One of the first things that someone thinks about when they hear someone say 'churches and cathedrals' is the actual building themselves. These huge structures could be seen for miles around and they reminded everyone how powerful the church really was in the Medieval era. In Medieval Europe the Church dominated, the church influenced every single person. In some respect the church was the ultimate ruler that no-one was told about.
How did the church get all its power? It was said that the only way to ascend into heaven would be if the church allowed it and everyone was constantly told this. This allowed the church to gain a lot of money. The church had its own tax system, they were given 10% of every person's income every year this system was called tithes. Tithes weren't always paid by money because peasants usually didn't have much money, tithes could be paid in items, animals, produce and seeds instead.
The church also made it known that ascension into heaven wasn't just going to happen if you just paid your tithes you had to attend church at least once a week. You also had to do some work for the church this saved the church exceptionally large amounts of money. The church never had to pay the taxes that everyone else paid to the king this meant that eventually the church ended up with more money than the king. The church also charged for all the necessary ceremonies if you were to ascend into heaven these included; baptisms, weddings, funerals etc.
Where were the cathedrals built? The extremely important cities all had cathedrals these massive buildings could be seen for miles in every direction and reminded everyone of the immense power of the church. It was an honour to help with the construction of a cathedral, but it wasn't very safe because the scaffolding was very flimsy. Many people died building these great structures. This was perfectly fine because the people got a guaranteed place in heaven.
Castles
After the Normans had successfully conquered Europe they began a period of castle building this lasted throughout the entire Medieval period. There had been castles which had been built by the romans but they hadn't built as many or over such a huge area. Here are the three different types of castles that the Normans built.
The first castles that the Normans built were Mott and Bailey castles these had two parts the Mott an the Bailey as you can see from the diagram below;
The Motte was on a large hill made from dirt the motte had on top of it a wooden keep or a lookout which was surrounded by a wooden fence which was called a palisade.
The Bailey was a smaller hill which was also made from dirt the bailey was were the people and animals lived it was also surrounded by a palisade. The Bailey was connected to the Motte by a wooden bridge which could be taken down if there were enemies in the bailey.
The Motte and Bailey castles were eventually replaced by stone keeps which were much more secure. The Stone Keep was a huge stone building which was surrounded by stone walls. People lived in and around the Keep. The keeps walls were normally surrounded by a ditch which could only be crossed by a drawbridge as you can see in the image below;
Around the 12th to 13th century the Stone Keeps were replaced by the Concentric Castles, the main feature of these castles were its walls there were two walls the inner wall was made of thick stone and it had lookouts strategically placed along it. The outer wall is also made of thick stone but the inner wall is taller than the outer wall so that the archers on the inner wall can shot over the archers on the outer wall. The area in between the two walls was known as the death strip because if the enemy got through the first wall they would walk straight into a wide strip of area which had no cover from the arrows. The entire castle was usually surrounded by a moat and the only way to cross would be the drawbridge (see diagram below;)