How a Medieval House Layout Decides my Room Usage

My wee French house is medieval in origin. It’s rather a guess without dendrochronology (dating via wood/tree rings), but there are a few factors that give some insight. The age of the village and the predominance of similar aged houses around mine. The thickness of the houses’ stone walls, and a fairly definite medieval house layout all lend themselves to the middle ages.

The middle ages is actually quite a broad time period, stemming from the fall of the roman empire, around 500, until 1500 when the Renaissance kicks in. For the purposes of my house I think along a shorter time period of 1200-1500. My suspicion is that the house was built in the 1200s, at least elements of the basic structure, but like most houses was added to and changed over time.There are certainly parts that are newer, say 1500s, and of course even current day. I’m looking at you double glazed windows.

What is a medieval house layout?

One of the things that makes me fairly certain of the (middle) age of my house is the layout. To put it simply, there are no corridors. The first known corridor was by architect John Thorpe in 1597, but corridors or hallways didn’t become a normal feature until the late 17th century. In medieval houses you walked from room through room.

There’s even a (French) term for it – enfilades – when a row of rooms has its doorways lined up so you could see the length of the house, or wing, if all the doors were open. This was more typical in chateaus and palaces. Depending on where you fit in the hierarchy, would depend how far down the corridor you could progress. The last room being the inner sanctum of the owner, in example, the King. Part protection, part a little privacy.

Speaking of Corridors

By the way, privacy is a fairly modern invention that came in with the concept of corridors. Corridors were created initially as a way to separate the upper class from its servants. But if we step back further in time, when light was not powered by electricity, then having corridors could block light coming into a room. Or if it ran within the house it would be too dark to wander along regularly and easily. Without corridors, natural light would reach into the room to assist in lighting it.

So going back to the medieval house layout, it was typical then to pass from one room to another. But unlike a palace or chateau, in a more normal sized house, the doors did not always line up. Which is the case in my house, where I typically pass somewhat diagonal across one room to the next.

Room Use

Another element of medieval houses was that rooms did not have one use, like they generally do today. In example, like the corridor, the bedroom is a relatively modern invention too. It is not until the 17th century that rooms dedicated to beds, or sleeping only, started to show up.

Prior to this, these rooms were multifunctional, as were all rooms. You might eat in this room, conduct business even, and then ultimately sleep. Beds were a prized possession, possibly the most expensive, and so fit only for the owner of the house or a prized guest. It is also why they had curtains, part keeping warmth in, but especially garnering some privacy from the multi-use room at large. Most everyone else slept on the floor on pallets or straw. Nicely convenient for getting out of the way with dawn of day, if not exactly super comfortable.

Multi-Use

In these modern days, our houses dictate how we should use them. Rather than the other way around. You have a bedroom, a dining room, office … even bathroom. Though these days the latter doesn’t necessarily mean the same in all countries. It used to be a ‘bath room’ was literal. It was where the bath was. In Europe, this is still the case, though the bath is more often a shower now, with the toilet in a separate room. (That is why Europeans ask for the toilet and not the bathroom.)

I recently heard these words by architect Masato Igarashi, “I am not conforming to the space, the space is changing to suit my needs”. And it really helped me hone my thoughts about my medieval house layout. Although it will have modern features, like electricity, I want each room to have multi-uses.

My Plans

My two main rooms will embrace their medieval roots and be for sleeping, working and entertaining. Even eating in, should the mood strike me. But I will go a little more modern for my kitchen, as primarily it will be indoors. (Kitchens used to be in separate buildings due to fire risk._ It will also be a little multi-use in that a small dining area will be included.

My furniture too is multi-use. It’s the easier way to incorporate a bed in my living room, in example. Currently I have a fold-out sofa bed, but plans are eventually afoot to have a trundle bed. This is a bed that looks like a sofa, but there is another bed that slides out from underneath rather than unfolds. This definitely harkens back to yee old days, when they were known as truckle beds, whilst also offering a much simpler means of increasing the bed size. In other words, combining a sense of old house history with modern twists in a nod to current day convenience.