Houses


There are five main types of houses in Medieval Europe.

 

         
serf house  upper class house  manor house  monastery   castle 

 

 

      Serf houses were usually one room mud huts, with thatched roofs. The animals were kept in a separate barn. They were made of logs held together with mud with a window and a door. The roof was made of thatched straw with a hole in the roof for smoke to go out. Serf houses normally had little furniture, with straw beds, a table, and maybe a three-legged stool.

 

     Upper class houses were made of bricks. However, bricks were expensive, so sometimes they would make it out of half brick, half wood. Tiles were used on the roofs and there was normally a chimney and glass windows. These houses were normally two-story, and the slaves slept on the top story. 

 

     Manor houses were built like a small castle with exquisite doorways. They had less defenses than a castle, and was a landed estate. A manor's size showed the Lord's wealth.

 

     Monasteries were enclosed and sometimes remote communities of monks, led by an abbot. The monks themselves were poor, although the actual monasteries were wealthy, gathering riches from land donated to them. Some were small, though others could hold about 900 monks. A monastery could contain schools, bakeries, stables, and more.

 

     Castles were at first built with wood, but later they built castle with stone to make them stronger. They were often placed on hills for defense and normally included a moat, towers, curtain walls, a fortified gatehouse, a keep, and a courtyard.