Welcome to Medieval TimesThe Medieval Period, AKA the Middle Ages, stretched from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century into the 15th Century, when the Renaissance brought the Age of Discovery.
Movies That Most Accurately Depict the Age
Real Life in Medieval Castles
Things to Know About the Crusades
What People Ate in Medieval Times
Crazy Brutal Stories About King Arthur
Horrifying Ancient Medical Devices
Horrific Types of Medieval Torture
Movie Tropes That Aren't True
The Most Brutal Medieval Monarchs
The Very Best Medieval Movies
It's Not Like They Wanted to Stink
Cool Myths About the Middle Ages
The Best Shows Set During the Medieval Era
Daily Life for a Medieval Executioner
Medieval Memes
Life for a Real Medieval Knight
Battle Axes Were Totally Brutal
Greatest Sword and Sorcery Movies
A Day in the Life of Medieval Royalty
How Peasants Passed the Time
The Dangers of a Suit of Armor
A Depressing Idea of Utopia
The Terrible Lives of Royals
How The Church Kept Plebs In Line
The Infamous Feast of Fools
But What If the Middle Ages Never Happened?
Weird Maps People Actually Used
How Medieval Peasants Tried to Keep Clean
Iconic Ancient & Medieval Weapons
How Much It Sucked to Be a Medieval Serf
Beautiful Medieval Towns You Can Still Vacation In
Unusual Demises of the Middle Ages
Pop Cultures Tropes About Weapons
Dining at a Medieval Feast
Scandals That Made the Medieval World Shaketh
The Brutality of Trial by Combat
The Medieval Version of Junk Food
If You Were the Court Jester
Fascinating Artifacts
Monty Python's Surprising Accuracies
Medieval Mysteries
Medieval Armies Didn't Really Fight That Way
Medieval Warfare Myths Debunked
Ye Olde Diseases
King Arthur
Disgusting Catapult Ammo
Medieval Vengaence
Charlemagne
Battle Front Lines
Weird History
Facts About Medieval Castles That Made Us Say 'Really?'
September 30, 2020 4k votes 789 voters 47.1k views
List Rules
Vote up the most impressive facts about these medieval castles.
To modern eyes, it can be difficult to look at a medieval castle and imagine anyone living there who doesn't ride dragons or pray to a weirwood tree. However, those imposing citadels seen on vacation or glimpsed on television were once home to an assortment of folks, from high lords and ladies to their knights, servants, and animals.
Below is a collection of medieval castle facts that may help bring that history to life. As shared by Redditors, these are the nitty gritty details about castles you probably didn't learn in school. Enjoy these little known facts about medieval castles, and vote up the ones you never knew before.
[Editor's Note: The pharos was built in the early 2nd century AD. According to Google Arts & Culture, "Not only is the Dover pharos the most complete standing Roman building in England, it's also one of only three lighthouses to survive from the whole of the former Roman empire."]
[Editor's Note: The land was given to Rudolf von Eltz in 1157 by the Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. Today, in addition to being a tourist destination, the castle remains a private residence for three branches of the Eltz family: the Rodendorfs, the Rubenachs, and the Kempeniches.]
3
236 VOTES
The Series Of Events That Led To King John Signing The 'Magna Carta' Began With A Knight Climbing Up His Personal Toilet Chute
TIL a medieval French soldier climbed up a toilet into a besieged castle to let his army in. King John of England had specifically requested that toilet be installed for personal use during church services. The castle’s fall led to English loss of Normandy and the signing of the Magna Carta.
[Editor's Note: King Philip of France lay siege to Château Gaillard beginning in August 1203. After breaching the first castle wall, his forces were stopped cold by the second. However, "a flaw in the design of the castle was discovered. They found an unguarded toilet chute that lead right into a chapel within the second wall. French forces entered the chute and took over this middle section of the fortification." Following this, the French breached the third wall and King John's knights surrendered. John, already unpopular, was humiliated by this defeat and subsequently forced to sign the Magna Carta by angry English nobles.]
4
321 VOTES
In Medieval Castles, Nice Clothes Were Kept In The Toilet Chamber, Where Ammonia Fumes Were Thought To Ward Off Fleas
[Editor's Note: The "garderrobe" was basically a medieval bathroom, though it was also used to keep clothes for the nobility. (Peasants just used chamberpots.) These chambers were built overlooking castle walls, where waste would slide down into a pit, body of water, or moat. While the source above notes that the ammonia from human waste was thought to protect against fleas (literally "guard your robes"), it's not mentioned if this was actually effective. Every source mentions it would have smelled awful.]
