r/medieval • u/CaptObvious62 • 4d ago

Questions ❓ Visual Help With Medieval Housing in Western Europe

Hello, can anyone here help me by giving a breakdown of how to estimate what century of the middle ages a peasant village house, manor house, or town house might be from based on its construction? Pictures would be greatly appreciated. I am particularly interested in telling the difference between 12th and 13th century houses vs Late Medieval and pre-1066. This is for an art project and I am trying to find references I can know are historically accurate.

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u/Slight-Brush 4d ago

Where in Europe?

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u/CaptObvious62 4d ago

British Isles, what-is-now France, what-is-now Germany, etc. I am sure as well that in addition to era these things depended on region/materials nearby so if there is a known distinction between regions I'd love to know that too.

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u/15thcenturynoble 4d ago

Here are some distinctions I know (pre 1450) :

  • As I said, late gothic branches off into multiple sub movements towards the 15thc. But even before that, different countries had different motives for their tracery

  • Flemmish architecture frequently used brick while other countries didn't

  • There is a difference between northern architevture and Mediterranean architevture. Especially in the late medieval period, tall slate roofs were more common in northern France, Netherlands, Germany, England etc... But shorter red roofs are more common in southern regions. Italy has shorter and taller architecture while France has a more typically medieval architecture with long houses

  • Different stones were more or less common in different regions. Alsace used a pinkish granite iirc while Northern France used limestone and Anjou used slate primarily with limestone secondarily.

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u/CaptObvious62 4d ago

Thank you!

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u/15thcenturynoble 4d ago

Generally you would look at the windows and doors if they have been preserved.

Windows with semi-civular arches or that look like Roman windows are before the 13th century.

Windows and doors with two supporting stones on the side and one log stone on top of both is very 13th century but are also used for interior passage ways even in 15th century architecture.

Windows and doors with pointed arches and travet are anywhere between the late 12th v to the 16th c. Researhin the evolution of gothic architecture will help you identify gothic windows and their architectural movements (primitive gothic, high gothic, international gothic, and all forms of late gothic (flamboyant in France for instance).

Then you have millioned square windows which appeared as far back as the 13th c (maison des musiciens) but became widespread in the 15th century. Though you'll see a good amount of them even in 14thc architecture.

Note: All of this applies to stone architecture, not wooden architecture. And you'll come across medieval looking houses that aren't medieval at all but 19th c Neo-gothoc or early modern examples which stuck more to old architevture.

The only way you can be certain is if you can find official info on the history of the house. You should have a govournmental website detailing the history of the specific house