The Night Battles and Peasants of Early Modern Europe

At the end of the Middle Ages, European societies underwent economic, political, social and religious changes. The apocalypse of witch hunts coincided with a wave of Christian messianism against social and economic injustice. The witches were needed to focus the anger of people, at the same time, protecting the patriots (Harris 2007: 198-204). The process of witchcraft allowed the explanation of social inequality to occur through supernatural phenomena. The condemnation of the deaths of the lower classes, especially women stands for social, not religious, basis of the process of witchcraft (Harris 2007:

Despite having little rights, hardworking women and children were often the key to success for independent farms. For these small, family-run farms, the children were often the ones who helped work and manage the land. Women were often the backbone of a household, doing the housework, weaving, cooking, and raising large amounts of children. Women were practically required to bear many children over a lifetime in order to staff the farm to maintain the family’s livelihood.

The 16th century was a time of creativity, discovery, exploration, and invention. The Cheese and the Worms, written by Carlo Ginzburg, tells the story of Domenico Scandella. The book explores Scandella’s, otherwise known as Menocchio, world-view at the time. Menocchio was a miller who was tried for his unorthodox religious views and eventually burnt at the stake for heresy in 1599. During this time, Menocchio was seen as special as he was a peasant who could read, a peasant who had an education. Ginsburg’s display of Menocchio’s views gives the reader an insight into peasant culture. The peasant culture experienced many grievances as they suffered in their daily lives with little opportunity for survival. Their only opportunity of survival was working for landlords on the land. Peasants had little to no money and it did not help that they were being controlled by the church. The people were unaware that history was occurring but the Protestant Reformation, the Renaissance, the Inquisition, and other historical moments during the time were all relevant to the typical European peasant Menocchio as most of his ideas were caught in the currents of the 16th century.

The significance of religious leaders during this era is evident by the fact that the writer of this poem places the bishop at the beginning of the table. Due to the fact that the “medieval society was a religious society” and that these religious leaders held a special relationship with God, it is no surprise that these individuals held the second highest social class position in the medieval time period (Feudalism and the Three Orders (Overview) 2).

Life in Europe during the 1500’s and 1600’s was full of reformation, wars of religion, and exploration of new places and ideas. The poor were greatly affected during this time. They were part of the church reformation when Martin Luther separated from Catholic Christendom and created his own church. In religious wars, like the Thirty Years’ War, the poor were usually the people fighting which had a tremendous impact on their lives and families. With the growth of exploration, the poor moved around which affected their community. The attitudes and responses towards the poor in Europe between 1450 and 1700 included that they were undeserving and lazy; they needed help, should be put to work, and should be given help.

The Middle Ages, or Dark Ages, of the 15th century, established a policy regarding the practice of agriculture that later became known as feudalism. The monarchy bestowed vast tracts of land and an ennobling title to individuals who were tasked with keeping a functioning economy in their lands and maintaining a private militia for the protection of the realm and fiefdom they owned. These aristocrats allocated parcels of land to the serfs, or peasants, in exchange for complete rustic servitude and the privilege being allowed to live on that lord's land. Any crops or animals that were cultivated belonged to the realm and peasants were only permitted to keep a meager portion of their efforts. This archaic practice, established during the era

Furthermore, the logos used in The Agrarian Standard is not as credible as it could be, but nonetheless effective. Although sources are lacking, Berry presents information in a precise way. Logos is notably abundant in the introduction of the essay on the first page. Examples of information presented

Anna Belfer Cohen and A. Nigel Gorring-Morris. 釘ecoming Farmers: the Inside Story.Current Anthropology, Vol 52, No. S4 (October, 2011): n pag. The Origin of Agriculture: New Data, New Ideas. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

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.

Peasant Society (pg 18): In 1450, most European were peasant, farmworkers who lived in small villages. There working rights were taken in for labor workers. They also created local markets to help their economy.

Carlo Ginzburg’s Night Battles depicts the relationships that existed concerning magic and the use of witchcraft as they where believed by both the popular and the elite concerning the benandanti in the Italian area of Friuli. Keith Thomas’ Religion and the Decline of Magic does a similar thing except his subject area is in the whole of England and includes more information and examples of the beliefs and practices of the English. Both the English account and the account of the Friuli benandanti have several similarities that exist between the two as well as some distinct differences. The differences between the two groups are shown by the way

Life as we know it today in the modern world, is significantly different to the lives that our predecessors lived during the period 1500-1800. The changes across the centuries are the result of a process of advancements over time. This essay will examine life in the period 1500-1800 as highlighted in the work of George Blainey (2000) and will compare key differences of life in this early period, against life in the modern world today. Throughout this essay, the main focus will be based on three areas which have seen significant change over this period of time: the production of food, work practices and the standard of living. The advancements in these three areas, has led to societies living very

Around when the Industrial Revolution began, agriculture began to take a turn in it’s way of harvesting crops. New techniques of growing and tending crops spread across Europe in the 1700s. “The improved yield of the agricultural sector can be attributed to the enclosure movement and to improved techniques and practices developed during this

The effect of the revival of traditional rural beliefs during ca. 1979 to 1984 is notable to the peasant-workers. Even the rituals discontinued to be performed, the philosophy behind transformed into strings of consciousness and self-identification whose essence is firmly kept -- the inseparability of family and the safety-shelter nature of the rural land. When peasant-workers confront unfamiliar or alien treatments in the cities, their potent emotion of land, of hometown, and of family outbursts. Traditional practices faded, but the traces stayed. Urban environment does not make the peasant-workers secular; instead, it makes them more “religious” in terms of the returned sense of land affiliation. Economic incentives drive peasants

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).