As an American one thing we don't tend to think about is that we had peasantry well into the 20th century. We just called them "sharecroppers" to feel better about ourselves. A lot of sharecroppers (most of whom had ancestors that were enslaved or were formerly enslaved themselves) were in predatory contracts with the land owners and they couldn't grow their own food, they had to sell everything and then buy overpriced, unhealthy, over-salted preserved food. Technically if they got enough money they could move away... but that was rarely possible. Just something to put our discussions of medieval peasantry into perspective.
the thing that really gets me about the 'you have less days off than medieval peasants' thing is that it assumes all livestock somehow magically know it's a saints day and just stop needing food/water/to be found if lost/help with birthing/etc etc'. not to mention babies and children, sick people, and everyone else who needs someone to care for them. like it being a national holiday puts everything that isn't the able bodied adults into some kind of magical stasis.
Very true, I work with horses and friends and family are still surprised when I have to go to work on Christmas (unless it falls on my day off), until I remind them that, unfortunately, the horses can't refill their own haynets or muck out their own stables!
As I understand it most of the holidays were geared around times when there was likely to be less work in the fields. Even in modern times, the long summer school holidays was to allow schoolchildren to help their parents in the fields during the busy summer time. Also, that so many holidays were at times when days were shorter, and nobody would be out in the fields working in the dark, so they can be indoors drinking themselves silly.
One thing I like about not being a medieval peasant is that I didn’t die in childbirth and instead had C-section and then furthermore did not die of a massive infection after having major abdominal surgery. So there’s that. Oh and there were painkillers for all of it.
I'm very happy to not have died giving birth to twins, as well. I had my first kid in a "natural, unassisted labor" for the twins I was like: "all the drugs, please. Make sure to cut right there so I never get pregnant again, doc."
Just the fact, that you had no control whatsoever about if or when you got pregnant, is enough for me 😬 (well, you could become a nun or something, I guess)
There were painkillers and antiseptics in the middle ages also. They did not view such things with a modern lens, but they understood which herbs and plants could relieve pain and which plant extracts could help reduce the chance of infection. True, that the 'science' was far less exact, and fine tuning the dosage with totally natural ingredients is far more difficult (especially when you did not know exactly which ingredient in the plant might do the work. In many ways it was during the transition between medieval herbal medicine and the modern scientific medicine that a lot of the worst happened as people scoffed at the accumulated experience of local herbalists while not yet having developed the modern scientific replacement. Bear in mind that even most modern drugs (at least throughout the 20th century) were based on plant or other natural substances that we learnt how to manufacture in purer forms and learnt how to provide more precise dosages.
And then it kinda was reborn there again as kolhoz system that lasted about half of 20th century. My grandparents had to work on an assigned piece of land and to provide this and that amount of crops/eggs/etc to the state. And they weren't paid for their work. And they were prohibited to sell stuff, but still needed money for some things, like medicine or school books. My grandmother tells me sometimes how she, as a teen girl, travelled to a city in another region to sell some of their cabbage, because she wouldn't be recognised there. AND they had no right to move from their kolhoz up until later in the century....
I am a farmer, and grew up a farmer's daughter. We still only get to have holidays *after* the work is done! Christmas is always a nice breakfast followed by the farm jobs (as minimal as we can get away with, and as quick as possible) before we can start thinking about Christmas dinner! Also I just came in from a bad lambing and this is helping me feel better, thank you!
This is not even a factoid, it's a fact about servs in Italy: in Central Italy especially, there was a form of serfdom called "mezzadria", which involved you working your lord's land in exchange for housing and *in theory* half of the produce. But since the lord was in charge of doing the math on the produce, and peasants were intentionally (and occasionally violently) prevented from learning how to read and count, the supposed "half" was never actually an half. Now the real jawdropping fact: the mezzadria was legal in Italy until the 1990s. In 1964 we had a law which forbid the registration of new mezzadria contracts but didn't end the existing ones. My father was born a "mezzadro" and when he was 10 he and his family were kicked out of the house where they lived because my great-grandfather was adamant that his little nephew had to go to school against the will of the landlord (in this cas a landlady, actually). And sure enough, one merry day this led to them realising they had been scammed all along on the "half produce" math. But when they went to confront the owner, they were just kicked out. It was 1963, one year before the new law.
Wow 🤯 It's remarkable how unmodern many parts of the "modern" world were and still are, despite the progress of technology etc!! That extreme power imbalance is what I find most challenging about the feudal system? Exploitation and abuse by the church and nobles were just too easy, because of the educational differential, extremely constrained choices of the peasantry, and vastly unequal legal power they held. Even though some serfs did get basic military training so they could fight for their lord, the nobles had the market cornered on destriers, armour, good swords, and effective defensive architecture, so even if they were abusive, the peasants didn't have a lot of options for recourse or communal action. Sometimes the church would mediate via moral suasion on their behalf, but in other circumstances, the religious authorities were the ones doing the exploiting. A very tough life, really - esp. for women...
Here in Romania, being a medieval peasant sucked, big time. Especially in Wallachia (south) and Moldavia (East). First, there were a whole bunch of invaders who raided villages and took slaves, and that was the refrain of life throughout early and high medieval times. Although many also settled there, and became part of the local population. In late medieval period, things stabilized a little, but still sucked. Most peasants had to work for themselves, for their local lord and/or church, and also pay taxes to the ruler of the country (called a voievode, or a prince), AND to pay for the tribute to the Ottomans. And that's where things get complicated: rulers were appointed by the High Porte (Ottoman government). Often, for that to happen, he had to pay a lot in bribes. Even if he didn't, he had to at least promise an increase of tribute. So, on top of the regular taxes, peasants had to pay extra taxes for the tribute to the Ottomans, and of course the voievode wanted to become rich as well, so extra taxes for that. On top of that, there was the "blood tax" - the devşirme - the Ottoman practice of forcibly recruiting soldiers and bureaucrats from among the children of their Balkan Christian subjects and raising them in the religion of Islam. Of course, the voievode couldn't tax the nobility too much, or they might raise against him (and they actually had their own small armies - retinues of professional warriors), so basically all the taxes went to the peasantry. Since usually the prince didn't have a personal army, he had to hire mercenaries - which means more money taken from the peasantry. But wait, there's more: Akinji - irregular unpaid horsemen militia, subsisting on plunder. They regularly raided the border villages, even during peace time. In the East, the tartars fulfilled the same function. Some of that plunder were people taken as slaves. And, of course, there were various wars fought in the region, which means extra taxes, people taken as levy, villages raided and fields destroyed (sometimes by locals, under a scorched earth strategy). Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, and had the Carpathian Mountains as border, so in late medieval times (after the mongol raids subsided), things were not as bad as in Wallachia and Moldavia. Still bad, though.
With my various hobbies that all tend ot the historical, I'm constantly told I was born in the wrong century... I counter it with things like, "Thanks, but no, I prefer corrective eyewear, antibiotics, vaccinations and birth control. And you know, some bodily autonomy and the right to vote while female." Yeah, I probably would adore the homestead life where I'm gardening and harvesting and preserving and spinning and weaving and sewing and doing carpentry and meadmaking and armourmaking, but yeah. Teeth. And health care. And I might be blind in one eye by now if not for laser eye surgery, though still can't see further than a foot without corrective eyewear. And that's if the ovarian cyst hadn't killed me. Oh, and late onset asthma as a result of an infection that maybe antibiotics helped. *edit also had scarlet fever as a baby, that mighta made me an infant mortality statistic right there... Yeah, for all its faults, modern health care, please.
THANK YOU for debunking this less holidays than a medieval peasant-nonsense! It's been bugging me for years. Your cows don't know that it's St. Crispin's day, they still want to be milked and you have less time to do it because you have to attend a mandatory religious service. The experience of a medieval holy day is more reminiscent of your boss ordering you to attend some bullshit mandatory motivational workshop during your workday, while you're still expected to get the same amount of work done. It doesn't mean you get to lay on a meadow flipping the finger at your landlord and going "Sorry boss, today is the holy day of the martyrdom of the venerable St. Crispin, dig yer own latrine!"
Exactly-some farm jobs simply couldn’t (and still can’t) be put off for another day! Having livestock (whether bred for meat/wool/milk or kept as working animals) isn’t a job where you can take a day off.
I did my undergrad thesis on monastic education in late 14th century England, around the time of the Peasants' Revolt. One interesting thing that came up a bunch was that people were becoming monks and then using that as a way to act like nobles using the church's wealth. Abbots across England were complaining that their monks had silver worked saddles for riding and spent more time hunting than in prayer. One way they tried to combat this trend was to require a percentage of a monastery's monks to be studying at university at any given time, rotating them out as they finished their degrees. The percentage was constantly being increased, in the hope that these monks would get fed up by the academic rigor and either shape up or leave.
17:25 I'm an Anglican priest in Wales, I'm pretty certain I don't observe as many Holy Days as a medieval peasant. Few people realise that the late May bank holiday is actually Pentecost Monday on a fixed date.
Depends on where you ask. Here in The Netherlands we call it Pinksteren (the Dutch word for Pentecost) and it's a national holiday that is still religiously observed in many parts of the country.
In the mountain valley in Switzerland where I grew up, medieval peasants were categorized in free and unfree (owned by local nobles) and lived on the sun-side or shadow-side of the valley accordingly. The territory enjoyed imperial immediacy, only paying taxes to the Holy Roman Emperor and was later bought by the city of Bern, so the free peasants didn’t pay high taxes to the local nobility. But they probably still had very hard lives, because farmland was very limited even with alpine farming and grains didn’t grow very well, so they had a strictly regulated society that allotted the resources in land and forest to the free and old-established families, whereas outsiders barely survived on scraps. And in modern-day Interlaken, many peasants were “Godhouse-People”, so they had to work for the local Augustine monastery and were impoverished because they had heavy taxes on their crops from years of pious donations on the same small lots of land. By the time the Reformation rolled around in 1528, those peasants rebelled and the city of Berne used the opportunity to seize the vast monastic property. The hunting laws in this decentralized region were relatively loose in the early medieval period and grew more restricted the early modern period, where the nobles and city elite almost had a hunting monopoly, which lead to frequent poaching among the poor people, to add some meat to their diet by hunting chamois in the mountains. In conclusion, I support Le Goffs thesis of the long Middle Ages, especially in the country side. Life didn’t change much in some regions be it in the 14th or 19th century and even today with all the modern machinery, the life of a farmer is far from easy and we should really be thankful for the people who produce our food. And thank you for this interesting video, I love the history of everyday people.
Sweden in the medieval period... again, when and where 😉 But generally, there were nobles, but Feudalism never really got a good hold on most of the country. From the old times, farms and villages were mostly self reliant, and there wasnt much the nobility could offer that would warrant them charging taxes from the peasantry. And when they built forts to hold the tax man (fogden) they tended to get burnt down in peasant rebellions. The church were instrumental in bringing the peasantry to heel, as they built up the bureaucracy and divided the country into segments that could be governed. It was also easier to make the peasant pay tax to the crown when they were already paying their tenth to the church. Some bishops even became tax men for the crown. But generally... the swedish peasantry was an armed bunch with a love for rebelling.
Great video, Jimmy. One nuance you perhaps forgot to address, is the fact that your workload would change throughout the year as a medieval peasant. Wouldn't seasonal changes in the type and level of work that was possible, particularly in farming settings, mean that there would be differences in your level of 'free' time? Would this not also be a contributing factor in the number of glovemaker-farmers, farmer-smiths, and so on? E.g. Johnny is a villein, but in the winter he's able to set money aside from all the candles he makes for a hobby. That kind of thing?
Work was limited by daylight. Now we can work all night. Farming is largely seasonal too. Very hard work prepping the land and harvesting, but lighter work most of the time- religious holidays, military campaigns, supplemental income spinning etc. Modern medicine has saved my life multiple times. It was tough with Covid when modern medicine was no better than medieval medicine and so many died at home… it felt very medieval struggling to breathe, nursed by family.
In Denmark, we also had the thing of not being allowed to move outside your parish. We called it Stavnsbåndet (“home bound”) and it wasn’t lessened until Strueense in the 1770s (the guy from A Royal Affair). It meant that you couldn’t move around, was subject to conscription in wars, and you also had to have been confirmed in church to have a job or trade.
In Sweden too, later on in history if you moved to a new village you'd have to present a certificate to the pastor. My kid's ggg-grandfather was a Swede who settled in NE England in the 1870s. We still have his inflyttning certificate (rough translation - certificate of good conduct,) signed by the pastor. Long after he'd moved to England he was still included in the census of his home village.
I remember in my landscape archaeology classes about all the “abandoned” medieval villages and towns in England that are basically a road or two bordered by buildings with strips of farmland behind each one. Really showed how farming was definitely a part of town life.
I loved the Cadfael books. In one, he went on a pilgrimage to Treffynnon to visit the well, I grew up there. It was lovely knowing all the areas he was travelling, 😊. Like deployed 👍
This whole idea of pinpointing a specific peasantry to know what life was like, reminds me of when I was trying to find out about life in a specific small town in Burgundian France during the French Revolution - yes, much later in history, I know, but.... I found out that until the Revolution, this town was owned by the priest who was also the owner of the Mansion which was also a school. The people of the little town were basically the property of the priest because they could do precious little without his authorisation - leaving the area, getting married, etc - everything the peasants had, belonged to the priest, including their tools and equipment. The king decided when the grape harvest would start and many other agricultural decisions, and the locals had to obey. Every person who lived in the town (mainly farmers and innkeepers and tradesmen) had a house that belonged to the priest and also a little garden where they could grow food. Anything else they grew, outside of their garden, was taxable and they had to give half of what they earned to the priest, as well as other taxes to the king. There were a couple of non-nobility landowners - one of my very distant relatives, that's how I know. I couldn't find out how they became landowners, when or why, which would have been interesting. So, what occurred to me during my research, was that all that prevented peasants up to 1789 in France from starving to death, was the weather. There were frequent lean periods and disease and I think, this is just me, that the peasants of that area could have a good life, in their context and very relatively speaking, as long as the weather was good. It is interesting to think that the Revolution was lead by nobility and not by the third estate. People in survival mode rarely have the time to think about alternatives and if they do, they will be all alone. Fascinating epoch of French history and sooooo glad I wasn't there! I was amazed to meet a lady in the village we live in, who married a farmer who had a farm that is still owned by the castle owners in the village.... Apparently, the castle owns several farms and they are run by tenant farmers. Anyone can buy several farms and then have them run by tenant farmers, I suppose, but the fact that the local nobility still (or again) owns farms amazes me. I had no idea.
I used a medieval manor sim game to teach the Middle Ages to several classes of (US) sixth graders (UK Year 7). Students were randomly assigned various roles by drawing lots. I was surprised how many 'free tenants' opted to enter into villeinage with the local lord, rather than risk being removed from the land they were renting. This was just after Hurricane Katrina and I had compared the collapse of law and order in New Orleans to the collapse of the Roman Empire, describing manors as little islands of safety in a stormy sea of sharks. They were all to happy to bond themselves to the land.
"Times is 'ard, but not as 'ard as that other bloke." - The eternal comfort of the underclasses, that someone else has it slightly less crappy than you do. Pass the cold gravel. "Feasting doesn't mean you have the day off, it just means that you get drunk after you've finished." Sounds good to me! "I have healthcare. I have vitamins. I have a job that I love." God bless the USA... 😢
I studied painting in what was part of Cadfaels Abbey and Elis Peters came to our cinema club so have a fondness for the books. Learning about the past via a well researched novel is ideal. Learned a lot more about Matilda v Stephen and the constant disruptions inflicted upon the populace by Norman infighting from Cadfael than the dry history we studied at school. But as an adherent of Pratchetts Granny Weatherwax I must point out that when she describes the pyramid of hierarchy she emphasises that Witches are 'a bit to the side of Kings ' some historians leave this bit out.
First things first, why isn't "Its Nuanced!" on a t-shirt yet? When it comes to being a Medieval peasant or serf and such like I think we can all agree that being very poor in any age sucks quite a bit, but just like not everyone was nobility, not everyone was a charity case either, just like how with Viking Age not everyone was a raider/warrior, someone's gotta being growing the food! But this is a topic I think deserves a lot more attention, particularly in the reenactment community; 'dare to be common' may not be glamourous but as Uncle Iroh once said "There is nothing wrong with a life of peace and prosperity."
It is interesting to note how similar the Indian ‘caste systems’ were to Greco-Roman and European ‘class systems’. Along with prohibitions on foreigners. IMO if there’s a large heritable component to your class then it is better described as a caste system. But the biggest difference is that in ancient Rome the patricians were both the political and priestly class while medieval Europe priesthood was not heritable even if they might’ve mostly been aristocrats. In India priesthood was the strictly heritable which IMO allowed the system to continue much longer. If your family doesn’t have to die in wars and famines then you can accumulate wealth and power over millennia. Which is exactly what we see.
The class system was carried into the Church. For younger sons and daughters of higher families it was a way of avoiding downward mobility. To join the religious orders for these, money changed hands. The higher the family, the more likely they would avoid being a novice for years and be promoted to Abbott/Abbess of the new place their family founded. This also gave the same families political clout. Its no coincidence that the first two Medici popes were cousins brought up together, with one pope separating them, or that they had two further popes. Trades would be passed parent to child for the convenience of existing tools and cheap labour. But it wasn't guaranteed as more farmers and brewers were needed than say furniture makers.
tbh there is a heritable component to class in modern day UK at least. If you're poor you're more likely to stay poor throughout your life, unless you got lucky on youtube or something.
I highly recommend going to the Ethnographic Museum in Kraków - full of amazing tools, jewellery and clothing (period and reproduction) accompanied by stories, letters and usage.
Where I come from, we had unfree nobility. The ministerialis. They originated from roman ministerials and were basically civil servants to their lords. They took care of a patch of land, other unfree workers lived and worked on. They were not allowed to leave their lands unless their lord allowed it. They hat to train in combat and go to war if their lord demanded their service. On the other hand, they were allowed to have both noble and/or common wife's (the lord had to allow it agree though). However, the upside was that they had power in the form of knowledge about the land they were assigned to, a strong sword arm and money. It payed reasonably well. And a lot of ministerials were a force to be reckoned with. In our northern German area, we actually had free and self governed communities, who lived in democracy. The Emperor gave them their freedom in exchange for protection from viking raiders.
For details about Medieval peasants in my area, (New England/USA), a great book is Changes in the Land - it's about land use and how it changed before and after colonization. There's no better way to see how differently the two groups thought. (You can make the argument that the Natives weren't really peasants in the way we think about the lower classes in Europe; the Natives had a mixed hunter-gatherer/agriculture system rather than full dependency on their crops, as well as seasonal habitation of different areas of land.)
My mother worked 18 hours per day, 8 hours on Sundays, for her entire career. She had one hour for eating and socializing and the remaining five were for sleep. That's more than any peasant and it physically and mentally broke her. A facet you didn't cover is that the workload was seasonal for almost every man. A woman's work was never done of course, even if it's just spinning thread by the fire with your drop spindle. The work was also very hard labor, but hours-wise it's usually going to be less than the average American at least, and probably about the same hours in Europe. If you want a better comparison of ancient to modern workloads, Europe isn't the place to use unless you go before the agricultural revolution. A hunter-gathering society uses about six hours a day for obtaining food, and that's not just experimental but documented. Wheat, millet, rice, barley, and other grains are very labor intensive crops. Maize less so but still a lot of work. I've farmed rice the way it was done in the Ming dynasty and *never again* will I insult the great and glorious potato. We have had the technology to sustain society with 16 hours of work per week for over a hundred years. We can absolutely have that workload now and there's no excuse for making people work so much.
Another factor to consider is also, that 'entertainment' as we think about it, wasn't a thing in those times. No tv or radio. No internet. No books. Little contact with strangers. Probably no travel, unless you could afford to do a pilgrimage at some point. Seasonal changes aside, people would do the same things day after day after day for their whole life. There were church holidays and the occasional festivity like weddings or harvest celebration. I feel like in that context, the concept of 'free time' takes on a different meaning. Unless you're physically exhausted, having nothing to do is kinda boring. Women would probably have sewed and embroidered or spun, even without the immediate need for it (wealthy women did). Men probably did things like carving as much for entertainment as to make useful utensils. Building and maintaining things can be both a hobby and a necessary chore. Loads of people today chose to garden or do woodworking or craft even though it ends up costing them money and time, rather than saving it.
This reminds me of my first history lesson ever. The teacher made us play the game "Who would be still alive in the middle ages". In the beginning everyone was still standing and then he asked stuff like who was born via C-section (if yes, sit down, you're dead), who has ever needed antibiotics, who has had life-saving surgery etc. Maybe 5 or 6 of a class of 30ish students were still standing in the end. And now remember this would be true no matter which class you belonged to in the middle ages.
Depends what you needed the antibiotics for tbh. Medieval curatives are not as reliable as modern evidence-based and well-characterized antibiotics but some of them can very much kill some bacteria. In some cases you'd be doomed without the modern product; in other cases you'd probably be fine with nothing at least in the short term, and in still further cases, the bigger concern is simply getting lucky enough that the physician you're referred to is the one who will prescribe you a functional potion and not some misinformed nonsense "cure".
True, but I suppose for really serious infections you'd still be done for most of the time. Even at the beginning of the 20th century (i.e. before antibiotics were available) two of my grandfather's siblings died young from infectious disease.
A lady in our group took her name from the Bodmin Manumissions; Arganteilin. A slave who was freed in 942 and was noted as a harpist so it's possible her manumission was coming about from the status improvement which is interesting.
One of my history teachers said that, for most of human history, people were basically one failed harvest from starvation. Anyway, I need hearing aids. Antibiotics are nice, too. The right to vote, own property, etc. as a woman? Yes, good stuff.. So... Nope. Yet again, I watched a video from this channel & added to my reading list. The Cadfael books look good. 😊👍
The "fewer days off than a medieval peasant" thing was only ever intended to refer to working class people from the USA specifically, to make a point about how the US views progress and modernity. The Wikipedia page "List of minimum annual leave by country" has the USA's number of days at zero, so I don't think it's entirely without validity. If people have been using it to refer to Western Europe, or using it to woobify the Middle Ages in general, they've just taken it wildly off track. It reminds me of how pirates often financially compensated crew members who'd become disabled. The point of mentioning that in mainstream or political spaces is to note that many governments are behaving worse than pirates, not to suggest that pirates were great.
great video as always! i remember learning about serfs vs free peasants in my medieval history papers at uni. love these entertaining educational history videos! it's funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same- my grandmothers family were farm workers renting land from a landlord in aberdeenshire, and they often got moved around the county as well
I love Ellis Peters. The Brother Cadfael books are wonderful. She appeared at a local bookstore a couple of years before she passed. The bookstore contracted with a restaurant next door to serve an "authentic" meal. It was some sort of stew in a bread bowl. I've never forgotten the mead.
Thank you one of your best videos. You might be interested in the unique form of of medieval life that existed in the village where I live. I am from the Breton village of La Feuillée which was founded by the Knights of St Jean , Hospitaliers. They had a system known as the "Quévaise" where poor undeveloed land was given to peasents for them to clear and put it into production. The families had to except the total control and law of the commander (lord?) who exacted a heavy price of the products produce. The benefit for the farming family is that they were protected for life by the Hospitaliers,not being able to be evicted as long as they remained on the alloted plot of land. One odd conditions was that on the death of the male farmer, his land and possesions would pass tothe youngest son. I supose that this would mean that the older syblings would need to set up on a new plot and clear yey more rubbish land. I don't know if you are familier with this sytem, thaught it might be of interest to you. Cordialement Ian
I think this idea has risen in popularity so much because it seems that our ancestors lived at a more sustainable and season-driven rhythm-- more rest and indoor work in the winter, more heavy outdoor work in late summer. Whereas now, we're expected to remain consistent all year round, which doesn't really match our energy levels, necessarily. And in countries like the US, you may not have any guaranteed holidays or PTO in some industries, so medieval feast days can seem appealing from that point of view. I for one enjoy having washing machines and antibiotics, but just as the quality of life varied a lot in the middle ages, it still does now, and not everyone has access to those amenities. (for example, I don't have health insurance). There are good and bad things about every place and every period. Ideally, we learn from the past and keep some of the positive things while improving the less positive, but the reality is that sometimes we just trade one set of issues for a different one.
Given my black thumb I would suck SO MUCH at being a medieval peasant and my family would starve. Also, I really like ice in my drink in the summer. I like sugar. I like chocolate. I like not having ticks and fleas. I like having a shower every day. I like my comfortable soft bed and my clean sheets and....I was about to say "I like not having to wake at dawn" but it occurs to me that I wake before dawn to go to work sooooo... =D. ALSO!!!! Being a woman who has a problem with authority and a mouth with a dodgy filter, I would not get along well in the medieval period.
I have bipolar 1 w/ psychosis as well as tourettes on top of it I certainly enjoy being able to be medicated and not spend most of my life being constantly tied down and annointed and exorcised by the cletgy thank you 😂
Great video, thank you! I always enjoy your content and the subjects you choose. 🙂 An interesting book for all who can read Dutch (to my knowledge, there is no translation...) on the subject of women in the Middle Ages in Flanders/the Netherlands. Specifically in the region of Brabant (back then in the late Middle Ages roughly from s'-Hertogenbosch to a bit beyond Brussels, Nivelles.) It is called "Wijvenwereld: vrouwen in de middeleeuwse stad" by Jelle Haemers, Andrea Bardyn and Chanelle Delameillieure. The three authors are researchers at the KU Leuven in Belgium. (Meaning: Good sources that are all noted in the book, hooray!) Anyway, it greatly illustrates what you say in the beginning of the video, that one's circumstances in life all depend on the location and time where one would have lived. In the 14th and 15th century in Brabant women had the right to inherit (from father and/or mother), start their own businesses or even go on to the 'beurs', have property and so on. There are many exemples of women being successful in their craft or business. Even begijnen with a very good economical circumstance (attracting jealousy and problems from other membres of the town and the Roman Catholic church.) Important side note: They did not have all the same rights as men. It was not the 21st century. But, it was more free than in the 16th, 17th, etc. centuries after that. Because at the end of the 15th century their rights and privileges declined... Voilà, more info to be found in said book. Very interesting. Have a good day!
I've got Reynaud's so I'm glad for central heating and the fact I don't have to spin my own cloth and thread ! I also have tons of spices in my cupboard about 23 different types . I could cook clean and raise my own food but I could never survive without heat! Id lose my toes and fingers
@@TheWelshViking there is a seditive effect from wild even Welsh poppies and it would have been augmented by proper opium poppies from at least Roman times. People traded medical herbs from early times
@@TheWelshViking makes sense, if somniferous poppies grew readily in Northern Europe then Britain won’t have gone to such lengths growing them in India. India, Turkey, Afghanistan and Myanmar are still the largest producers.
I wonder how hard it would be for an un-free woman to become a nun, just to avoid the risks of pregnancy and child birth, and how life as a nun would then be, how much male violence would still be around. I guess that may at least have been a much healthier life than of any other women, even if it was still hard and not free.
The main problem with becoming a nun (at least from what I can glean from Eleanor Janega) is that you basically had to come from a comfortably off family in the first place, so they could afford not to have your labour!
@catherinerw1 Maybe it depends on the order, but there is a hierarchy among nuns too. The convent will accept poor girls as nuns too, but they'll have to work and serve the contemplative nuns who come from rich families. I heard this in an unrelated programme, told by a nun from a Belgian convent in the 20th century, but I guess it would have been a rule earlier as well. There is menial work in convents, and it's done by nuns who didn't bring a lot of money when they entered... They are also the nuns who get to leave closed convents in order to get supplies and the like. A closed convents needs to have some nuns who are in contact with the outside world. Their lives would have been like those of servants anywhere, just with added religious practices.
Fun fact about Denmark: until recently (because the now center-right Social Democrat Party betrayed everything they've ever stood for in 2023 and fucked over workers despite massive protests), Denmark had the 'Great Prayer Day' instituted in 1686 because the king at the time was tired of losing all the labour to the Church (the church was entitled to the people's work after services on holy days) because there were SO many holy days, that he basically decided to bunch them all up into ONE day a year for the Church, and the rest for his tax collectors to tax.😅
So i am a settler of European origin in Canada. One neat little factoid is that you can actually observe the difference between French and English agrarian systems through the pattern of drawing up (old) parcels of land. The french colonists used the seigneurial system, thus the plots are long and skinny (more common near towns with French names go figure lol). This also says something else: the blueprint for and history of settler colonialism is still written into land use. Its not as distant in the past as many of us would like to pretend. So not quite feudal serfdom but a later offshoot.
This might be my favourite video so far, I love all the different aspects - from linguistics and ethymology to aspects of society, religion, nature and the character of history itself. All presented with such passion, nuance and competence. really inspiring!
on the one hand, the biggest ongoing problems in my life have been homelessness and lack of healthcare, so serfdom doesn't necessarily sound *that* bad to me. on the other hand, I'm a queer Jew, so actually yeah it really does sound pretty bad after all.
I'm so sorry to hear that life is so hard for you. :( It really sucks that people still have to deal with these things even though we could easily feed, house and medically care for everybody, if the political will was there.
YAAAAY CADFAEL MENTION \o/ The Cadfael tv series was my gateway into loving Wales and Welsh culture and history and language and I've always wondered how it and the books hold up to historical scrutiny. Very nice to hear that it has at least your seal of approval; I was thinking about it the whole video.
I already knew the basics of peasant life, but there were lots of interesting details in this, like there being so many part-time farmers in medieval Paris. You wonder if as well as working land in or next to the city some returned to their families' villages to help out with the farm work at busy times of year (e.g. harvest). It would seem to be a logical way to deal with the differing demands for labour at different points of the agricultural calendar if some people went a plied a trade in a city when they weren't needed for farm work. There's still a lot of seasonal work in the agricultural sector today.
As well as learning a load of interesting (and obviously nuanced) FACTS, I have discovered I’ve been pronouncing _demesne_ incorrectly all these years…
Oof, I hate to be doing that, but according to most of my professors, the whole "all produce goes to the Mycenaean/Minoan palace and then got redistributed" thing is vastly exaggerated. It was, from memory, mostly modelled on Near Eastern Temple economies, among other things, but it is highly dubious whether *all* produce did go to the centre/palace and how much control the palace really had over the land. While we certainly have some tax records from the time, a whole lot of normal agricultural produce is missing from the Linear B archives - we have absolutely no word for any kind of pulses, for example, but we know they were grown a lot, because they show up in the archaeological record. There is also a seperate body called the damos, which seems to be responsible for land distribution, but is clearly separate from the palace, so the palatial officials apparently didn´t have control over that. (Lisa Bendall goes into that quite a bit in her book on Economics of Religion in the Mycenaean World, but the takeaway is that the palace is probably more involved in the production of goods than directly interfering in agriculture, plus religon and warfare). I absolutley love the video, though! The whole idealisation of medieval peasants workdays and workload has caused severe eyerolling over here more than once.
@@TheWelshViking Yeah, it's a really interesting topic, even if it ties my brain in knots, trying to imagine how it all worked (she says, having written her thesis on religion. Because that's a much less confusing topic or something 😅)
To add another layer on "it depends on where you live", some lands are better for common agricultural crops than others. I live in an area that was either sandy flats or marshland and afaik people only really settled here if they had no other choice.
I also live in an area what's either sandy flats or marshland, and I only settled here for lack of any choice in the matter. Any normal attempt to fertilise the soil just drains away to somewhere ten leagues beneath the Earth's surface by the following week, and anything that's supposed to grow into the ground (carrots, yams, ...) always comes out funny if it survives at all. And these sandy flats are the sandy flats of Florida, so there's the extra fun bit where rather than a cold winter where nothing grows but preserving things is slightly easier, you get a scalding summer where nothing grows except cacti, biting insects, and mold, and everything rots extra fast. All in all, it makes me slightly more glad to exist in a post-agrarian economy lol.
Didn't watch the video yet but I'll be disappointed if death by blood cough (tuberculosis), poop death (dysentery), or sudden tummy ouchie (burst appendix) is not mentioned. The fact that these are much less prominent and much more treatable is pretty cool, I think.
Jimmy, Ellis Peters also writes as Edith Pargeter, under that name she wrote the Heaven Tree trilogy. I read it as a teen in the 70s and its stayed with me. Younger son of a noble family gets apprenticed to a stone mason and works on Notre Dame, Paris. That's what informed my understanding of mediaeval life. I should read it again, I can't recall a lot of the details. Must be getting old or something.
have to hand in my dissertation in only a few days and this is the only thing soothing my anxiety while i gulp down cheap take away food for a little break...27 minutes about medieval peasants ... 27 minutes peace...lets go Thank you for your unique content!
I'm fairly sure I'd be dead quite early, either from one of the child-hood diseases I had (I got pox twice! that's not supposed to happen) or in child birth, being female. So the "How would you fair" argument always feels a bit hollow - I'd likely have been a statistic, and if I wasn't I'd have hoped to be a textile maker or potter, but likely would have just been a common, garden variety serf. Because that's kind of what I am in modern times too, so it'd make sense that it'd be transferred back.
A few years back I read the book, _A Medieval Life: Cecilia Penifader of Brigstock, c. 1295-1344_ by Judith M. Bennett, which is a good, short introductory work on medieval history suitable for laypeople and undergrads. I was surprised to learn that, at least in the manor of Brigstock between the years 1295 and 1344, peasants could have a fair bit of power over one another. As I said it's been a few years, so I may have the details wrong, but I believe Bennet mentions a family of relatively well-off peasants who leased numerous plots of land and paid poorer members of the community to work those lands for them. But she also notes that the fortunes of the peasantry are fickle, as not a generation later the descendants of this family seem to no longer lease so much land or be able to pay others to work their lands for them. I'm also vaguely aware of the Paston family, who start out in the earliest records of the family as socially mobile peasants somewhere in the English countryside and within a couple generations end up as minor gentry/one of them was knighted all during the Wars of the Roses period. I'm assuming the Paston family origins are similar to the wealthy peasant family of Brigstock a century-and-a-half earlier.
Well the thing about freedom and city is much more complicated. Not all inhabitants of a free city were citizens (Bürger), and many cities were not free. Furthermore there were unfree people like the ministerialis, who were more privileged as some free men. One could argue, that history is really complex
I'm actually currently rereading the Cadfael books for the third time. It's such an amazing series of books and Ellis Peters did such a great job of creating the time and place it's set in. Currently on book 5 'The Leper of Saint Giles'
I don't mind a bit of work. But by golly I love some creature comforts. And modern plumbing. Fresh undies, good plumbing in and out, I wouldn't trade that for a bit of land. Now back to my constant work.
I am happy to have my own bed. Also there is no cow in my living space. My aunt in the north of the Netherlands had rings on the wall of her house where the cows used to stand. And that was a 17th century house.
Medieval peasants in my part of the world had it WAY better than modern people in my country: they didn’t exist because this was still indigenous land and Europeans hadn’t figured out how to cross the Atlantic yet. I’m jealous of 6th century American peasants and serf. They had it the best 😂
That probably depends strongly on the exact location they lived at. There were probably peoples that were pretty happy, but there were also some that were attacked by neighbouring peoples or were conquered by empires... Sadly, humans are very good at finding ways to harm others. :(
@@LarthV I’m being a smartass about the fact that peasants, using the term denoting a European social class, did not exist so they could not have a shite life. I’m not talking about the non-aristocracy of the peoples of this continent.
Which is probably a word we have borrowed here in Sweden. "Gemene man" means "Common man" which has turned into more of a phrase for "Every man" today.
The word "mean" in English is not any different, it just doesn't have the prefix (*ymean or *emean). It fundamentally means common, average - the "unjust or generally unpleasant PoS" sense of the word comes later.
Brother Cadfael has a permanent place on my bookshelves. I've read the whole series many times, and once even visited Shrewsbury. Sadly, didn't make it into Wales, but it was January, so the weather was not the best for hiking around in the Welsh mountains.
In Finland, (Though unknown how it was like in 'Pagan times', before/during the Swedish/Rus crusades. Sami women wrote about their rights being taken away by Christian culture, so may have been 'well off' back then for women.) hunting and fishing was big part of the economy, squirrel furs were beforehand a form of currency, which the finnish word for money, 'raha', means squirrel fur in old terms. Being under Swedish rule, there were some laws from them and some from us in-regards to the laws. There was a lot of land, forests and such, that people decided to settle in empty places, known by the place names we see today. Sometimes crude names like 'shit hill', if literally translated. A 'peasant' was a separate class to a serf, since Finnish peasants were known as the landowners. There were some lords, but peasants actually owned the land, which was majority of the population. However due to increasing colonization in 15-16th century by the Swedish, the very relatively free Finnish peasants, who could fish and hunt almost anywhere, were then subjected to various reforms. Which lead to many becoming servants/serfs from peasants, rather than landowning peasants themselves. A written registry made for land, was only done in 16th century, the church, the crown and the nobility owned very little land in Finland, compared to peasants. Though the obligation to pay taxes and also conscript farmer's sons to be mercenaries was there, which sometimes lead to farms being abandoned. But the caste system was starting to take hold seriously around this time. And the nobles were also becoming an influence of having peasants that owned land, to work for him. Though in certain cases, there were 'manor farms', which were large farms that consisted many under it's rule. Some were given to soldiers or they were bought by the nobles. I'd argue that eventually some of the peasants had 'lord-esque' status by owning such a farm, depending on the period. But ultimately the nobles were becoming an increasing influence, as mentioned. There were also a lot 'joint projects', which if someone settled on an empty land and had made a farm for his plot, the surrounding farms would likely be joint projects together and this shared labor was also a thing for the taxation to the Swedish crown. Even if Finnish peasants were in-comparison rather 'free', compared to other Europeans, up until the 16-18th century, they had very little say in-terms of overall politics. Which probably lead to the frustration of the 'Cudgel War' (or the 'Club War') peasant revolt in 1596-1597.
I'd argue that the role of 'peasant' and 'warrior'/mercenary are like one of culturally still remaining images of Finland as a whole. In the pagan period, the tribes (Finns, Tavastians, Karelians, etc.) and also including Baltic ones, were the last ones doing viking raids over the Baltic Sea and against each other, with some folk stories surrounding some famous chieftains that (allegedly) existed at the time. And going into the medieval period, under Swedish rule and then later Russia, the two of the most prominent positions for most Finnish were either a soldier and/or a peasant. Because those were the only things you could really become. Trades people were a thing, but they fall under similar position as the peasant, if my memory serves me right. Sometimes had 'noble-esque' status. Though I'd say blacksmiths were more appreciated, than they were in elsewhere on Europe culturally. Though the law forbidding weapons like long blades to carry, meant that medieval period weapons, weren't as prominent, as it was in that 'Pagan period', with most of the weapon finds dating from there, in 8-13th century. There were also pagan-esque elements left after the crusades had long passed, like with seers and 'wisemen/women', that were village healers and chanted spells/prayers during so, up 'till the 18-19th century even.
Though weapons like the 'bear spear', bardiche, axes, crossbows surprisingly, 'puukko'/war knives, etc. Were pretty popular and practical weapons at the time. So it doesn't exclude all weapons at the time and in the age of 'Great Northern Wars' with Sweden trying to be a superpower, people began to carry/have more weapons. Oh and cudgels, flails and clubs, like with the Cudgel War. Some people did have swords, but they seemed to be passed down from the mentioned Pagan period or mercenary work, I believe (Might be wrong on this one, not many finds from medieval period, other than castles). There were some castles set up by Sweden as well, with their own equipment, but 'knights' were quite uncommon in-comparison.
The way a non-historian (like me) looks at history is often more indicative of what their life is like and likely their ideology. That’s why education like on this channel is so important. In a comment on another video I argued that the many ahistorical depictions of Vikings aren’t a big deal to me but it has to be clear is where the inspiration comes from. History is so hugely important in forming identity and in that way it is often mythologized and used to give legitimacy to (often right wing) ideas. In this case my thoughts went to the view on history by laymen like me because I was inclined to fall into the romanticization of peasant life as compared to life under Capitalism. I still believe that some aspects of Medieval life likely lead to better mental health, viewed from my own mentally ill perspective but I have to be honest about the projection taking place. (Basically I believe that the ability and necessity to understand and control the tools that sustain one’s life as well as the relationships within one’s community lead to more clarity than the highly intertwined yet impersonal societies of today. Argh, sometimes my mastery of [the English] language hits its limits… Maybe because I’m not that smart or at least uneducated on the subject. Whatever; in short, less alienation)
I'm with you on the subject of mental health, up to a point. I think the lack of fast-paced distractions, and a daily routine of repetitive and often physically demanding manual labour would have provided fewer triggers for people on the autism spectrum or ADHD, and a few other conditions that are worsened by modern city life and sensory overload. People would have been better aligned with their circadian rhythms as well. However, some conditions would have been more difficult to live with in the middle ages, not just because there was no treatment, but also because of stigmatization. People who were seen as "mad" were often marginalized and abused, experimented on by members of the clergy because they were probably possessed, and generally treated as less than human.
@@kathilisi3019Absolutely, the Middle Ages surely were a time where being anything but „normal“ was hell. And while what I said may be true to some extent, at least half the population was oppressed by default in most societies which must have caused its own kind of issues that got better now. Coming to think of it… The intense fear of god and not understanding what we see as harmless illnesses at all probably was as bad as it sounds and maybe a little stressful.
I’m lucky to have survived my birth, so even being born, say, 15 years earlier might have killed me. The thing is that I might have been able to lead an okay life in a smaller village rather than our current society where I’m dependant on society’s mercy, since I can’t work in a way that capitalism finds worth paying for. In this regard, I’m on the level of a workhouse worker, as I am dependant on someone else’s charity for my survival. At least I’m not locked up at Bedlam or similar places , which would probably have been my fate otherwise in history.
Similar here. Same probably, since my mom is Rhesus negative and had a miscarriage before me. I'm Rhesus positive, so without the medication, I might not have survived pregnancy or might have been born with severe defects. And then I developed some health problems during my youth and live off disability now.
absolutely love your content, like going back to college with a professor that loves sharing their knowledge and inspires the next generation to continue the tradition
Late, but have to add my vote for this as one of your best. There is such a divide between modern and pre industrial social organization that videos like this are needed. I think being specific about how this played out in Wales helped. I watch a lot, but usually don't comment. The academics who say silly things like this, often understand the nuances, but don't take into consideration that the vast majority of people have no idea what life was or is like for people in different times or circumstances..
The Cadfael books are so good! The 90's TV series is great too, highly recommend. If I was born as a medieval peasant I would probably be dead, because there was no penicillin or sterile scalpels. 😅
As a web app developer and database report writer, I don't think I'd have fared well in the medieval period. Computers back then were a bit slow and awkward to use. I know the Welsh side of my family were all agricultural labourers from mid Wales, right up until my grandfather before he joined the RAF. At least as far back as the early 1800s. I haven't managed to go back any further than that with the Welsh side yet. I've gone back to about 1600 with one branch of the English side of my family. They were bit of a mixed bag of professions. I'd love to be able to go back further on both sides, but obviously trying to chase a "Jones" line in Wales is very tricky and time consuming!
I really enjoyed this. As you were talking I was thinking Cadfael, then you brought him up. The third book, Monks Hood, goes into the Welsh local/manorial court system, which you mentioned too.
@@januzzell8631 Sorry, but I have to disagree. He was okay but he didn't look at all like the description in the books and I didn't really like the series much. They didn't do the books justice and totally changed some of the stories. Philip Madoc played Cadfael in a BBC radio series, which you can get on audio, which I much preferred.
In Ireland too, money didn't mean much at all until the Norman & English invasions, & even then it wasn't used much outside of the Pale until the English conquest. The economy was mostly based around barter & trade. Why carry around a bag full of metal when you could get eggs from your neighbor in exchange for some milk? Additionally, under Brehon law, there were several different levels of peasant, each with differing amounts of rights & privileges. One of those rights was the amount of butter you'd receive from your king or clan chief when he redistributed produce, which gave rise to the phrase "He butters his bread on both sides" to describe a fancy/wealthy/posh person.
Been a viewer long enough that I was saying, "yes, but," right along with you lol (And I'm a complete history nerd and know more about the topic than the average viewer. Not bragging, just saying.) We really can't conceive of just how all-encompassing the medieval church was. Next to germ theory, the waning influence of religion might be the best thing that could happen to humanity.
@@nony_mation Spot on about fundamental equal human rights. I have seen arguments that our modern non-religious democracies would not be possible without the previous very much religious ideas of the Reformation, and those of course were attempts to return back to the spirit of the law over the tradition, so to say. The first radicals to significantly break the mold tended to do so for religious reasons. (I'm Czech, so of course I think of our tradition predating Luther... Also not saying it was perfect. The lesser-known Second Defenestration of Prague is an excellent reminder that humans can use any reason to be nasty.)
As an American one thing we don't tend to think about is that we had peasantry well into the 20th century. We just called them "sharecroppers" to feel better about ourselves. A lot of sharecroppers (most of whom had ancestors that were enslaved or were formerly enslaved themselves) were in predatory contracts with the land owners and they couldn't grow their own food, they had to sell everything and then buy overpriced, unhealthy, over-salted preserved food. Technically if they got enough money they could move away... but that was rarely possible. Just something to put our discussions of medieval peasantry into perspective.
the thing that really gets me about the 'you have less days off than medieval peasants' thing is that it assumes all livestock somehow magically know it's a saints day and just stop needing food/water/to be found if lost/help with birthing/etc etc'. not to mention babies and children, sick people, and everyone else who needs someone to care for them. like it being a national holiday puts everything that isn't the able bodied adults into some kind of magical stasis.
Very true, I work with horses and friends and family are still surprised when I have to go to work on Christmas (unless it falls on my day off), until I remind them that, unfortunately, the horses can't refill their own haynets or muck out their own stables!
As I understand it most of the holidays were geared around times when there was likely to be less work in the fields.
Even in modern times, the long summer school holidays was to allow schoolchildren to help their parents in the fields during the busy summer time.
Also, that so many holidays were at times when days were shorter, and nobody would be out in the fields working in the dark, so they can be indoors drinking themselves silly.
"Do you think you'd do okay as a medieval peasant?"
* laughs in chronically ill *
One thing I like about not being a medieval peasant is that I didn’t die in childbirth and instead had C-section and then furthermore did not die of a massive infection after having major abdominal surgery. So there’s that. Oh and there were painkillers for all of it.
I'm very happy to not have died giving birth to twins, as well. I had my first kid in a "natural, unassisted labor" for the twins I was like: "all the drugs, please. Make sure to cut right there so I never get pregnant again, doc."
Hard same! My daughter and I wouldn't have made it either🎉
Just the fact, that you had no control whatsoever about if or when you got pregnant, is enough for me 😬
(well, you could become a nun or something, I guess)
There were painkillers and antiseptics in the middle ages also. They did not view such things with a modern lens, but they understood which herbs and plants could relieve pain and which plant extracts could help reduce the chance of infection. True, that the 'science' was far less exact, and fine tuning the dosage with totally natural ingredients is far more difficult (especially when you did not know exactly which ingredient in the plant might do the work.
In many ways it was during the transition between medieval herbal medicine and the modern scientific medicine that a lot of the worst happened as people scoffed at the accumulated experience of local herbalists while not yet having developed the modern scientific replacement. Bear in mind that even most modern drugs (at least throughout the 20th century) were based on plant or other natural substances that we learnt how to manufacture in purer forms and learnt how to provide more precise dosages.
Whenever we talk about medieval serfs, I’m always reminded of how that same legal status lasted into the NINETEENTH century in Russia.
And then it kinda was reborn there again as kolhoz system that lasted about half of 20th century. My grandparents had to work on an assigned piece of land and to provide this and that amount of crops/eggs/etc to the state. And they weren't paid for their work. And they were prohibited to sell stuff, but still needed money for some things, like medicine or school books. My grandmother tells me sometimes how she, as a teen girl, travelled to a city in another region to sell some of their cabbage, because she wouldn't be recognised there. AND they had no right to move from their kolhoz up until later in the century....
I mean, to a certain extent, it still exists today...
And the Jim Crow era until the 20th century in America.
And well into the 20th century in America (as sharecroppers, most of whom were descendants of enslaved people).
No.
I am a farmer, and grew up a farmer's daughter. We still only get to have holidays *after* the work is done! Christmas is always a nice breakfast followed by the farm jobs (as minimal as we can get away with, and as quick as possible) before we can start thinking about Christmas dinner!
Also I just came in from a bad lambing and this is helping me feel better, thank you!
This is not even a factoid, it's a fact about servs in Italy: in Central Italy especially, there was a form of serfdom called "mezzadria", which involved you working your lord's land in exchange for housing and *in theory* half of the produce. But since the lord was in charge of doing the math on the produce, and peasants were intentionally (and occasionally violently) prevented from learning how to read and count, the supposed "half" was never actually an half. Now the real jawdropping fact: the mezzadria was legal in Italy until the 1990s. In 1964 we had a law which forbid the registration of new mezzadria contracts but didn't end the existing ones. My father was born a "mezzadro" and when he was 10 he and his family were kicked out of the house where they lived because my great-grandfather was adamant that his little nephew had to go to school against the will of the landlord (in this cas a landlady, actually). And sure enough, one merry day this led to them realising they had been scammed all along on the "half produce" math. But when they went to confront the owner, they were just kicked out. It was 1963, one year before the new law.
Wow 🤯 It's remarkable how unmodern many parts of the "modern" world were and still are, despite the progress of technology etc!!
That extreme power imbalance is what I find most challenging about the feudal system? Exploitation and abuse by the church and nobles were just too easy, because of the educational differential, extremely constrained choices of the peasantry, and vastly unequal legal power they held.
Even though some serfs did get basic military training so they could fight for their lord, the nobles had the market cornered on destriers, armour, good swords, and effective defensive architecture, so even if they were abusive, the peasants didn't have a lot of options for recourse or communal action. Sometimes the church would mediate via moral suasion on their behalf, but in other circumstances, the religious authorities were the ones doing the exploiting. A very tough life, really - esp. for women...
Here in Romania, being a medieval peasant sucked, big time. Especially in Wallachia (south) and Moldavia (East).
First, there were a whole bunch of invaders who raided villages and took slaves, and that was the refrain of life throughout early and high medieval times.
Although many also settled there, and became part of the local population.
In late medieval period, things stabilized a little, but still sucked.
Most peasants had to work for themselves, for their local lord and/or church, and also pay taxes to the ruler of the country (called a voievode, or a prince), AND to pay for the tribute to the Ottomans.
And that's where things get complicated: rulers were appointed by the High Porte (Ottoman government).
Often, for that to happen, he had to pay a lot in bribes.
Even if he didn't, he had to at least promise an increase of tribute.
So, on top of the regular taxes, peasants had to pay extra taxes for the tribute to the Ottomans, and of course the voievode wanted to become rich as well, so extra taxes for that.
On top of that, there was the "blood tax" - the devşirme - the Ottoman practice of forcibly recruiting soldiers and bureaucrats from among the children of their Balkan Christian subjects and raising them in the religion of Islam.
Of course, the voievode couldn't tax the nobility too much, or they might raise against him (and they actually had their own small armies - retinues of professional warriors), so basically all the taxes went to the peasantry.
Since usually the prince didn't have a personal army, he had to hire mercenaries - which means more money taken from the peasantry.
But wait, there's more: Akinji - irregular unpaid horsemen militia, subsisting on plunder. They regularly raided the border villages, even during peace time. In the East, the tartars fulfilled the same function. Some of that plunder were people taken as slaves.
And, of course, there were various wars fought in the region, which means extra taxes, people taken as levy, villages raided and fields destroyed (sometimes by locals, under a scorched earth strategy).
Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, and had the Carpathian Mountains as border, so in late medieval times (after the mongol raids subsided), things were not as bad as in Wallachia and Moldavia. Still bad, though.
With my various hobbies that all tend ot the historical, I'm constantly told I was born in the wrong century... I counter it with things like, "Thanks, but no, I prefer corrective eyewear, antibiotics, vaccinations and birth control. And you know, some bodily autonomy and the right to vote while female."
Yeah, I probably would adore the homestead life where I'm gardening and harvesting and preserving and spinning and weaving and sewing and doing carpentry and meadmaking and armourmaking, but yeah. Teeth. And health care. And I might be blind in one eye by now if not for laser eye surgery, though still can't see further than a foot without corrective eyewear. And that's if the ovarian cyst hadn't killed me. Oh, and late onset asthma as a result of an infection that maybe antibiotics helped. *edit also had scarlet fever as a baby, that mighta made me an infant mortality statistic right there...
Yeah, for all its faults, modern health care, please.
THANK YOU for debunking this less holidays than a medieval peasant-nonsense! It's been bugging me for years. Your cows don't know that it's St. Crispin's day, they still want to be milked and you have less time to do it because you have to attend a mandatory religious service. The experience of a medieval holy day is more reminiscent of your boss ordering you to attend some bullshit mandatory motivational workshop during your workday, while you're still expected to get the same amount of work done. It doesn't mean you get to lay on a meadow flipping the finger at your landlord and going "Sorry boss, today is the holy day of the martyrdom of the venerable St. Crispin, dig yer own latrine!"
Exactly-some farm jobs simply couldn’t (and still can’t) be put off for another day! Having livestock (whether bred for meat/wool/milk or kept as working animals) isn’t a job where you can take a day off.
I did my undergrad thesis on monastic education in late 14th century England, around the time of the Peasants' Revolt. One interesting thing that came up a bunch was that people were becoming monks and then using that as a way to act like nobles using the church's wealth. Abbots across England were complaining that their monks had silver worked saddles for riding and spent more time hunting than in prayer. One way they tried to combat this trend was to require a percentage of a monastery's monks to be studying at university at any given time, rotating them out as they finished their degrees. The percentage was constantly being increased, in the hope that these monks would get fed up by the academic rigor and either shape up or leave.
17:25 I'm an Anglican priest in Wales, I'm pretty certain I don't observe as many Holy Days as a medieval peasant. Few people realise that the late May bank holiday is actually Pentecost Monday on a fixed date.
Depends on where you ask. Here in The Netherlands we call it Pinksteren (the Dutch word for Pentecost) and it's a national holiday that is still religiously observed in many parts of the country.
as one of your domain lords, I order you to have another cup of tea!
AS YOU COMMAND, MIGHTY LIEGE
Perfect timing, I just spent 4 hours in my garden engaging in peasantry. Now to relax and listen to this. 😂
In the mountain valley in Switzerland where I grew up, medieval peasants were categorized in free and unfree (owned by local nobles) and lived on the sun-side or shadow-side of the valley accordingly. The territory enjoyed imperial immediacy, only paying taxes to the Holy Roman Emperor and was later bought by the city of Bern, so the free peasants didn’t pay high taxes to the local nobility. But they probably still had very hard lives, because farmland was very limited even with alpine farming and grains didn’t grow very well, so they had a strictly regulated society that allotted the resources in land and forest to the free and old-established families, whereas outsiders barely survived on scraps. And in modern-day Interlaken, many peasants were “Godhouse-People”, so they had to work for the local Augustine monastery and were impoverished because they had heavy taxes on their crops from years of pious donations on the same small lots of land. By the time the Reformation rolled around in 1528, those peasants rebelled and the city of Berne used the opportunity to seize the vast monastic property.
The hunting laws in this decentralized region were relatively loose in the early medieval period and grew more restricted the early modern period, where the nobles and city elite almost had a hunting monopoly, which lead to frequent poaching among the poor people, to add some meat to their diet by hunting chamois in the mountains.
In conclusion, I support Le Goffs thesis of the long Middle Ages, especially in the country side. Life didn’t change much in some regions be it in the 14th or 19th century and even today with all the modern machinery, the life of a farmer is far from easy and we should really be thankful for the people who produce our food. And thank you for this interesting video, I love the history of everyday people.
Sweden in the medieval period... again, when and where 😉
But generally, there were nobles, but Feudalism never really got a good hold on most of the country. From the old times, farms and villages were mostly self reliant, and there wasnt much the nobility could offer that would warrant them charging taxes from the peasantry. And when they built forts to hold the tax man (fogden) they tended to get burnt down in peasant rebellions. The church were instrumental in bringing the peasantry to heel, as they built up the bureaucracy and divided the country into segments that could be governed. It was also easier to make the peasant pay tax to the crown when they were already paying their tenth to the church. Some bishops even became tax men for the crown.
But generally... the swedish peasantry was an armed bunch with a love for rebelling.
So, I'm Jewish. There were a lot of basic rights that a mediaeval peasant would have that I wouldn't have.
Great video, Jimmy. One nuance you perhaps forgot to address, is the fact that your workload would change throughout the year as a medieval peasant. Wouldn't seasonal changes in the type and level of work that was possible, particularly in farming settings, mean that there would be differences in your level of 'free' time? Would this not also be a contributing factor in the number of glovemaker-farmers, farmer-smiths, and so on? E.g. Johnny is a villein, but in the winter he's able to set money aside from all the candles he makes for a hobby. That kind of thing?
Work was limited by daylight. Now we can work all night. Farming is largely seasonal too. Very hard work prepping the land and harvesting, but lighter work most of the time- religious holidays, military campaigns, supplemental income spinning etc. Modern medicine has saved my life multiple times. It was tough with Covid when modern medicine was no better than medieval medicine and so many died at home… it felt very medieval struggling to breathe, nursed by family.
In Denmark, we also had the thing of not being allowed to move outside your parish. We called it Stavnsbåndet (“home bound”) and it wasn’t lessened until Strueense in the 1770s (the guy from A Royal Affair). It meant that you couldn’t move around, was subject to conscription in wars, and you also had to have been confirmed in church to have a job or trade.
In Sweden too, later on in history if you moved to a new village you'd have to present a certificate to the pastor. My kid's ggg-grandfather was a Swede who settled in NE England in the 1870s. We still have his inflyttning certificate (rough translation - certificate of good conduct,) signed by the pastor. Long after he'd moved to England he was still included in the census of his home village.
Oh for all modern car parks to be turned into tenant's kitchen gardens.
I remember in my landscape archaeology classes about all the “abandoned” medieval villages and towns in England that are basically a road or two bordered by buildings with strips of farmland behind each one. Really showed how farming was definitely a part of town life.
I loved the Cadfael books. In one, he went on a pilgrimage to Treffynnon to visit the well, I grew up there. It was lovely knowing all the areas he was travelling, 😊.
Like deployed 👍
This whole idea of pinpointing a specific peasantry to know what life was like, reminds me of when I was trying to find out about life in a specific small town in Burgundian France during the French Revolution - yes, much later in history, I know, but.... I found out that until the Revolution, this town was owned by the priest who was also the owner of the Mansion which was also a school. The people of the little town were basically the property of the priest because they could do precious little without his authorisation - leaving the area, getting married, etc - everything the peasants had, belonged to the priest, including their tools and equipment. The king decided when the grape harvest would start and many other agricultural decisions, and the locals had to obey. Every person who lived in the town (mainly farmers and innkeepers and tradesmen) had a house that belonged to the priest and also a little garden where they could grow food. Anything else they grew, outside of their garden, was taxable and they had to give half of what they earned to the priest, as well as other taxes to the king. There were a couple of non-nobility landowners - one of my very distant relatives, that's how I know. I couldn't find out how they became landowners, when or why, which would have been interesting.
So, what occurred to me during my research, was that all that prevented peasants up to 1789 in France from starving to death, was the weather. There were frequent lean periods and disease and I think, this is just me, that the peasants of that area could have a good life, in their context and very relatively speaking, as long as the weather was good. It is interesting to think that the Revolution was lead by nobility and not by the third estate. People in survival mode rarely have the time to think about alternatives and if they do, they will be all alone. Fascinating epoch of French history and sooooo glad I wasn't there! I was amazed to meet a lady in the village we live in, who married a farmer who had a farm that is still owned by the castle owners in the village.... Apparently, the castle owns several farms and they are run by tenant farmers. Anyone can buy several farms and then have them run by tenant farmers, I suppose, but the fact that the local nobility still (or again) owns farms amazes me. I had no idea.
I used a medieval manor sim game to teach the Middle Ages to several classes of (US) sixth graders (UK Year 7). Students were randomly assigned various roles by drawing lots. I was surprised how many 'free tenants' opted to enter into villeinage with the local lord, rather than risk being removed from the land they were renting. This was just after Hurricane Katrina and I had compared the collapse of law and order in New Orleans to the collapse of the Roman Empire, describing manors as little islands of safety in a stormy sea of sharks. They were all to happy to bond themselves to the land.
Wow! Your class was lucky! :)
Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
"Times is 'ard, but not as 'ard as that other bloke." - The eternal comfort of the underclasses, that someone else has it slightly less crappy than you do. Pass the cold gravel.
"Feasting doesn't mean you have the day off, it just means that you get drunk after you've finished." Sounds good to me!
"I have healthcare. I have vitamins. I have a job that I love." God bless the USA... 😢
I studied painting in what was part of Cadfaels Abbey and Elis Peters came to our cinema club so have a fondness for the books. Learning about the past via a well researched novel is ideal. Learned a lot more about Matilda v Stephen and the constant disruptions inflicted upon the populace by Norman infighting from Cadfael than the dry history we studied at school. But as an adherent of Pratchetts Granny Weatherwax I must point out that when she describes the pyramid of hierarchy she emphasises that Witches are 'a bit to the side of Kings ' some historians leave this bit out.
That explains why the Queen of Lancre is a witch. :P
First things first, why isn't "Its Nuanced!" on a t-shirt yet?
When it comes to being a Medieval peasant or serf and such like I think we can all agree that being very poor in any age sucks quite a bit, but just like not everyone was nobility, not everyone was a charity case either, just like how with Viking Age not everyone was a raider/warrior, someone's gotta being growing the food! But this is a topic I think deserves a lot more attention, particularly in the reenactment community; 'dare to be common' may not be glamourous but as Uncle Iroh once said "There is nothing wrong with a life of peace and prosperity."
Anyone notice the folks in the painting ’airing out’ (hotting up?) their netherbits? And the sneaky guy on the right? 🤣😂🤣
It’s one of my fave artworks just for how casually they do it lol😂
It is interesting to note how similar the Indian ‘caste systems’ were to Greco-Roman and European ‘class systems’.
Along with prohibitions on foreigners.
IMO if there’s a large heritable component to your class then it is better described as a caste system.
But the biggest difference is that in ancient Rome the patricians were both the political and priestly class while medieval Europe priesthood was not heritable even if they might’ve mostly been aristocrats.
In India priesthood was the strictly heritable which IMO allowed the system to continue much longer.
If your family doesn’t have to die in wars and famines then you can accumulate wealth and power over millennia.
Which is exactly what we see.
The class system was carried into the Church. For younger sons and daughters of higher families it was a way of avoiding downward mobility. To join the religious orders for these, money changed hands. The higher the family, the more likely they would avoid being a novice for years and be promoted to Abbott/Abbess of the new place their family founded. This also gave the same families political clout. Its no coincidence that the first two Medici popes were cousins brought up together, with one pope separating them, or that they had two further popes.
Trades would be passed parent to child for the convenience of existing tools and cheap labour. But it wasn't guaranteed as more farmers and brewers were needed than say furniture makers.
tbh there is a heritable component to class in modern day UK at least. If you're poor you're more likely to stay poor throughout your life, unless you got lucky on youtube or something.
@@faequeenapril6921 you forgot that they unironically still have an aristocracy - The House of Lords and the Monarchy
I highly recommend going to the Ethnographic Museum in Kraków - full of amazing tools, jewellery and clothing (period and reproduction) accompanied by stories, letters and usage.
I think the intricacies of local custom makes it hard for us to easily approach medieval life. Thank you for this video!
Just here to advocate for "Nuance Viking" merch again 🤓
I second the motion lol
I'm very glad I'm not a medieval peasant because I would never have been able to medically transition! The rent control does sound nice though...
Same! For all the good bits, I wouldn't go back to pre-HRT times!
It would be difficult for me to transition to male... I wouldn't be able to rock the awesome beard I have now, either... 😛
Where I come from, we had unfree nobility.
The ministerialis.
They originated from roman ministerials and were basically civil servants to their lords. They took care of a patch of land, other unfree workers lived and worked on. They were not allowed to leave their lands unless their lord allowed it. They hat to train in combat and go to war if their lord demanded their service.
On the other hand, they were allowed to have both noble and/or common wife's (the lord had to allow it agree though).
However, the upside was that they had power in the form of knowledge about the land they were assigned to, a strong sword arm and money. It payed reasonably well.
And a lot of ministerials were a force to be reckoned with.
In our northern German area, we actually had free and self governed communities, who lived in democracy. The Emperor gave them their freedom in exchange for protection from viking raiders.
For details about Medieval peasants in my area, (New England/USA), a great book is Changes in the Land - it's about land use and how it changed before and after colonization. There's no better way to see how differently the two groups thought.
(You can make the argument that the Natives weren't really peasants in the way we think about the lower classes in Europe; the Natives had a mixed hunter-gatherer/agriculture system rather than full dependency on their crops, as well as seasonal habitation of different areas of land.)
My mother worked 18 hours per day, 8 hours on Sundays, for her entire career. She had one hour for eating and socializing and the remaining five were for sleep. That's more than any peasant and it physically and mentally broke her.
A facet you didn't cover is that the workload was seasonal for almost every man. A woman's work was never done of course, even if it's just spinning thread by the fire with your drop spindle. The work was also very hard labor, but hours-wise it's usually going to be less than the average American at least, and probably about the same hours in Europe.
If you want a better comparison of ancient to modern workloads, Europe isn't the place to use unless you go before the agricultural revolution. A hunter-gathering society uses about six hours a day for obtaining food, and that's not just experimental but documented. Wheat, millet, rice, barley, and other grains are very labor intensive crops. Maize less so but still a lot of work. I've farmed rice the way it was done in the Ming dynasty and *never again* will I insult the great and glorious potato.
We have had the technology to sustain society with 16 hours of work per week for over a hundred years. We can absolutely have that workload now and there's no excuse for making people work so much.
Another factor to consider is also, that 'entertainment' as we think about it, wasn't a thing in those times. No tv or radio. No internet. No books. Little contact with strangers. Probably no travel, unless you could afford to do a pilgrimage at some point.
Seasonal changes aside, people would do the same things day after day after day for their whole life.
There were church holidays and the occasional festivity like weddings or harvest celebration.
I feel like in that context, the concept of 'free time' takes on a different meaning. Unless you're physically exhausted, having nothing to do is kinda boring. Women would probably have sewed and embroidered or spun, even without the immediate need for it (wealthy women did). Men probably did things like carving as much for entertainment as to make useful utensils.
Building and maintaining things can be both a hobby and a necessary chore. Loads of people today chose to garden or do woodworking or craft even though it ends up costing them money and time, rather than saving it.
@@raraavis7782 Music, dancing, storytelling, and games have been around as long as people have.
This reminds me of my first history lesson ever. The teacher made us play the game "Who would be still alive in the middle ages". In the beginning everyone was still standing and then he asked stuff like who was born via C-section (if yes, sit down, you're dead), who has ever needed antibiotics, who has had life-saving surgery etc. Maybe 5 or 6 of a class of 30ish students were still standing in the end. And now remember this would be true no matter which class you belonged to in the middle ages.
Depends what you needed the antibiotics for tbh. Medieval curatives are not as reliable as modern evidence-based and well-characterized antibiotics but some of them can very much kill some bacteria.
In some cases you'd be doomed without the modern product; in other cases you'd probably be fine with nothing at least in the short term, and in still further cases, the bigger concern is simply getting lucky enough that the physician you're referred to is the one who will prescribe you a functional potion and not some misinformed nonsense "cure".
True, but I suppose for really serious infections you'd still be done for most of the time. Even at the beginning of the 20th century (i.e. before antibiotics were available) two of my grandfather's siblings died young from infectious disease.
A lady in our group took her name from the Bodmin Manumissions; Arganteilin. A slave who was freed in 942 and was noted as a harpist so it's possible her manumission was coming about from the status improvement which is interesting.
One of my history teachers said that, for most of human history, people were basically one failed harvest from starvation.
Anyway, I need hearing aids. Antibiotics are nice, too. The right to vote, own property, etc. as a woman? Yes, good stuff.. So... Nope.
Yet again, I watched a video from this channel & added to my reading list. The Cadfael books look good. 😊👍
Question: did being [person living before the germ theory of disease] suck?
Answer: yes
The "fewer days off than a medieval peasant" thing was only ever intended to refer to working class people from the USA specifically, to make a point about how the US views progress and modernity.
The Wikipedia page "List of minimum annual leave by country" has the USA's number of days at zero, so I don't think it's entirely without validity. If people have been using it to refer to Western Europe, or using it to woobify the Middle Ages in general, they've just taken it wildly off track.
It reminds me of how pirates often financially compensated crew members who'd become disabled. The point of mentioning that in mainstream or political spaces is to note that many governments are behaving worse than pirates, not to suggest that pirates were great.
Well done on completely missing the point. Medieval peasants did not get days off. None. Holy days are not days off.
@@adaddinsane Well done on completely missing the point of my reply, then trying to make it my problem.
As someone neither welsh nor male, it would be very bad for me! I'd have to hope I rolled well on character creation and was born wealthy.
great video as always! i remember learning about serfs vs free peasants in my medieval history papers at uni. love these entertaining educational history videos! it's funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same- my grandmothers family were farm workers renting land from a landlord in aberdeenshire, and they often got moved around the county as well
I love Ellis Peters. The Brother Cadfael books are wonderful. She appeared at a local bookstore a couple of years before she passed. The bookstore contracted with a restaurant next door to serve an "authentic" meal. It was some sort of stew in a bread bowl. I've never forgotten the mead.
What a wonderful experience! My aunt introduced me to the books in my 20s and it was a wonderful way to bond.
One of my favorite authors and characters.
Thank you one of your best videos.
You might be interested in the unique form of of medieval life that existed in the village where I live. I am from the Breton village of La Feuillée which was founded by the Knights of St Jean , Hospitaliers. They had a system known as the "Quévaise" where poor undeveloed land was given to peasents for them to clear and put it into production. The families had to except the total control and law of the commander (lord?) who exacted a heavy price of the products produce. The benefit for the farming family is that they were protected for life by the Hospitaliers,not being able to be evicted as long as they remained on the alloted plot of land. One odd conditions
was that on the death of the male farmer, his land and possesions would pass tothe youngest son. I supose that this would mean that the older syblings would need to set up on a new plot and clear yey more rubbish land.
I don't know if you are familier with this sytem, thaught it might be of interest to you.
Cordialement
Ian
The Welsh Viking, more like the Nuanced Viking
I'm here for the Nuances!
I think this idea has risen in popularity so much because it seems that our ancestors lived at a more sustainable and season-driven rhythm-- more rest and indoor work in the winter, more heavy outdoor work in late summer. Whereas now, we're expected to remain consistent all year round, which doesn't really match our energy levels, necessarily. And in countries like the US, you may not have any guaranteed holidays or PTO in some industries, so medieval feast days can seem appealing from that point of view.
I for one enjoy having washing machines and antibiotics, but just as the quality of life varied a lot in the middle ages, it still does now, and not everyone has access to those amenities. (for example, I don't have health insurance). There are good and bad things about every place and every period. Ideally, we learn from the past and keep some of the positive things while improving the less positive, but the reality is that sometimes we just trade one set of issues for a different one.
Given my black thumb I would suck SO MUCH at being a medieval peasant and my family would starve. Also, I really like ice in my drink in the summer. I like sugar. I like chocolate. I like not having ticks and fleas. I like having a shower every day. I like my comfortable soft bed and my clean sheets and....I was about to say "I like not having to wake at dawn" but it occurs to me that I wake before dawn to go to work sooooo... =D.
ALSO!!!! Being a woman who has a problem with authority and a mouth with a dodgy filter, I would not get along well in the medieval period.
I have bipolar 1 w/ psychosis as well as tourettes on top of it
I certainly enjoy being able to be medicated and not spend most of my life being constantly tied down and annointed and exorcised by the cletgy thank you 😂
Brother Cadfael and the Welsh Viking, what a treat!!
Great video, thank you! I always enjoy your content and the subjects you choose. 🙂 An interesting book for all who can read Dutch (to my knowledge, there is no translation...) on the subject of women in the Middle Ages in Flanders/the Netherlands. Specifically in the region of Brabant (back then in the late Middle Ages roughly from s'-Hertogenbosch to a bit beyond Brussels, Nivelles.) It is called "Wijvenwereld: vrouwen in de middeleeuwse stad" by Jelle Haemers, Andrea Bardyn and Chanelle Delameillieure. The three authors are researchers at the KU Leuven in Belgium. (Meaning: Good sources that are all noted in the book, hooray!) Anyway, it greatly illustrates what you say in the beginning of the video, that one's circumstances in life all depend on the location and time where one would have lived. In the 14th and 15th century in Brabant women had the right to inherit (from father and/or mother), start their own businesses or even go on to the 'beurs', have property and so on. There are many exemples of women being successful in their craft or business. Even begijnen with a very good economical circumstance (attracting jealousy and problems from other membres of the town and the Roman Catholic church.) Important side note: They did not have all the same rights as men. It was not the 21st century. But, it was more free than in the 16th, 17th, etc. centuries after that. Because at the end of the 15th century their rights and privileges declined... Voilà, more info to be found in said book. Very interesting. Have a good day!
I've got Reynaud's so I'm glad for central heating and the fact I don't have to spin my own cloth and thread ! I also have tons of spices in my cupboard about 23 different types . I could cook clean and raise my own food but I could never survive without heat! Id lose my toes and fingers
I’m pretty sure poppies in specific were grown for more than just looking good
Not in northern Europe. Different type :3
@@TheWelshVikingBrother Cadfael brought the Opium Kind from the crusade. However he managed that. 😅 I love these books, currently reading one.
@@TheWelshViking But aren't the northern European poppies the delicious ones?
@@TheWelshViking there is a seditive effect from wild even Welsh poppies and it would have been augmented by proper opium poppies from at least Roman times. People traded medical herbs from early times
@@TheWelshViking makes sense, if somniferous poppies grew readily in Northern Europe then Britain won’t have gone to such lengths growing them in India.
India, Turkey, Afghanistan and Myanmar are still the largest producers.
Two words: infant mortality
I wonder how hard it would be for an un-free woman to become a nun, just to avoid the risks of pregnancy and child birth, and how life as a nun would then be, how much male violence would still be around. I guess that may at least have been a much healthier life than of any other women, even if it was still hard and not free.
The main problem with becoming a nun (at least from what I can glean from Eleanor Janega) is that you basically had to come from a comfortably off family in the first place, so they could afford not to have your labour!
@catherinerw1 Maybe it depends on the order, but there is a hierarchy among nuns too. The convent will accept poor girls as nuns too, but they'll have to work and serve the contemplative nuns who come from rich families. I heard this in an unrelated programme, told by a nun from a Belgian convent in the 20th century, but I guess it would have been a rule earlier as well. There is menial work in convents, and it's done by nuns who didn't bring a lot of money when they entered... They are also the nuns who get to leave closed convents in order to get supplies and the like. A closed convents needs to have some nuns who are in contact with the outside world. Their lives would have been like those of servants anywhere, just with added religious practices.
Fun fact about Denmark: until recently (because the now center-right Social Democrat Party betrayed everything they've ever stood for in 2023 and fucked over workers despite massive protests), Denmark had the 'Great Prayer Day' instituted in 1686 because the king at the time was tired of losing all the labour to the Church (the church was entitled to the people's work after services on holy days) because there were SO many holy days, that he basically decided to bunch them all up into ONE day a year for the Church, and the rest for his tax collectors to tax.😅
sitting here watching this at home with a cold, and just being so thankful for modern medicine and actual doctors 😅🤧 5:20
Get well soon! x
So i am a settler of European origin in Canada. One neat little factoid is that you can actually observe the difference between French and English agrarian systems through the pattern of drawing up (old) parcels of land. The french colonists used the seigneurial system, thus the plots are long and skinny (more common near towns with French names go figure lol). This also says something else: the blueprint for and history of settler colonialism is still written into land use. Its not as distant in the past as many of us would like to pretend.
So not quite feudal serfdom but a later offshoot.
Sir Derek was the perfect Brother Cafael!
This might be my favourite video so far, I love all the different aspects - from linguistics and ethymology to aspects of society, religion, nature and the character of history itself. All presented with such passion, nuance and competence. really inspiring!
on the one hand, the biggest ongoing problems in my life have been homelessness and lack of healthcare, so serfdom doesn't necessarily sound *that* bad to me. on the other hand, I'm a queer Jew, so actually yeah it really does sound pretty bad after all.
I'm so sorry to hear that life is so hard for you. :(
It really sucks that people still have to deal with these things even though we could easily feed, house and medically care for everybody, if the political will was there.
Liked. Shared. Commented. Up the algorithm!
YAAAAY CADFAEL MENTION \o/
The Cadfael tv series was my gateway into loving Wales and Welsh culture and history and language and I've always wondered how it and the books hold up to historical scrutiny. Very nice to hear that it has at least your seal of approval; I was thinking about it the whole video.
I already knew the basics of peasant life, but there were lots of interesting details in this, like there being so many part-time farmers in medieval Paris. You wonder if as well as working land in or next to the city some returned to their families' villages to help out with the farm work at busy times of year (e.g. harvest). It would seem to be a logical way to deal with the differing demands for labour at different points of the agricultural calendar if some people went a plied a trade in a city when they weren't needed for farm work. There's still a lot of seasonal work in the agricultural sector today.
As well as learning a load of interesting (and obviously nuanced) FACTS, I have discovered I’ve been pronouncing _demesne_ incorrectly all these years…
Oof, I hate to be doing that, but according to most of my professors, the whole "all produce goes to the Mycenaean/Minoan palace and then got redistributed" thing is vastly exaggerated. It was, from memory, mostly modelled on Near Eastern Temple economies, among other things, but it is highly dubious whether *all* produce did go to the centre/palace and how much control the palace really had over the land. While we certainly have some tax records from the time, a whole lot of normal agricultural produce is missing from the Linear B archives - we have absolutely no word for any kind of pulses, for example, but we know they were grown a lot, because they show up in the archaeological record. There is also a seperate body called the damos, which seems to be responsible for land distribution, but is clearly separate from the palace, so the palatial officials apparently didn´t have control over that. (Lisa Bendall goes into that quite a bit in her book on Economics of Religion in the Mycenaean World, but the takeaway is that the palace is probably more involved in the production of goods than directly interfering in agriculture, plus religon and warfare).
I absolutley love the video, though! The whole idealisation of medieval peasants workdays and workload has caused severe eyerolling over here more than once.
Fascinating!
@@TheWelshViking Yeah, it's a really interesting topic, even if it ties my brain in knots, trying to imagine how it all worked (she says, having written her thesis on religion. Because that's a much less confusing topic or something 😅)
Serfdom didn't end in UK until mid 20th century. Look at all the coal miners who were legally prohibited from quitting their job!
and had to spend their wages, or tokens, in the mine-owned shop.
To add another layer on "it depends on where you live", some lands are better for common agricultural crops than others. I live in an area that was either sandy flats or marshland and afaik people only really settled here if they had no other choice.
I also live in an area what's either sandy flats or marshland, and I only settled here for lack of any choice in the matter. Any normal attempt to fertilise the soil just drains away to somewhere ten leagues beneath the Earth's surface by the following week, and anything that's supposed to grow into the ground (carrots, yams, ...) always comes out funny if it survives at all. And these sandy flats are the sandy flats of Florida, so there's the extra fun bit where rather than a cold winter where nothing grows but preserving things is slightly easier, you get a scalding summer where nothing grows except cacti, biting insects, and mold, and everything rots extra fast. All in all, it makes me slightly more glad to exist in a post-agrarian economy lol.
Didn't watch the video yet but I'll be disappointed if death by blood cough (tuberculosis), poop death (dysentery), or sudden tummy ouchie (burst appendix) is not mentioned. The fact that these are much less prominent and much more treatable is pretty cool, I think.
Jimmy, Ellis Peters also writes as Edith Pargeter, under that name she wrote the Heaven Tree trilogy. I read it as a teen in the 70s and its stayed with me. Younger son of a noble family gets apprenticed to a stone mason and works on Notre Dame, Paris. That's what informed my understanding of mediaeval life. I should read it again, I can't recall a lot of the details. Must be getting old or something.
have to hand in my dissertation in only a few days and this is the only thing soothing my anxiety while i gulp down cheap take away food for a little break...27 minutes about medieval peasants ... 27 minutes peace...lets go
Thank you for your unique content!
@lottao3311 Good luck!! I am working on my PhD so my dissertation looms in the distance also!
@@GothAcademe enjoy it while you can haha, this distance can become uncomfortably small, very fast 😂
I'm fairly sure I'd be dead quite early, either from one of the child-hood diseases I had (I got pox twice! that's not supposed to happen) or in child birth, being female. So the "How would you fair" argument always feels a bit hollow - I'd likely have been a statistic, and if I wasn't I'd have hoped to be a textile maker or potter, but likely would have just been a common, garden variety serf. Because that's kind of what I am in modern times too, so it'd make sense that it'd be transferred back.
A few years back I read the book, _A Medieval Life: Cecilia Penifader of Brigstock, c. 1295-1344_ by Judith M. Bennett, which is a good, short introductory work on medieval history suitable for laypeople and undergrads. I was surprised to learn that, at least in the manor of Brigstock between the years 1295 and 1344, peasants could have a fair bit of power over one another. As I said it's been a few years, so I may have the details wrong, but I believe Bennet mentions a family of relatively well-off peasants who leased numerous plots of land and paid poorer members of the community to work those lands for them. But she also notes that the fortunes of the peasantry are fickle, as not a generation later the descendants of this family seem to no longer lease so much land or be able to pay others to work their lands for them.
I'm also vaguely aware of the Paston family, who start out in the earliest records of the family as socially mobile peasants somewhere in the English countryside and within a couple generations end up as minor gentry/one of them was knighted all during the Wars of the Roses period. I'm assuming the Paston family origins are similar to the wealthy peasant family of Brigstock a century-and-a-half earlier.
Nobody….
Jimmy - “NUANCE!!!”
Always adore your perspective and videos, keep up the great work!
Well the thing about freedom and city is much more complicated.
Not all inhabitants of a free city were citizens (Bürger), and many cities were not free.
Furthermore there were unfree people like the ministerialis, who were more privileged as some free men.
One could argue, that history is really complex
I'm actually currently rereading the Cadfael books for the third time. It's such an amazing series of books and Ellis Peters did such a great job of creating the time and place it's set in. Currently on book 5 'The Leper of Saint Giles'
I don't mind a bit of work. But by golly I love some creature comforts. And modern plumbing. Fresh undies, good plumbing in and out, I wouldn't trade that for a bit of land. Now back to my constant work.
Yay! Cadfael! I love those books. So wonderful.
I am happy to have my own bed. Also there is no cow in my living space. My aunt in the north of the Netherlands had rings on the wall of her house where the cows used to stand. And that was a 17th century house.
So true, but several nice warm cows in the house might not be a bad thing, too.
@@elizabethmcglothlin5406 so I have been told. Manure heaps do the same thing apparently. But I think I will stick to my heat pump.
Today I learned that Demesne is pronounced Domain. Seen it written down hundreds of times but first time I have heard anyone say it!
I always thought it was pronounced like "demeanour" tbh
Medieval peasants in my part of the world had it WAY better than modern people in my country: they didn’t exist because this was still indigenous land and Europeans hadn’t figured out how to cross the Atlantic yet. I’m jealous of 6th century American peasants and serf. They had it the best 😂
That probably depends strongly on the exact location they lived at.
There were probably peoples that were pretty happy, but there were also some that were attacked by neighbouring peoples or were conquered by empires...
Sadly, humans are very good at finding ways to harm others. :(
Surprisingly, I would not be so sure about that. Some pre-columbian American cultures had pretty rigorous class structures in place...
@@LarthV I’m being a smartass about the fact that peasants, using the term denoting a European social class, did not exist so they could not have a shite life. I’m not talking about the non-aristocracy of the peoples of this continent.
@@johannageisel5390 there were precisely zero European peasants in the 6th century on this continent. I’m being a smartass
@@Dvergenlied Ah, you did not specify "European". Because there was an equivalent of a peasant class in some Native American cultures.
The "villain" thing tells you a lot about people. We have the word "gemein" in German that should mean "common" but now means, well, "mean".
Which is probably a word we have borrowed here in Sweden. "Gemene man" means "Common man" which has turned into more of a phrase for "Every man" today.
And dumb meant "not being able to speak"
in Polish, a cham originally meant a peasant, but these days it's used for crude, impolite, uncouth people. Same mechanism. Go figure!
The word "mean" in English is not any different, it just doesn't have the prefix (*ymean or *emean). It fundamentally means common, average - the "unjust or generally unpleasant PoS" sense of the word comes later.
Brother Cadfael has a permanent place on my bookshelves. I've read the whole series many times, and once even visited Shrewsbury. Sadly, didn't make it into Wales, but it was January, so the weather was not the best for hiking around in the Welsh mountains.
In Finland, (Though unknown how it was like in 'Pagan times', before/during the Swedish/Rus crusades. Sami women wrote about their rights being taken away by Christian culture, so may have been 'well off' back then for women.) hunting and fishing was big part of the economy, squirrel furs were beforehand a form of currency, which the finnish word for money, 'raha', means squirrel fur in old terms. Being under Swedish rule, there were some laws from them and some from us in-regards to the laws.
There was a lot of land, forests and such, that people decided to settle in empty places, known by the place names we see today. Sometimes crude names like 'shit hill', if literally translated. A 'peasant' was a separate class to a serf, since Finnish peasants were known as the landowners. There were some lords, but peasants actually owned the land, which was majority of the population.
However due to increasing colonization in 15-16th century by the Swedish, the very relatively free Finnish peasants, who could fish and hunt almost anywhere, were then subjected to various reforms. Which lead to many becoming servants/serfs from peasants, rather than landowning peasants themselves. A written registry made for land, was only done in 16th century, the church, the crown and the nobility owned very little land in Finland, compared to peasants. Though the obligation to pay taxes and also conscript farmer's sons to be mercenaries was there, which sometimes lead to farms being abandoned. But the caste system was starting to take hold seriously around this time. And the nobles were also becoming an influence of having peasants that owned land, to work for him.
Though in certain cases, there were 'manor farms', which were large farms that consisted many under it's rule. Some were given to soldiers or they were bought by the nobles. I'd argue that eventually some of the peasants had 'lord-esque' status by owning such a farm, depending on the period. But ultimately the nobles were becoming an increasing influence, as mentioned.
There were also a lot 'joint projects', which if someone settled on an empty land and had made a farm for his plot, the surrounding farms would likely be joint projects together and this shared labor was also a thing for the taxation to the Swedish crown.
Even if Finnish peasants were in-comparison rather 'free', compared to other Europeans, up until the 16-18th century, they had very little say in-terms of overall politics. Which probably lead to the frustration of the 'Cudgel War' (or the 'Club War') peasant revolt in 1596-1597.
Thanks for sharing this. Very interesting insights as well!
I'd argue that the role of 'peasant' and 'warrior'/mercenary are like one of culturally still remaining images of Finland as a whole. In the pagan period, the tribes (Finns, Tavastians, Karelians, etc.) and also including Baltic ones, were the last ones doing viking raids over the Baltic Sea and against each other, with some folk stories surrounding some famous chieftains that (allegedly) existed at the time. And going into the medieval period, under Swedish rule and then later Russia, the two of the most prominent positions for most Finnish were either a soldier and/or a peasant. Because those were the only things you could really become. Trades people were a thing, but they fall under similar position as the peasant, if my memory serves me right. Sometimes had 'noble-esque' status.
Though I'd say blacksmiths were more appreciated, than they were in elsewhere on Europe culturally. Though the law forbidding weapons like long blades to carry, meant that medieval period weapons, weren't as prominent, as it was in that 'Pagan period', with most of the weapon finds dating from there, in 8-13th century. There were also pagan-esque elements left after the crusades had long passed, like with seers and 'wisemen/women', that were village healers and chanted spells/prayers during so, up 'till the 18-19th century even.
Though weapons like the 'bear spear', bardiche, axes, crossbows surprisingly, 'puukko'/war knives, etc. Were pretty popular and practical weapons at the time. So it doesn't exclude all weapons at the time and in the age of 'Great Northern Wars' with Sweden trying to be a superpower, people began to carry/have more weapons. Oh and cudgels, flails and clubs, like with the Cudgel War. Some people did have swords, but they seemed to be passed down from the mentioned Pagan period or mercenary work, I believe (Might be wrong on this one, not many finds from medieval period, other than castles). There were some castles set up by Sweden as well, with their own equipment, but 'knights' were quite uncommon in-comparison.
The way a non-historian (like me) looks at history is often more indicative of what their life is like and likely their ideology. That’s why education like on this channel is so important.
In a comment on another video I argued that the many ahistorical depictions of Vikings aren’t a big deal to me but it has to be clear is where the inspiration comes from. History is so hugely important in forming identity and in that way it is often mythologized and used to give legitimacy to (often right wing) ideas.
In this case my thoughts went to the view on history by laymen like me because I was inclined to fall into the romanticization of peasant life as compared to life under Capitalism. I still believe that some aspects of Medieval life likely lead to better mental health, viewed from my own mentally ill perspective but I have to be honest about the projection taking place.
(Basically I believe that the ability and necessity to understand and control the tools that sustain one’s life as well as the relationships within one’s community lead to more clarity than the highly intertwined yet impersonal societies of today. Argh, sometimes my mastery of [the English] language hits its limits… Maybe because I’m not that smart or at least uneducated on the subject. Whatever; in short, less alienation)
I'm with you on the subject of mental health, up to a point. I think the lack of fast-paced distractions, and a daily routine of repetitive and often physically demanding manual labour would have provided fewer triggers for people on the autism spectrum or ADHD, and a few other conditions that are worsened by modern city life and sensory overload. People would have been better aligned with their circadian rhythms as well. However, some conditions would have been more difficult to live with in the middle ages, not just because there was no treatment, but also because of stigmatization. People who were seen as "mad" were often marginalized and abused, experimented on by members of the clergy because they were probably possessed, and generally treated as less than human.
@@kathilisi3019Absolutely, the Middle Ages surely were a time where being anything but „normal“ was hell.
And while what I said may be true to some extent, at least half the population was oppressed by default in most societies which must have caused its own kind of issues that got better now.
Coming to think of it… The intense fear of god and not understanding what we see as harmless illnesses at all probably was as bad as it sounds and maybe a little stressful.
Thanks for the perspective. Wishing you some tenure and flowers planted just for enjoyment in the future.
First! What do I win?! Bolt of wool? Worm porridge? Maybe some room temperature ale?
"They grew flowers because they are nice to look at"
they also smell a lot better than the medieval city
I’m lucky to have survived my birth, so even being born, say, 15 years earlier might have killed me. The thing is that I might have been able to lead an okay life in a smaller village rather than our current society where I’m dependant on society’s mercy, since I can’t work in a way that capitalism finds worth paying for. In this regard, I’m on the level of a workhouse worker, as I am dependant on someone else’s charity for my survival. At least I’m not locked up at Bedlam or similar places , which would probably have been my fate otherwise in history.
Similar here.
Same probably, since my mom is Rhesus negative and had a miscarriage before me. I'm Rhesus positive, so without the medication, I might not have survived pregnancy or might have been born with severe defects.
And then I developed some health problems during my youth and live off disability now.
absolutely love your content, like going back to college with a professor that loves sharing their knowledge and inspires the next generation to continue the tradition
Late, but have to add my vote for this as one of your best. There is such a divide between modern and pre industrial social organization that videos like this are needed. I think being specific about how this played out in Wales helped. I watch a lot, but usually don't comment. The academics who say silly things like this, often understand the nuances, but don't take into consideration that the vast majority of people have no idea what life was or is like for people in different times or circumstances..
The Cadfael books are so good! The 90's TV series is great too, highly recommend.
If I was born as a medieval peasant I would probably be dead, because there was no penicillin or sterile scalpels. 😅
As a web app developer and database report writer, I don't think I'd have fared well in the medieval period. Computers back then were a bit slow and awkward to use.
I know the Welsh side of my family were all agricultural labourers from mid Wales, right up until my grandfather before he joined the RAF. At least as far back as the early 1800s. I haven't managed to go back any further than that with the Welsh side yet. I've gone back to about 1600 with one branch of the English side of my family. They were bit of a mixed bag of professions. I'd love to be able to go back further on both sides, but obviously trying to chase a "Jones" line in Wales is very tricky and time consuming!
I really enjoyed this. As you were talking I was thinking Cadfael, then you brought him up. The third book, Monks Hood, goes into the Welsh local/manorial court system, which you mentioned too.
Love the Cadfael books - Derek Jacobi was a lovely version of him
@@januzzell8631 Sorry, but I have to disagree. He was okay but he didn't look at all like the description in the books and I didn't really like the series much. They didn't do the books justice and totally changed some of the stories. Philip Madoc played Cadfael in a BBC radio series, which you can get on audio, which I much preferred.
@@alisonalder7317 Fair - agree to differ :)
In Ireland too, money didn't mean much at all until the Norman & English invasions, & even then it wasn't used much outside of the Pale until the English conquest. The economy was mostly based around barter & trade. Why carry around a bag full of metal when you could get eggs from your neighbor in exchange for some milk? Additionally, under Brehon law, there were several different levels of peasant, each with differing amounts of rights & privileges. One of those rights was the amount of butter you'd receive from your king or clan chief when he redistributed produce, which gave rise to the phrase "He butters his bread on both sides" to describe a fancy/wealthy/posh person.
Been a viewer long enough that I was saying, "yes, but," right along with you lol (And I'm a complete history nerd and know more about the topic than the average viewer. Not bragging, just saying.)
We really can't conceive of just how all-encompassing the medieval church was. Next to germ theory, the waning influence of religion might be the best thing that could happen to humanity.
And, unfortunately, there are so many who would bring all that back; especially here in the US.
@@nony_mation Spot on about fundamental equal human rights. I have seen arguments that our modern non-religious democracies would not be possible without the previous very much religious ideas of the Reformation, and those of course were attempts to return back to the spirit of the law over the tradition, so to say. The first radicals to significantly break the mold tended to do so for religious reasons.
(I'm Czech, so of course I think of our tradition predating Luther... Also not saying it was perfect. The lesser-known Second Defenestration of Prague is an excellent reminder that humans can use any reason to be nasty.)
@@nony_mation It's one of those historical moments you look at and can't really side with anyone. 😬
I love the etymology I learn on these vids!
Re: Cadfael, I wholeheartedly endorse. And if you know any antivaxxors the author has a note explaining why vaccines are necessary and needed