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I've worn really good armor in SCA heavy combat. I've also been up some impossibly narrow curved staircases where I am certain I could not have made it while we
by bradknowles 3y ago
I've worn really good armor in SCA heavy combat. I've also been up some impossibly narrow curved staircases where I am certain I could not have made it while wearing armor -- I could barely squeeze through without armor. The top flights of stairs at Köln Cathedral are pretty tight, and the whole 55 flights of stairs is nothing to laugh at.
Now, the difference is that I'm probably bigger than your average footman or knight who might have been trying to go up those stairs. But they definitely wouldn't be passing anyone on the stairs, and they definitely would have had trouble hacking on someone who was above them on the staircase.
The one key fact that puts the idea to rest is all the staircases I've seen that spiral clockwise in one part of the building, and counter-clockwise in the other. Everything else being equal, both sets of stairs could be used to go either up or down, and you could choose which set to use. At Köln Cathedral, they tell you which ones are for up and which ones are for down, but if you're an invading attacker, you don't pay attention to the rules of the house you're invading.
- bombcar 3y agoA cathedral is more likely to have architectural questions answered by aesthetic design than by defensive design. And if some decent percentage of the 30% of the "wrong way" staircases are paired like such, it would put even more evidence that there really was something about right-hand staircases.
- bradknowles 3y agoYeah, but I've seen the same thing in various castles I've been to in Europe. Köln Cathedral was just the one that leapt most readily to mind.
- ffgjgf1 3y ago> it would put even more evidence that there really was something about right-hand staircases. Probably there was. It might have also had nothing to do with making it easier to defend the staircase during combat. Maybe they just found that carry stuff up if the stairs go clockwise is easier. Maybe counterclockwise works better for those climbing down. But in most places you don’t really have enough space for two staircases so you just chose which (up/down) is more important to you
- codedokode 3y ago> The one key fact that puts the idea to rest is all the staircases I've seen that spiral clockwise in one part of the building, and counter-clockwise in the other. Smart! One staircase to defend from attackers coming up from the ground and another to defend from attackers coming from the roof.