What was medieval camp life like for an archer on campaign during the Hundred Years War?

In this video, Kevin Hicks explores what medieval camp life was like for an archer on campaign during the Hundred Years War. He looks at where the archer would have slept, what he was paid, what he ate and some of the social activities they may have participated in.

#Medieval #history #archery #historychannel #medievalhistory #middleages #Medievallife
#bowman #hundredyearswar

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Book mention: Vegetius: Epitome of Military Science translated with notes by N.P Milner.

[danielharris]

This channel is such a gem. I love the anecdotes, theories, and educated assumptions. Those bits you can't get in a book make it so much more personal. I didn't even know what pottage was until now. The passion in this channel is tangible. 10/10

[BekTrain]

I’m glad that you’re whipping covid’s butt. Rest and be well storyteller!

[TheSourKraut]

Can we all appreciate the amount of work that goes into making these amazing models? Models who are then brought to life by a great, dedicated (and always appropriately dressed) storyteller.

What a nice change from the many (often good) videos, that feel "cheap" because of generally mediocre animations and, too often, lackluster voiceover narration (or worse: text to speech, emotionless commentary).

Thank you for infusing every one of your presentations with your genuine enthusiasm.

[RichWoods]

The pottage story reminded me of an American friend who said that her grandmother in Kentucky had always kept a stock pan of soup on the back burner of the kitchen stove, and that it had never been completely emptied since the house was first built in the final decade or two of the nineteenth century. Day after day, it would have all the vegetable and meat trimmings thrown into it as meals were prepared, then be topped up with stock or water and left to simmer gently so that nothing went to waste. Until the house was connected to the electricity grid in the 1980s the stove would almost always be burning, constantly in winter to keep the kitchen warm and push warm air into the rest of the house, or at other times of the year fed as needed to boil the kettle, to bake breakfast biscuits and bread, and to cook the other daily meals.

[Hirosada]

Regarding the neverending stewpot, I did something like that a few years ago over the course of a winter with a slow cooker. I never turned it off, and every other morning or so, I would toss something new into it before I left for work. Potatoes here, a squash there, different meats, etc. It went from beef to pork, to chicken, to seafood, back to pork again, and was just generally a glorious pot of hodgepodge stew. I kept it going for about five month, and only ended it because I'd forgotten to add more liquid to it during a particularly bad week when the riots had gotten bad enough that I couldn't get home for four days. It had already been low before that, so when I came home, it was to find a layer of baked on carbon at the bottom of the pot. If it hadn't been for that, I very well could have kept it going indefinitely, so the two hundred year old pottage story is actually plausible; you'd just need to keep a very close eye on it.

[phillipallen]

Sorry to hear you were sick, glad to hear you're getting better. I would think that the personalities of camp life back then would not be much different than now aside from the technology. They were mostly young men, mostly not well off and looking to go home at their earliest convenience. I think camp life would look similar going back to the earliest military campaigns and forward until the end of civilization.

[Specter_]

The reason you could keep pottage or other stews going for months on end is because you’re keeping it hot enough to prevent bacteria growth. Bacteria multiplies most between 40°F and 140°F, so if you keep it well over 140°, such as a simmering stew, it’ll stay relatively safe to eat.

[glynnwadeson]

The potage bowl that was left heated for ages…I came across this in Italy a few years ago, when visiting an Italian friend who lived in a mediaeval fortified farm in Tuscany. We had a fantastic ‘stew’ from a huge pan left on the fire all the time. Veg and beans and meat were just added and the whole thing kept going. Fantastically tasty and no ill effects whatsoever!

[blindarchershaunhenderson]

There is a small village near Crawley in East Sussex called Peas Pottge supposedly they served Pease pottage continuously from the 1950s until 2000, the village itself has existed since the 15th century and get its name from the pottage it served to travellers between London and Brighton 😎🏹🙏

[davidstrother]

Camp life had to be sort of "ordinary", especially during the down time. A soldier, or archer had to be healthy to be ready to fight. Not coddled for sure, but comfortable as conditions would allow. I'm sorry you were ill, but glad to know you are well on recovery. Thanks, and Cheers from Texas.

[Adam_okaay]

The pottage pot your talking about is often referred to as a community pot. Common all over Europe during the middle ages from Bohemia to France to England. I don't know specifically about the 200 year pot. but it was a point of pride for how long an inn, tavern, or pub could keep one going. Locals could pay for a bowl by bringing scraps to throw in the pots.

[thenightangel]

Love British history. My grandfather was called Percy Hawkett. He showed me a Roman pilum spear that he found. I train in sword and recurve bow. I love that stuff.

[YorkistRaven]

Great video, Mr. Hicks! This camp set-up surely evolved quickly over time for high efficiency. Choosing a camp site would be the first consideration, and the good camps had to have a lot in common. Any practices that cost excess time, money or lives would rapidly fall out of use. The book you mention Vegetius's "De Re Militari" -- I have a copy. I was interested to find that it was in King Richard III's personal library. I'm glad you are feeling better! 🐗👑

[randalthor]

This is exactly the type of topic I love to see on this channel... Other ones, like discussions of battles or whatever, are good too, but videos on topics like this that get into the nitty gritty everyday details you don't usually hear about are my favourites.

[als]

Sorry to hear you got sick, but happy to see you recovering. Good to hear. And offering us another lovely video. A week after I went to a Revolutionary War camp. (Amazing how little changes over time)

Really neat to see the figures for burial and all the little details.

[FirstoftheAbyss]

Hope you get well soon
This was very interesting. I was for example unaware of the origin of the word harbinger.
And yes, I am fairly confident that medieval life in general and medieval camp-life in particular would have been far more pleasant and clean than it often is portrayed. That said diseases where unfortunately a major threat so I suspect that it often would have been balancing upon a particular fine edge.

[hadrianwall]

You are an invaluable wealth of knowledge, Mr. Hicks.
The camp model is truly a wonder. I imagine it to be a super fun time putting one of those together.

[vinny]

7:35 "It had been going for 200 years."

That seems unlikely to say the least, just the fact that a pot won't last that long, let alone the fact that it's guaranteed that somebody will let it boil dry or just burn the contents.

Anyway, boiling the food doesn't keep it safe, the ingredients will still degrade to a point where it's probably not a good idea to eat it anymore so they'd have to replace the entire contents of the pot every few days. (the entire pot has to be above 80 degrees to kill most bacteria and some simply don't die from boiling at all)

Anyway, it's a cool legend and it would be interesting to know more about that.

[TAMKILL]

Wish a quick recovery! Glad to hear you’re doing well/better.

I’d love to see a video on medieval food one day. An average soldier to commanders (or commonfolk)

[TheOnceMoreGaming]

So glad you are recovering!

I got covid before I could get the shot. Took me out for 2 solid months. Hospitalized for a few hours at one point.

Not fun.

This is a serious sickness, people need to take it seriously.