What was life like in a château? Unfortunately, much of the time, it was not nearly as glamorous as you might think!

Find out how people used to live in these beautiful buildings. Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions.

How often was a château used?

People did not live in châteaux all the year round. Most châteaux in the Loire valley were occupied only in during the summer months, with occasional winter visits. Many were used by the King and his court just for hunting expeditions. So some châteaux were only used for a few days a year, but had to be kept in readiness all the time just in case the King decided he wanted to stay there.

The court makes its progress to a château.   Source: service éducatif du domain nationale de Chambord

There were a few reasons for this spasmodic use: firstly, the King and nobility wished to escape the stifling heat, smells and disease of the Paris streets during the Summer; the countryside was a safer, healthier and pleasanter environment; in Winter, though, it was very difficult to heat a chateau successfully so it was uncomfortable to live in.

This meant that people were frequently moving in and out of the châteaux so their life-styles had to match. Because of the chateau’s role as a sort of “holiday house”, there was often little furniture. This enabled a quick departure when needed and more ease for travelling on the poor roads and tracks that existed at that time. Even so, most of the items required for day to day living had to be transported.

Consequently, the way in which many châteaux are furnished today is not how they would have looked - there would have been much less furniture and furnishings!

How did they store things?

Since the King's personal items and even the common necessities of life were constantly on the move, there had to be some way to store and transport things safely. People used big wooden chests for this purpose. Often these were secured with very complicated lock systems. Chests were also a sort of status symbol, since the more elaborately carved and secure they were represented one's wealth.

Big wooden chests were very important
pieces of furniture. This one shows carvings
of King François 1er and his wife Queen Claude. It is about two metres in length.

Chests were not just for storing things, though. They had multiple uses!

Chests in the bedrooms were used to store clothes, bedding and books. (Remember though, that a library of ten books was considered quite ostentatious at the start of the Renaissance!)

Chests could even be used as seating. Often tables were created by using trestles and laying boards over them. The big linen tablecloth would double up as a big serviette, since everyone wiped their fingers on the tablecloth!

In the kitchen, the cooking utensils were stored in wooden chests (less elaborate than the one above), and the dishes and silverware were added when leaving the chateau.

These cooking utensils are in the Château of Chenonceau.

Serviceable wooden chests were also used for transporting tools. Coins and valuables were stored and transported in chests secured with iron bars and intricate locking systems. Often they had secret hidden keyholes. The locksmiths were very clever in lock design.

How did they cover the floors?

The rooms of a chateau were big, and had only a little furniture. The floors often just beaten earth or stone, and were covered in rushes (a marsh plant with long blade like leaves) and sometimes sprinkled with herbs (to make things smell nice). An advantage of this was that dirt just dropped through the rushes, so you did not have to sweep or mop the floor. It also meant that you did not necessarily have to change / take off your shoes when you entered.

The rushes were changed occasionally but became the home to a large selection of vermin and bugs.

Erasmus, a famous Renaissance scholar, observed that often under the rushes lay "an ancient collection of beer, grease, fragments, bones, spittle, excrement of dogs and cats and everything that is nasty."

As time went on, people began to appreciate the luxury of Italian tiling. It looked attractive, was practical and did not smell!

How did they cover the windows when there wasn't any glass?

Glass was a very expensive item during the Renaissance. Some windows even had sheets of fine horn in place of glass. Neither horn nor glass was fine enough to be able to see through successfully, but it did allow light into the rooms. Most windows in the earlier châteaux, though, were unglazed and wooden shutters protected the rooms from the weather. this meant that in bad weather, the rooms were dark during the day.

As this window in Chambord shows, the shutters were designed so that only part of the window needed to be open. In this way, you could let some light in, but also retain some of the heat during the cold winter months. It's not surprising that the Châteaux were cold and draughty places!

What was the purpose of all those tapestries?

A tapestry is an embroidered wall hanging. Tapestries were hung on the stone walls and were not just for decoration. They were an essential item in keeping the château warm. They stopped the cold and damp from the walls from entering the rooms. They needed to be of enormous size. This tapestry is a small one - of just four or five metres in length - they could be much bigger and cover entire walls. Generally, they show stories from Roman or Greek myths or scenes from court life. They could also form an important part of story telling during the long dark cold evenings of winter.

The work involved in producing a tapestry made them very expensive. There were standard designs or you could commission your own (which would have been even more costly). The patterns or drawings had to be sketched on to the material and the production process could take years! Unfortunately this example from Chambord has faded very badly, the original colours would have been much more lively.

This tapestry is part of a set of five called "the Lady and the Unicorn" and can be seen in the Musée de Cluny in Paris. The set was designed for a single room and was reunited in the early 20th century.

ON THIS PAGE:

How often was a château was used?

What about sleeping arrangements ?

How did they cover the floors?

W hat did they do about toilets?

How did they cover the windows when there wasn't any glass?

How did they store things?

What about water and washing?

Why was there a Chapel?

What was the purpose of all those tapestries?

A Mystery Object!

Look carefully at the picture below. What do you think it is? It is inside one of the rooms in the château and it served a very useful purpose.

If you think you know,check your answer on the side panel at the end of the page.

What about sleeping arrangements?

Today, a bedroom is considered a private room. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the bed chamber was regarded as the most important living space. It was where guests were received; people worked, and took their baths.

The enormous bed took pride of place and you honoured your guests by inviting them to join you in it! It was a great honour to be invited to the King's waking up or going to bed ceremonies, where you could watch him being dressed or undressed. If you were extremely privileged, you could hand over the King's clothes or even help him to put them on.

The mattress (straw, feather or duck down dependent upon your status) had many cushions. This was to enable you to sleep sitting up. People believed that it was dangerous and unlucky to sleep lying down since this was the position of the dead. It was like inviting Death to call upon you. This may explain why some beds dating from this time appear to be rather short.

The bed was curtained, with linen hangings that pulled back in the daytime and closed at night to give privacy as well as protection from the cold and draughts. (Remember that there was no glass in the windows!)

	This is the Queen's bedroom in the Château de Chambord.
	Bedroom of lady in waiting

Personal servants might sleep in the lord's chamber on a pallet or trundle bed, or on a bench. Chests for garments, a few wooden pegs for clothes, and a stool or two made up the remainder of the furnishings.

Sometimes a small anteroom called the wardrobe adjoined the chamber – this was a storeroom where cloth, jewels, spices and plates were stored in chests, and where dressmaking was done.

This is one of the anterooms in Chambord for a high ranking personal servant to the King. His bed is in the front of the picture. The room has very little furniture.

The rest of the people in the château had to make do. Only the very privileged were assigned their own personal living space. Many slept on the floor, near the fire in the great hall.

What about water and washing?

There was water for washing and drinking at a central drawing point on each floor. The water was obtained from a well, sited if possible within the inside courtyards.

Servants filled a tank (or cistern) on an upper level and from here, pipes carried water to the floors below. People could wash their hands at a laver (or built-in basin) in a window recess. Lead pipes carried the waste water away from the window sill down outside the building, often into the yard.

This is the King's laver in Chambord. You can see the water outlet at the back, below the window.

People did not wash or bath very frequently. They were quite rightly suspicious of water. Water was considered dangerous since it was frequently the source of epidemics such as cholera and typhus- diseases which killed huge numbers of people. Important and rich people wore perfume to disguise their body odour and changed their clothes frequently. Washing clothes was rarely undertaken; fabrics shrank, lost or changed colour or were unsuitable to be washed because of the decoration on them.

For the few occasions when bathing took place, servants heated the water was in a cauldron over the fireplace and then a big tub was filled with hot water. People would bath near the fire for warmth. Although the fire looked warm, unfortunately it really only successfully heated the chimney! Very little heat went into the actual room; this meant that the rooms in châteaux were not at all warm in winter time.

When the lord travelled, the tub accompanied him, along with a bathman who prepared the baths.

What did they do about toilets?

The toilet, or "garderobe," was situated as close to the bed chamber as possible (and was supplemented by the universally used chamber pot). Ideally, the garderobe was built out from the wall over a moat or a river. It was like entering a small wardrobe. The garderobe comprised a wooden seat with a hole in it often with nothing underneath!

Sometimes the garderobe had a long shaft reaching down to ground level.

However, in case of seige, this was a weakness in the chateau's security. It is often difficult to find examples of garderobes nowadays, as they were the first victims of modernisation and renovation in castles and châteaux.

	A garderobe seen from the outside
	And from the inside!

Why was there a Chapel?

The Chapel was an important part of any Château, reflecting the power played by the Church at that time. There was daily worship in the Chapel. Influential people needed to ensure that they supported the Church and that the Church supported them. This little Chapel is in Chenonceau and holds about 50 worshippers - just enough space for the Royal Family and their closest servants and / or nobles.

	The Royal Chapel

Above the arch in the foreground of the photo, is the balcony from which the King or the Queen could worship in private without having to "mingle" with lesser folk.