I understand that there have been elevators since ancient timesI am just wondering if there were either mechanical or at least non-electronic elevators used in middle age palaces for the elite, the esteemed, and the royal.
Although there were lifts or elevators since ancient times they don't appear in palaces of France or England until about the 17th.centuryThere was certainly one in the Winter Palace, now the Hermitage, in Moscow but not until the 19th centuryMr Otis demonstrated his elevator at the Crystal Palace, which despite the name was a large exhibition hall, rather than a royal palaceLifts or hoists were used at the tilt yard at Hampton Court to raise the king in full armour to mount his horse, and is likely that most early lifts were more for service use as they would be relatively dangerous in use - some having military engineering applications - rather than as domestic noveltiesPalaces tend not to be high rise, although transport of food has always been an issue and Dumb Waiters have long been a feature of grand house planning.
