Fantasy Guide to Palaces and How they Work
I'm always being asked how palaces work whether its downstairs, upstairs or accommodation wise. It is a really difficult thing to explain since there are so many different versions. I thought up a great analogy for it. Treat a palace like a hotel with a whole town living in it, because that's technically what it is. So that's what we're going to do.
Accommodation
Accommodation can be a difficult thing to sort both as a writer and a steward. You might have a palace of 200+ bedchambers in which you must house a staff of 500-/+, a varying amount of nobles, the royal family (of a varying amount) and their own households. When assigning rooms it is best to think of a Russian nesting doll. Start from the inside and work your way to the outside.
The best rooms go to the monarch, their consort and their children/siblings/parent(s). These chambers would include the bedroom, a drawing room/ common area, a privy, a closet (a small chamber that can be used for prayer or work). They would be furnished with the best cloth, the best candles and whatever furniture brought by the resident since most royal courts travelled from palace to palace. They will also have chambers for their personal servants such as ladies in waiting and grooms.
The second best set of rooms would go to the highest ranking nobles/people in the court. These rooms would be less fancy and a little smaller. These would be given to from titled nobility descending from those of Ducal rank (Dukes/Duchesses) or even members of the council such as Thomas Cromwell in Tudor times.
The next set would be considerably smaller, perhaps minus a closet or a drawing room. Given to lower nobility.
The next level of chambers would be smaller perhaps only the bedroom and a common area given to minor nobles.
The last set of rooms would be small and only hold enough room for a bedroom. Servants would have to sleep on the ground on pallets beside their masters.
Any other guests at court would have to stay at off-site locations around the palace in the city. Some nobles at houses around major palaces just in case they arrived late or were kicked out of court.
Room Service
Most palace kitchens were in the lower extremities of the building. They would include an area for food preparation, pantries (rooms where they keep the food) and perhaps even a common area for the servants. Food would be cooked in large ovens, rather looking like pizza ovens or on spits over fire pits. The kitchens would turn out food on order of the nobility and royalty which would be brought to the rooms by the noble's own servants. But since royal palaces are so large and microwaves do not exist, the food would likely be cold when it arrived. For larger, more public dinners, the court would gather in the great hall together (for more on this).
Picture yourself at a banquet held at the local Lord's castle. The music is playing, the people are chatting and rustling about in their bes
Entertainment
If you hoard over a thousand people into a single building, you will have to keep them entertained or else they might start misbehaving, more than usual. Palaces would be well stocked with ways to keep the courtiers occupied.
Every palace would have a stable where the residents' horses would be chillin'. Some palaces have parkland around them for hunting and picnicking.
Most palaces would have common areas where courtiers would meet to play card games or gossip like a game room.
There would be lawns converted for games such as bowling, croquet and tennis.
Some palaces like Versailles would have indoor theatres and stages for traveling players to perform pieces for the court.
Mediaeval castles would have pits for cockfighting or bear baiting usually outside the main castle on the grounds.
Services
We've spent enough time upstairs. Now lets look at the servants portion of the palace.
The local servants (those who serve at the palace all year round) would typically sleep in mass chambers grouped together according to jobs and gender.
The stableboys would likely sleep in the stable's hay lofts.
The unmarried girls of the castle would be locked in to protect their virtue (a precautionary rule though was frequently broken).
The cooks would sleep near the kitchen in order to get to work early as they could or if they had to rise early.
Stewards (the main boss of the servants) would have the best accommodation as would the other heads of the different groups of servants including the housekeeper, the chef, the head gardener.
Servants who came along with the court would be housed either in close quarters to their masters or on the floor by their bed.
The servants have different corridors and staircases to get around the palace without being seen. These would be smaller and plain parts of the palace.
For @innergoldx sorry it took so long
