Peasants Daily Life During The Middle Ages

Manorialism was an economic structure during the high middle ages that consisted of a lord and his vassals who served him and his wife. The serfs had more rights than slaves but they were tied to the land of their lord even when their land was captured by another lord. Unlike slaves, serfs could keep some of their crops and maintain their own family. Cottagers ranked below serfs and were only given cottage and a small plot of land to work on. At the top of the working class were freeholders. These peasants owned their own land and were not subjects of a lord. Peasants would work the fields together as a family regardless of sex or age, although mostly men worked with the heavy plows and women wove clothes during the least demanding seasons. The lands

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,

“Houses were constructed of stone or of branches covered with mud and straw. Candles were used to light the inside of the house” (Peasants). Peasants were not able to go out of buy siding or any thing to make their houses with so they had to make them from scratch. They were very poor so the house had to be made out of things you find in nature. “The bed might be big and sturdy enough for six, but the very poor had only stuffed pallets on the floor” (Bishop 242). The house was not big at all, so there was only one spot for the bed and everyone had to share it. Everyone not having their own bed was the least unnatural thing the peasants had to deal with. “The houses would have had none of the things we accept as normal today- no running water, no toilets, no baths, and washing basins” (Trueman). Peasants had what we would call nothing but as long as they has a roof over their head they were alright in their minds. The main reason they had nothing in them was because they did not have the money to afford anything. “Without coinage, peasants traded food with village craftsmen for clothing, shoes, cooking pots, furniture, and a variety of other goods” (Barter 23). As stated before peasants did not have money to go out and buy new things so they would trade food for other items they needed. Not only did they have boring houses but their lives

These stigmas about what is considered appropriate careers for women to pursue and what boys should grow up doing start at early stages in life. For every time we tell the girls they should watch their younger cousins or baby nieces and nephews and we let the boys run around pretend fighting or building forts with Legos, we reinforce the identity that women should take care of others while the men play and watch football and design cars. It may seem like I’m oversimplifying the situation but that isn’t the case. There is no transition between childhood and adulthood like Kay Hymowitz claims in her essay “Child-Man in the Promised Land”. The idea of an extended adolescence is ridiculous and insulting to me and any male who has read it.

World War I (WWI) started on 28, July 1914 and lasted until the Versailles Peace Treaty was signed in 1919. This was the world’s first total war, sometimes referred to as an industrialized war. The “Great War”, as it was called then, pitted the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire) against the Allies (Great Britain, the United States, France, Russia, Italy and Japan). The complete mobilization of the national economies and scientific establishment were used in the conflict. Technology, money, casualties and the level of involvement of civilians are the dominant factors that contribute to wars tending toward totality. These components provided ideal conditions for WWI to produce destruction on a scale never before seen in the world. For the first time, entire nations were pouring their energy into destroying their opponents. Unlike early global conflicts such as the French and American Revolutionary Wars, WWI was a global war. WWI introduced to the world the first total war and set the paradigm for future conflicts.

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

The majority of people in medieval Britain, both men and women, lived as farmers. Surely this was a life dominated by men at the time, with the heavy and physical work demanded in the fields? In fact, peasant life was very much about a partnership between husband and wife in raising a family and working the fields. At crucial times in the farming year, particularly harvesting seasons. Women worked alongside men in the fields.

Everything in Medieval times everything was based on the Feudal System or the social class. It determined your rank, power, wealth,

It would be an understatement to say that the peasant lived in a harsh world. They live in a time where every day was a fight for survival. Peasantry was trying to survive harvest after harvest, always trying to pay off the rising taxes and feeding their families. The fact of the matter though was that peasants had a hard time feeding themselves which is why “45% of the Frenchmen born in the 18th century died before the age of 10.” (Darton 27)

There were 3 orders that showed the division of society in the High Middle Ages, those who pray, fight, and work. Serfs were the ones who worked. Medieval theologians divided everyone who worked on the land into the work category. Throughout the High Middle Ages, there were many different levels of peasants. They ranged from slaves to rich farmers.

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.

The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel that takes place in the town of Boston, Massachusetts in 1642. Hester Prynne, the main character of the story, commits the sin of adultery. Because of this sin, she is "blessed" with a child named Pearl. Her punishment is to wear a scarlet letter “A" on her chest for the rest of her life, which affects the way the townspeople look and act around her. Also, she must stand on the scaffold in the town for three hours for the whole town to recognize her grave sins. The man who should be standing upon the scaffold along with her and Pearl is the town minister, Dimmesdale. He is presented as a weak character because of his fear of losing his beloved reputation as such a holy

Frankish society was entirely rural and was composed of three orders or classes: (1) clergy (those who pray), (2) nobility (those who fight), (3) peasants (those who work). In general, life was harsh and brutal for the early medieval peasant. Even in the wealthiest parts of Europe, the story is one of hardship and poverty. Many peasants died from malnutrition, due to poor diet. Most peasants were illiterate although a few were practicing Christians. The majority could not understand the language of the church, which was Latin. While nobility was better off, and had more food, their diet still not very nutritional. Living in larger houses and castles, these were often just as cold as the peasant's small structure. Additionally, most nobility

Behind each house was a garden or small plot of land. The common fields surrounding the village were some distance away, divided into strips and separated by twigs and pieces of unplowed land. Past the open fields was the waste, the uncultivated land which provided grazing land for the cattle, sheep and pigs and also fuel and timber for building.11 Bread was the staple item of the peasant diet. Eating meat was either a rare or nonexistent occurrence. Peasants ate whatever they grew: grains and a small percent of vegetables and potatoes. Barley and oats were made into both food and drink for consuming. The good grains, the meat from the animals, and the tasty fruits and vegetables went to either the lords or to the upper classes.12 “The peasant’s housing was as basic as his diet.” Most houses consisted of two rooms, one for living and one for sleeping. The walls were constructed of clay or straw supported by wooden frames. The roofs were thatched and animals were free to wander in and out. The smells of animals, sweat and waste were anything but pleasant and were more than plentiful.Water was gathered from an outside well or spring and there was no form of sanitation leading to a low level of personal

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).