Anonymous ID: 7ac78e Jan. 22, 2020, 2:18 p.m. No.7878922   🗄️.is đź”—kun

A chatelaine is a mistress of the castle and a castellan is the governor of a castle. A husband and wife could be castellan and chatelaine together. These two would take the place of a lord or lady, let’s say they were not in attendance at the home or in some are instances if there was no lord, the lady may employ a governor, and vice versa.

 

A steward, also referred to as a seneschal was much more likely. His job was to take care of the estate and supervise the staff, as well as take care of the events in the great hall. The housekeeper would be in charge of the kitchen staff, the chambermaids, and cleaning of the estate.

 

Underneath the big dogs you might have various other workers, all the way down to the actual people who would do the cleaning, housemaids, scullions, and laundresses were the people who really cleaned quite a bit…

 

A housemaid would have quite a to do list from the time she woke in the morning. She would need to sweep the floors, generally downstairs until those who were sleeping had risen, then she would head upstairs. But even sweeping was a big deal. For instance, a lot of medieval castles had the floors strewn with rushes or straw. It was her job to see that these were cleaned up and replaced, but how often? It depended on the castle and who ran it. Some were changed monthly, some seasonally and some once a year. Whatever the case you can only imagine what was found underneath…

 

"While wormwood hath seed, get a bundle or twain,

to save against March, to make flea to refrain:

Where chamber is sweept, and wormwood is strown,

no flea, for his life, dare abide to be known.

What savour is best, if physic be true,

for places infected, than wormwood and rue?

It is as a comfort, for heart and the brain,

and therefore to have it, it is not in vain."

 

https://www.historyundressed.com/2008/07/cleaning-medieval-castle.html