This article touches on the religious obligation issues but I feel it doesn't go far enough. In the middle ages, you were religiously required to get up in the

This article touches on the religious obligation issues but I feel it doesn't go far enough. In the middle ages, you were religiously required to get up in the middle of the night to say a set of prayers. This practice was mandated by the authorities and failure to comply was not regarded well. Articles about medieval first and second sleep tend to present this practice as if it is a natural human practice found in all cultures before the modern world. The specific manifestation of first and second sleep in this era in europe though is clearly a result of authoritarian mandates of behavior that should not be neglected.