Life in a Medieval Village

During the middle ages, the majority of people lived in rural villages rather than urban cities or large towns.
But what was everyday life like in a medieval village?

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Credit:
Created by Daniel Turner

Narrator:

Chris Kane

Music Credit:

Baer, Ann. Medieval Woman: Village Life in the Middle Ages. Michael O’Mara Books, 2012.

Bennett, H. S. Life on the English Manor: A Study of Peasant Conditions 1150-1400. Cambridge University Press, 1937.

Coulton, G. G. The Medieval Village. Courier Corporation, 2012.

Dyer, Christopher. Everyday Life in Medieval England. Hambledon; London: A&C Black, 2000.

Dyer, Christopher. “The English Medieval Village Community and Its Decline.” Journal of British Studies 33, no. 4 (October 1994): 407–29.

Newman, Paul B. Daily Life in the Middle Ages. McFarland, 2018.

Rosenthal, Joel T. Social Memory in Late Medieval England: Village Life and Proofs of Age. Cham, SWITZERLAND: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2017.

[kendrickrochelanzot]

I strongly believe that the reason why the priest animation repeated 3 times was so SH can flex on how smooth the animation was XD

[areguycole]

The peasants also made mud piles and were excellent philosophers on whether or not being handed a sword makes you a ruler

[VelocistarAnimations]

Just here to say that yes, medieval people did wash, usually in cold water in clean streams or rivers, or with a bowl of water, and many people would use soap as well. Also, they cleaned their teeth most of the time with a cloth or a stick called 'miswak'. They would also chew mint leaves to have better breath. The fact that they didn't eat loads of sugar meant they didn't have rotten teeth. So yes, they were clean!

[weredrgn]

Peasants and serfs didn't worked all day. They started early and finished late, but they had a lot of breaks in between, so a real full day of work was considered two work days. They also had a lot of festivals and religious holidays. It was the industrial revolution that increased the average work time (to around 16 hours), as production demands increased.

[BioChemistryWizard]

It should be noted that peasants being always dirty is a myth. Bath houses were common in villages across Europe. And also there were many time periods where peasasnts worked less than 40 hours a week.

[ijmillares]

Life in a medieval village revolves around collecting resources to advance to the next age, quick walling with house when their is a raid.

[NotBagusCarlvito]

Hours of playing Kingdom Come has taught me all of this

[The-Plaguefellow]

All I know about Medieval Village life is that it's always "almost" Harvesting Season. At least from what the peasants keep telling me before I pillage them.

[Kntucky]

Villagers in real time: *happy and joyful times*

Villagers in movies: *depress and sadness*

[theemeraldfalcon]

I live in a village that's been around since around the mid-medieval age, and a fair amount of people here still live in older houses dating as far back as the 1600's in some parts, and it still has many of the guard towers and castles in the surrounding area for the other villages and towns nearby.

[fairysniper]

How convenient, I’m literally in a History lesson learning about the Medieval age

[imakebadcontent]

According to cliche’s, life in a medieval village also has a dragon destroying villages

[AleQuag]

Medieval times: City life is the dream!
Modern times: I just wanna live a simple calm life in the country...

[I_cant_aim]

Medieval: we are hard working and very poor
Modern day: *WANNA SEE MY HIGHLY SECURED AUTOMATIC CHICKEN FARM*

[littlejimmy]

This time period interests me most. I'd love to live in a village during that time . Definitely not forever and minus the plague but it would be cool to see.

[Sargon]

I used to be interested in medieval when I was younger. Used to read about castles, knights, etc. But none of those books talked about what it was like for the civilian population.

[kevinnguyen]

Fun fact:

Alchemists in the middle ages made potions of healing, potions of leaping, potions of invisibility and so on.

[Austrian_Butcher]

To be honest, Farm life until the 50s didn't look much different.

[Icebergeification]

Something I need to clarify. Peasant meals were actually very hearty and healthy for you and often contained fish meat as well as being seasoned by garden herbs and pork would have been available in the winter months when the fish were not available

[thedownfallparodist]

Medieval Times: Let's Make Villages
Modern Times: We Are Okay