Living in the Castle

The castle was built by the farmers of the territory, which had to offer their service by force and freely, whenever it was needed. Attached to the castle there are some houses of farmers that received protection. Thus were those days, the town at the service of the feudal lords.

Therefore, the castle was maintained by the work of the farmers that had to pay tribute in species. Although most of the inhabitants of the castle were occupied in different activities, none of these were productive activities such as to cultivate the lands, to cut wood, to pasture flocks, or construction.

Through the guided visit to the Castle of Mur, visitors can get an idea of how the everyday life should have been in those times.

If we talk about intimacy, we must say that if we are thinking in the concept of it that we have today, it was quite precarious in that epoch. All the inhabitants of the castle slept practically together. The bedroom where the lords of the castle slept was separated from the rest with only some curtains. The rest of the inhabitants of the castle slept, collectively, in the room that was at the other side of the curtains. 

Talking about culinary habits, it is where clear examples of the hierarchy, imposed by the medieval age and the life of the castle, appear.

Wheat was sparse and most of the people ate bread made of a mixture of cereals, barley, rye, millets, and also legumes. The bread was normally prepared as large loaves, that is, a big mass of meal of round shape cooked in an oven. The nobility did eat wheat bread, which during the XII century was the symbol of the food of the dominant classes, the aristocracy and the clergy.

The nobility consumed an important amount of meat, in a proportion quite bigger than the other classes. The people of the town and at the service of the castle ate soups and stews made of vegetables, mostly cabbage, turnips and legumes, and ate meat only when it was possible. The vegetables, such as the legumes, were products not very appreciated by the aristocracy. The noblemen ate them as penitence to wash their sins and by obligation during the days imposed by the church.

The Fish was an important food because one had to fast and observe abstinence during160 days of the year: Fridays and Saturdays of Lent, during the "Advent", etc. Fishes from the sea and the river were consumed, either fresh or salad. This castle is far away from the sea, but the Noguera Pallaresa River is near.

The wine in these latitudes was the most usual drink. Everybody drank wine, even the children. The doctors, who found the wine a healthy drink, did not recommended to drink water. The wine sometimes was mixed with products that served to perfume and conserve it; one could put honey, thyme, pepper, as the Romans and Greek did.

With respect to the hygienic customs of the time, the visit to the Castle of Mur will help us, in a certain way, to break with some topics.

Frequently it is spoken about the little concern about the hygienic matters in these castles; but that is not completely true. In some castles one can still see perfectly the communes or latrines that in medieval Catalan were named "privadas" (private).

The personal cleaning was based mainly on washing the hands before eating. At the time for eating, water was offered to the companions at table in accordance with a habit very rooted that was almost a ritual.

But in addition, the inhabitants of the castles used to take baths, though we do not know if very frequently. The wooden bathtubs, resembling big washtubs, appear in the iconography, sometimes with cloths inside that come out by the edges of the bathtub, which surely were used to protect oneself from the splinters while taking the bath.