[Ekaros]

We often forget just how revolutionary proper insulation and central heating really is. For example in many climates castles were not great places to live in. You simply can't heat that amount of stone and space effectively. And similar thing also went to most buildings.

[cardanome]

That is not completely true. The problem is that stone is what survived the centuries while the wood that was used to make the rooms more comely did not hence our modern picture of cold and windy castles.

They were not as luxurious as our modern living but people still did their best to make their living spaces comfortable. They didn't just sit in windy castles freezing their butts off every day. Most of the huge stone rooms we see now were actually separated into smaller wooden chambers that were much easier to heat.

[solardev]

Do you have a cite for this? Not because I don't believe you, I just think this is super interesting and would like to learn more, especially if there are illustrations etc of what it would've been like?

Not a history buff, wouldn't know where to start looking...

[cardanome]

If you happen to know German, Geschichtsfenster is a excellent source: https://youtu.be/zPkKCBxFLfc?t=2323

If not, you can look at the pictures at the time stamp. It should be self-explanatory. I sadly don't have good English-speaking sources at hand right now. The problem is that most pop science articles are horribly wrong. Here is one about general castle myths that is OK-ish: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/myths-about-medieval-cas...

I mostly learned that stuff from taking courses in university. The difference how the academic mainstream sees the medieval period vs pop culture is super crass.

[solardev]

This is great, thanks! Sadly, I'm an uncultured American whose exposure to German is limited to vaguely European foods. But the YouTube auto-translate worked really well and the pictures were awesome. The castle was elegant... almost cozy! I'd live in one :D

Thank you.

[aredox]

There was also plenty of tapestry hanged everywhere. Tapestry making was elevated, in France at least, to the level of a royal manufacture.