Infancy In Medieval Europe

Imagine a world where people were forced to work the land for very little food and had to pay high taxes. This is what life was like for the peasants, or serfs, in Europe during the Middle Ages. From 500 to 1500 AD, life in Europe was organized into a categorized system. The Middle Ages lasted from 476 CE to the 14th Century(OI)

Between 500 to 1500 A.D in Europe, there was a period of time called the Middle Ages (OI). During this time, kings, nobles, knights and serfs lived together in a society called feudalism (Doc. 1). The Church was very important, trade began to grow, and the knights lived by a code called the Code of Chivalry. During this time, the social, political and economic lives were influenced by the feudal system and the Church.

This was influenced by the manor system, “ The manor was the economic side of feudalism” (Doc 2). This meaning that your ranking in the feudalism was your job in the manor system. If you were a serf you worked, and farmed for the King, Knights,and Nobles and you had one day a week to farm to feed yourself and your family. If that isn't hard enough they also had to pay high rents to the lords for using his land to farm. The Knights and Nobles had to fight and serve the King for exchange of land,and they had to pay taxes. This showing that life in the Middle Ages was hard for many

In the middle ages if someone was a kid they would usually drink ale or wine. The peasants were the lowest class including people such as the candle maker, which provided candles from royalty to peasants. The job of a candle maker was very messy, and the daily life of one is just like any peasant’s. Even though the candle maker was a peasant they helped out with royalty in big ways. The Candle Maker is important in the Middle Ages because they made the only possible light source back then.

During the Middle Ages social class much different than modern day. In a feudal society “nobles were granted the use of land that legally belonged to the king,” (Doc. 1). The nobles, in return, would give the lord loyalty and military services (Doc. 1). As peasants or serfs worked for nobles and knights they received protection and a portion of the harvest to feed their families (Doc. 1).

The roles in medieval Europe, available for women were restricted because. Some women did have important roles, such as a queen or and abbess (head of an abbey of nuns), but these were not opportunities for a peasant woman as such. Most women were peasants, nuns, wives, mothers or noblewomen. Noblewomen ran their husband’s estates whilst they were at war, but still could not make any decisions of importance, such as money, . They usually had around 7 children, most of which did not live past the age of three. Peasants were expected to marry and become wives and mothers. Some took up spinning and sewing to make clothes and earn money to support their family. Men were able to work in varying roles, no matter what they did, they

Life was not easy for women and children in the middle ages. We have abusive spouse and such in today’s time period, but in the Middle Ages abuse was even encouraged “as a way to keep women under control” (Lawler). The children had it worse. The children of the Middle Ages, were abused by men, women and even servants to make them behave. In the Middle Ages, the law did not intervene. If you were a woman of upper class then you were lucky! They typical did not go through the abuse that the lower-class women did. As long as a man didn’t kill his wife during the abuse, he wasn’t doing anything wrong according to the Canon law. (Lawler)

All serfs were farmers. Serfs had poor shelter and lacked a diet. Most serfs lived in small homes made of stones, with roofs made of clay tiles or shingles. They had hard dirt floors and slept on straw mattresses that were on the floor. They had some furniture such as stools benches and a table (Cels 9). Peasants often ate bread and had pottage which was like a soup. Pottage was flavored with various types of vegetables. Since peasants weren't that wealthy, they rarely ate meat because it was expensive to buy and keep animals. Small amounts of chicken, pork and beef were considered treats (Cels 9). Serfs children often helped the parents around the house. Young children that were peasants normally played with toys such as dolls, carts, horses,whistles,

During the Middle Ages a peasant’s life was, indeed, very rough, there were anywhere from ten to sixty families living in a single village; they lived in rough huts on dirt floors, with no chimneys, or windows. Usually one end of the hut was given over to storing livestock. Furnishings were quite sparse; three legged stools, a trestle table, beds softened with straw or leaves and placed on the floor; the peasant diet was mainly porridge, cheese, black bread, and a few homegrown vegetables. Peasants had a hard life, yet they did not work on Sundays, and they could travel to nearby fairs and markets. The basic diet of a lord consisted of meat, fish, pastries, cabbage, turnips, onions, carrots, beans, and peas, as well as fresh bread, cheese, and fruit. This is by no means equivalent to the meals the peasants ate, a lord might even feast on boar, swan, or peacock as well.

Before that children had very few rights and were not considered different, indeed they were treated as young adults as soon as they could fend for themselves. Before this time infanticide (infant death) was not unheard of and there was no graduated system for education, you could expect to find children ranging from ages 10-20 in the same classroom and behaviour was unruly and sometimes violent.

“If the broader culture 'knows' anything about children and childhood in the Middle Ages, it is that medieval culture didn’t know anything about children” (Classen). Childhood, schooling, and parenting were very different in the Renaissance generation. Education was scarce because there was not much else to learn besides the family trade. School was most likely a bad atmosphere for students due to the harsh discipline and the ways teachers treated

During the Middle Ages children were useless and a burden. In comparing the treatment of children, for the vast majority of the Middle Ages children were treated as adults. The concept of family evolved from an indifference to children and the extended family to an understanding of childhood, education, and the formation of a nuclear family. Feudalism typically served as a means of survival for families and children through agricultural work. The house of refuge was founded on the concept of reforming youthful offenders, providing them the opportunity to gain skills, enabling them a path in securing future employment and contributing to the community.

The purpose of the book Women of the Renaissance by Margaret King is to explain the various roles of that women occupied during the renaissance. She mainly focusses on women of western Europe between 1350 and 1650. In the chapter titled “Daughters of Eve: Women in the Family” King writes about the positions of women in the family. In the part of the chapter that we were assigned, she depicts the role of mother. She explains the importance having children, the differences between healthy and lower class mothers, and the relationship between these mothers and their children. During the renaissance, motherhood was an extremely important job, and many women were defined by it.

Life as a serf or peasant was not easy. Serfs were bound to their lord's land and required to do services for him. Although they could not be sold like slaves, they had no freedom (Ellis and Esler 219-244). Peasants farmed for the goods that the lord and his manor needed. They went through difficult hardship because of this. Peasants were heavily taxed and had to provide for themselves the goods that they needed (“The Middle Ages”). According to the medieval law, the peasants were not considered to 'belong to' themselves (“The Middle Ages”). Although serfs were peasants and had relatively the same duties and similar rights, what differentiated a peasant from a serf was that a peasant was not bound to the land (“The Middle Ages”). Peasants had no schooling and no knowledge of the outside world (Ellis and Esler 219-244). They rarely traveled more than a couple miles outside of their villages. All members of a peasant family, including children, tended crops, farmed, and did some sort of work to help out (Ellis and Esler 224). Very few peasants lived past the age of 35 because of hunger in the winter and the easy development and transmission of disease (Ellis and Esler 224).

Some fact (Yarrow, 1961, as cited in Early Experience, 1967) states that also the first few years of life have crucial effects upon later development and adult characteristics and that the significance of early infantile experience for later life development has been repeated so frequently and so seriously that the general effectiveness of this declaration is now almost unchallenged. Bowlby, 1951, (as cited in Early Experience, 1967) quotes that “the prolonged deprivation of the young child of maternal care may have grave and far-reaching effects in his character and so on the whole of his future life.” In comparison to this J.B. Watson (1928) also felt passionately about the first two years of a Childs life. He believed they were the most important and that