed to be of the later Middle Ages. The medieval period was 10 centuries long; from 476 AD - 1453, quite an extensive period. This was Shad spending 21 short minutes on a subject that was interesting but, of necessity, left a lot out, including the fact that many medieval castles started out as wooden buildings. The White Tower mentioned and seen in photos also started its life as a timber building. While I enjoyed the video it was limited.
@@aliciarobertson4979 sorry.. Just kinda dimwitted to ask for a link to a video, in the comment section OF that video being referenced. You somehow didn't understand that point, I get it.
Dash Rendar Thanks for the sorry. Yes, I can see that comment seemed like a ‘dim witted’ question, but I had understood perfectly well. As I wrote, I was being flippant. My mistake was that my punctuation was faulty. I should have used an interrobang instead of just a question mark to make my meaning clear, which was the reason I apologised. I’ll try to be more aware of my punctuation another time. Thanks for the ‘chat’.
At 1:18, the picture is of the king's bedroom at Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, built by mad King Ludwig of Bavaria in the late 1800s, a time when such extravagances were not to be tolerated. Ludwig died in a mysterious boating accident, an event which, in its day, was comparable to Jeffrey Epstein's "suicide." The exterior is shown at 19:45.
@@PacMonster0 I can't shake the suspicion that Bismarck had a hand in that "suicide", since he had no use for Ludwig II. after he had signed the Imperial Letter, agreeing that his kingdom would be merged into the German Empire Bismarck wanted.
Greetings from Germany! Just thought it worth mentioning. In the period these types of castles were used, the chapels would never be under the nobles living quarters. Because this would bee seen as them placing themselves above god. This was such a sensitive issue that even the shrine in the nobles room, yes it was common, would be built as an additional room, hanging outside of the walls. This allowed for the closing of a door to separate the noble from the shrine. And thus, maintain the status. Chapel were commonly seen adjacent to the defensive walls. In a place as to take advantage of sunlight.
I just wanted to take a moment to say I LOVE how this video is structured going from the most basic to the most extravagant castles. Shad could've gone for just a general overview, but instead we get something really thorough which was well illustrated by (I'm guessing custom made) models. Kudos. By the end you also had me pretty much salivating to watch the next video (despite it being very late here). My only small criticism would be that I wish there were one or two more breakdowns of examples of the smallest and then medium castles from real-life.
A fortress should be as small as possible so you can defend it with few soldiers. A lord wants his palace as luxurious as possible, which means many special rooms, many servants. No surprise the two got separated eventually. Also in Germany the Emperors didn't stay in one castle all the time, but traveled through the realm to hold court. They had special palaces called Pfalz (plural: Pfalzen). So their home castle didn't need to be as big. Not sure if there was a similar practice somewhere else in Europe.
I start out digging a hole in a cliff that I can get to, then as I get more materials and stuff I dig up towards the surface and make a tower to start off, trying to get to where I could build a castle as I feel like it
Noah Tackett me too I dig a 5 by 5 room into the mountain side, dig steps down to level 12 then mine until I have a ton of iron etc. Then I build my castle on the surface.
I wanna do a realistic method like this, something that's simple and easy to expand for the many needs for the future. And I suppose this could work, as he lots of castles were mainly luxurious residences
Thanks for the reminder that most castles were small. The two most prominent castles near my home are quite big so i tend to forget that most were much smaller. Both of those castles were in use well into the age of gunpowder so they were expanded upon countless times. Actually i've always wondered how they looked at different points in time, but as far as i know no one has ever made a series of models depicting their growth over time. Maybe that could be the topic of a future video, possibly as a collaboration with a channel more focused on the age of gunpowder.
Keep in mind that mostly the stronghold/keep was a fortification were you go in case of danger, it was not a place were you live on a daily base. In german we started with "Fluchtburgen"
What are they called kasbahs? Ive been to several in Morocco and Spain. They are more like a keep. Cities were still walled when most were built and castile just becoming a thing and not a big thing to the moors/Moroccans. They are not a stand alone fortress like a castle. Usually they are part fort with high pretty basic walls. They are part palace often with a huge garden. Kind of a different fiction for them.
I'm English and I've spent a lot of time in castles in the British Isles. One of the things that has repeatedly struck me is that castles must have been a pretty crap place to live and that is particularly notable when the owners were very often very wealthy by the standards of the area. Castles must have been cold, damp, draughty and cramped. They were probably also very smelly. Even the life of a nobleman and his family must have been much harder than middle class life is today.
@@darktronics9901 But to put things in perspective, even the wealthiest of the middle class could never afford a small castle like that. Thanks to overpopulation, land in some countries is more expensive than building your own castle.
Oh well, I didn't think about that watchtowers as "residental buildings", but more like "accommodation at workplace". But well, it makes sense, just like with lighthouses.
Definitely one of your best, Shad. I particularly appreciate how you indirectly show that these castles go from studio to multi room houses, but with fortifications, until they become mansions. It seems we've (as in, humans) been practical for a while, so even modern "prepper" type guides showing how to build a "compound" correlate much closer to a castle than I expected. Thanks again for the quality work and to all your Patreon folks for making this happen.
Thank you very much Shad. I'm writing a medieval fantasy book series, but I want it to be authentic, and videos like these really help with that. I've even completely reworked one local lord's castle in my book thanks to this.
Dear Shad, If all I have to do is wait a few extra days to see quality work like this, I'm all too happy to wait. Crowdfunding is a gift from the heavens, and it makes me glad to see a thoughtful and hard-working man, such as yourself, be blessed by such a gift. It gives me hope for the future of passionate and committed artists and historians worldwide. Sincerely, ~A member of the Notification Squad, and a Patron
People (Kings too) did just have less stuff. I have to worry about the arrangement of my PC and TV so there's still room left for closets and shelfs to keep my massive amount of cloths (even though I'm _not_ a fashion person), books and other doodats.
Typical modern movie myths here. Those Norman invaders will, at the very least, wear MAIL (and GAMBESONS). And if you think that, like in your silly Hollywood movies, your machine gun will simply CUT through MAIL, think again!
Profoundly informative. I'm very grateful for your videos, Shad. I'd love it if you followed this up with the differences between a castle and a palace because I'd never thought to question that until you brought it up.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! for this awesome video. Might I suggest you do a video about medieval taverns and inns and places to sleep and eat for a weary traveler?
I suggest you watch this video, it's about 18th century US frontier regions, but it wouldn't be much different from medieval times aside from fashion of clothing. ruclips.net/video/3cPizm6i15A/видео.html
I was amazed when I was driving around Southern Ireland how many derelict keeps there were...and yes, most were fairly small, maybe 20 diameter and 35 foot tall.
@@shadiversity ya know shad the only reason I found you was because I followed Skall, who got me onto lindybeige, who got me onto matt who got me on to you.. now i have to go look at this metatron guy hahahaha
A medieval cooking nerd here and i feel like i need to make some quick corrections on your models. Medieval castle Kitchens would never be in the keep and there is a very good reasons for this, they had a very bad habit of catching fire. When looking at western European castles the Kitchen are general built one of two ways; First a wooden structure independent of the keep but in the inner wall that if it burns down can be easy rebuilt. The second is a semi-detached stone building that has a high ceiling being equivalent to a second story in hight, with windows being set high to create a draft to draw out heat and smoke to prevent fires. There is evidence that the difference in the design is a good way to determent if the master mason was local and create a wooden kitchen as you would for a village hall or if the lord hired a professional free mason who was familiar with the high ceiling stone design among other castle features. The Kitchen would then be connected to the hall by a covered passage most often being an extension of the roof of the various building to enclose the alley way between the buildings and this is in medieval time be called the "hall way". the modern internal hall way would not be common till the 18th cen. . banquet hall as a term does not show up till the 16th cen. and then it is a side chamber next to the hall. There a Ivan days video were he talks about this ruclips.net/video/qebdv6yH2B8/видео.html ... the halls your seeing in the white tower do not have a specific use as we seen now but were common and were used for eating, sleeping and all other daily activities. if any one interested in the topic Peter Brears has a series of Books on the subject and i am pulling most of the above from his book "Cooking and Dining in Medieval England" www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=peter+brears&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Apeter+brears
Darn. This is what I was afraid of. The video was really interesting but I kept thinking "I wonder if any of this is true... I've been burned by RUclips hacks before." Sounds like this guy doesn't actually know anything about what he's talking about.
@@Xezlec ............................. BOY! He gets ONE thing wrong, that doesn't mean everything is completely wrong! And he does know what hes talking about!
So i did some research and the separated kitchen seems to have been a late medieval invention that developed out of what Shad shows here. Basically it kept moving out of the single room till it went outside.
When I went on holiday with my parents and sisters to Iceland, we went to Mt. Hekla and one of the longhouses, I like how you mentioned the chapel because there was one just outside the longhouse, great work Shad, as always.
Glad to support you shad, great for mentioning it and giving that heart felt opening to have more people support you. We pay because we like your content, and giving YOU more money means we have you spend more time on creating quality content. so we're with you on this. SUPPORT SHAD if you like this.
Pfft.. The keeps in Skyrim were shit in size compared to Morrowind and Oblivion. Go look at Ebonheart and Vivec in Morrowind. Hell, Balmora was bigger than anything in Skyrim. Oblivion had the Imperial City, where each section was bigger than anything in Skyrim.
Dash Rendar and all of the cities The entire Elder Scrolls franchise are bigger in lore then they are in game (especially the Imperial City which is described as being comparable in size to maybe even bigger then MODERN DAY TOKYO)
@@lonestarwolfentertainment7184 yeah I know. But im comparing previous games, not the lore. I just don't know why they couldn't make it much bigger. Each game should progress and get bigger and more detailed.. Not make the map bigger but make it less detailed with smaller towns. The leveling and skill tree all got smaller, the towns, the overall story and even the lore.
i've been trying my hardest to build a more historically based castle in the sims to visualize it for my worldbuilding, and this video has given me such great information! Off to watch the next video!
Not to brag, but I could model that in a couple hours.... Animating the Camera to do what you want is a bit more finicky and then getting the right Render Filter or just say "Screw it" and export a PlayBlast, I would add double the time just for that xD I use Maya
Shad, you are doing something amazing and unprecedented before. You are actually making my dream come true. Let me tell you about this first. Since I was child visiting many historical sites I’ve always thought (sometimes for long hours) how did people lived there? How was they routine day. What jobs, different roles where doing through the day, what they eat, wear, running errands and so on and on.. your visual reproduction of the castles fire imagination.. and rise another questions. Ultimately I wish we could see from different angles (through different eyes and thought) whole average day. How about special days and events? That would be my dream come true. On the other hand many movies are so poor and shallow on this. Just lately the Kingdom Come game has brought it to the level that is satisfying. Am I right that this has also have moved and inspired you? Thank you once more for your content and amazing work.
Do a fantasy re-armed with skeletons. They would probably have thick gambeson to protect their brittle bones. Pros- can't overheat Can't drown Resistance to cuts Cons- bones are brittle Not super strong
I'd be curious what he would attribute their ability to move to and the limitations he would postulate. Are they about 20 pounds with the full strength of a fully fleshed human or whatever creature they are assembled from? For those of us who are a bit larger, both girth and height, having our mass drop to about 20 pounds with no loss in strength would result in a disturbing spike in agility.
DahriusArt could a skeleton ride on top of another skeleton because they are so light. One could fight with a sword while another skeleton is on his shoulders with a bow.
This does help a great deal with keeping the size right. Though RPG castles are usually gonna be a bit bloated because they need a dedicated treasury :p
I like a lot of your videos Shad, but am especially loving your videos that include 3D castle modelling like this one. The modelling really - and quite obviously - help illustrate the points you're making and you do a great job of transitioning from each room upgrade. The transition also makes me imagine this is a lord's gradual castle improvements over time.
This is probably one of the best videos I've seen on medieval history in a long time and that's saying something because I've been hounding the internet for anything I can find. This is the type of research and deductive reasoning that allows us to see how exactly some people lived back then and how the upper echelon of society had to start somewhere. This was absolutely one of the most informative things I've watched in preparation for an upcoming project of mine. Thank you so much!
Very informative! I learned a lot. Many of the smaller details are very interesting - like the mini-drawbridge at the main entrance. You can imagine that would be a huge help in defense for a fairly low cost. Imagine trying to cross that gap while someone at the other end is trying to poke you full of holes (and maybe a few archers on top adding a continuous threat). Another cool thing I learned a long time ago is that all the spiral stairs tend to all go upwards clockwise. Why? Because anyone trying to fight their way up (to typically the more protected areas) will have a hard time swinging their right hand weapon freely while anyone above fighting down are relatively unobstructed (along with having the advantage of higher ground). It makes any such staircase a good secondary chokepoint in case of emergency.
I’m fascinated with medieval castles. Visited a few. Kronborg Castle, Kastellet, Rosenborg Castle, Solvesborg Slott, Akershus Fortress, Stirling Castle, Edinburgh Castle, Airth Castle Hotel, Tureborg Castle, Ragnhildsholmen, Malmo Castle, a couple royal palaces, and a couple I can’t remember the name of. Hands down my favorite one I ever visited was Bohus Fortress. If anyone out there ever visits Gothenburg, Sweden go a little north and visit Bohus Fortress. Most glorious place I’ve ever visited in my life
I love it when I stumble upon high quality content like this on RUclips, that I'd probably never find had the algorithm not shown it to me by chance. This was incredibly interesting all the way through, so thank you. Now I'm off to watch more of your videos.
I always wondered about this. People talk about the outside but rarely the inside. Thank you:) Also happy to support you on patreon, you make some really good content:D
King: Listen, lad. I built this castle up from nothing. When I started here, all there was were dragons. Other kings said I was daft to build a castle around dragons, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em. The dragons burned it down. So, I killed the dragons and I built a big second one. Then my neighbors mocked me for not having machicolations. So, I tore down the castle and I built a bigger third one with proper fortifications and machicolations. Then I remembered I forgot to actually put rooms inside the keep. So I tore it all down, burned it and threw it into the swamp. But the fourth one, the fourth one, the perfect one ... stayed up! And that's what you're gonna get, lad: the strongest castle in these islands. Herbert: But father, you forgot something King: What? Herbert: The front door.
I....make battlemaps for DnD and I love watching these videos on repeat. So I've naturally started to turn ruined medieval castles into refurbished battlemaps. I love it so much and currently I am building a mini one from scratch, using this video as a guide. TYSM for your work Shad.
I've literally wondered this my entire life. Like, they can't be filled entirely with long tables, decor, and jewelry everywhere. Like what is really in there?
Most rooms were multi purpose, people slept in them at night, rolled up the sleeping pellets and used them as workspaces during the day. Large heavy furniture was rare, the great hall, kitchen and bedrooms of the wealthy were the only places likely to have any of that. Anything else too heavy to move easily would usually have been related to the work done in that room, weaving looms, millstones ect.
Most castles would've also been painted with bright colours. What we see now are just the stone walls, but once , most were plastered and painted. Other decorations were tapestries or woodwork. Paintings and statues were very rare. The last thing that could be decorated was the lighting. Chandelers and candleholders could be quite elaborate. But all these things were expensive, so don't expect them in most castles.
I took many school trips to a few different castles and we spent a lot of time learning about them (as they are a major part of my country’s history), so I wasn’t really expecting to learn much but you really did a great job of teaching me things that I never learned in school. Great video, keep it up 👍
I never even considered the amount of LUXURY a SECOND ROOM is in a castle, now most people have quite a few divisions on their homes... but I guess it makes a whole lot of sense, building a single keep takes a whole lot of time and manpower, this makes the idea of "more people" means "more money" which also means "more rooms" for the people, and the greater the number of people depending on the lord, the larger the separation from them, before they lived right next to their lord, ate their meals with them, slept in the great hall right outside his private quarters, as more and more people tried to serve the lord, more and more buildings were needed, which created space and of course, the separation by degrees of "closeness" each person serving the lord needed to have... what an interesting and logical development...
I'm always super excited when I see these 3D models! And the way you chose to build it up was absolutely amazing! It's SO understandable! Thank you Shad!
You are so great at this. I suffer from ridiculous ADD, and your voice/topic flow is incredibly captivating. You could have your own mini-series on Netflix.
Super interesting and useful (reminds me of "upgrades" in a videogame, like the "renovations" in the earlier assassin's creed games, for example)... Also very "utilitarian", almost modular, these rooms (how they serve a specific purpose, and thus have a reason to even be there to begin with)
Depends on the climate. Most buildings in the Mediterranean never had plaster. In the Balkans, they made an art out of bricks and stones. Examples: Serbian medieval monasteries: 1. www.tt-group.net/Fotografije_Srbije/Moravska-skola/Manastir-u-Sumadiji-main.jpg 2. www.novosti.rs/upload/images/2018b//06/29/novina/studenica-B-SUBASIC1.jpg Dubrovnik, Croatia: www.sunsail.co.uk/sites/default/files/hero/dubrovnik_base.jpg
ah, i love castles, but what about dragons? now, on a serious topic, there are 2 things that i would love to watch a video about that not many people talk about... first one is temples, monasteries and other religious buildings... they usually had much more money to spend so they were quite fancy... and some were fortified too! and the other thing... cities with walls, they dissapeared long ago, but in ancient times they were so common! how different were them from castles and other fortified structures?
gingercore69, Yes many religious structures were at least a bit fortified too! Mainly monastaries. Cathedral windows were really too big and low to the ground for cathedrals to be great fortifications, They were somewhat defendable but grand cathedrals just couldn't survive serious assaults on them.
Stone walls on the boundaries of land owned by the clergy was common. For example I live near the remains of the gatehouse of an abbey, and that gatehouse connected to a large perimeter wall that would have been walk-able at the top and was quite thick, so would have been quite practical in defence (and the abbey's grounds and remaining constructions after The Reformation were used during the siege of the local city during The English Civil War, so it saw action and was still considered strategically valuable). In a sense they could act as pseudo castles during invasions and revolts (the aforementioned abbey was attacked during The Peasants Rebellion as well as used as a fortification in The Civil War, and most of the large gatehouse and fortifications was built after the Rebellion, possibly in response to the threat) as people in the surrounding area could flee inside the protection of the perimeter walls and the main buildings. On top of that they were socially not dissimilar to feudal castles: their fortifications were often paid for by the profits and rents of workers on the associated lands, some of whom were obligated to work it like serfs, as well as church tithes. I've heard it argued that a vast amount of Medieval economic development (especially early on) was down to the clergy centralising land organisation under clerical districts instead of hereditary miss-mashes, and the clergy used this money to both secure the profits and protect themselves and their social dependants in the same way the aristocratic rulers did during the same periods. They still have a distinct role though, since clerical structures were often intended to service the general public (although monastic communities could be much more insular, but often just had a dedicated section of a public clerical complex or opened part of their private complex to the locals for prayer/medicine/lodging) whereas castles were typically focused on geographic control of land and military activity.
My Grandfather built my house 90 years ago. We were the 3rd house to have indoor plumbing in the area! And a "septic area", a gravel bed, which I still have my washing machine hooked up to. (Finally replaced the 1st septic tank, which was about 80 years old, with a brand new one 4 years ago.)
A dungeon would be my primary requirement. Who could live without it? Amazing video as usual, actually, it's a bit higher quality then usual! Good work!
Castles already have thick walls and windows too small to climb out of. Any room in a castle can be used as a dungeon/prison, just bar the door and optionally put a guard outside = instant prison cell.
I’m surprised that people haven’t heard about this before. You might mention the direction of the circular stairs and how they were defensible. I love what you do. It's fascinating
The fire places of the 2 rooms would like be at the joining wall, they'd have a joined chimney. Building 2 separate would be more worksome, and trouble the defense duty of the outer wall.
I always thought castles were awesome because CASTLES! HA HA you did the fade away hands from Role Models. I never actually gave much thought into which rooms might be inside them though. I never thought of myself as someone interested in Architecture but when its related to history I am. I think Shad would make a pretty good teacher. Awesome video Shad.
Hey Shad. Considering you are using foreign words to better describe concepts of castles (im referring to the "Zwinger"), i thought you might be interested to know that the german language actually offers a name for those hybrids between castles and palaces. Its called a "Schloss". Just for clarification: Burg => Castle Schloss => Hybrid of the other two Palast => Palace Maybe you already knew... but i thought it would be nice to bring it up ;) Love your videos!
Shouldnt there be lots of germans watching this channel? I mean im pretty certain there is a correlation between the number castles in your vincinity and your interest in the medievil era.
Dont worry, of course he knows the term, as he already explained it in other videos like the Neuschwanstein one. I think he also mentioned it when he spoke about the Disney castle or princess Peach's castle. I think it's also fair to say that his German pronunciation has been rather bad so far. So maybe it's better for him to avoid it at all. ;) Then again I've never understood his English pronunciation on "medieval": "medi-evil" (e.g. 14:03).
Yes, the beginning of my interest in the medi-evil (xD) era was definitely the castle ruins less than a 15min drive from my home and the medieval city center of the next town over (because ours was completly destroyed during ww2) , but internet & libraries are the real reason why I'm here right now :D
Its the same in Denmark Borg = Castle, Slot = pretty castle, Palads = Palace though even then definitions fail since our most famous castle was a mix between a borg and slot being an actual effective fortification against those dastardly swedes but also giving concessions to alot of decoration.. (though our lack of natural rock to build with also meant that our castles all were made from bricks instead and as such easier to make pretty) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronborg#/media/File:Kronborg_002.JPG
Great vid, Shad, but... it feels like there's something missing. It all makes sense, don't get me wrong, but I get a nagging feeling that you're making a major omission. Especially once outer walls are being added on. I can't quite put my finger on what's lacking in the example castle you modelled for us, but I'm sorry to say it's leaving a bad taste in my mouth. No offense, but WHERE! ARE! THE! M A C H I C O L A T I O O O O O O O O O O O O O N S ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (In all seriousness I get that a smaller castle wouldn't necessarily need them, especially on good terrain like the castle shown. Regardless, I wanted to do a machicolations jumpscare. I'm sure you understand.)
Hey Shad, have you though about doing cities fortification analysis like you do for castles? I'm interested in medieval and ancient cities. In particular, I would love to see a video about Constantinopla!
I did not finish the video yet. But I would like to mention one very important thing ... especially with stone castles, it is much cheaper to add an additional floor. So the very first thing would be to move lord's private room one floor up.
Completely agree. For the sake of this video it was harder to show the room divisions visually when they were on top of one another (as you might have noticed when I did add a second floor) as opposed to side by side, the floor above blocked the view of the floor beneath.
One beautiful example is Carew castle in Wales. It started basically with 3 floors - private bedrooms, great hall and basement which served as lockable storage for food and private properties (it was used in times when the lord left the castle). By the time the castle grew bigger and bigger. Funny thing is that during its medieval history, castle was rented by multiple tenants, it was a very first castle that I heard that it had more than one 'lord' occupying the castle. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carew_Castle#History
Hey Shad love your videos and I actually did make a mockup of a castle in a very small text based rpg i take part in an a big issue for me was width of walls and size of rooms etc, could you maybe make a video where you speedbuild with a commentary of what you are doing? You build the castles anyways so maybe it would work to give some tips and tricks. Thanks a ton for what you do.
In later period, especially in rennaisance, 1st floor (above entrance!) was considered the "noble floor". Also, servant quaters and additional rooms of lower status (and even some storage) was put on additional floors put inide roof construction,
Speaking of which, floor height matters. You can put 2 "servant floors" where one "hall" floor fits.
Minor thing to note: heating. This is not trivial in northern clmates, and you want to conserve energy by not heating the outside walls! (having beds on/near fireplace is a thing too). Then you have total end of luxury and technology: hypocauston system.
Maybe of interest: ruclips.net/video/2G6ShZCPneo/видео.html
I'm spitballing, based on floor plans I've seen and the White Tower floor plan of this video, but it looks as if the outer walls of the towers (and likely the other fortifications) were several feet thick. Aside from protecting against siege engines and other attacks, they're thick thanks to the inverse square law. (This is the law that makes brick skyscrapers implausible and the Amazing Colossal Man impossible.)
So my life goal as a medieval lord would have been getting rich enough to afford a separate toilet room.
@@jakemarsh8967 The other lord will immediately declare a vendetta :P
Biggest takeaway for me is how gross, how fast, would your keep full of dozens of soldiers get when in a siege. EVEN THE LORD SHITS IN A BUCKET ON A GOOD DAY AND NOW WE CAN'T GO NEAR THE WINDOWS
@@LoLotov This is indeed a problem only a catapult could solve...
@@radastir "what are all those empty barrels for?" "Pray you never find out."
@@LoLotov Life, I think, was a horribly smelly affair in those days.... even in the best of times.
I think popular culture tends to confuse the word "castle" with "palace."
Indeed.
Fantasy stories tend to have more "palace" instead of "castle."
Were you recently dumped Derek?
Derek Charette you seem to have some issues Derek...
There's a reason the German language has two different words for this. -Burg (Fortress type Castle) and -Schloss (post fuedal "castle" that's really more of a palace).
That may be partly because in quite a few languages, the words " castle " " palace " and " mansion " are the same or similar, for example, in French, " chateau " refers to castles palaces and mansions. Even though the word " chateau " technically translates to " castle " it's often used for luxury homes that don't even look A BIT like castles!
Also, popular culture tends to depict castles as much more fantasy looking than real, medieval castles.
I have a PhD in history. And I have not seen a video that is so accurate and in depth. It is exactly the video I would have liked to have seen in my early education. Well done
This a great comment. There's nothing like hint of educated opinion to back up a video to prove its worth. Thanks.
I have a PHD too…
@@90sEpicboystoys I too have a PhD im Dr.Silly
First thing you should learn at history is that it was written by the winners and not by honest unbiased people. It should be called winstory. The real history is very different from what we learn at history.
I have a phd too.....the only diff is i'm actually old enough to have one.
This video has actually very good advices for building bases in survival games.
Exactly my thinking.
That is legitimately half the reason I watch Shad's videos on castles. I have a playlist dedicated entirely to collecting videos which will help me turn bases which just hold everything I need for gameplay, into legit fortresses. Some things will need adaptation due to the game itself (I play ARK, so you gotta account for Rexes and Brontos and flying raiders) but I'm putting a lot of thought and analysis into making sure I do so in a way that doesn't break the genuine functionality of basing it on real working fortresses.
The other half of the reason I watch them is because they're fascinating!
@@Renesh2 Like building the entrances (bridges) out of wood so you can destroy it easy or if it is destroyed, they can't get to the door cause it's too high.
@@Renesh2 for rust?
@@Renesh2 the way Romans built their cities and military outposts is very interesting too
Videos like this make me appreciate just how much nicer things are today.
I mean, running water. _Running fucking water._ Kings would kill for that kind of luxury.
So so true. And not only water but on demand hot water too. Light with the flick of a switch, on demand heating that doesn't require collecting and burning of firewood. An ability to keep food cool or frozen for storage. a toilet that cleans and removes waste with the press of a button. And magical screens that provide endless entertainment and information. We live in an world of miracles.
I think Romans actually had running water in some homes of the wealthy via diverting water from the aqueducts. Not heated, but there were public baths with heated water in case you didn't want to wait. Don't forget Roman sewers.
Many roman buildings had under floor heating, there was a space under the floor that would have hot air from a furnace flow through, sometimes channels were built into the walls to allow the hot air to heat walls as well.
We would probably be on Mars by now if the Roman's didn't fall...
But a lot of other bad things would of happen to....
@@lucasriley874 When I went to Rome or guide told us that in the ruins of a small palace there were holes between the walls to get to the top of the building and pour water in those holes, cold water, so they had a cooling system already during the hot stages of the year lol
It's crazy to think about the fact that the average person today lives a far more luxurious lifestyle than the wealthiest people in the world just a few hundred years ago.
Not even 100 years ago. Indoor toilets weren't ubiquitous in Europe until after ww1. Even then houses often didn't have their own lavatory, it was fairly common for people to use local toilet blocks well into the 1930s
Yet these people say i WiSh wE CoUld GO BaCk tO THe gOOd Old dAyS
the average american right?
the banquet hall is the size of two american homes, its drapped in goold and had hot water and plumbing. More lux. No. People often confuse the filth of late renicanse and enlightment with the medival
Agreed.
Antibiotics
Soap
Screened windows
Etc Etc Etc
This actually really helps design castles for DnD. Tons of ideas.
Especially if you want a more realistic setting. Magic would affect the way castles would be built. Hell in 5e you have the spell mighty fortress (something like that from xgte) that let's you sprout a fort out of nowhere and if you cast it in the same spot every week for a year it becomes permanent.
@@joejack2975 There's another option introduced in the _Lost Laboratory of Kwalish_ adventure (a module released for the Extra Life charity): Galder's Tower. A 3rd level conjuration spell that creates a two-story tower - each level being 100 square feet - that comes equipped with amenities chosen by the caster (also, the tower is climate controlled, because Magic). Like the aforementioned fortress spell, Galder's Tower can be cast every day for a year to make it permanent. Unlike other spells of its type, though, Galder's Tower doesn't cost outrageous sums of money in the form of material components. So long as you have "a fragment of stone, wood, or other building material", you can just cast it. Making it very affordable if you can spare the time and want some extra space. (Higher level Wizards can also up-cast the spell, adding additional levels per level of spell slot above 3rd).
I can imagine an enterprising Wizard (who wouldn't need to be THAT high level) making deals with local lords. The Wizard hangs around for a year, making their tower permanent. The lord pays for the Wizard's living expenses, and perhaps any "salary" for magical or academic services the Wizard provides the lord; things as complex as writing spell scrolls or entertaining the lord and guests with illusions, to simply teaching the lord's children mathematics and history (since Wizards, in general, tend to be highly learned individuals). When the year is up, the Wizard moves on to a different territory, while the lord gets to keep a full stone building with at least two stories, that is also slightly magical.
IKR I had a session a while ago and while the party wont be getting inside the castle anytime soon. This really helps me prepare for the time when they do :)
Oh that's not what this video is for?
That’s what I’m here for ;)
I’m studying architecture at University and even though I’m not specializing in medieval architecture I took a class on the subject last semester. We spent most of the time studying Christian architecture from its formation through the 1500s but only spent 1 day on castles which was really unfortunate even if I did love the churches. Your videos have become an amazing source of knowledge satiating my desire to learn more of medieval military architecture.
That is something of a shame, yes. Then again, the great innovations of Gothic architecture (preceded to an extent by some Romanesque inventions) were pretty much all leading to taller, more open spaces with fewer thick walls needed to support the structure, and since thick walls are actually desirable in a castle, there is a certain irony there; medieval architectural innovations going against the principles of the most iconicly medieval buildings.
Yes, but from a design perspective, wouldn't it make more sense for the nobles to be on a higher floor, even if it meant extra work getting around? As someone besieging a castle would be forced to use ladders or stairs to get to them and they could use the high ground to their advantage?
Before I start the video, and hopefully Shad mentions it, if you want to see a real complete 1300's castle with all the rooms and a moat and everything you wanted to know... go to Muiderslot in the Netherlands. It's a real, full, complete castle from the middle ages that survived and is now a major museum, fair grounds, and restaurant. One of the best things I saw in the country. In my opinion, tons better than Amsterdam.
Now I'm so sad I missed it while I was there!
Been there and agree! Took my kiwi husband and he loved it too!
1:57 It is the Muiderslot. :-D
I just checked it and it's just beautiful, everything about it is amazing. Though that one painting with so many severed heads is beyond bizarre, wondering what's that all about?
It's cool to see that people even in the 18th-19th century looked back at castles and thought "Those were cool."
Just like us.
It would be interesting if someone today made a medieval like castle, city or maybe a skyscraper made with medieval aesthetic, it was always strange to me that so many of today's skyscrapers are made out of glass and steel and nobody thought to make them in Gothic style and I mean full blown Gothic with new materials not a fusion of modern and Gothic styles.
Лк шквћ Some people in France are, in fact, building a castle. They are trying to build a 14th century castle by living a 14th century lifestyle, looking at surviving castles, and improvising where they need to. It's pretty cool.
Gocker Why do we all like castles so much??
Лк шквћ although a gothic style skyscraper would be cool its impossible. Skyscrapers are made out of glass, metal, and concrete for 2 main reasons. They are cheap and they are light weight yet sturdy if built in a proper manner. The problem with a gothic style skyscraper is it doesnt follow either of these criteria. The stone would add an enormous amount of weight compared to steel, the stone would be extremely expensive, and lastly the architectural style of gothic building is not stable or practical enough to be able to go up more than a few floors. I do agree however that if it were possible, it would be a beautiful thing to look at!
Race Rucki is right, the laws of physics will greatly make the use of stone or masonry much more expensive and weighty as it needs to be thickened at the bottom. Take the Monadnock building in Chicago, that is the tallest load-bearing masonry building, and the 1st floor has solid exterior walls 6 feet thick, and it's 17 stories which is not much compared to modern skyscrapers. If you'd raise it to 50 stories, the bottom walls will be so thick that the amount of rentable space will be so small it won't be worth the cost.
I suddenly have the urge to build one in Minecraft.
I'm here just to figure out how to build my survival castle in minecraft
@@hollowhoagie6441 Same actually😂
@@hollowhoagie6441 same 😂
@@hollowhoagie6441 same lol
@@hollowhoagie6441 same
and just like that i'd watched 20 minutes of castle architecture, room distribution and interior design, PLUS learnt the difference between castle and palace (which i had, mind you, never even realized it was a thing). great video!
3:43 " And then separate to this a chest of some kind for storage." A possibly interesting aside. The chest you have in your residential quarters has a vaulted top (what is sometimes called a camel back chest today). It's highly likely that it would have had a flat top for a couple of reasons.
Firstly vaulted chest tops are usually done with shipping in mind. It's a clever way to insure that it won't have other items stacked on top of it when being moved with luggage or other goods. Chests are typically built well enough that they can often easily take the weight of other things stacked on top of them. So the concern wasn't to protect the items in a vaulted chest more than others during shipping. The idea was to have ready access to the items one might be using the most during and immediately after a trip that were too large to keep on their person. Such chests must necessarily be the last thing to be loaded on and first thing to be taken of before and after transport. Also they are easily opened during transport being on top of everything else. Shipping chests would often go into storage them selves once arriving at a destination. Their contents being transferred into something else. They were effectively a type of luggage.
Secondly chests made for residential quarters are usually at the foot of a bed (as shown in your render). The reason for this is that they would often be used to temporarily set things down (such as meals) or be used as bench (such as to aid with the dawning of stalkings and the putting on of shoes). As such they would often have thick flat tops. No reason to have a vault where an additional flat surface is more useful.
Additionally it was typical among a common household chest that it would be flat bottom (again as shown in your image) unless it was located on a ground floor where it might be more susceptible to flood damage. In which case (no pun intended) it would be footed to a height deemed acceptable to avoid any such likely damage should flooding occur. Which is almost always a possibility, although very slight in many cases, for many ground floors of buildings.
Now I don't know how far back this tradition I'm about to describe goes. But at least within the last few hundred years in the western world such bedroom chests were "hope chests". A container that was the sole property of a wife (most of what she might own or have some legal claim to otherwise would likely become her husbands property once they were married. This would have been an exception to that). It usually contained things from her life previous to marriage. Heirloom quilts, an inherited wedding dress, a grandmothers gloves etc. They were to give her comfort through bad parts of marriage or if her husband died and left her little to no resources (ideally she would sell the contents and the chest to provide for herself should things come to worst).
Cool. Thanks for the info. Never thought I would be interested in a youtube comment on storage chests.
Welcome. I used to be what people would now call a flipper (buying old shit and reselling it). One learns a lot of little things like this doing something like that for a while.
This really puts into perspective how ludicrously large some fantasy castles are. We tend to design the interior of those more like modern skyscrapers than like medieval castles.
Well, they are fantasy so could of used magic. In my opinion they don't use magic nearly enough in fantasy, at least not in their world building. Most just set it in a basically medieval world, and throw magic on top. Really a waste of potential. People could create truly unique worlds if they were willing to just think about how such magic would influence the way people live and how they get things done.
@Iafiv Iv
Only if you get dumb with it. What makes you think everyone would be world destroying powerful?
@Iafiv Iv
Or just limit what humans are capable of. I mean some people exercise constantly but you don't see them throwing trains around. But since it magic let's say one in a trillion can ascend to godhood. But guess what. The gods that govern the world likely would get in that beings way. Or even if he ascends beyond them how many eons would that take? Make him just as likely as any other world ending disaster.
@Iafiv Iv
Speak for yourself. I find it rather easy to use reasonably.
@Iafiv Iv
Did you figure that out all by yourself? Color me impressed. I didn't think you had it in you. But seriously. I meant a reasonable magic system is rather easy to weave into stories.
As a fantasy writer with a love of realism, I find your explanation of the fundamental ideas behind castle construction/design invaluable. You've provided me a tool I didn't have before, and I now feel like I could easily design castles of all sizes with very little effort. Thank you.
If I ever find myself transported to the past and somehow managed to become a wealthy lord, the first addition I'm building is a dedicated disco room.
My court shall be the funkiest in the entire land.
Can i be your knight? We can be called the Raving Knights.
Charging into battle with the cry of "MACHICOLATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Piece of Cake
Batman & Robin Hood
oh my goddddd bruceeeeee, damn it, every time!
Piece of Cake so he's one of them Fools then.
When I was in Scotland I toured the Edinburgh Castle and saw where Mary queen of Scots gave birth to her son. The room was big enough to hold a small bed and had some room at the bottom of the bed. Only window was a stained glass one at the far end of the room. Considering how many people were crammed into that tiny room to be in attendance for the birth it must have been positively claustrophobic.
Shad did it again. He made me want a castle.
Fallen Empire I'm starting to think that with some modern innovations, like new building materials, solar panels, affordable wind power, engines that run on all kinds of fuels that can provide heat and power, greenhouses/hydroponics, water pumps for wells, satellite and wireless connections, and on and on, it is possible to build a modern self-sufficient house and decorate it as a small castle. It would be rather expensive, though.
Unfortunately most of us (myself included) could never afford such a luxury. But we can dream.
you can buy one in france for, like, 3,500,000 Euros. it's pretty affordable, considering you get a goddamn castle.
commander31able I'm willing to lend my small income to creating Shad land.
Lego is your friend!
I just watched a Medieval lord and his family upgrade their castle.
Bernard's Channel
Sounds interesting. May I ask if you can let me have a link, please?
@@aliciarobertson4979 It's this video you twerp...
Dash Rendar
No need for the insult. I was being flippant. I am not a twerp but a well educated great grandmother who has a pawky sense of humour. When I did Ancient and Medieval History over 50 years ago I was awarded Honours so I have more than a passing interest in that era.
For me, there was not a Medieval lord to be seen in this video. They’ve all been dead for centuries, and no videos or photos exist! (Apologies to any who did not understand or who were offended.)
Most of the illustrations in this presentation seemed to be of the later Middle Ages. The medieval period was 10 centuries long; from 476 AD - 1453, quite an extensive period. This was Shad spending 21 short minutes on a subject that was interesting but, of necessity, left a lot out, including the fact that many medieval castles started out as wooden buildings. The White Tower mentioned and seen in photos also started its life as a timber building. While I enjoyed the video it was limited.
@@aliciarobertson4979 sorry.. Just kinda dimwitted to ask for a link to a video, in the comment section OF that video being referenced. You somehow didn't understand that point, I get it.
Dash Rendar
Thanks for the sorry.
Yes, I can see that comment seemed like a ‘dim witted’ question, but I had understood perfectly well. As I wrote, I was being flippant. My mistake was that my punctuation was faulty. I should have used an interrobang instead of just a question mark to make my meaning clear, which was the reason I apologised. I’ll try to be more aware of my punctuation another time.
Thanks for the ‘chat’.
Before watching your videos, my idea of Castle vs. Palace was simply "Castles are meant to be defended while Palaces were more showy"
That is also not untrue though.
At 1:18, the picture is of the king's bedroom at Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, built by mad King Ludwig of Bavaria in the late 1800s, a time when such extravagances were not to be tolerated. Ludwig died in a mysterious boating accident, an event which, in its day, was comparable to Jeffrey Epstein's "suicide." The exterior is shown at 19:45.
that depends. Palaces can also be fortified.
@@PacMonster0 I can't shake the suspicion that Bismarck had a hand in that "suicide", since he had no use for Ludwig II. after he had signed the Imperial Letter, agreeing that his kingdom would be merged into the German Empire Bismarck wanted.
@@PacMonster0 Perhaps
Greetings from Germany! Just thought it worth mentioning. In the period these types of castles were used, the chapels would never be under the nobles living quarters. Because this would bee seen as them placing themselves above god. This was such a sensitive issue that even the shrine in the nobles room, yes it was common, would be built as an additional room, hanging outside of the walls. This allowed for the closing of a door to separate the noble from the shrine. And thus, maintain the status. Chapel were commonly seen adjacent to the defensive walls. In a place as to take advantage of sunlight.
Also, love your videos. My Girlfriend and I yell machicolations! When we go by a castle. We have a lot of them in the Rhine Valley.
@@MrPazuzu1991 I have not lived in Germany since I was a kid, but I still remember those awesome castles.: )
I was looking for this comment as this was what I knew as well. Well explained!
Having been in some Castles I have a bigger bedroom than most Nobles.
I just wanted to take a moment to say I LOVE how this video is structured going from the most basic to the most extravagant castles. Shad could've gone for just a general overview, but instead we get something really thorough which was well illustrated by (I'm guessing custom made) models. Kudos. By the end you also had me pretty much salivating to watch the next video (despite it being very late here). My only small criticism would be that I wish there were one or two more breakdowns of examples of the smallest and then medium castles from real-life.
A fortress should be as small as possible so you can defend it with few soldiers. A lord wants his palace as luxurious as possible, which means many special rooms, many servants.
No surprise the two got separated eventually. Also in Germany the Emperors didn't stay in one castle all the time, but traveled through the realm to hold court. They had special palaces called Pfalz (plural: Pfalzen). So their home castle didn't need to be as big. Not sure if there was a similar practice somewhere else in Europe.
Yep, I talk about castle size in this video's time stamp :ruclips.net/video/wpZT9rGm_NM/видео.html
I know, that's where I got my knowledge from :D
This is like the stages of building a base on Minecraft survival. 😂
@Nichijou Bot i make mine with dirt 💁
I start out digging a hole in a cliff that I can get to, then as I get more materials and stuff I dig up towards the surface and make a tower to start off, trying to get to where I could build a castle as I feel like it
Noah Tackett me too I dig a 5 by 5 room into the mountain side, dig steps down to level 12 then mine until I have a ton of iron etc. Then I build my castle on the surface.
I wanna do a realistic method like this, something that's simple and easy to expand for the many needs for the future. And I suppose this could work, as he lots of castles were mainly luxurious residences
You should make an app game where you upgrade your castle. A proper historically accurate game, from small castle to big.
10/10 would play, Actually Ima gonna go to minecraft just cause =_=
Minecraft medieval mod. Ftw!
Cherry best idea ever! I would love a game like that :)
I literally found this channel two days ago and I have not slept since. Been binge watching all of these videos and I love each one, counting this.
Thanks for the reminder that most castles were small. The two most prominent castles near my home are quite big so i tend to forget that most were much smaller.
Both of those castles were in use well into the age of gunpowder so they were expanded upon countless times. Actually i've always wondered how they looked at different points in time, but as far as i know no one has ever made a series of models depicting their growth over time. Maybe that could be the topic of a future video, possibly as a collaboration with a channel more focused on the age of gunpowder.
Keep in mind that mostly the stronghold/keep was a fortification were you go in case of danger, it was not a place were you live on a daily base. In german we started with "Fluchtburgen"
Could you make videos about Arabian castles, whether in Moorish Spain, North Africa and the Middle East?
You know you have a brain and hands so why don't you do it instead of asking for money
Because people like to be taught when learning as its more engaging especially if its someone as charismatic as shad.
What are they called kasbahs? Ive been to several in Morocco and Spain. They are more like a keep. Cities were still walled when most were built and castile just becoming a thing and not a big thing to the moors/Moroccans. They are not a stand alone fortress like a castle.
Usually they are part fort with high pretty basic walls. They are part palace often with a huge garden. Kind of a different fiction for them.
@@M4G4M4N lmao someone is triggered
this puts in perspective how much better is the quality of life now compared to then
I'm English and I've spent a lot of time in castles in the British Isles. One of the things that has repeatedly struck me is that castles must have been a pretty crap place to live and that is particularly notable when the owners were very often very wealthy by the standards of the area. Castles must have been cold, damp, draughty and cramped. They were probably also very smelly. Even the life of a nobleman and his family must have been much harder than middle class life is today.
Middle class are now richer than most nobles back in those days
@@darktronics9901 But to put things in perspective, even the wealthiest of the middle class could never afford a small castle like that.
Thanks to overpopulation, land in some countries is more expensive than building your own castle.
Xinwei Guo youre delusional if you really think something so fucking stupid
Oh well, I didn't think about that watchtowers as "residental buildings", but more like "accommodation at workplace".
But well, it makes sense, just like with lighthouses.
Playing oblivion shows how this was done.
Definitely one of your best, Shad.
I particularly appreciate how you indirectly show that these castles go from studio to multi room houses, but with fortifications, until they become mansions. It seems we've (as in, humans) been practical for a while, so even modern "prepper" type guides showing how to build a "compound" correlate much closer to a castle than I expected.
Thanks again for the quality work and to all your Patreon folks for making this happen.
Thank you very much Shad. I'm writing a medieval fantasy book series, but I want it to be authentic, and videos like these really help with that. I've even completely reworked one local lord's castle in my book thanks to this.
That was a well done presentation. I really liked the authentic English accent of the narrator.
Amazing, the 3d models are always great, thank you for spending a week to make this Shad!
Dear Shad,
If all I have to do is wait a few extra days to see quality work like this, I'm all too happy to wait. Crowdfunding is a gift from the heavens, and it makes me glad to see a thoughtful and hard-working man, such as yourself, be blessed by such a gift. It gives me hope for the future of passionate and committed artists and historians worldwide.
Sincerely,
~A member of the Notification Squad, and a Patron
Thank you so much and thank you for your patronage! Hearing such sincere encouragement and appreciation makes it all worth while.
Gives a whole new meaning to “every man’s home is his castle.”
An Englishman’s home is his castle.
its quite an eye-opener to see that modern houses are regularly bigger living-spaces than small castles... if I interpreted your video correctly.
People (Kings too) did just have less stuff. I have to worry about the arrangement of my PC and TV so there's still room left for closets and shelfs to keep my massive amount of cloths (even though I'm _not_ a fashion person), books and other doodats.
But can your fancy modern house stand against Norman invaders? I don't think so.
If I attach a machinegun to it, sure it would.
Typical modern movie myths here. Those Norman invaders will, at the very least, wear MAIL (and GAMBESONS). And if you think that, like in your silly Hollywood movies, your machine gun will simply CUT through MAIL, think again!
"I hope your joking"
That is a very weird thing to ask. And not just because it should be "you're". ;)
The hard work you put into these videos is very apparent. Great job.
As an architect and worldbuilder, I find this explaination, as well as the models, very helpful and beautiful. Thank you Shad! Machicolationssss-ah!
Profoundly informative. I'm very grateful for your videos, Shad. I'd love it if you followed this up with the differences between a castle and a palace because I'd never thought to question that until you brought it up.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! for this awesome video. Might I suggest you do a video about medieval taverns and inns and places to sleep and eat for a weary traveler?
That would aid a ton in RPG world-building.
I suggest you watch this video, it's about 18th century US frontier regions, but it wouldn't be much different from medieval times aside from fashion of clothing. ruclips.net/video/3cPizm6i15A/видео.html
Yeah!
I was amazed when I was driving around Southern Ireland how many derelict keeps there were...and yes, most were fairly small, maybe 20 diameter and 35 foot tall.
Fantastic video I really like this one Shad :)
Thanks heaps mate, funny thing, I'm just about to watch the videos you've made with Matt Easton ^_^
Great video. This Old Castle.
@@shadiversity ya know shad the only reason I found you was because I followed Skall, who got me onto lindybeige, who got me onto matt who got me on to you.. now i have to go look at this metatron guy hahahaha
Shadman
A medieval cooking nerd here and i feel like i need to make some quick corrections on your models.
Medieval castle Kitchens would never be in the keep and there is a very good reasons for this, they had a very bad habit of catching fire. When looking at western European castles the Kitchen are general built one of two ways; First a wooden structure independent of the keep but in the inner wall that if it burns down can be easy rebuilt. The second is a semi-detached stone building that has a high ceiling being equivalent to a second story in hight, with windows being set high to create a draft to draw out heat and smoke to prevent fires.
There is evidence that the difference in the design is a good way to determent if the master mason was local and create a wooden kitchen as you would for a village hall or if the lord hired a professional free mason who was familiar with the high ceiling stone design among other castle features.
The Kitchen would then be connected to the hall by a covered passage most often being an extension of the roof of the various building to enclose the alley way between the buildings and this is in medieval time be called the "hall way". the modern internal hall way would not be common till the 18th cen. .
banquet hall as a term does not show up till the 16th cen. and then it is a side chamber next to the hall. There a Ivan days video were he talks about this ruclips.net/video/qebdv6yH2B8/видео.html ... the halls your seeing in the white tower do not have a specific use as we seen now but were common and were used for eating, sleeping and all other daily activities.
if any one interested in the topic Peter Brears has a series of Books on the subject and i am pulling most of the above from his book "Cooking and Dining in Medieval England"
www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=peter+brears&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Apeter+brears
Paul R, finally, someone with some sense!
Darn. This is what I was afraid of. The video was really interesting but I kept thinking "I wonder if any of this is true... I've been burned by RUclips hacks before." Sounds like this guy doesn't actually know anything about what he's talking about.
@@Xezlec ............................. BOY! He gets ONE thing wrong, that doesn't mean everything is completely wrong! And he does know what hes talking about!
So i did some research and the separated kitchen seems to have been a late medieval invention that developed out of what Shad shows here. Basically it kept moving out of the single room till it went outside.
Very interesting. Thanks.
When I went on holiday with my parents and sisters to Iceland, we went to Mt. Hekla and one of the longhouses, I like how you mentioned the chapel because there was one just outside the longhouse, great work Shad, as always.
Glad to support you shad, great for mentioning it and giving that heart felt opening to have more people support you.
We pay because we like your content, and giving YOU more money means we have you spend more time on creating quality content. so we're with you on this.
SUPPORT SHAD if you like this.
This gives me a whole better idea of how MASSIVE and luxurious the keeps in skyrim really are.
Pfft.. The keeps in Skyrim were shit in size compared to Morrowind and Oblivion. Go look at Ebonheart and Vivec in Morrowind. Hell, Balmora was bigger than anything in Skyrim. Oblivion had the Imperial City, where each section was bigger than anything in Skyrim.
Dash Rendar and all of the cities The entire Elder Scrolls franchise are bigger in lore then they are in game (especially the Imperial City which is described as being comparable in size to maybe even bigger then MODERN DAY TOKYO)
@@lonestarwolfentertainment7184 yeah I know. But im comparing previous games, not the lore. I just don't know why they couldn't make it much bigger. Each game should progress and get bigger and more detailed.. Not make the map bigger but make it less detailed with smaller towns. The leveling and skill tree all got smaller, the towns, the overall story and even the lore.
i've been trying my hardest to build a more historically based castle in the sims to visualize it for my worldbuilding, and this video has given me such great information! Off to watch the next video!
You must be extremely time efficient while creating these models, i cannot believe this was done in one week only.
Compared to Honorguard, this must've been a cakewalk.
Its really not that hard. a lot of renders Im sure he reuses or can download from googles open source model bank.
Not to brag, but I could model that in a couple hours.... Animating the Camera to do what you want is a bit more finicky and then getting the right Render Filter or just say "Screw it" and export a PlayBlast, I would add double the time just for that xD
I use Maya
Block libraries are good for time efficiency. I use AutoCAD.
"Size matters" --Shad, 2018
J Girl oof for me then right
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
J Girl
Do ya think maybe he’s compensating for something? Hehehehe
F
But what about Dragons!?
As an aspiring concept artist, I can't stress how helpful this is.
Shad, you are doing something amazing and unprecedented before. You are actually making my dream come true. Let me tell you about this first. Since I was child visiting many historical sites I’ve always thought (sometimes for long hours) how did people lived there? How was they routine day. What jobs, different roles where doing through the day, what they eat, wear, running errands and so on and on.. your visual reproduction of the castles fire imagination.. and rise another questions. Ultimately I wish we could see from different angles (through different eyes and thought) whole average day. How about special days and events? That would be my dream come true. On the other hand many movies are so poor and shallow on this. Just lately the Kingdom Come game has brought it to the level that is satisfying. Am I right that this has also have moved and inspired you? Thank you once more for your content and amazing work.
Do a fantasy re-armed with skeletons. They would probably have thick gambeson to protect their brittle bones.
Pros- can't overheat
Can't drown
Resistance to cuts
Cons- bones are brittle
Not super strong
Robbie Cash another pro: they are 2spooky
Jorge Hanel DOOT DOOT
Another down side to skeletons is that they are very light weight. About 20 pounds.
I'd be curious what he would attribute their ability to move to and the limitations he would postulate. Are they about 20 pounds with the full strength of a fully fleshed human or whatever creature they are assembled from? For those of us who are a bit larger, both girth and height, having our mass drop to about 20 pounds with no loss in strength would result in a disturbing spike in agility.
DahriusArt could a skeleton ride on top of another skeleton because they are so light. One could fight with a sword while another skeleton is on his shoulders with a bow.
Perfect, just what I need to fill up all this space in my Minecraft castle
Yes me too
Same. This video really helped.
I was really hoping for a video like this to flesh out my castles in D&D. Awesome work
Same!
This does help a great deal with keeping the size right. Though RPG castles are usually gonna be a bit bloated because they need a dedicated treasury :p
I like a lot of your videos Shad, but am especially loving your videos that include 3D castle modelling like this one.
The modelling really - and quite obviously - help illustrate the points you're making and you do a great job of transitioning from each room upgrade. The transition also makes me imagine this is a lord's gradual castle improvements over time.
This is probably one of the best videos I've seen on medieval history in a long time and that's saying something because I've been hounding the internet for anything I can find.
This is the type of research and deductive reasoning that allows us to see how exactly some people lived back then and how the upper echelon of society had to start somewhere. This was absolutely one of the most informative things I've watched in preparation for an upcoming project of mine. Thank you so much!
Very informative! I learned a lot.
Many of the smaller details are very interesting - like the mini-drawbridge at the main entrance. You can imagine that would be a huge help in defense for a fairly low cost. Imagine trying to cross that gap while someone at the other end is trying to poke you full of holes (and maybe a few archers on top adding a continuous threat).
Another cool thing I learned a long time ago is that all the spiral stairs tend to all go upwards clockwise. Why? Because anyone trying to fight their way up (to typically the more protected areas) will have a hard time swinging their right hand weapon freely while anyone above fighting down are relatively unobstructed (along with having the advantage of higher ground). It makes any such staircase a good secondary chokepoint in case of emergency.
Man, you put more effort into this video and it shows. This video is amazing, wish I could thumb it up twice.
I’m fascinated with medieval castles. Visited a few. Kronborg Castle, Kastellet, Rosenborg Castle, Solvesborg Slott, Akershus Fortress, Stirling Castle, Edinburgh Castle, Airth Castle Hotel, Tureborg Castle, Ragnhildsholmen, Malmo Castle, a couple royal palaces, and a couple I can’t remember the name of. Hands down my favorite one I ever visited was Bohus Fortress. If anyone out there ever visits Gothenburg, Sweden go a little north and visit Bohus Fortress. Most glorious place I’ve ever visited in my life
I love it when I stumble upon high quality content like this on RUclips, that I'd probably never find had the algorithm not shown it to me by chance. This was incredibly interesting all the way through, so thank you. Now I'm off to watch more of your videos.
I always love these 3D models you make, they look great and make the videos far more understandable.
I second that!
I'm completely addicted to this channel! Glad I found it now so I have a nice backlog of material to watch!
I always wondered about this. People talk about the outside but rarely the inside. Thank you:)
Also happy to support you on patreon, you make some really good content:D
King: Listen, lad. I built this castle up from nothing. When I started here, all there was were dragons. Other kings said I was daft to build a castle around dragons, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em. The dragons burned it down. So, I killed the dragons and I built a big second one. Then my neighbors mocked me for not having machicolations. So, I tore down the castle and I built a bigger third one with proper fortifications and machicolations. Then I remembered I forgot to actually put rooms inside the keep. So I tore it all down, burned it and threw it into the swamp. But the fourth one, the fourth one, the perfect one ... stayed up! And that's what you're gonna get, lad: the strongest castle in these islands.
Herbert: But father, you forgot something
King: What?
Herbert: The front door.
John Cleese would be proud.
Tadicuslegion78 aaand he is at least 90 years old...
He's a very virile 90 year old
I....make battlemaps for DnD and I love watching these videos on repeat. So I've naturally started to turn ruined medieval castles into refurbished battlemaps. I love it so much and currently I am building a mini one from scratch, using this video as a guide. TYSM for your work Shad.
I've literally wondered this my entire life. Like, they can't be filled entirely with long tables, decor, and jewelry everywhere. Like what is really in there?
Most rooms were multi purpose, people slept in them at night, rolled up the sleeping pellets and used them as workspaces during the day. Large heavy furniture was rare, the great hall, kitchen and bedrooms of the wealthy were the only places likely to have any of that. Anything else too heavy to move easily would usually have been related to the work done in that room, weaving looms, millstones ect.
Most castles would've also been painted with bright colours. What we see now are just the stone walls, but once , most were plastered and painted. Other decorations were tapestries or woodwork. Paintings and statues were very rare. The last thing that could be decorated was the lighting. Chandelers and candleholders could be quite elaborate. But all these things were expensive, so don't expect them in most castles.
I took many school trips to a few different castles and we spent a lot of time learning about them (as they are a major part of my country’s history), so I wasn’t really expecting to learn much but you really did a great job of teaching me things that I never learned in school. Great video, keep it up 👍
I never even considered the amount of LUXURY a SECOND ROOM is in a castle, now most people have quite a few divisions on their homes... but I guess it makes a whole lot of sense, building a single keep takes a whole lot of time and manpower, this makes the idea of "more people" means "more money" which also means "more rooms" for the people, and the greater the number of people depending on the lord, the larger the separation from them, before they lived right next to their lord, ate their meals with them, slept in the great hall right outside his private quarters, as more and more people tried to serve the lord, more and more buildings were needed, which created space and of course, the separation by degrees of "closeness" each person serving the lord needed to have... what an interesting and logical development...
These videos just keep getting batter, in both content and presentation. If I had the money, I'd be on patreon right now.
This is exactly what I’ve always wanted to see. Fantastic video!
A series about individual historical castles would be fantastic. Like one episode go in depth on Caernarfon, another on Conwy, etc.
I'm always super excited when I see these 3D models! And the way you chose to build it up was absolutely amazing! It's SO understandable! Thank you Shad!
You are so great at this. I suffer from ridiculous ADD, and your voice/topic flow is incredibly captivating. You could have your own mini-series on Netflix.
Super interesting and useful (reminds me of "upgrades" in a videogame, like the "renovations" in the earlier assassin's creed games, for example)... Also very "utilitarian", almost modular, these rooms (how they serve a specific purpose, and thus have a reason to even be there to begin with)
20:05 In German, there are even two separate words for these: 'Burg' is a medieval castle and 'Schloss' means a more palace-like castle
I thought Burg meant mountain? Or is that berg? I don't know... Your language has descriptive terms for virtually everything...
Collin McLean Berg is a mountain
Burg is a castle
Barg is past tense for retrieve
very informative video Shad, will add this to my research pile for my fantasy story, Thank you for working hard to deliver these videos!
Castles were never bare, they would apply plaster onto the walls, not only to decorate, but also to keep the rooms warmer for longer.
The word you're looking for is insulation.
Depends on the climate. Most buildings in the Mediterranean never had plaster.
In the Balkans, they made an art out of bricks and stones.
Examples:
Serbian medieval monasteries:
1. www.tt-group.net/Fotografije_Srbije/Moravska-skola/Manastir-u-Sumadiji-main.jpg
2. www.novosti.rs/upload/images/2018b//06/29/novina/studenica-B-SUBASIC1.jpg
Dubrovnik, Croatia:
www.sunsail.co.uk/sites/default/files/hero/dubrovnik_base.jpg
whitewashing a castle was a luxury, and often a show of status. u had to be preeeetty wealthy to afford getting that done
Excellent and informative video!
DRAGACHICOLATIONS... MACHICOLAGONS... MACHICOLATIONS AND DRAGONS... and SWORDS!!
ah, i love castles, but what about dragons?
now, on a serious topic, there are 2 things that i would love to watch a video about that not many people talk about... first one is temples, monasteries and other religious buildings... they usually had much more money to spend so they were quite fancy... and some were fortified too!
and the other thing... cities with walls, they dissapeared long ago, but in ancient times they were so common! how different were them from castles and other fortified structures?
gingercore69, Dragons probably don't exist
gingercore69, Yes many religious structures were at least a bit fortified too! Mainly monastaries. Cathedral windows were really too big and low to the ground for cathedrals to be great fortifications, They were somewhat defendable but grand cathedrals just couldn't survive serious assaults on them.
The Utopiano Utopioan i hope shad makes a video about fortified monasteries!
I wonder if they protected them with the holy hand granade
Ahh yes. That makes me think of the Mont St Michel; One of the most gorgeous human creations I can bring to mind.
Stone walls on the boundaries of land owned by the clergy was common. For example I live near the remains of the gatehouse of an abbey, and that gatehouse connected to a large perimeter wall that would have been walk-able at the top and was quite thick, so would have been quite practical in defence (and the abbey's grounds and remaining constructions after The Reformation were used during the siege of the local city during The English Civil War, so it saw action and was still considered strategically valuable). In a sense they could act as pseudo castles during invasions and revolts (the aforementioned abbey was attacked during The Peasants Rebellion as well as used as a fortification in The Civil War, and most of the large gatehouse and fortifications was built after the Rebellion, possibly in response to the threat) as people in the surrounding area could flee inside the protection of the perimeter walls and the main buildings. On top of that they were socially not dissimilar to feudal castles: their fortifications were often paid for by the profits and rents of workers on the associated lands, some of whom were obligated to work it like serfs, as well as church tithes. I've heard it argued that a vast amount of Medieval economic development (especially early on) was down to the clergy centralising land organisation under clerical districts instead of hereditary miss-mashes, and the clergy used this money to both secure the profits and protect themselves and their social dependants in the same way the aristocratic rulers did during the same periods. They still have a distinct role though, since clerical structures were often intended to service the general public (although monastic communities could be much more insular, but often just had a dedicated section of a public clerical complex or opened part of their private complex to the locals for prayer/medicine/lodging) whereas castles were typically focused on geographic control of land and military activity.
My Grandfather built my house 90 years ago. We were the 3rd house to have indoor plumbing in the area! And a "septic area", a gravel bed, which I still have my washing machine hooked up to. (Finally replaced the 1st septic tank, which was about 80 years old, with a brand new one 4 years ago.)
A dungeon would be my primary requirement. Who could live without it?
Amazing video as usual, actually, it's a bit higher quality then usual! Good work!
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Castles already have thick walls and windows too small to climb out of. Any room in a castle can be used as a dungeon/prison, just bar the door and optionally put a guard outside = instant prison cell.
This was exceptionally informative
I’m surprised that people haven’t heard about this before. You might mention the direction of the circular stairs and how they were defensible. I love what you do. It's fascinating
The fire places of the 2 rooms would like be at the joining wall, they'd have a joined chimney. Building 2 separate would be more worksome, and trouble the defense duty of the outer wall.
Most fireplaces are hearths and do not use chimneys. This was done to keep the heat inside the building.
@@pskovca exactly. Fireplaces weren't around until the High Middle Ages.
Interesting note: the Solar shad talks about is the family room. in modern spanish the family room is the Sala, see the connection?
I thought sala was any room, just a generic term.
...but where did they plug their iPhones in?
in the basement, they have special room with cool irony stuff in it
iPhones did not exist in the medieval times.
Elaine the Gamer, But they did have jokes.
Elaine the Gamer r/whooooooooosh
The same place where people today.
In the bin where it belongs.
I always thought castles were awesome because CASTLES! HA HA you did the fade away hands from Role Models. I never actually gave much thought into which rooms might be inside them though. I never thought of myself as someone interested in Architecture but when its related to history I am. I think Shad would make a pretty good teacher. Awesome video Shad.
I really love how Shad actually makes a visual aid of his example in AutoCad!
*but what about dragons?
You're Castle 🏰 videos are always my favorite. Castles and armor are my two favorite things about the middle ages.
Hey Shad.
Considering you are using foreign words to better describe concepts of castles (im referring to the "Zwinger"), i thought you might be interested to know that the german language actually offers a name for those hybrids between castles and palaces. Its called a "Schloss".
Just for clarification:
Burg => Castle
Schloss => Hybrid of the other two
Palast => Palace
Maybe you already knew... but i thought it would be nice to bring it up ;)
Love your videos!
Shouldnt there be lots of germans watching this channel?
I mean im pretty certain there is a correlation between the number castles in your vincinity and your interest in the medievil era.
You're not alone ;D
Dont worry, of course he knows the term, as he already explained it in other videos like the Neuschwanstein one. I think he also mentioned it when he spoke about the Disney castle or princess Peach's castle.
I think it's also fair to say that his German pronunciation has been rather bad so far. So maybe it's better for him to avoid it at all. ;) Then again I've never understood his English pronunciation on "medieval": "medi-evil" (e.g. 14:03).
Yes, the beginning of my interest in the medi-evil (xD) era was definitely the castle ruins less than a 15min drive from my home and the medieval city center of the next town over (because ours was completly destroyed during ww2) , but internet & libraries are the real reason why I'm here right now :D
Its the same in Denmark Borg = Castle, Slot = pretty castle, Palads = Palace though even then definitions fail since our most famous castle was a mix between a borg and slot being an actual effective fortification against those dastardly swedes but also giving concessions to alot of decoration.. (though our lack of natural rock to build with also meant that our castles all were made from bricks instead and as such easier to make pretty) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronborg#/media/File:Kronborg_002.JPG
Great vid, Shad, but... it feels like there's something missing. It all makes sense, don't get me wrong, but I get a nagging feeling that you're making a major omission. Especially once outer walls are being added on. I can't quite put my finger on what's lacking in the example castle you modelled for us, but I'm sorry to say it's leaving a bad taste in my mouth. No offense, but WHERE! ARE! THE! M A C H I C O L A T I O O O O O O O O O O O O O N S ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
(In all seriousness I get that a smaller castle wouldn't necessarily need them, especially on good terrain like the castle shown. Regardless, I wanted to do a machicolations jumpscare. I'm sure you understand.)
@Colin Rude Same
Hi from Georgia USA! Love learning new stuff. So I'm excited to see what you have for us today! Happy trails and safe travels to you
Keep doing what you’re doing Shad big fan love your stuff
Wow this was super informative, I can see why it took so much time to make!
you can really tell he's an aussie when he calles it a "drop dunny", amazing!
Wyrowood And also “lounge room”
Hey Shad, have you though about doing cities fortification analysis like you do for castles? I'm interested in medieval and ancient cities. In particular, I would love to see a video about Constantinopla!