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Counterpoint [0]: > Plowing and harvesting were backbreaking toil, but the peasant enjoyed anywhere from eight weeks to half the year off. The Church, mindful
by TechBro8615 4y ago
Counterpoint [0]:
> Plowing and harvesting were backbreaking toil, but the peasant enjoyed anywhere from eight weeks to half the year off. The Church, mindful of how to keep a population from rebelling, enforced frequent mandatory holidays ... In fact, economist Juliet Shor found that during periods of particularly high wages, such as 14th-century England, peasants might put in no more than 150 days a year.
[0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-column-great-debate/column-why-a-medieval-peasant-got-more-vacation-time-than-you-idUKBRE97S0KU20130829 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-column-great-debate/colum...
- klibertp 4y agoOh, interesting. Isn't it only off from farming? I thought that's where making roads and dying in wars came in. But it's also true they had to have at least some free time to mate.
- TechBro8615 4y agoMy larger point is to question the premise that the only measure of "better life" is "fewer working hours."