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Saturday, September 26, 2009

In the village of Muider, in the province of Nord-Holland, just north of Amsterdam, is Muiderslot castle.  This was one of my favourite places to visit during the whole trip.  I spent four hours taking the guided tour, then wandering around on my own with a guidebook in my hand, taking pictures and letting my imagination carry me back to Medieval times.

During the Medieval era, the region which is now Netherlands, Belguim and Luxembourg was simply called "The Low-Lying Areas" and was made up of a number of small kingdoms controlled by wealthy "kings."  There was great wealth and great poverty in the land.  Muiderslot castle was the seat of one of the most powerful such men.  It was eventually destroyed, but later rebuilt "in era." 

Here are examples of the clothing worn by the privileged people of that time:



















Yes, there really were court jesters in those times:



Although there was great wealth, living conditions were still quite primitive.  There were no underground water sources, no wells, no clear springs .... no source of clean water to drink.  Milk was needed to make cheese, so people drank beer.  They didn't make fruit or vegetable juices at that time, and they didn't know about brewing tea or coffee.  They drank beer all day long - pregnant and nursing mothers, weaned toddlers, everybody.  It had a low alcohol content, only about 2 percent, but still ....

People living in the castle relieved themselves in small chambers called privies, built into the exterior castle walls and portruding out a little from the main wall.  There was no such thing as a flushing system then, so the moat served as a primitive sewer, in addition to providing a degree of protection from invaders.  As a result, the moat was a breeding ground for bacteria and illness.  When the temperatures dropped below freezing, the waste was temporarily cfovered with hay.  The Muiderslot has a total of nine privies, five of which are visible.  Here are a couple:






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