Fragrant often medicinal herbs were sprinkled among the rushes partly to sweeten aging rushes and partly to discourage bugs and molds.
Flooring in medieval times.
They required someone to dig the clay which had to be cleaned and homogenised until it could be worked.
In the case of tile which was likely to be the most slippery straw was seldom used to cover it because it was usually designed to impress guests in the castles of more powerful nobles and in abbeys and churches.
In medieval times bundles of these plants were gathered up and spread across some castle floors and the dirt floors of many medieval churches and cathedrals.
At first rough planks were laid across the floor.
The earliest known wood floors came into use during the middle ages.
Obviously this cannot be the proper interpretation of how rushes were used on the floors of castles.
Then these were sanded or smoothed by rubbing them with stone or metal.
Fresh rushes were sometimes spread on top of the old rushes and at other times the entire floor was swept clean of old rushes and debris and scrubbed first.
Artiquity oak hardwood in medieval oak finish.
Herbs we know were strewn in handfuls over the rushes and expected to stay underfoot to scent the air when trod upon.
Though the middle ages neither begin nor end neatly at any particular date art historians generally classify medieval art into the following periods.
Tiles provided a far more upmarket floor surface.
The top treads would be buried in rushes in one passage.
Concrete plywood osb mohawk flooring.
Early medieval art romanesque art and gothic art.
Straw was not needed to keep people from slipping on wet slate but it was used as a floor covering on most surfaces to provide a modicum of warmth and cushioning.
Mosaics on the floor of the torcello cathedral in venice italy.
Like everything else in medieval times their production was very labour intensive.