What is inside a medieval house?

Answer 1

The observer and writer Alexander Neckham has left a complete list of the contents of a church during his time (the late 12th century), which changed very little until the post-medieval period.

He wrote that furnishings consisted of a baptismal font (at the rear of the church), a crucifix (also call a Rood), a Little Mary and other images (painted icons), a lectern, a ewer, basins, a chair, the chancel, an elevated seat, a stool, candlesticks, the piscina or lavabo, the stone altar, a case for images, cruets, pyxides, a bier for coffins, a towel, a fine white linen cloth on the altar, gilded vessels, a thurible or censer, and service books for the use of the priest. Bells would be hung in the tower and the oak doors would have locks.

There were no seats for the congregation, who had to sit on the floor, kneel or stand. There was no organ or other music. There were no hymn books for the congregation (who could not read), no cushions or other comforts. All the seats and stool mentioned above were for the use of the priest and his assistants.

The interior walls were brightly painted with scenes from the Bible, or with scenes from the lives of Saints or other religious paintings; sometimes the columns and arches would be painted in very bright sequences of colour.

During services the church would be filled with people, who often brought their sick animals for blessing and sprinkling with Holy Water in the hope of a cure; mentally ill people were also brought to church and tied to the Rood screen with rope (again in the hope of a cure).

Answer 2

The medieval cottage was small and, by modern standards, more like camping out in a building with solid walls than anything else. There were no fireplaces in most medieval cottages. It seems fireplaces were not invented until the Late Middle Ages, when chimneys were invented (a fact I learned doing research for WikiAswers). The floor was made of dirt in most cottages, which was fine, because it provided a place to build a fire that would not burn the house down (wealthy people had braziers that could be used on stone or even wood floors). The smoke was allowed to escape through openings just below the peak of the roof (smoke was thought to be a good thing in a home, because it killed fleas and lice). There was probably only one room, which made heating more even, though there could be a loft to sleep in. Furniture was rude and sparse. Windows were probably not glazed, but had shutters so the wind could be kept out. The walls were field stone with the cracks filled with mud, or wattle and daub on a wood frame. And the roof was thatch made from stiff reeds bound together. There was no running water. In most places during the middle ages, bathing was done in a public bath in the village, or in a body of water (people were not as dirty as they became later - the medieval folk believed cleanliness was next to godliness, it seems).

The word cottage is related to the word cottar. It is the place where a cottar lives. Now, we do not know all there is to know about cottars; but they were peasants like serfs, but it seems they were not serfs, so they might have been tenant farmers. This would possibly make them a shade more prosperous, but with less security as cottars, unlike serfs, would have been subject to eviction.

Answer 3

Furniture.