Surviving Winter in the Middle Ages...

How did people live and die during the harshest months of the year? How did they stay warm? What did they eat? How did they keep themselves entertained in an age before modern day luxuries like electric blankets, double glazing, and Netflix? The onset of the Little Ice Age, between 1300 until about 1870 meant that the long, dark winters of the Late Middle Ages were colder and more dangerous. With starvation and death from illness always threatening to strike, winter was a frightening time. Welcome to Medieval Madness.

0:00 Introduction
0:54 Houses
2:54 Clothing
4:34 Weather
6:30 Food
8:14 The Great Famine
9:10 Entertainment

Narrated by James Wade
Written by Lisa E Rawcliffe
Edited by James Wade & Adam Longster

Thank you for watching.

Copyright © 2022 Top5s All rights reserved. In this video, we've compiled information from a variety of sources, including documentaries, books, and websites, all with the aim of providing an engaging viewing experience. While we strive to ensure accuracy, we acknowledge that there may be variations in the authenticity of the content. We encourage viewers to delve deeper and conduct their own research to corroborate the information presented.

[SubjectiveFunny]

The fact that we are alive because all our ancestors survived these times always blows my mind.
We owe them everything.

[Sally]

As a middle aged man myself .
I felt this.

[jaxonlindsey]

Prior to the early-mid 20th century, life in northern parts of Europe and America was practically spent preparing for winter. If it wasn't winter, you were generally preparing for winter. Gathering firewood, fur, harvesting grain, hunting for meat, maintaining the structural integrity of the home during the warmer months, and during winter, hunkering down with the provisions you've gathered. If you did a poor job, the likelihood of survival would go down. Life in a way revolved around winter.

[Lee-jhcr]

In the fall of 2011 my furnace needed a new part not in stock. I went just over a week with a small space heater. Wore heavy clothes & spent time with my heating pad. I was waiting for my new job to start, so nowhere warm to hang for any length of time. When the furnace was repaired, I found it too warm for awhile. I'd gotten used to the chill - but given a choice - God bless my furnace!

[MrNegativecreep]

So in medieval times people shivered in their homes because they couldn't afford to heat them, but in 2022

[h.a.]

It's kind of surreal when you think about it. Our homes today make Winter a mere inconvenience that we have to endure in between moving from our homes to whatever other place we go to... and in between, our travels are most likely effortless and reasonably comfortable due to traveling by bus, train or car.
We've reached a point where people genuinely go outside to "enjoy" the cold, go for a walk and look at frozen trees and such.

A few hundred years ago, it was a battle for survival. I've always wondered what it was like to live in a castle in the 13th or 14th century and during Winter, it must have been miserable.

[nat]

I lived in my van for 2 northern New England winters, and while I was basically freezing to death, I would think of my peasant ancestors and everything they had to endure. It actually gave me the strength to carry on. I live indoors now but will always be grateful for their tremendous sacrifices. Sometimes you don't know what you have going until it goes away.

[togsikmale]

I live in a house in the alps at 1300 meters above sea that was built in 1366, which I am renovating myself.
While working there, it always astonishes me how people were able to live under these conditions.

[moomyung]

That pic of the Scandinavian guys skiing with a baby is a famous incident in early 1200s Norway where an heir to a contested throne had to be brought from the countryside to his party's controlled area before the opposing part seized the throne or killed the baby. So two guys had to ski the hundred of miles in winter with a baby. There's a super cool movie about it called The Last King.

[StrikeTheRoot]

If you're of European heritage. You should be proud that your ancestors not only survived but were able to produce offspring during this time. Either they were wealthy or strong. Either way, Kudos to them for making it so that I could be born.

[raarnt]

I have so much respect for my ancestors for living in these medieval days. Thankful for my fully heated home and all the luxuries modern comforts provide

[paulcharpentier]

I still cut all my own firewood to keep myself warm in my old shack in the forest that's how I get through the winter and keep warm also I grow my own food so if you don't mind root vegetables and stews and soups you can get by it's not glamorous but it's fine with me I have a radio but no tv. But have my cell phone so i can watch stuff on YouTube and that im grateful for. Thank you for this presentation.

[Black-Sun_Kaiser]

Even with all the goings-on this is definitely the golden age of human civilization. Enjoy your life, it has never and probably will never be as good as what we're enjoying now. Be grateful, love on those you care about every chance you get. When I'm not at work I'm with my children and partner every moment of every day. It's truly an amazing blessing, love is the only thing worth having in this world. My partner had to have a c section with our first born and just thinking.. not that long ago I would've lost them both right then and there 100%. My quality of life is phenomenal. Make your happiness and hold it tight. Life is fleeting and in this age we actually have a chance to enjoy it far more than all of our ancestors did.

[Divine_Will_Be_Done]

I spent a year in a garden shed in France, in 1995.
I very quickly changed my clothes. Lots of thick layers (long dresses) made from blankets was the only way to not freeze.
Shower and toilet were outside.
No fire.
Now, December 2022, Europe has many people freezing in their homes.
My prayers are with them (I have returned to Africa.)

[bvanzetti]

Thank you for including the vast majority of the population, the common people, in your historical perspective. One gets weary of always hearing about the lives of the wealthy and royalty, who in reality make up such a small part of the human experience.

[jrjubach]

The great famine actually greatly contributed to why the plague of the mid-1340s was so bad. Children born during a famine will ultimately develop weaker immune system during those crucial times in their lives. That definitely happened during the great famine. Fast-forward 30 years and everyone gets sick with plague. An entire age group with a weakened immune system on top of the other factors at play (rats, etc.) led to how horribly successful the bubonic plague got to be.

[Maus_Indahaus]

More than half of this still applies to some people in remote areas of my country, especially mountain villages

[MelliaBoomBot]

And the most amazing part is that our ancestors survived all this so WE would be able to watch this. How special and incredible is that? ♥️

[barbaraarndt]

In the Black Forest it was common to have the stables underneath the living area. Kept them warm. Beautiful big houses with enormous roofs.

[lynnfisher]

It only stank indoors for someone visiting and probably not even noticed. When you stink or are living in it, your smell and those in your dwelling are no longer noticed by you. The analogy of the fish market will work nicely in this scenario. When you first enter the market the smell is overpowering but if you worked there everyday you would no longer notice it.
We are so fortunate to be living in a time where we can not only survive but thrive in the winter. Even Inuit learned how to survive constant killer cold before any life-saving inventions.