Women in the Middle Ages. Sexual life of a person in the Middle Ages Life of medieval townspeople
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words “medieval city”? Surely these are dirty streets filled with vagabonds, inns with disgusting tasteless food and cunning merchants selling low-grade goods. But it wasn't like that at all.
Fact: Innkeepers were rich people
In the minds of most people, a medieval innkeeper is a hefty, rude man who serves poorly prepared food and charges mere pennies for it. But firstly, about 10–20% of inn owners in the Middle Ages were women. And secondly, the city innkeepers were wealthy people.
Government officials, merchants and representatives of the clergy most often stayed in city taverns. And most of them were rich, willing to leave money for good service, for example, for clean beds and care for their horses. In addition, taverns were centers of gossip and trade. Always keeping abreast of events, innkeepers often became owners of various enterprises and shops. And those innkeepers who had an excellent reputation were often elected to some public position.
Fact: Fast food existed in the Middle Ages
Few townspeople in the Middle Ages could boast of having a stove in their home. At that time they were very dangerous and often caused fires. Therefore, city residents brought prepared products to bakeries and asked permission to use the oven. But most often they ran into some bakery to buy waffles, pancakes and pies that they could eat on the go.
Medieval pies had a lot of filling, and the dough acted as a container for food; it was usually not eaten. It is noteworthy that shops selling fast food remained open after dark.
Myth: Medieval food was bland and tasteless
Even peasants living in villages found ways to improve the taste of their simple vegetable dishes and cereals. They added fragrant herbs to them, grown in their own garden. And city residents were not at all shy about using spices, especially Londoners. Ships loaded with spices arrived in the capital of Great Britain every day.
In city markets in the Middle Ages one could find the familiar ginger, cumin, cloves and other spices. Rice imported from Asia was also not uncommon. Of course, spices were quite expensive, but city residents could afford it. And cooks in bakeries and taverns competed with each other in their ability to use spices in order to attract customers. True, only wealthy townspeople could count on aromatic, delicious dishes and sweet pastries. Poorer people bought baked goods from bakeries sweetened with cheap honey rather than expensive sugar.
Variety of medieval cuisine. By Jacopo Chimenti. 1625 Fact: Football existed in the Middle Ages
What types of medieval sports can you name? Surely horse racing, fencing and archery. But it turns out that football was extremely popular in those days! Only then it was simply called a ball.
The rules of medieval football were somewhat different from modern ones. You could push the ball with any part of your body, including your hands, and the football team had about 400 people. This crowd was allowed to fight and kick, and matches were held not only on country fields, but also right on the city streets. Often, opponents in football were people of different professions. The ladies also fought among themselves, unmarried against married. In the 14th century, King Edward II tried to ban football, but it didn’t work out. With changed rules, this game has survived to this day.
Fact: cities had curfews
Crime on the streets was the main problem of medieval cities. And its reason lay in the absence of police and permission to carry weapons for almost any person. But the medieval authorities, trying to fight at least night crime, took an important step - they introduced a curfew.
The curfew began shortly before sunset. With the bell announcing it, the gates to the city were closed, and no one was allowed in or out. All residents were forced to go home, and the drunks who stayed in the taverns were pushed out into the street by the owners straight into the open arms of the night guards. They were volunteers and willingly took violators to jail. At the same time, they did not touch laborers who worked late and eminent citizens. Ordinary people could easily be stopped, interrogated and, if the answers did not suit the warden, transported to the city prison. It was forbidden to be outside after sunset without a good reason.
Fact: you had to pay to enter the city
In the Middle Ages, to enter large cities, you had to pay a certain fee at the gate. Only citizens living in the city could not pay to enter and leave the city. Ordinary travelers were charged a purely symbolic fee if they did not bring anything for sale. But they took full money from traders coming to fairs. Each city had a list of rates at which merchants were required to pay tax for a particular imported product.
"Landscape with Roman Ruins." Author: Paul Brill, 1580 Fact: Prostitution was legal in the Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, people's views on premarital sex were very puritanical. But at the same time, in many cities there were completely legal brothels, the existence of which was explained very simply. It was believed that male lust had to be satisfied in a safe way to protect the innocence of honest ladies.
All brothel owners were required to report their profits and losses to the city council. And these institutions were financed not by the government or the church, but by wealthy patrons. At the same time, sometimes brothels belonged to high-ranking members of the clergy. Of course, this was kept secret from visitors. In some cities, the brothel owner was required to swear allegiance to the mayor and serve only him. And in Vienna only women could own brothels.
Myth: People were dependent on lords
Villagers were indeed tied to the land on which they lived and were considered the property of the lords. But they could always go to court if they were treated badly. If everything was really bad, then the peasants, with proper luck, could escape to the city and become free, having lived in it for more than a year. But the townspeople were completely independent.
Of course, city dwellers had to obey laws and pay taxes, especially on land. The latter, by the way, went to the lord on whose land the city was located. But at the same time, the residents did not obey the lord, but the city council, which they themselves elected.
Fact: Medieval guilds were very powerful
In the Middle Ages, of course, there were cunning traders trying to sell goods of the wrong kind. But these people worked mainly in cheap markets or in small shops. In serious stores the situation was different.
City merchants were required to belong to a guild. This was beneficial to both parties. Members of the guild could always count on medical and life insurance, as well as benefits for large families or financial assistance in difficult situations. The guilds also financed the construction of churches and preschool education and helped craftsmen find apprentices. In response, guild members pledged to mark their goods with a special sign and strictly adhere to established quality standards. And if the buyer was dissatisfied with the purchased goods, then he could complain to the guild, and the negligent master was obliged to pay compensation.
Fact: Cities had fewer people than villages
Medieval cities were very small compared to modern ones, and the population in them was constantly changing. For example, during fairs, at the expense of traders and travelers, it increased two to three times. But few people actually lived in cities, and there were several reasons for this.
In the cities, despite the curfew, it was still unsafe. In addition, land in the city was very expensive, which means that not everyone could afford to build a house within the city. But the main reason for people's reluctance to live in cities in the Middle Ages was that life in them was essentially useless. In those days, most people were engaged in agriculture, and it was not profitable for them to go to live in the city. So, mostly the rich, artisans and merchants lived in the cities. According to rough estimates, only 12% of people in the Middle Ages were city dwellers.
The life of city residents in the Middle Ages was the most dynamic. The occupations of the townspeople were varied; many people changed their occupation several times throughout their lives, which could not have happened in other medieval classes. Urban artisans and merchants knew how to rally against the feudal lords in defense of their interests, and therefore the cities soon defended a certain freedom and self-government. The townspeople, growing richer, gradually sought greater and greater independence from the feudal lords. A careful attitude towards time and one's freedom is a distinctive feature of the inhabitants of the medieval city. The townspeople imagined the world to be very complex and constantly changing.
Townspeople | Burghers
The bulk of the urban population were burghers (from the German "burg" fortress). They were engaged in trade and craft. Some traded in small things what the residents of the city and surrounding villages needed. And those who were richer were engaged in trade with other regions and countries, where they bought and sold large quantities of goods.
For such trade operations, considerable funds were needed, and among these merchants the main role was played by wealthy people. They owned the best buildings in the city, often made of stone, where their warehouses for goods were located.
The rich had great influence in the city council that governed the city. Together with knights and noble people, some of whom settled in the city, the rich formed the patriciate - this ancient Roman term denoted the city's ruling elite.
Townspeople | Urban poor
Complete equality of all towns n during the Middle Ages was not achieved anywhere. Not the entire population were full-fledged burghers: hired workers, servants, women, the poor, and in some places the clergy did not enjoy the rights of citizens, but even the last beggars remained free people.
The poor in the medieval city were all those who did not have their own real estate and were forced to work for
yum. During the training period, the master's students represented a low-income segment of the population. But they had hope, after completing their studies, to buy a craft workshop, become craftsmen and receive the status of full-fledged burghers. More than
The first was the fate of the apprentices, who worked all their lives as hired workers for the master and received a pittance for this, which was barely enough for food.
The environment was also characterized by extreme poverty
day-long students, whose universities were most often located in urban areas. The poor segments of the urban population include traveling actors, troubadours, and minnesingers. Among the poor there were those who did not work anywhere, but lived off alms that they begged on the church porch.
Reasons for urban growth
1. Agriculture in the X-XI centuries. became more productive, the yields of the peasant farm increased, so the peasant could sell part of the harvest. This allowed people who were not involved in farming to buy food from peasants.
2. The craft improved and became such a complex occupation that only a specially trained person who did not waste time on agriculture could do it. Thus, the separation of crafts from agriculture occurred, and artisans began to create separate settlements, which were cities.
3. Population growth leads to land shortage. Therefore, some people were forced to engage in other activities other than agriculture and move from the village to the city.
City government
At first, power in cities was usually in the hands of the richest citizens: merchants, moneylenders, city landowners and homeowners. This layer was called the patriciate. Patriciate is a narrow layer of the richest and most influential people, a kind of city nobility (in large cities there are usually several dozen families).
But since cities usually stood on the land of some lord, it was this lord who was considered the supreme lord of the city. Therefore, the patricians fought with the feudal lords for their sovereignty in the city. The patriciate used popular movements against the feudal lords to their advantage. But in some cities in the 13th century. in a number of Western European countries, especially in Italy and Germany, the guilds waged a struggle against the patriciate. Historians sometimes call this struggle between the guilds and the local patriciate “guild revolutions.”
The result of the guild movements was that the patriciate was forced to share their power in the city with the most influential guilds (in fact, with the wealthy elite of these guilds). “In those cities where foreign trade was highly developed, the patriciate did not even make this concession, retaining power exclusively in their hands. Such were, for example, the urban patrician republics - Genoa and Venice in Italy, the largest Hanseatic cities - Hamburg, Lubeck and others in Germany.
Food for the townspeople
The townspeople ate a lot of vegetables; the basis of their food was porridge and bread from various types of grains, as well as numerous jelly.
The food of rich townspeople was close to the diet of the nobility. A distinctive feature of the diet of city residents was the consumption of a fairly large amount of imported food, both from rural areas and from other countries. Therefore, exotic products such as sugar, tea or coffee were more often seen on the tables of townspeople.
Cloth
The clothing of the townspeople corresponded to the general direction in the development of clothing in medieval society.
However,since residents of medieval cities more often than villagers communicated with representatives of the nobility and with
merchants who had seen a lot in different parts of the world, their clothes were distinguished by greater elegance and they followed the influences of fashion more closely. the unsanitary conditions of the medieval city also affected his clothesresidents: high wooden shoes were common among townspeople, which allowed city residents not to get their clothes dirty on dirty and dusty city streets.
Culture
Among medieval townspeople, the opinion spread that the most important values in life are:
1 - person's personality
2 - service, position, profession
3 - property, wealth
4 - time of his life
5 - love for neighbors, other Christians
The townspeople believed that the social system should remain unchanged, and no one should try to move to the highest social rank.
In their opinion, earthly life and heaven were not opposed as sharply as they were in the teachings of the monks of the early Middle Ages. On the contrary, the need to perform service, work and get rich was considered the first duty of a Christian before the Lord God.
Harsh living conditions, heavy labor, systematic malnutrition were combined with holidays - folk ones, which dated back to the Pagan past, and church ones, partly based on the same Pagan tradition, but transformed and adapted to the requirements of the church. However, the attitude of the church towards folk, especially peasant, festivals was ambivalent and contradictory.
On the one hand, she was powerless to simply ban them - the people stubbornly clung to them.
It was easier to bring the national holiday closer to the church holiday. On the other hand, throughout the Middle Ages, the clergy and monks, citing the fact that “Christ never laughed,” condemned unbridled fun, folk songs and dances. dancing, the preachers claimed, was invisibly ruled by the devil, and he carried those having fun straight to hell.
And yet, fun and celebration were ineradicable, and the church had to take this into account. knightly tournaments, no matter how askance the clergy looked at them, remained the favorite entertainment of the noble class.
Towards the end of the Middle Ages, a carnival took shape in cities - a holiday associated with seeing off winter and welcoming spring. Instead of unsuccessfully condemning or banning the carnival, clerics chose to take part in it.
During the carnival, all bans on fun were lifted and even religious rituals were ridiculed. At the same time, the participants in the carnival buffoonery understood that such permissiveness was permissible only during the days of the carnival, after which the unbridled fun and all the excesses accompanying it would cease and life would return to its usual course.
However, it happened more than once that, having begun as a fun holiday, the carnival turned into a bloody battle between groups of rich merchants, on the one hand, and artisans and the urban lower classes, on the other.
The contradictions between them, caused by the desire to take over city government and shift the burden of taxes onto opponents, led to the fact that the carnival participants forgot about the holiday and tried to crack down on them. there is with those whom they have long hated.
Medieval Europe was very different from modern civilization: its territory was covered with forests and swamps, and people settled in spaces where they could cut down trees, drain swamps and engage in agriculture. How did peasants live in the Middle Ages, what did they eat and do?
Middle Ages and the era of feudalism
The history of the Middle Ages covers the period from the 5th to the beginning of the 16th century, until the advent of the modern era, and refers mainly to the countries of Western Europe. This period is characterized by specific features of life: the feudal system of relationships between landowners and peasants, the existence of lords and vassals, the dominant role of the church in the life of the entire population.
One of the main features of the history of the Middle Ages in Europe is the existence of feudalism, a special socio-economic structure and method of production.
As a result of internecine wars, crusades and other military actions, kings gave their vassals lands on which they built estates or castles. As a rule, the entire land was donated along with the people living on it.
Dependence of peasants on feudal lords
The rich lord received ownership of all the lands surrounding the castle, on which villages with peasants were located. Almost everything that peasants did in the Middle Ages was taxed. Poor people, cultivating their land and his, paid the lord not only tribute, but also for the use of various devices for processing the crop: ovens, mills, presses for crushing grapes. They paid the tax in natural products: grain, honey, wine.
All peasants were highly dependent on their feudal lord; they practically worked for him as slave labor, eating what was left after growing the crop, most of which was given to their master and the church.
Wars periodically occurred between the vassals, during which the peasants asked for the protection of their master, for which they were forced to give him their allotment, and in the future they became completely dependent on him.
Division of peasants into groups
To understand how peasants lived in the Middle Ages, you need to understand the relationship between the feudal lord and the poor residents who lived in villages in the areas adjacent to the castle and cultivated plots of land.
The tools of peasant labor in the fields in the Middle Ages were primitive. The poorest harrowed the ground with a log, others with a harrow. Later, scythes and pitchforks made of iron appeared, as well as shovels, axes and rakes. From the 9th century, heavy wheeled plows began to be used in the fields, and plows were used on light soils. Sickles and threshing chains were used for harvesting.
All tools of labor in the Middle Ages remained unchanged for many centuries, because the peasants did not have the money to purchase new ones, and their feudal lords were not interested in improving working conditions, they were only concerned about getting a large harvest with minimal costs.
Peasant discontent
The history of the Middle Ages is characterized by constant confrontation between large landowners, as well as feudal relations between rich lords and the impoverished peasantry. This situation was formed on the ruins of ancient society, in which slavery existed, which clearly manifested itself during the era of the Roman Empire.
The rather difficult conditions of how peasants lived in the Middle Ages, the deprivation of their land plots and property, often caused protests, which were expressed in various forms. Some desperate people fled from their masters, others staged massive riots. The rebellious peasants almost always suffered defeat due to disorganization and spontaneity. After such riots, the feudal lords sought to fix the size of duties in order to stop their endless growth and reduce the discontent of the poor people.
The end of the Middle Ages and the slave life of peasants
As the economy grew and manufacturing emerged towards the end of the Middle Ages, the industrial revolution occurred, and many village residents began to move to cities. Among the poor population and representatives of other classes, humanistic views began to prevail, which considered personal freedom for each person an important goal.
As the feudal system was abandoned, an era called the New Time came, in which there was no longer any place for outdated relationships between peasants and their lords.
Popular paintings of the Middle Ages rarely delve deeply into the details of the lives of ordinary people. However, it is these often overlooked moments that can be extraordinary. It seems that modern scholars are beginning to understand that when it comes to the inhabitants of the cities of the Middle Ages, nothing can be taken for granted.
Having long ago given up primitive rural life, people during the Middle Ages had their own rituals and customs and were distinguished by rather complex relationships. It is possible that it is precisely the small everyday details that are most capable of capturing the imagination of a modern person. Simple things could drive society into a deadly frenzy, and the approach to marriage and raising children had little in common with what we have now.
10. Disturbed graves
About 40 percent of burials in medieval Europe show signs of significant damage. Previously, this was blamed on unscrupulous robbers, but recent excavations at two cemeteries showed that it could also be the work of respectable residents. The Austrian cemetery of Brunn am Gebirge contained 42 graves of the Lombards, a sixth-century Germanic tribe. All but one of the graves were damaged, and the nature of the damage was the same everywhere.
Most of the graves were missing skulls. At the same time, in two graves it was noted that the deceased had two skulls. Many bones were mixed using some kind of tool. The motive for these actions is not clear, but it is possible that the residents were trying to prevent the revival of the undead in this way. In addition, there is a version that the Lombards, relatives of the deceased, kept the skulls as a reminder of their loved ones.
In the English cemetery of Winnall II (seventh and eighth centuries), skeletons were bound and decapitated, their legs bent or twisted; in addition, the graves contained “extra” human bones. Initially it was believed that this was part of some unusual funeral rite, but much evidence has been revealed that all the manipulations were carried out much later than the funeral. It is likely that they were carried out for the same purpose - to calm down the restless dead.
9. Marriage was difficult to prove
Getting married in medieval England was easier than tripping over a log. All that was required for marriage was the presence of a man, a woman and their verbal consent to enter into a union. If the girl was already 12 years old and the boy was 14, then no consent from the family was required. And not a single church and not a single priest participated in this process.
People often married anywhere, be it in the local pub or in bed. (Entering sexual relations was automatically considered marriage.) The Church warned against the dangers of such hasty marriage. She warned young men that they should not abuse the trust of girls in order to have sex with them. As a rule, if it came to court proceedings related to marital relations, it was necessary to prove that the wedding actually took place.
If the couple had no witnesses, it was difficult to prove the union was voluntary, which is why the presence of a priest was encouraged. The divorce could take place, first of all, for the reason that the union was never legal. In addition, the reason for divorce could be the discovery that one of the spouses was already married, that the spouses turned out to be relatives (distant family ties were often simply invented), or that one of the spouses was not a Christian.
8. Men were treated for infertility
In the ancient world, if there were no children in the family, the wife was usually blamed. It was assumed that this was the case in medieval England, but researchers have found evidence to the contrary. Starting from the 13th century, it was believed that men could also be the culprits of infertility; the problems of male reproduction were discussed in medical books of that time.
The pages of the books contain very unique recommendations for identifying an infertile partner and methods of treating him. Specifically, both spouses were required to urinate in separate containers of bran, seal them for nine days, and then test them for worms. If it turned out that the husband needed treatment, then several options were proposed for curing him from the “inappropriate seed.” For example, one of the recipes suggested drying pig testicles in the ground, and then drinking them with wine for three days.
Although doctors were sympathetic to infertility in men, medieval courts were less lenient. A wife could divorce her husband if he was impotent.
7. The teenagers who were apprenticed caused a lot of trouble.
In Northern Europe, it was the custom for parents to send their grown-up children as apprentices; the apprenticeship usually lasted for ten years. Thus, the family got rid of an extra mouth, and the master received cheap labor.
Letters from students of those times that have survived to this day show that their life was quite harsh. Some historians believe that the most disobedient were sent as students, as parents hoped that the training would have a positive effect. It is possible that the masters knew about this, so many of them signed a contract on how the student should behave. However, journeymen have become notorious. Being away from their families, they were outraged by their work life and, having associated with the same dissatisfied people, formed youth gangs.
Most often they gambled and visited brothels. In Germany, France and Switzerland, they became rowdy at holidays, disrupted order, and once even staged a city-wide pogrom. Entire battles took place on the streets of London between various guilds, and in 1517 they sacked the city. It is likely that all this happened out of disappointment. Many realized that, despite many years of study, they had no guarantee of future work.
6. Real life of old people in the Middle Ages
In England at the beginning of the Middle Ages, a person aged 50 was already considered old. British scientists described this era as the “golden age” of old people. It was believed that society revered them for their wisdom and experience. In reality, this was not entirely true. Clearly there was no concept of allowing someone to retire in peace, older people had to prove their worth. Society expected them to continue to contribute to older members in return for respect, especially warriors, pious men, and recognized authorities. The soldiers continued to fight and the workers continued to work.
Medieval authors express conflicting opinions about old age. Some agree that older people were spiritual leaders, while others call them "hundred-year-old children." Actually, old age does not deserve good poetry. The texts characterize it as “a foretaste of hell.” Another misconception is that everyone died before reaching old age. Some people continued to live normally even into their eighties or nineties.
5. Daily mortality
In the Middle Ages, not everyone died from violence in society and constant wars. People also died from domestic violence, accidents and too much "active leisure". In 2015, medieval coroner's records for Warwickshire, London and Bedfordshire were examined. The results provided a completely new insight into everyday life in these areas.
There have been real deaths from pig teeth. In 1322, two-month-old Johanna de Irlande died in her crib after a pig bit her on the head. Another pig killed a man in 1394. Several people died due to the fault of cows. But according to coroner records, drowning predominated among accidental deaths. People drowned in ditches, wells and rivers.
There were also murders. One story details how, in 1276, Joana Clarice cut her husband's throat and literally gutted his brains out. Several people died during fights, but just as many people died as a result of falls. People have fallen from trees, rooftops, and just off their feet when they got too drunk. One woman fell from the chair she had stood on while trying to reach a candle. In 1366, John Cook decided to jokingly wrestle his friend, but died the next day from his injuries.
4. London was considered one of the worst places
Speaking of violence, suffice it to say that no one wanted to move their families to London. It was the most violent city in England. Archaeologists have pondered over the 399 skulls, dating from 1050 to 1550. They belonged to representatives of different social classes and were collected from six different London cemeteries. Almost seven percent of them had suspicious physical injuries. Most of them belonged to people aged 26 to 35 from the poorest strata of society. The cemeteries revealed that there was twice as much violence as in any other region, with working-class men often being the victims of the most extreme form of aggression.
The coroners' notes also gave some insight into the life of that time. An unrealistically large number of murders occurred on Sunday evenings, when most people from the poorer classes were in taverns. It is likely that drunken arguments often had fatal results. In addition, only the upper classes could afford lawyers or participate in fights where both sides had the opportunity to defend themselves. The rest had to settle differences or take revenge through informal methods.
3. Predilections of medieval readers
In the 15th-16th centuries, religion permeated all spheres of people’s lives. Prayer books were especially popular. Using a technique that calculates the number of impressions on the surface of pages, art historians realized that the dirtier a page, the more readers were attracted to its content.
To understand what the preferences of the time were, as well as the possible reasons for this, several prayer books were reviewed. The most polluted pages showed that medieval Europeans were not so different from each other. One manuscript contained a prayer dedicated to Saint Sebastian, which was said to save from the plague. This prayer was reread many times - apparently by those who feared illness. Much attention was also paid to various prayers for personal salvation - much more than prayers for the salvation of others.
These prayer books were kept in many homes and read daily. However, there is one funny detail. Only the first pages of all the books turned out to be the most worn. Apparently, reading them was enough to make people sleepy.
2. In the Middle Ages, cats were skinned
A 2017 study found that tanning cat skins was quite common in Spain. This applied to both wild and domestic cats.
1000 years ago El Bordelle was a peasant village. Among its many medieval finds are pits believed to have been used for storing crops. But some of them contained animal bones, and a surprisingly large number of them, about 900 skeletons, belonged to cats. They were all in the same pit. Analysis of the bones showed that they belonged to individuals between nine and twenty months old - this is the best age for obtaining a large and intact skin. Another evidence of the skinning of cats were marks on the bones. They are characteristic of the tools with which skins were usually skinned.
This may make pet lovers cringe, but cats were also killed in Northern Europe to make clothing from their skins. However, researchers believe that in El Bordell cats could also be killed as part of a religious ritual. A horse skull, a chicken egg and a goat horn were also found in the pit with cat skeletons. All these items were often used in magical medieval rituals.
1. Striped clothes could get you killed
Stripes come back into fashion every few years, but at the time, such a smart suit could lead to death. In 1310, a French shoemaker decided to wear striped clothes during the day and was sentenced to death for this decision. The man didn't quite understand that the stripes signified being part of the devil, and he became a victim of the city's clergy.
Respectable citizens were to avoid stripes at all costs. The evidence base in documents of the 12th and 13th centuries shows that the authorities strictly adhered to this position. Striped clothing was to be worn by the most degraded prostitutes, executioners, lepers, heretics and, for certain reasons, jesters. Even the disabled, illegitimate children, Jews and Africans were exempt from wearing stripes.
Where this hatred of stripes came from remains a mystery. Why not spots or cage? No theory can adequately explain the connection between Satan and the stripes. One rather far-fetched explanation refers to the line from the Bible: “You will not wear an article of clothing that is made up of two.” It's possible that someone's medieval brain interpreted this passage as a reference to the stripes. But whatever the reason, by the 18th century this intolerance had passed.
Peasants | Life of peasants
Housing
Over most of Europe, the peasant house was built of wood, but in the south, where this material was in short supply, it was more often made of stone. Wooden houses were covered with straw, which was suitable for feeding livestock in hungry winters. The open hearth slowly gave way to a stove. Small windows were closed with wooden shutters and covered with bubble wrap or leather. Glass was used only in churches, among lords and the city's rich. Instead of a chimney, there was often a hole in the ceiling, and when they burned, smoke filled the room. During the cold season, often both the peasant’s family and his livestock lived nearby - in the same hut.
People in villages usually got married early: the marriageable age for girls was often considered 12 years old, for boys 14 - 15 years old. Many children were born, but even in wealthy families, not all lived to adulthood.
Nutrition
Crop failures and famine were constant companions of the Middle Ages. Therefore, the food of the medieval peasant was never plentiful. The usual was two meals a day - morning and evening. The daily food of the majority of the population was bread, cereals, boiled vegetables, grain and vegetable stews, seasoned with herbs, onions and garlic. In the south of Europe, olive oil was added to food, in the north - beef or pork fat, butter was known, but was used very rarely. People ate little meat, beef was very rare, pork was consumed more often, and in mountainous areas - lamb. Almost everywhere, but only on holidays, they ate chickens, ducks, and geese. They ate quite a lot of fish, because 166 days a year were during fasting, when eating meat was prohibited. Of the sweets, only honey was known; sugar appeared from the East in the 18th century, but was extremely expensive and was considered not only a rare delicacy, but also a medicine.
In medieval Europe they drank a lot, in the south - wine, in the north - mash until the 12th century, and later, after the use of the plant was discovered. hops - beer. It should be canceled that heavy alcohol consumption was explained not only by commitment to drunkenness, but also by necessity: ordinary water, which was not boiled, because pathogenic microbes were not known, caused stomach diseases. Alcohol became known around the year 1000, but was used only in medicine.
Constant malnutrition was compensated for by super-abundant treats on holidays, and the nature of the food practically did not change; they cooked the same thing as every day (maybe they just gave more meat), but in larger quantities.
Cloth
Until the XII - XIII centuries. the clothes were surprisingly monotonous. The clothes of commoners and nobles differed slightly in appearance and cut, even, to a certain extent, men's and women's, excluding, of course, the quality of fabrics and the presence of decorations. Both men and women wore long, knee-length shirts (such a shirt was called a kameez), and short pants - bra. Over the kameez, another shirt made of thicker fabric was worn, which went down slightly below the waist - blio. In the XII - XIII centuries. Long stockings - highways - are spreading. Men's blio sleeves were longer and wider than women's. Outerwear was a cloak - a simple piece of fabric draped over the shoulders, or penula - a cloak with a hood. Both men and women wore pointed ankle boots on their feet; curiously, they were not divided into left and right.
In the 12th century. changes in clothing are planned. Differences also appear in the clothing of the nobility, townspeople and peasants, which indicates the isolation of classes. The distinction is indicated primarily by color. The common people had to wear clothes of soft colors - gray, black, brown. The female blio reaches to the floor and the lower part of it, from the hips, is made of a different fabric, i.e. something like a skirt appears. These skirts of peasant women, unlike those of the nobility, were never particularly long.
Throughout the Middle Ages, peasant clothing remained homespun.
In the 13th century The blio is replaced by tight-fitting woolen outerwear - cotta. With the spread of earthly values, interest in the beauty of the body appears, and new clothes emphasize the figure, especially of women. Then, in the 13th century. Lace spreads, including among peasants.
Tools
Agricultural tools were common among peasants. These are, first of all, a plow and a plow. The plow was more often used on light soils of the forest belt, where the developed root system did not allow deep turning of the soil. The plow with an iron share, on the contrary, was used on heavy soils with relatively smooth terrain. In addition, the peasant farm used various types of harrows, sickles for reaping grain and flails for threshing it. These tools remained virtually unchanged throughout the medieval era, as noble lords sought to receive income from peasant farms at minimal cost, and the peasants simply did not have the money to improve them.
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