Images of castles and castle ruins immediately call to mind knights in armour, colourful tournaments, jousting, boar hunting, and dark dungeons. But what was life in a mediaeval castle really like? This is an introduction to the world of the Middle Ages. It shows why people built castles, what a mediaeval castle looked like and how people defended their castles from attack. It also introduces us to the people who lived in castles, explaining how they lived, what went on in a mediaeval tournament or hunt, and what a person had to do to become a knight.