Goraka91 In the ancient world, dyes could be expensive, so colorful things were more valued. Today, since we can cheaply make whatever synthetic pigment we want, a sense of restraint is appreciated.
when my grandmother tells me "back in my day youngsters like you didn't waist their lifes playing video games, they went out and learned things about life" i turn the screen to her and show her that i was watching you :D
What you mention about adding fat to quicklime and "bonding" it - I think what may happen is that fat is decomposed by heat and alkaline conditions to produce glycerol and fatty acids, then fatty acids react further to produce "calcium soap". Calcium soaps are insoluble in water and were known to be used as waterproofing agents.
Fun Fact: The "Limestone Cycle" utilized in this method of whitewashing is essentially building the original limestone back up on the wall (just way more porous). It is also still utilized in modern cement. The waterproofing is a bit more complicated than just "smaller pores" though. A bit of chemical background: Essentially, fat in the hot and very alkaline circumstances created by reacting quicklime with water (wich creates Calcium Hydroxide, essentially strong, calcium-based lye), will decompose back into fatty acids. Fatty acids are what's called "surfactants", meaning the molecules have a water-soluable and a water-insoluable part. In water, these usually would clump together in little balls ("micelles") that are able to trap water-insoluable things within (This is how soap works!). At the surface however, they will lign up, sticking their water-insoluable part out into the air, effectively forming a hydrophobic (water-repellant) surface layer. Granted, the medival process is somewhat rudimentary and probably not always super effective, but most modern waterproofing actually still works on the same idea, just with more specialized and effective chemicals and processes.
Thanks a lot for that. With my high school chemistry, what I expected of mixing quicklime with fat and water is ... soap. Among many things for which soap is not famous, being waterproof is high on the list.
Very cool video on lime washing. They would also use oyster shells for making lime but that was a rarer practice. I've limed washed a few old building some years ago. It's a very messy job and you also need to build up a few layers of lime on the walls to be effective. The longer you leave the lime to mix and settle in a tub the better it gets. A more modern practice with lime washing is to place salt into the mix which made it antibacterial and ideal for the inside of barns where animals were kept. Thanks for sharing this Shadiversity!
Hey, Shad! Your channel has quickly become one of my favorite to watch. Your insight and historical knowledge combined with presentation and humor is fantastic. I feel smarter every time I see a video. Thanks for doing what you do!
I'd add a tactical reason for the whitewash on castles. A smooth thick whitewash finish hides the joints between the stones. This serves to both make the walls harder to scale, and reduces susceptibility to certain types of siege assault by limiting visable weaknesses.
Shad Fact: Shad holds the record for the most number of Dragons slain in a single day. 7,603,583, with a 3 dragon margin of error. This beat the previous record held by one L.R. Jenkins. At 5,043,692, with a 7 dragon margin of error.
So that's why is so hard to find dragons nowadays... filthy Shad, did Uncle Iroh didn't teach you to leave your pride behind when it comes to the last *dragons* ?!
'Tis a little frustrating when I realise the castle whitewash doesn't appear in *any* films I've seen. And it's nice to have some chemistry bonded to my history. This channel just keeps covering more of my favourite topics.
I think I learned stuff on this channel that I would not have learned anywhere else in the internet. Like who the hell would take his time studying and writing a book or whatever about why the buildings were painted white?
I actually find it pretty fascinating how our vision of the past is often wrong simply due to how thing decay. Like Castles often having been painted back in the day (whitewash is a form of painting just to be clear). And they where not always white painted to as even back then but also in other colors. As can bee seen in one of the medieval illustrations in the video. Same goes with a lot of Roman and Greek buildings to. What is left is just the marble structures and statues. But generally everything was painted. So the past was a lot more colorful that people assume. Not to mention how clothing is often depreciated as being dab and colorless. Everything being brown or black. (Or white togas when it comes to Romans). And well... If you when around with a muted colored robe you would likely be mistake for a monk back in the medieval era. And the clothing would be in general in pretty good shape to because you did not need a tailor back then to fix your clothing. Unlike today with people wearing there tattered jeans. Of course some colors where more common in the past then others. Purple was the colour of Emperors for a reason. And different shades of blue where hard to come by for example (but not all shade.) Edit: So yes. The original Yellow Castle made by Lego might not be as anachronistic as some people think! (Though I admit I am not sure I have seen any medieval castle with that sort of bright yellow coloring. But I have seen later period castles with that sort of bright yellow paint)
Great video Shad. Why can't all historical castles have their whitewashing restored I wonder? It would help prevent the stone from eroding any more than it already has and it's historically accurate. Plus white washing is certainly cheaper than replacing stone.
Money, interest, history (it has been in ruined condition since the English Civil War, why change it back?), aesthetics (Remember the bitching when cleaning the Sistine Chapel's ceiling revealed that the paintings were not all subtle browns but colorful as a cartoon?). Plus, restoration done "better" can make things worse.
Most castles are conserved as ruins and don't have any renovation (other than essential for safety and stability) done to them, some of the renovation done in the 19th century to some castles was inaccurate so they try and stay away from that kind of thing nowadays. Guédelon Castle in France is brand new though, they're building it completely from scratch using 13th century technology, horse drawn carts, manually carved stone, human powered cranes and lifting devices, everything measured with geometry instead of modern measuring tapes. They plan on whitewashing the outside when they're done so visitors can get a sense of what castles were really like when fully built and functional instead of the bare ruins we see today, they've already painted some inside rooms in the 13th century style and it looks amazing.
I was just rewatching your video on the construction of w&d houses, and it reminded me of how the invention of plywood changed everything for the timber and construction industries.
As one who has lived all my life in such buildings and is a painter. You have forgotten an important detail, white reflects the sunlight While dark absorbs heat. It is less important in castles since the walls are thicker, but in houses it can become unbearably hot in the summer. Bonus Info: it takes 5-6 months (2-3 people) to whitewash my hometown castles.
Aside from the bling factor, white walls tend to make it more difficult to infiltrate at night. Tends to backlight anyone sneaking about. Another advantage is the white wash will not show pigeon droppings quite so much.
I like how concise and to the point this video was. I find wattle and daub half-timber homes very pretty and I thank you for the earlier video explaining them and for this one! I love your content though usually the videos are too long to be conveniently watched, I imagine it's natural to expound with your wealth of knowledge and the amount of interlinked info to mention in historical topics.
Subbed and liked, I was recommended your channel after watching a couple of videos from the English Heritage. I didnt know there were free educational videos about medieval castles on youtube until I discovered your channel, imagine my surprise! Your contents are of great quality and I'm ready for more!
I recently came across some information you may be interested in looking into. I visited Norwich castle located in Norwich, England. While there I was told a little bit about Norman architecture and why it was the way it was. One of the details I got was that the Normans didn't only white wash the walls, they would also have colours between the bricks. For example I was told Norwich castle in particular had the colour of red between the bricks. Other castles might have had a different colour, and maybe others none (or most had none). This is something I think is specific for Norman castles, but it's interesting to look into.
Yep. It works a lot like Moroccan tadelakt for interiors. Basic limestone + pigment for the plaster coat, then several maintenance coatings of a special black olive oil soap for its water repellent properties. If doing limestone & cob walls/plasters, limestone first (sets harder, less cracking if first layer), then cob as it's more flexible. If it's done in reverse, the lime layers will crack constantly as the cob breathes & settles.
Yes, those grey stone castles you see today were brilliant white back in their heyday. The brown jagged pyramids that we see in Egypt today were actually white and smooth as recently as 2000 years ago. They were covered entirely in limestone. Unfortunately the later inhabitants of the region stripped away the limestone as building material.
I know that your main interest is medieval history but Im just going to point out that this practice was somewhat common and prolific all around the world. For example ancient Egyptian tombs, Mesopotamian forts and palaces and Mesoamerican temples all used some sort of paste, lime based or otherwise for this effect.
Behrang Khosravi he probably knows that but like you say his chanel is more themed around western Europe so people who watch this video care more about that. Also going over every application of medieval white wash would probably take hours.
One very important thing to mention is the different qualities of lime, especially the dichotomy between air lime, and hydraulic lime. Hydraulic lime is rather strong, and can be used almost like cement, except it breathe (unlike cement). You can make very serious mortar out of it, even concrete (the "Roman concrete" is precisely hydraulic lime based). But the vast majority of lime available during medieval times was air lime, which is not nearly as good mechanically. Air lime "sets" through carbonation, and basically comes back to it's original state: mineral lime/chalk. You talk about adding lard or tallow to the quicklime, so it produces a sort of soap-bonded air lime (alkali + fat = soap, in general), applied like a paint, but there was another way: a thick layer of air lime-based render, usually mixed with sand and earth (depending on the region as clay is often naturally present in the earth, every locality then having its own tradition, something that doesn't come out much in your videos). Where I live, in Auvergne, where "rammed earth" (which really doesn't make the technique justice, it's way more technical than just ramming earth, in French it's called "pisé") was very traditional for making buildings up to three or four floors height, and barrows, this mixture was widely used. Clay naturally present in the earth seconds the relatively poor properties of the air lime in the render (it may even replace it), and since it sticks quite well to the rammed earth wall, is was a cheap, yet sound alternative to a "lime intensive" finish such as whitewash. It would produce an earth-colored aspect, from dull yellow to light brown (when dry). But in regions where there was natural coloured earth (such as in the Vaucluse, especially in ROusillon, known for the variety and quality of its ochres), a final decorative layer could be applied, either as a simple water-based wash, lime-based wash, or with the fresco technique (the decorative layer applied before the render is dry).
Good. The whitewash is also antibacterial. The horizontal layers are actually functional in castle construction. They are courses either of cut stone of the same sort of the rest of the wall, slate or some other flat stone to reset the horizontal line of the wall and increase strength. They are actually quite standard.
I am from the U.S.A - I mean, terrible at history. Same thing. So I realized that it becomes fascinating when you get involved with hand-making things as well as reading military strategy and psychology. I started categorizing history in two parts: 1) diy 2) people If it is about bows/arrows, boots, housing, I am interested because I am involved. If it is about people: What do people do? Why do they do it that way? Now the past is very relatable! This was fascinating.
I live in a town built around the Anglo saxon era called wareham in England and many of the buildings still have thatched roofs and have whitewash on the walls
Some stone medieval structures that survived until today lost their whitewash in the 19th century. The people of the day started being interested in history but sadly had many misconceptions and made a lot of mistakes (and in some cases they did not care). There's a medieval water tower close to the square of my town which is now bare stone but that wasn't until the mid 19th century when the people decided that the whitewash on the tower must have been a recent addition since "medieval castles have bare stones" (the same misconception people have today, but back then there were no archeologists and historians knowledgable enough to prevent that) and scraped it off. A lot of 19th century restorations are like that, sadly (not just from the Victorians, i.e. not just in Britain).
The stone missing from the castle wall at 5:07 is not due to weathering. Although you do see it in places . It is due to stone theft . This happened after the English civil war . When many of our castles were damaged in this way .
I've heard that it was also used in regions where wood was very hard to get hold of, so they just built the frames in wood and used other materials for the rest. (Maby not always expensive lime though, IDK.)
I may be wrong... but white was not the only colour. The addition of ochres (red or yellowish iron oxides) or animals' blood would have provided everything from baby pink , through a range of reds to mustard yellow. Coloured buildings are sometimes seen in mediaeval & renaissance artwork. I spotted a couple in paintings at the V&A museum in London and the Belvedere in Vienna.
This is one of those thing I never thought about, because almost every single building in my town is painted white. Even the historic buildings we kept around, everything is just white.
Shad, there is a paticular place in the south of Poland called the Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska, where castles are naturally white, such as the ruins of the castle Ogrodzieniec, or the famous Bobolice. This is from the surrounding stone. So, can it be said that depending on the type of stone, castles could be white (or off-white) without whitewashing? Just a thought. It is a very beautiful place regardless. I'm a huge fan of your work, so keep it up!
Using lime wash on the bottom half of trees is still common as a form of pesticide. During the 19th century lime wash is used to coat door ways in times of disease outbreaks to kill germs. So perhaps unknownly, it was a disinfectant during the Middle Ages
I imagine it could also make the sun less harsh a little and not heat up houses as much since white tends to not get as hot in the sun. Yeah, roofs are dark but every little bit helps in summer
Now I know how to make whitewash. Into the trivia bin it goes! ...Say, can you add dyes of some kind to make bluewash or redwash or something? Asking for potential fantasy novel flavor.
Most dyes are easy to make, but blues and purples would've been crazy expensive to use in a temporary wash. In the Middle East however they did decorate some important buildings with tiles coated in a blue glaze which was much more permanent. Look up the Ishtar Gate for a good example, but it predates the Middle Ages by a very significant amount.
Really heavily pigmented vibrant colors would probably be 1) really really expensive, and 2) less functional as waterproofing. So... think light pastel colors.
Great video, as always. Could you maybe make a video about the different styles of timber framing and when they were used? The English and French style were different than the German style for example, and within the German style you had northern and southern (Alemannisches Fachwerk). Maybe show how they evolved from the early medieval period (really simple) to the renaissance when they were beautifully decorated. Might be a bit too specific but it's just a suggestion!
5:38 Thanks for adding Karlštejn castle :) Built by Charles IV. the king of Bohemia and the holy Roman emperor. Karlštejn was built in in the 14th century and contains the Holy Cross Chaple and contained the Bohemian crown jewels. The wall that is exposed is about 6-8 meters thick. (not sure exactly). Beautiful castle with nothing really in it though :-/
I was watching this while doing dishes and got my phone wet. the irony of getting somethign modern wet while watching a video about ancient waterproofing.
Here in finland and sweden houses was usually either falun red or falun yellow. Those who had yellow for their house were usually wealthy. Only chuch and few castle's had white wall's before 1800.
A couple of historians have hypothesised the design of the walls of Caernarfon Castle are inspired by the walls of Constantinople, with it's stripes of different colours.
Hey Shad, excellent video as always. Question: would you consider a video that looks at why/how castles seem to have been magically built out of the faces of stone cliffs and the like? There seems to be some very impressive engineering going on there.
Additionally, slaked lime whitewash (waterproof or otherwise) is extremely hygienic. It is antibacterial, resists mold, doesn't give off much in the way of toxic volatiles (bad smells/toxic vapors), and discourages insects from laying eggs on or near whitewashed surfaces. It is also safe for your domesticated animals to be around--they could literally lick the walls and not have any problems, unlike most commercially made paints or stains. The high alkaline levels of the lime are what help resist bacteria and mold, and thwart insects, etc. If you're going to have a dairy (whether that's the place where butter was churned, or the barn where the cows were milked) or a coop, then you definitely wanted to have the walls and fences, etc, whitewashed. On top of all of that, white is a highly reflective color, absorbing very little light and reflecting most of it. Whitewashing interior walls maximizes illumination. In an era without cheap electricity or mass-produced cheap candles or kerosene lamps, etc, burning oil all the way to midnight got expensive quickly (either in terms of the coins to buy what was needed, or the time & energy to process it at home, such as rendering fats for burning in a fat lamp). With whitewashed walls, not only did you get a cleaner environment, you got one that was much easier to see your way around in when lighting levels were low, such as firelight, candlelight, sunlight, moonlight, dawn, dusk, whatever the light source might be. The walls and ceilings, floors, and furnishings of of movie theaters are purposefully made dark so that we will not be easily distracted from the moviegoing experience by seeing lots of pale/bright objects in our peripheral vision. Next time you're in a crowded theater and the lights are dim but it's just the opening teaser trailers, look around you at the other audience members. Anyone in light-colored clothes will stand out and be all the more visible than those in dark clothes because of this reflectivity. Same with trying to find your way through your darkened home during a power outage; any room with pale walls, carpeting, or furniture will be easier to see in via the light coming from a flashlight, candle, or cellphone than the darker areas of your home. Since candles, rushlights, firewood, and so forth were expensive to procure, most people would do whatever they could to maximize the amount of light they'd get from the fuel source for that light. All of these things, waterproofing, light-enhancement, antibacterial properties, insect repellant, no toxic aerosols/volatiles, etc, etc, etc, made whitewashing incredibly efficient, with so many useful, helpful properties combined into one super-handy substance. Plus, if you used a natural pigment (finely powder-ground stone) as a colorant, you could have colored whitewash to decorate your walls. Red ocre and yellow ocre were two such pigment possibiliities, as were colored clay dusts, and more. Other pigments could be imported (at great expense), and there were attempts at using inks and dyes, though those were not always successful. (Guedelon Castle, the experimental archaeology project in France, makes excellent use of the various local rocks for pigment hues for painting its walls after they have been plastered with a high slaked-lime content mortar and then whitewashed further to brighten and protect the walls.)
Hey! I recognise the Bobolice Castle on the miniature! It's in poland and it was recently rebuilt from total ruin (thanks Swedes...), although you would be terrified by how was it done... Not a single piece of battlements was included, even the cranellation has no ramparts behind... Unfortunately, the neighbour Mirów castle is going to be rebuilded too...
I would paint stuff on the White wash. Like latin text, crosses and heraldic symbols. Would this be historical? I cant see why not. Perhaps an idea for a video shad? ;)
point of note, when people began to understand that building your house out of fecal matter wasn't the best idea, clay was used instead. It was also stronger that way.
I want to believe this video was a response to my question about how ancient/ medieval buildings were painted/decorated. I had mentioned the recent studies on the "viking" paint palate and wondered what we were missing as far as painting, etc. goes. As far as this video, I wonder why the "vikings" were able to paint their buildings, but that was not done in Medieval times? Anyway, I dont want to be too specific about asking these questions. I just like the subject matter of this video, and hope Shad can make more videos about the same general topic.
What were the most common colors for dyes and paint medieval and earlier? White, black, brown and pink would be my guess. But I am interested in Shads explanation in this. I am aware they had purples and vibrant red, yellow, blue etc. but again Shad not does in depth explanations with the why's, how's, when's, what's and manages to make a possibly boring subject very interesting because he/you are honestly interested in such things and the excitement is transferred through his/your voice.
They were painted white because they were to cheap to spring for the color pack dlc.
Seeing white castles is so different! It reminds me of when I found out Roman statues were often painted bright colors, not just left as white marble
Honestly unpainted marble looks much more classy than those garish abominations anyway.
No, no they don't
Goraka91 I wonder what ancient Greeks and Romans would think of our strong preference for bare marble lol
Goraka91 In the ancient world, dyes could be expensive, so colorful things were more valued.
Today, since we can cheaply make whatever synthetic pigment we want, a sense of restraint is appreciated.
Fun fact, Romans were actually *disgusted* by bare marble statues
0:22 "... I've made a whole video on the subject."
I bloody knew it!
Finally some good historical whitewashing.
*ba-dam tish*
I see what you did there.
Perfect 👌🏻
hogwash
Highly underrated comment
Whoa, Shad. You can't just ask why a castle is white.
Came here just to make that joke.
It's okay to be a white castle.....
*Braces for impact*
It's because they're European.
Omg. Literally Hitler!
*Nickolas Homes* For some reason, I feel like getting some sliders....
when my grandmother tells me "back in my day youngsters like you didn't waist their lifes playing video games, they went out and learned things about life" i turn the screen to her and show her that i was watching you :D
Oh my God Shad! You can’t just ask why cottages and castles were white!
We must secure the existence of our cottages and a future for white castles.
I was about to make the same comment but I see that you did it first
Stop this Historical Whitewashing of our castles!
Haha damn, you beat me to it!
+CerebralDreams
Kek bless you, my brother in Pepe.
What you mention about adding fat to quicklime and "bonding" it - I think what may happen is that fat is decomposed by heat and alkaline conditions to produce glycerol and fatty acids, then fatty acids react further to produce "calcium soap". Calcium soaps are insoluble in water and were known to be used as waterproofing agents.
Fun Fact:
The "Limestone Cycle" utilized in this method of whitewashing is essentially building the original limestone back up on the wall (just way more porous).
It is also still utilized in modern cement.
The waterproofing is a bit more complicated than just "smaller pores" though.
A bit of chemical background:
Essentially, fat in the hot and very alkaline circumstances created by reacting quicklime with water (wich creates Calcium Hydroxide, essentially strong, calcium-based lye), will decompose back into fatty acids.
Fatty acids are what's called "surfactants", meaning the molecules have a water-soluable and a water-insoluable part.
In water, these usually would clump together in little balls ("micelles") that are able to trap water-insoluable things within (This is how soap works!).
At the surface however, they will lign up, sticking their water-insoluable part out into the air, effectively forming a hydrophobic (water-repellant) surface layer.
Granted, the medival process is somewhat rudimentary and probably not always super effective, but most modern waterproofing actually still works on the same idea, just with more specialized and effective chemicals and processes.
Thanks a lot for that. With my high school chemistry, what I expected of mixing quicklime with fat and water is ... soap. Among many things for which soap is not famous, being waterproof is high on the list.
Very cool video on lime washing. They would also use oyster shells for making lime but that was a rarer practice. I've limed washed a few old building some years ago. It's a very messy job and you also need to build up a few layers of lime on the walls to be effective. The longer you leave the lime to mix and settle in a tub the better it gets. A more modern practice with lime washing is to place salt into the mix which made it antibacterial and ideal for the inside of barns where animals were kept. Thanks for sharing this Shadiversity!
A Church council in the 7th century discussed the matter. It was decided that shock purple and lime green were too showy.
Hey, Shad! Your channel has quickly become one of my favorite to watch. Your insight and historical knowledge combined with presentation and humor is fantastic. I feel smarter every time I see a video. Thanks for doing what you do!
I'd add a tactical reason for the whitewash on castles. A smooth thick whitewash finish hides the joints between the stones. This serves to both make the walls harder to scale, and reduces susceptibility to certain types of siege assault by limiting visable weaknesses.
This does make sense, just wondering whether you KNOW this, or are you just postulating?
Learnt something new today, patreon money well spent, thanks Shad!
ok
Why are you higher in the comment section with 9 likes then a comment with nearly 800 likes?!
Shad Fact: Shad holds the record for the most number of Dragons slain in a single day. 7,603,583, with a 3 dragon margin of error. This beat the previous record held by one L.R. Jenkins. At 5,043,692, with a 7 dragon margin of error.
too much numbers... TOO MUCH!! *Brain implodes*
At least L.R. Jenkins had chicken...
However Jenkins was later struck from the record book since making dragon egg omlettes doesn't constitute slaying dragons as he previosly thought
So that's why is so hard to find dragons nowadays... filthy Shad, did Uncle Iroh didn't teach you to leave your pride behind when it comes to the last *dragons* ?!
Even the lawful good dragons. OH Nooo!
Wow, I didn't know you could make videos this short.
rickardspaghetti Is it really a Shad video if it's only 5 minutes long?
It's fun, but hard. It's especially hard when you scrap everything you make because you're never happy with it.
I figured that's why you asked. Yeah, I'm him. Haven't been there in years, so I don't remember many usernames though.
It's almost strange not to hear a five minute qualifier on every point.
'Tis a little frustrating when I realise the castle whitewash doesn't appear in *any* films I've seen.
And it's nice to have some chemistry bonded to my history. This channel just keeps covering more of my favourite topics.
One time the disney castle got it right haha.
Dragonheart had a whitewashed castle in it I believe
I think I learned stuff on this channel that I would not have learned anywhere else in the internet. Like who the hell would take his time studying and writing a book or whatever about why the buildings were painted white?
i mean, shad would if anybody would.
He probably has a full video on medieval Toilet paper and How socks were made.
Lindybeige has a video about how viking socks were made.
People who really care about history and are not just loer military historians
I actually find it pretty fascinating how our vision of the past is often wrong simply due to how thing decay. Like Castles often having been painted back in the day (whitewash is a form of painting just to be clear). And they where not always white painted to as even back then but also in other colors. As can bee seen in one of the medieval illustrations in the video.
Same goes with a lot of Roman and Greek buildings to. What is left is just the marble structures and statues. But generally everything was painted. So the past was a lot more colorful that people assume.
Not to mention how clothing is often depreciated as being dab and colorless. Everything being brown or black. (Or white togas when it comes to Romans). And well... If you when around with a muted colored robe you would likely be mistake for a monk back in the medieval era. And the clothing would be in general in pretty good shape to because you did not need a tailor back then to fix your clothing. Unlike today with people wearing there tattered jeans.
Of course some colors where more common in the past then others. Purple was the colour of Emperors for a reason. And different shades of blue where hard to come by for example (but not all shade.)
Edit: So yes. The original Yellow Castle made by Lego might not be as anachronistic as some people think! (Though I admit I am not sure I have seen any medieval castle with that sort of bright yellow coloring. But I have seen later period castles with that sort of bright yellow paint)
Thanks to Kingdom Come Deliverance, I feel compelled to throw horse manure at all those houses.
Haha, I find that that game is often on my mind! Especially when I walk through the local park/planted forrest with my son.
Frankie Bruan, That's why they lym washed them, In case some one did through manuer at them.
Great video Shad.
Why can't all historical castles have their whitewashing restored I wonder? It would help prevent the stone from eroding any more than it already has and it's historically accurate. Plus white washing is certainly cheaper than replacing stone.
Money, interest, history (it has been in ruined condition since the English Civil War, why change it back?), aesthetics (Remember the bitching when cleaning the Sistine Chapel's ceiling revealed that the paintings were not all subtle browns but colorful as a cartoon?). Plus, restoration done "better" can make things worse.
Most castles are conserved as ruins and don't have any renovation (other than essential for safety and stability) done to them, some of the renovation done in the 19th century to some castles was inaccurate so they try and stay away from that kind of thing nowadays.
Guédelon Castle in France is brand new though, they're building it completely from scratch using 13th century technology, horse drawn carts, manually carved stone, human powered cranes and lifting devices, everything measured with geometry instead of modern measuring tapes. They plan on whitewashing the outside when they're done so visitors can get a sense of what castles were really like when fully built and functional instead of the bare ruins we see today, they've already painted some inside rooms in the 13th century style and it looks amazing.
I was just rewatching your video on the construction of w&d houses, and it reminded me of how the invention of plywood changed everything for the timber and construction industries.
Finally my 3 year question has been finally answered!!! thank you shad!!! thanks you soo much!!
Best historical video I've ever seen. Thank you!
awesome shad, your architecture vids are the best.
As one who has lived all my life in such buildings and is a painter.
You have forgotten an important detail, white reflects the sunlight While dark absorbs heat. It is less important in castles since the walls are thicker, but in houses it can become unbearably hot in the summer.
Bonus Info: it takes 5-6 months (2-3 people) to whitewash my hometown castles.
I love how informative and interesting your videos are!! Thanks Shad! (Hope the baby watching is going well)
Looking around Conwy Castle you can still find patches of whitewash on the outer walls.
Aside from the bling factor, white walls tend to make it more difficult to infiltrate at night. Tends to backlight anyone sneaking about. Another advantage is the white wash will not show pigeon droppings quite so much.
Now that's a good lenght! Almost 7 minutes, to the point yet very informative and fascinating!
I like how concise and to the point this video was. I find wattle and daub half-timber homes very pretty and I thank you for the earlier video explaining them and for this one! I love your content though usually the videos are too long to be conveniently watched, I imagine it's natural to expound with your wealth of knowledge and the amount of interlinked info to mention in historical topics.
Shad deserves more subscribers.
Subbed and liked, I was recommended your channel after watching a couple of videos from the English Heritage. I didnt know there were free educational videos about medieval castles on youtube until I discovered your channel, imagine my surprise! Your contents are of great quality and I'm ready for more!
Thank you once again for the enlightening video, Shad!
Good video Shad
Oh my God shad, you can't just ask buildings why they are white.
Medieval facts are so interesting.
Great video keep up the good work , we love you
I recently came across some information you may be interested in looking into. I visited Norwich castle located in Norwich, England. While there I was told a little bit about Norman architecture and why it was the way it was. One of the details I got was that the Normans didn't only white wash the walls, they would also have colours between the bricks. For example I was told Norwich castle in particular had the colour of red between the bricks. Other castles might have had a different colour, and maybe others none (or most had none). This is something I think is specific for Norman castles, but it's interesting to look into.
Totally fascinating. Nice. 👍
Wow Lindy posting an hour long video the same day shad posts a five minute video. No complaints.
Yep. It works a lot like Moroccan tadelakt for interiors. Basic limestone + pigment for the plaster coat, then several maintenance coatings of a special black olive oil soap for its water repellent properties.
If doing limestone & cob walls/plasters, limestone first (sets harder, less cracking if first layer), then cob as it's more flexible.
If it's done in reverse, the lime layers will crack constantly as the cob breathes & settles.
Yes, those grey stone castles you see today were brilliant white back in their heyday.
The brown jagged pyramids that we see in Egypt today were actually white and smooth as recently as 2000 years ago. They were covered entirely in limestone. Unfortunately the later inhabitants of the region stripped away the limestone as building material.
I love getting these answers to the questions I never thought to ask :)
Could you make a video on medieval field medicine as I think it is relatively unknown and would be an interesting
I have literally been wondering about why these were white since seeing your video on those cottage houses in the first place!
I love this whole going very in-depth on topics like this. Keep it up Shad!
Very nice, thank you!
Hey Shad great video! N thank you for recommending Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives it’s been really fun!
Great video!
A request: could you make a video about the types of roofings used in the Medieval period?
Yes another shad vid to inform the public! I actually lover the whitewashed castles because it looks good
Now I know what "White Castle" is all about.
another great vid to add to the masterly explanation of jetties...thanks Shad
I know that your main interest is medieval history but Im just going to point out that this practice was somewhat common and prolific all around the world. For example ancient Egyptian tombs, Mesopotamian forts and palaces and Mesoamerican temples all used some sort of paste, lime based or otherwise for this effect.
Behrang Khosravi he probably knows that but like you say his chanel is more themed around western Europe so people who watch this video care more about that. Also going over every application of medieval white wash would probably take hours.
One very important thing to mention is the different qualities of lime, especially the dichotomy between air lime, and hydraulic lime. Hydraulic lime is rather strong, and can be used almost like cement, except it breathe (unlike cement). You can make very serious mortar out of it, even concrete (the "Roman concrete" is precisely hydraulic lime based). But the vast majority of lime available during medieval times was air lime, which is not nearly as good mechanically. Air lime "sets" through carbonation, and basically comes back to it's original state: mineral lime/chalk.
You talk about adding lard or tallow to the quicklime, so it produces a sort of soap-bonded air lime (alkali + fat = soap, in general), applied like a paint, but there was another way: a thick layer of air lime-based render, usually mixed with sand and earth (depending on the region as clay is often naturally present in the earth, every locality then having its own tradition, something that doesn't come out much in your videos).
Where I live, in Auvergne, where "rammed earth" (which really doesn't make the technique justice, it's way more technical than just ramming earth, in French it's called "pisé") was very traditional for making buildings up to three or four floors height, and barrows, this mixture was widely used. Clay naturally present in the earth seconds the relatively poor properties of the air lime in the render (it may even replace it), and since it sticks quite well to the rammed earth wall, is was a cheap, yet sound alternative to a "lime intensive" finish such as whitewash. It would produce an earth-colored aspect, from dull yellow to light brown (when dry).
But in regions where there was natural coloured earth (such as in the Vaucluse, especially in ROusillon, known for the variety and quality of its ochres), a final decorative layer could be applied, either as a simple water-based wash, lime-based wash, or with the fresco technique (the decorative layer applied before the render is dry).
In my country, Romania, we white wash the trunks of trees every spring for its antibacterial property and to protect them
Good. The whitewash is also antibacterial. The horizontal layers are actually functional in castle construction. They are courses either of cut stone of the same sort of the rest of the wall, slate or some other flat stone to reset the horizontal line of the wall and increase strength.
They are actually quite standard.
who knew that building structures were so intricate and complex?O_o
Lime is a great material - and still wildly used in farms across europe as it is cheap, easy to use, last longer than most other paints and non toxic.
I am from the U.S.A - I mean, terrible at history. Same thing. So I realized that it becomes fascinating when you get involved with hand-making things as well as reading military strategy and psychology. I started categorizing history in two parts:
1) diy
2) people
If it is about bows/arrows, boots, housing, I am interested because I am involved. If it is about people: What do people do? Why do they do it that way? Now the past is very relatable! This was fascinating.
I live in a town built around the Anglo saxon era called wareham in England and many of the buildings still have thatched roofs and have whitewash on the walls
Some stone medieval structures that survived until today lost their whitewash in the 19th century. The people of the day started being interested in history but sadly had many misconceptions and made a lot of mistakes (and in some cases they did not care). There's a medieval water tower close to the square of my town which is now bare stone but that wasn't until the mid 19th century when the people decided that the whitewash on the tower must have been a recent addition since "medieval castles have bare stones" (the same misconception people have today, but back then there were no archeologists and historians knowledgable enough to prevent that) and scraped it off. A lot of 19th century restorations are like that, sadly (not just from the Victorians, i.e. not just in Britain).
Thank you, shad. Taught me something new again.
The stone missing from the castle wall at 5:07 is not due to weathering. Although you do see it in places . It is due to stone theft . This happened after the English civil war . When many of our castles were damaged in this way .
Thanks for a nice and informative video! I really enjoy your content.
magnetic weasel Thanks, he has all of his stuff on minds.com too, so you really don't have to worry about reuploading his videos
Mr. Him really? Thanks
magnetic weasel Yeah he has his most recent songs near the top. If you scroll all the way to the bottom he has a download for all of his old songs.
thanks. great series!
We use lime white wash on our roofs in Bermuda that also collects rain water and stores it in an underground tank.
Love your videos always!
I've heard that it was also used in regions where wood was very hard to get hold of, so they just built the frames in wood and used other materials for the rest. (Maby not always expensive lime though, IDK.)
I may be wrong... but white was not the only colour. The addition of ochres (red or yellowish iron oxides) or animals' blood would have provided everything from baby pink , through a range of reds to mustard yellow. Coloured buildings are sometimes seen in mediaeval & renaissance artwork. I spotted a couple in paintings at the V&A museum in London and the Belvedere in Vienna.
I'm sure this will surprise a lot of people. I'd love to see a video on Scottish harling aka roughcast, which was another way castles were coated.
This is one of those thing I never thought about, because almost every single building in my town is painted white. Even the historic buildings we kept around, everything is just white.
Great video Shad, I guessed the reason of as a status symbol but not the water proofing. Learn something everyday so Cheers mate 👍
Shad, there is a paticular place in the south of Poland called the Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska, where castles are naturally white, such as the ruins of the castle Ogrodzieniec, or the famous Bobolice. This is from the surrounding stone. So, can it be said that depending on the type of stone, castles could be white (or off-white) without whitewashing? Just a thought. It is a very beautiful place regardless.
I'm a huge fan of your work, so keep it up!
Using lime wash on the bottom half of trees is still common as a form of pesticide. During the 19th century lime wash is used to coat door ways in times of disease outbreaks to kill germs. So perhaps unknownly, it was a disinfectant during the Middle Ages
I imagine it could also make the sun less harsh a little and not heat up houses as much since white tends to not get as hot in the sun. Yeah, roofs are dark but every little bit helps in summer
Great video, thank you! I vaguely remember attending a lecture that said that Swansea Castle was multicoloured on the outside?
Still got a lot of these houses in the UK, there are certain historical taverns, though they usually just serve normal alcoholo
Glorious video!
Now I know how to make whitewash. Into the trivia bin it goes!
...Say, can you add dyes of some kind to make bluewash or redwash or something? Asking for potential fantasy novel flavor.
Yes, adding pig blood made it slightly pink!
Most dyes are easy to make, but blues and purples would've been crazy expensive to use in a temporary wash.
In the Middle East however they did decorate some important buildings with tiles coated in a blue glaze which was much more permanent. Look up the Ishtar Gate for a good example, but it predates the Middle Ages by a very significant amount.
It depends on the shade, Indigo would be very expensive but other blues like Sky Blue could be cheap.
Really heavily pigmented vibrant colors would probably be 1) really really expensive, and 2) less functional as waterproofing. So... think light pastel colors.
Great video, as always. Could you maybe make a video about the different styles of timber framing and when they were used? The English and French style were different than the German style for example, and within the German style you had northern and southern (Alemannisches Fachwerk).
Maybe show how they evolved from the early medieval period (really simple) to the renaissance when they were beautifully decorated.
Might be a bit too specific but it's just a suggestion!
When you are wondering where the white came from earlier in the day and then you go home and see this video, shad. Good job
5:38 Thanks for adding Karlštejn castle :) Built by Charles IV. the king of Bohemia and the holy Roman emperor. Karlštejn was built in in the 14th century and contains the Holy Cross Chaple and contained the Bohemian crown jewels. The wall that is exposed is about 6-8 meters thick. (not sure exactly). Beautiful castle with nothing really in it though :-/
I was watching this while doing dishes and got my phone wet. the irony of getting somethign modern wet while watching a video about ancient waterproofing.
That picture of Harlech at 5:04 was probably the wrong choice, because that damage was done with gunpowder.
Here in finland and sweden houses was usually either falun red or falun yellow. Those who had yellow for their house were usually wealthy. Only chuch and few castle's had white wall's before 1800.
A couple of historians have hypothesised the design of the walls of Caernarfon Castle are inspired by the walls of Constantinople, with it's stripes of different colours.
hey Shad, can you cover about oriental (the middle eastern oriental ofc) castle's anatomy?
Japanese castles too please.
@@Altrantis They did actually. Many are still standing to this day
Hey Shad, excellent video as always.
Question: would you consider a video that looks at why/how castles seem to have been magically built out of the faces of stone cliffs and the like? There seems to be some very impressive engineering going on there.
Brilliant Video!
Additionally, slaked lime whitewash (waterproof or otherwise) is extremely hygienic. It is antibacterial, resists mold, doesn't give off much in the way of toxic volatiles (bad smells/toxic vapors), and discourages insects from laying eggs on or near whitewashed surfaces. It is also safe for your domesticated animals to be around--they could literally lick the walls and not have any problems, unlike most commercially made paints or stains. The high alkaline levels of the lime are what help resist bacteria and mold, and thwart insects, etc. If you're going to have a dairy (whether that's the place where butter was churned, or the barn where the cows were milked) or a coop, then you definitely wanted to have the walls and fences, etc, whitewashed.
On top of all of that, white is a highly reflective color, absorbing very little light and reflecting most of it. Whitewashing interior walls maximizes illumination. In an era without cheap electricity or mass-produced cheap candles or kerosene lamps, etc, burning oil all the way to midnight got expensive quickly (either in terms of the coins to buy what was needed, or the time & energy to process it at home, such as rendering fats for burning in a fat lamp). With whitewashed walls, not only did you get a cleaner environment, you got one that was much easier to see your way around in when lighting levels were low, such as firelight, candlelight, sunlight, moonlight, dawn, dusk, whatever the light source might be.
The walls and ceilings, floors, and furnishings of of movie theaters are purposefully made dark so that we will not be easily distracted from the moviegoing experience by seeing lots of pale/bright objects in our peripheral vision. Next time you're in a crowded theater and the lights are dim but it's just the opening teaser trailers, look around you at the other audience members. Anyone in light-colored clothes will stand out and be all the more visible than those in dark clothes because of this reflectivity. Same with trying to find your way through your darkened home during a power outage; any room with pale walls, carpeting, or furniture will be easier to see in via the light coming from a flashlight, candle, or cellphone than the darker areas of your home. Since candles, rushlights, firewood, and so forth were expensive to procure, most people would do whatever they could to maximize the amount of light they'd get from the fuel source for that light.
All of these things, waterproofing, light-enhancement, antibacterial properties, insect repellant, no toxic aerosols/volatiles, etc, etc, etc, made whitewashing incredibly efficient, with so many useful, helpful properties combined into one super-handy substance. Plus, if you used a natural pigment (finely powder-ground stone) as a colorant, you could have colored whitewash to decorate your walls. Red ocre and yellow ocre were two such pigment possibiliities, as were colored clay dusts, and more. Other pigments could be imported (at great expense), and there were attempts at using inks and dyes, though those were not always successful.
(Guedelon Castle, the experimental archaeology project in France, makes excellent use of the various local rocks for pigment hues for painting its walls after they have been plastered with a high slaked-lime content mortar and then whitewashed further to brighten and protect the walls.)
Hey! I recognise the Bobolice Castle on the miniature! It's in poland and it was recently rebuilt from total ruin (thanks Swedes...), although you would be terrified by how was it done... Not a single piece of battlements was included, even the cranellation has no ramparts behind... Unfortunately, the neighbour Mirów castle is going to be rebuilded too...
Thank you for doing all this research! I enjoy you videos very much :) :)
God bless.
Would you ever consider doing a video on the logistics of an underground castle, such as those found in the underdark of DND?
I would paint stuff on the White wash. Like latin text, crosses and heraldic symbols. Would this be historical? I cant see why not. Perhaps an idea for a video shad? ;)
Even grown up in a half timbered House, I have learnded something. Thanx for the Video
"greetings, I'm Shad." GREETINGS SHADIVERSITY!!!
😮 Mind blown!!
point of note, when people began to understand that building your house out of fecal matter wasn't the best idea, clay was used instead. It was also stronger that way.
I want to believe this video was a response to my question about how ancient/ medieval buildings were painted/decorated. I had mentioned the recent studies on the "viking" paint palate and wondered what we were missing as far as painting, etc. goes. As far as this video, I wonder why the "vikings" were able to paint their buildings, but that was not done in Medieval times? Anyway, I dont want to be too specific about asking these questions. I just like the subject matter of this video, and hope Shad can make more videos about the same general topic.
What were the most common colors for dyes and paint medieval and earlier? White, black, brown and pink would be my guess. But I am interested in Shads explanation in this. I am aware they had purples and vibrant red, yellow, blue etc. but again Shad not does in depth explanations with the why's, how's, when's, what's and manages to make a possibly boring subject very interesting because he/you are honestly interested in such things and the excitement is transferred through his/your voice.