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The way I was taught, it sucked to be a peasant in the medieval ages. They had to work for their masters AND the church, before working for themselves. Whatever
by GFischer 10y ago
The way I was taught, it sucked to be a peasant in the medieval ages. They had to work for their masters AND the church, before working for themselves. Whatever little they kept could be bartered, I guess. But I definitely wouldn't call it "a great time to live".
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval-england/the-lifestyle-of-medieval-peasants/ http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval-england/the-li...
- JoeAltmaier 10y agoThey paid a tithe (tenth?) to the king and a quarter to their lord? I pay much more than that in taxes today. But of course my standard of living is orders of magnitude more settled and safe. Infrastructure, law and order, soap, the germ theory of disease all work to make me likely to live to my allotted lifespan.
- mark_l_watson 10y agore: "a great time to be alive": compared to the later "enlightenment" period were serfs were separated from the results of their hard work. Douglas Rushkoff talks about this in his very nice book "Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus." The author of "The Crash of 2016" also talks about how serfs were better off during the Dark Ages.