Supported by the brawn and taxes of the
peasants, the feudal baron and his wife would
seem to have had a comfortable life. In many
ways they did, despite the lack of creature
comforts and refinements.
Around the 12th century, fortified manor
dwellings began to give way to stone castles.
Some of these, with their great outer walls and
courtyard buildings, covered around 15 acres
and were built for defensive warfare. Even
during the hot summer months, dampness clung to
the stone rooms, and the lord and his followers
spent as much time as possible outdoors.
At dawn, a watchman on top of the lookout tower
would blast out a note on his bugle to awaken
everyone in the castle. After a small
breakfast of bread and wine or beer, the nobles
attended mass in the chapel at the castle. The
lord then went about his business. He first
may have listened to the report of an estate
manager (a manager of plot of land).
If an unhappy or badly treated serf fled, the
lord would order special people called
retainers to bring him back. This is because
serfs were bound to the lord unless they were
able to escape from him for a year plus a day.
The lord might also hear about the petty
offenses of the peasants and fine them or
sentence them to a day in the pillory. Serious
deeds, like poaching or murder, were legal
matters for the local court or royal "circuit"
court.
The lady of the castle had many duties of her
own. She inspected the work of her large staff
of servants, and saw that her spinners,
weavers, and embroiders furnished clothes for
the castle and rich robes for the clergy. She
and her ladies also helped to train the pages - well-born boys that came to live in the
castle at the age of seven. For seven years,
pages were taught religion, music, dancing,
riding, hunting, and some reading, writing, and
arithmetic. When they turned 14, they became
squires. At the age of 21, if they were worthy
enough, they received the distinction of
knighthood.
Sometime between 9 AM and noon, a trumpet
called the lord's household to the great hall
for dinner. There, they wolfed down great
quantities of soup, game, birds, mutton, pork,
some beef, and often venison or boar slain in
the hunt. In winter, the ill-preserved meat
tasted fiercely of East Indian spices bought at
enormous cost to hide the rank taste. Coffee
and tea were not used in Europe until after the
Middle Ages. Minstrels or jokers entertained
at dinner.
Hunting, games, and tournaments delighted
nobles. Even the ladies and their pages rode
into the field to release falcons at game
birds. Indoors, in front of the great open
fire, there was chess, checkers, and
backgammon. Poet-musicians called troubadours,
would often chant and sing storied
accomplishments of Charlemagne, Count Roland,
or Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.
Tournaments were of great value as practice for
feudal warfare. At least one battle or raid
occurred daily because medieval nobles settled
their quarrels by attacking. If a lord coveted
land belonging to someone else, his couriers
ordered his vassals to make a raid for it. The
peasants, in quilted battle coats, trudged
along to fight with their pikes and poleaxes.
Despite the numerous outbreaks, casualties were
surprisingly few because long battles rarely
occurred. Warring lords usually just burned
the fields and villages of their enemies.
After an encounter, the defending lord and his
vassals would flee to the safety of the castle.