I can't find much about where the upper-class/royalty lived in medieval times - their types of houses. Help ty

Question

I'm doing a school project and I need to know what type of houses or castles royaltly lived in. Please leave the sources you used (if you used any.)

Answer 1

Castles are the most popular of nobility housing in medieval times. But actually, they are only part of the picture. Castles were built primarily for defense against an enemy attack, and were basically a small city housed in one building and behind a massive wall. In early medieval times and the dark ages (pre 1100 AD), many castles were actually made of wood, but replaced later with stone because they were stronger and more fire resistant. But most nobles actually lived in manor houses, which was much like the peasant house except much larger and located on an estate with many different buildings such as stables, kitchens and pantries, shoppes, and servant quarters and of course, gardens. They were usually two or three stories high, and also housed many of the more expensive and high-tech comforts of the day like tile roofs (as opposed to tied bundles of weeds), stone floors (as opposed to dirt), higher quality water proofing methods and climate control like daub and tar, fancy engravings and architecture, more windows, with possibly even glass in them. Some held the stables on the lowest level, so the body heat of the animals would heat the upper levels in cold weather. They also liked to surround themselves with fabric because it was softer to the touch and warm, and came in a rainbow of colors. They hung tapestries on the walls not only for decoration, but also to help keep drafts out. They also liked to surround themselves with their war "metals" and guilds. Most nobility owned and operated at least one estate, but the even wealthier, and especially royalty, might have owned many estates, and a castle or two, and would travel between them. Some sources are listed below. Hope this helps. =)

Answer 2

The average life expectancy in medieval times was about 30 by optimistic estimates. The current world average is about 70. All else being equal if offered the choice to live more than twice as long you'd probably take it. Of course all else is not equal, technology, human rights and comfort has evolved considerably in the aggregate. There were some charms of the era but not enough to offset this.

Answer 3

The upper class/royalty usually lived in the castles. These persons may have included, but were not limited to, the king, queen, lords and ladies, their families, and possibly even land owners.
Try looking up information on the feudal system. I ran a quick basic search on wikipedia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudal_society

Answer 4

http://www.medieval-life.net/city_life_2.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/J002390/lifestyle.html

http://www.omnibusol.com/medieval.html