The Harsh Life of a Medieval Farmer…

🏴‍☠️ Check out our new channel all about the history of the Golden Age of Piracy, Walk The Plank here: / @walktheplank9223
It has been argued that during the Middle Ages, up to 85% of the population were peasants. Their working day was long, hard, and extremely difficult. For some their day of backbreaking labour could begin as early as three o’clock in the morning during the summer. If you were lucky or unlucky enough (depending on your point of view) to avoid the high rate of infant mortality and the constant threat of deadly disease then as a medieval peasant farmer you had an exhausting, cruel, and short life to look forward to. Welcome to Medieval Madness.
0:00 Introduction
1:09 The Majority
Does Not Rule
1:58 Oh Lordy
4:48 Interior Design
5:36 Man’s Work
6:42 Women’s Work
8:40 Dangerous Times
🎶🎶 Music by CO.AG: / @co.agmusic
Narrated by James Wade
Written by Lisa E Rawcliffe
Edited by James Wade & Adam Longster
Thank you for watching.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement is intended. If you are, or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please email us at [e-mail]
Copyright © 2022 Top5s All rights reserved. In this video, we've compiled information from a variety of sources, including documentaries, books, and websites, all with the aim of providing an engaging viewing experience. While we strive to ensure accuracy, we acknowledge that there may be variations in the authenticity of the content. We encourage viewers to delve deeper and conduct their own research to corroborate the information presented.

[@TheBanjoShowOfficial]

Peasants, serfs, by whatever name we called them, we must remember every single one of them for if it were not for them, none of us would be here today. They suffered so that we may live better lives. Honor your ancestors, even if not known by name.

[@Parlimant_Strifey]

you are still one right now, stop fooling yourself. Right, you listen to the programming from controlled corpo-homo media and the educational institutes that are literally created in order to enslave you.

[@ma-moomoo]

Okay! Sounds good

[@pinkpugginz]

now we're the peasants

[@kiribunshin4824]

Mmmm time to enjoy some medieval suffering 😆

[@Literarydilettante]

Word

[@Artanissnow]

😂😂😂

[@margaretf667]

It's a welcome break from my late stage capitalism suffering.

[@backalleycqc4790]

As opposed to 21st Century suffering, where some dick boss gets paid a thousand times more than you and you don't access to universal healthcare? 🤔

[@McRcFly]

Probably better times than this clown world we live in now.

[@higglety230]

I wonder if most people watching realize that so many of the images used to illustrate medieval history videos aren't actually from the Middle Ages.

[@frankmitchell3594]

notably the potato harvest

[@dekae2631]

🤯

[@petehealy9819]

Yes, many or most of those paintings are from the 19c and, arguably, very romanticized. Also, potatoes weren't introduced to Europe until the late 1500s, and took decades to become accepted.

[@civilengineer3349]

@petehealy9819 Which of the paintings are "romanticised"? Most of them are just showing the country life from their respective time period

[@Scrapper.]

As I sit here - quaffing a whiskey or several, toking on a dooby, munching chocolate - while watching this video on my massive-assed TV, I think to myself how fortunate most of us are today, compared with the mediaeval folk. Great video. Cheers. Respect from Ireland.

[@Poodleinacan]

Lmao they should have been born in our current era. What a bunch of plebs. But fr though, even if today is not perfect in our nicer countries, it certainly is better than even 100 years ago.

[@tylermatchett9144]

Anytime I want to complain about life, I just see the stuff these people had to deal with through your videos and it shuts me right up

[@toad9964]

logging into youtube to find a new one of these videos is pretty exciting! Love this channel.

[@grapeshot]

I remember watching a documentary entitled .The Day In The Life Of A Medieval Peasant. It debunked a number of modern-day ideals about medieval peasantry.

[@JamesFromTexas]

I think I saw that or something pretty close to it. Even though we have misconstrued ideas about medieval life it would have sucked comparatively.

[@sabrinatscha2554]

Yeah, everybody always talks about how terrible everything was back then and while I definitely agree that it was worse in many ways, I also feel like it is grossly exaggerated. They like to depict people as having been thoroughly miserable, but in all honesty I think they were just tougher

[@tpimp4678]

@@JamesFromTexas over exaggerated? Life back then in nearly every aspect was worse than what we experience today

[@JamesFromTexas]

@@tpimp4678 who said over exaggerated? Your just repeating what I already said 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[@DG-iw3yw]

Yeah. All those butter and jam sandwiches, poor peasants

[@DanCooper404]

I love that you included "sinned." 🤣

[@sophieb.8115]

A channel dedicated to pirates? My dream come true

[@inr63]

I forget the name of it, and it is technically focused on the Tudor period, but there’s an excellent docu-series with Ruth Goodman that give fascinating view on what it was like to live during such times! Her, and a couple other historians, take on life for several months living as they would have; they’ve got a few actually, focusing on different periods in history. I feel all of them are so enthralling!

[@DC-id2ih]

Totally agree....I've seen a few of the documentaries featuring Ruth Goodman, Peter Ginn and Alex Langlands and they are really good....I think the one you might be referring to is "Tales from the Green Valley" where they bring an early 17th century farm back to life.....Ruth and Peter also participated in a doc called "Secrets of the Castle" which explored the planning, infrastructure, and technology required to build a 13th century castle....the site where the doc was filmed - Guedelon Castle, France - is an on-going experimental archeology project...and (according to Wikipedia) some of the medieval techniques redeveloped at Guedelon are actually being used to help restore Notre Dame cathedral...

[@inr63]

@@DC-id2ih - yes, that’s the one! I’ve seen them all, I think. There’s a fourth historian too; they’re just all so great. Awesome to share the appreciation with you, and thanks for the insight on Notre Dame - I did know!

[@Shineon83]

Really? I heartily dislike those play-acting series. They always seem so forced & unnatural to me…..

[@inr63]

@@Shineon83 - in general, I’d agree with you, but anything with Ruth Goodman, specifically, comes off as nothing but fun, insightful, and authentic to me. Her passion is palpable [imo]

[@annearky]

Tudor Monastery Farm! Love that show, Ruth Goodman is the best.

[@monicacall7532]

Your channel got me very interested in doing a deep dive into Medieval life, culture, music and dance, architecture, church life, Crusades, etc. It’s been fascinating all thanks to you.

[@gregmonks]

Not mentioned here is that farmers burned out the land in those days because crop rotation had not yet been invented.

[@atingeofsalt_]

Love the vids man, would love to see a video about trade in the markets haggling and that sort of thing, fish trade, goods, bread jewelry etc

[@TheAstrobiologistOW]

Currently taking a class at my university about the life of the lower classes in medieval times. It's actually crazy how awful the quality of life was, at least by the standards of most people in modern developed countries.

[@Wasserkaktus]

The quality of life of lower classes was abysmal pretty much everywhere for almost all of human history until the advent of the Industrial Age.

[@feiryfella]

Biggest cause of accidental death was drowning! You should do a video on that!

[@bollockjohnson6156]

in water?

[@Shineon83]

Yeah, that’s my understanding, as well, with women representing the majority of victims (usually by being dragged under by sodden skirts after falling into a lake or river while either fetching water or while washing clothes)….Male drownings appear to have had more to do with inebriation, according to the death rolls….

[@toomanymarys7355]

​@@Shineon83 And mucking about around mill ponds. Read old primers from the late 1800s, even. They about not being mean to the disabled, poor, or animals and not playing around mill ponds or on thin ice!

[@feiryfella]

@@Shineon83 Plus people not knowing how to swim!

[@TCsGirl]

I watched a documentary that demonstrated the perils of drowning during the times of women wearing heavy woolen clothing. They put an Olympic swimmer in a woolen dress along with other traditional underwear and put her in a river. The clothes absorbed the water and became so heavy that she struggled to get out of the water! Drowning totally makes sense!

[@AlumniQuad]

3:50 Amazing! European peasants harvested potatoes centuries before their introduction from the New World!

[@happygardener28]

During the medieval period there were many church holy days that meant days of rest after mass/services, which modern societies don't observe. The smoke filtering through the thatch made the roof unappealing to insects and animals. Many serfs would use a rag and water to wash (not nearly as nice as a tub of hot water though). I do however consider the medieval period much more dangerous as it was far more likely that a small town or village would be attacked.

[@joseybryant7577]

I gotta say, terrible living conditions, but it is nice how much community was emphasized. All coming together to harvest crops and such.

[@apostalote]

Community was not ‘emphasized’ you simply could not survive without community

[@wookie-zh7go]

threat of starving to death generally promotes working hard, and if needed together

[@jonathanandrew2909]

No tv or newspaper back then. If you wanted stimulation it was either: read a book, or go talk to someone.

[@asiblingproduction]

​@@jonathanandrew2909except alot of people couldnt read so they could only really think about the bible™️ interpreted by the priest™️

[@scotcheggable]

It always confuses me when some idiots talk about how great peasants had it compared to modern workers under capitalism.

[@raminMTL]

What in the hell are you blathering about

[@stevencooper4422]

7:28 the peasant family wouldn't notice the stench much, as living with it constantly would make one nose blind to the common smells. Kind of like how you don't realize how smoky your clothes smell after camping.

[@john-ic5pz]

Noticed this as a kid. Went with dad to install a flood light for a local cow farm....asked the owner that the smell didn't bother him. He smiled and said give it a mintue. Ten minutes later I could not smell them anymore. 🤯

[@jazztheglass6139]

I went to Lagos as a kid. The smell of the city was incredibly bad. After a week, you stopped noticing it. Week 3 we went to a village in the bush the air was fresh and clean. We then returned to Lagos the smell of the city was worse than ever

[@SpiritWolf1966]

I enjoy all of MedievalMadness videos

[@christinehazard9641]

Thank you for thus channel!

[@Voirreydirector]

Excellent hierarchy graphics to start, hon, way to go!

[@ae2948]

You probably didn't mean to talk about 1200's Europe then show a clip of potatoes.

[@nobodyatall7438]

Good content as always.

[@MissMentats]

Whaaaaat! They didn’t call themselves peasants? That’s…. I have to reevaluate everything I know

[@NathanDudani]

Paisan

[@cigarettebutt8812]

Love your videos man

[@kennedyhalfdollar]

Hey MedievalMadness! Will you ever talk about music in the medieval times?

[@lukec.872]

Check out NY Ensemble for Early Music "Istanpitta II"

[@steameddumplings616]

Thank you for including the lives and struggles of women in your videos. Much appreciated 🤩

[@gabiausten8774]

I just LOVE LOVE LOVE this Channel and can’t get enough! I hope you NEVER stop doing these videos! I wish you had Millions of subscribers, but don’t be mistaken, your content is top notch and also VERY VERY ENTERTAINING! I literally binge watched all videos…Also, THANK YOU for bookmarking every single video!

[@billoak96]

Keen on the pirate channel! Love your work mate !

[@deltonmcclary7341]

Ooo, there's a pirate channel?!

[@TheCaringNihilist]

I never realized peasants were so controlled. I felt like it was more like a Monty Python kinda thing. Lol

[@50PullUps]

Oh I wish. Sassy Frenchmen, Scottish enchanters, anarcho-syndicalist communes…

[@feldgeist2637]

as if people in our times weren't controlled by a thousand times more laws,regulations and guidelines etc as a medieval peasant in my area, I would have been free to do pretty much anything I want on my own land as one of the few servs of our local bishop, pretty much the same for a annual rent of just 4 pennies (or chickens) per plot ....no one hunts the king's game tho ! your first poached deer can cost you 100 Thaler, second one gets you banished....

[@john-ic5pz]

@@feldgeist2637 the system hasnt changed. The ruling class just realized that giving us the illusion of being nobility - king of his own castle & able to buy shiny toys - is a more effective way of controlling ppl.

[@megoriasfjuun8889]

It is important to note that it DEPENDS. Videos like this cannot be accurate, because it is not the same wherever you go and the structure of society was not the same everywhere. The nobility was different from place to place, and this video also makes the king out as a person who has total power over the aristocracy and monks never farming, both of which are wrong. And together with literally obligatory days where you were not allowed to work, what we know today as holidays, most of which dissapeared during the industrial revolution.

[@rustomkanishka]

If you don't control the peasants they might not want to pay taxes, or might think the inbred idiots at the top of society shouldn't include everyone in their squabbles. Regimented life means they stick to their job. You need to make sure they have work, they have basic necessities, some form of work to keep them occupied, and something to entertain them.

[@Judykag]

I LOVE this channel

[@kylegreene1356]

Not even checking a video out first, automatically subbing to Walk The Plank

[@TheBanjoShowOfficial]

If you love the idea of what medieval life was like, even at the communal level, I’d implore you to play kingdom come deliverance. I am willing to bet there are many here who have already hence they watch this channel

[@civilengineer3349]

A point on feudalism: The King gave some men lands (called fief or feodum) for serving the King nobly. These men were also landowners. The King was the biggest landlord followed by the Church. Serfs were common servants like farmhands. Peasant was just anyone living outside of town, such as someone living in a village

[@davepx1]

It's important to note that (as the video rightly points out) landlords didn't own the land, they "held" it "of" the ruler in return for loyalty and service, and retained a part of their holding for their direct sustenance while sub-letting the remainder to the peasants who were required to work the lord's land in addition to their own. Serfs weren't like later farm servants who were employed under voluntary contracts of indenture: serfdom was an involuntary and hereditary condition requiring work and payments for the lord in return for the holding to which you were bound, though as money spread through the economy serfs might also undertake wage labour to supplement their meagre income. Peasant is indeed a broader term, literally just "a countryperson", though applied only to those of non-lordly status. In England peasants were more likely to be described as villeins ("villagers") or in terms of some similar status, though there was also a class of free peasants renting their land but free of personal obligations other than those attached to the tenancy. Later we get the division between landless labourers, smallholders and farmers with more substantial holdings.

[@gregmonks]

Notice that the monks were not occupied scribing, as they're most often depicted. That was a fiction created by the Mediaeval church which was trying to create false provenance and antiquity of "early" documents, which simply did not exist. The monks were mostly illiterate farmers and labourers, not scholars by any stretch of the imagination. The earliest biblical documents began appearing in the 9th century or thereabouts, with various bibles beginning to appear in the 12th century, earlier versions since being outed as forgeries.

[@MagdaleneDivine]

When you sing this yodel thing it tells the cows to come home for the night. It's from way back to this

[@leslietonn3181]

I was wondering if you could do a compilation of Medieval Mysteries. Please & Thank you!

[@garyphisher7375]

There were Peasants known as Villeins. Apparently when a female Villein came of age and wanted to wed, she would have to sleep with the Lord first. So she would remember who she belonged to. If she wanted to marry a man who belonged to another Lord, she would have to pay a fine to her Lord, for the loss of future Villeins.

[@michaelmcnally9737]

Planting around stumps is pretty chill tbh

[@michaelmcnally9737]

Honestly, can I pay someone all of my current money for these to be the worst of my problems?

[@scottblunt7067]

I like this channel.

[@dhoward8816]

You should make a video on the peasant rebellions.

[@haplon33]

subbed, Matey

[@max_headroom_1987]

Serfdom never went away

[@davepx1]

I'm impressed with the video's observation that nobody enjoyed private ownership of the land, not even the lords with their sometimes vast fiefs. It's an important point: you "held" the land "of" someone higher up the pecking-order: there's no ownership because you can't buy or sell it, you just "hold" it in return for fulfilling the obligations attached to the tenancy. It's why these extravagant all-time "rich lists" are bunk: your landholding wasn't your property, and there was no land market (even for urban housing) until early modern times, so there isn't even a price on it as an asset. Even the king didn't own it: without his crown, he was left with just whatever his successor might grant him. The Church perhaps came closest to effective outright possession, as no challenger would want to endanger his immortal soul until Henry VIII decided he was its boss too. So it's almost a system of land nationalisation: the nearest thing to ownership is vested in the Crown, effectively the state, with an exceptional status for the Church until a king nationalises that too.

[@shakebackj9362]

Other than overwhelming death and this generation incapable of holding a family together, doesn’t seem too far off from todays era

[@megoriasfjuun8889]

Well, if you are an American especially, you would have more days off. And what we always forget is that it is something that you get used to rather quickly. There is a lot of mistakes in this video though, a big part being that it depended on where you lived, because the structure of society was not standardized the same way it is today, nor the amount of work hours you had to do. This was subsistence farming (plus tax) where you likely may have paid taxes with grain or butter. Point is that it is a lot more nuanced and different than what this video makes it out to be. Edit: Also, conditions beccame significantly better after the black death, because farmers gained more barganing power. And some historians argue that that started the process towards democracy.

[@gustaftheone9279]

Makes me so grateful to live in the present timeline 🙏

[@wayner396]

Anybody know what the name of the art at 1:26 is showing the different classes. I'd love to study it in detail

[@SofaKingShit]

The peasants were revolting so the lord mounted an offensive.

[@cornerstore_d]

"You shall know him by his works" the gentry wasn't doing shit

[@herrrobert5340]

My wife is from the countryside in Africa and there they have to do dishes and laundry by hand. I can imagine doing the laundry in a more wet climate would be a much bigger pain, though. When the tumbler breaks and I have to hang my laundry outside to dry, it will take several days and you have to be mindful of rain.

[@penduloustesticularis1202]

Come to Europe. It's great here. They hand out visas like potato chips.

[@Majqq12]

what do you mean dishes by the hand, almost everybody does dishes by the hand? at least in my country xD very few households have dishwashers

[@herrrobert5340]

@@penduloustesticularis1202I'm a white man living in Europe already.

[@MarySchipke]

The only One that owns the land is the One that made the land - never mere mortals.

[@briankleinschmidt3664]

I don't think people understand farm life. Life is difficult - even harsh, but if you know how to get your own food, it's much, much easier.

[@sonofnam4418]

I'm mad about Medieval Madness 😂 From Guam, USA 🇺🇸

[@thedukeofswellington1827]

4:38 the seeds of working class's distrust 😂

[@VulcanLogic]

3:52 Why is there a potato in medieval Europe?

[@user-tv4lz5ie5u]

The rest of the video is just as historically accurate. It's a collection of simplifications, over-generalizations and, sometimes, outright myths. All of them glued together by the goal of offering the audience the most gruesome picture of the period possible. I guess because it sells. Gets you views and likes.

[@JohnMiller-zr8pl]

10:33 the nobles fighting wars and the church pray... That's "right " that was all they did...

[@alexbaxter5279]

The inclusion of Ruislip caught me off considering I’m so near there 😂

[@ABerCul]

Most slept all together on the floor close to the fire.

[@JamesFromTexas]

As Simon Whistler says, "The past was the worst." Thank goodness we have the 5th Amendment in the USA. I can't imagine trying to live back then and being property of nobility/royalty.

[@kimberleysmith818]

You wouldn’t have had the 5th amendment back then so referencing that makes no sense. Also life isn’t like this in Europe anymore. I can understating quoting the past was the worst but makes no sense to quote American 5th amendment.

[@kimberleysmith818]

Also if your ancestors are from Europe, well this was at least 400 years prior to the Constitution so your ancestors would have lived through this.

[@JamesFromTexas]

@@kimberleysmith818 you don't say? Good thing I referenced then versus now.

[@thomasbeck8326]

At 5:35... where the heck is the TV?😮😢😊😅

[@akai9-ball404]

Peasants: WORK WORK !!

[@richardsmith579]

There were innumerable saints days and holy days when work was forbidden. In fact early industrial workers had fewer days free.

[@L0rdjaggi]

Medieval stench 😩

[@khukri_wielderxxx1962]

I subscribed to Walk the Plank, and I suggest we all do before they make us all walk the plank

[@gedrooney9305]

Footnote- Remember to start my own religion to get people to do work for free

[@WVgirl1959]

I don't know if it was like that in England, but here in the US Farmer's wives would taste and test everything as they went along, so they didn't go without food really until after the men's meal. I can remember seeing the face with my husband when men were called in to eat first and he didn't understand. It was a tradition, even though they weren't working in the fields any longer at that time. It was a feast that she has never seen again of homemade foods. 😊

[@gargigulos1984]

Can you put links in your comments description because I wanted to check out walk the plank but I can't find it.

[@marklatchford9557]

3:55 There weren't any potatoes in Medieval Europe....

[@kimberleysmith818]

LOL exactly. If the back breaking work puts me off being a medieval peasant, the lack of potato really would.

[@lilbullet158]

I'm sure Bud Light's new mascot wouldn't be so keen to be a Woman if they lived back then...

[@yoursenpaii__3535]

I know I’m not the only one who once seeing they had a channel dedicated to pirates rushed to subscribe🥳

[@Randomdive]

*A note regarding English peasants:* Serfdom never really existed in England in the same way as it did in other European countries. However, a similar system of villeinage existed in medieval England, where peasants were bound to the land they farmed and were subject to the authority of the lord of the manor. While both villeinage and serfdom were systems of unfree labor, villeins had more legal rights and freedoms than serfs, and villeinage was less oppressive than serfdom. Over time, villeinage began to decline in England as a result of various factors, including the Black Death in the mid-14th century, which reduced the supply of labor and gave peasants more bargaining power; the growth of towns and cities, which created new economic opportunities for peasants; and changes in the legal system that made it easier for villeins to escape from their lords. By the end of the 14th century, villeinage had largely disappeared in England, and by the 16th century, the majority of English peasants were free tenants who rented their land from landlords. While there were still some remnants of the villeinage system in some parts of England, particularly in the north, the legal framework for serfdom had largely disappeared by the time of the Tudor dynasty in the 16th century. The relatively early decline of English villeinage played an important role in shaping the economic, social, and political development of Great Britain. It helped to create a middle class, pave the way for the growth of a market economy and urban centers, and contributed to the development of democratic institutions.

[@gavhenrad]

Cheers for the vid as ever and will be subbing to the new one too 👍

[@doctorshell7118]

The church praying for everyone. So not much has changed then.

[@mr.100rupees3]

Cοnspiracy theories from the Medieval period would make an interesting video

[@stevencooper4422]

A lot of them would still be concerning Jews, just as today 😅

[@mr.100rupees3]

@@stevencooper4422 😂

[@christopherboland8789]

TIL that I'm a fucking idiot for wishing I could have been a medieval farmer.

[@tomwickham8938]

How does their taxation compare with ours? If we don't pay taxes we lose our land. Is it really ours?

[@thecuratorsim]

I don’t see your sources listed in the description. Could you list them please? I’d like to read the sources you used for my own research, thank you!

[@ABerCul]

There was extreme fear of pregnancy too! Because women were highly likely to die during that time. Either from ectopic pregnancies, hemmiraged miscarriages, birth, infections, and so so much more.

[@martryan2060]

90 percent of people today are pesents. Nothing changes Remember people got more time off for holydays and market days . Also not in as much debt .

[@kevinsysyn4487]

Entertaining... They didn't have potatoes BTW... LOL

[@rarebird_82]

I just gave you your 200th like You're welcome 😁

[@raukawa4732]

Nothings changed, the king still owns all the land.

[@deecoyjaj6847]

FYI Ruislip is pronounced as Roy-Slip

[@johnnewbury4370]

Pronounced Ryslip actually.

[@michaelevans3966]

Good thing my people lived on the other side of the world during those times.

[@babyyoda0U812]

Haha pirate madness, you got my sub homie.

[@ABerCul]

Ditches were to control the water

[@SuperTed.]

Now it's 99% of people are peasants 😂

[@Ratty555]

Ruislip is now pronounced "RYE-SLIP", was the medieval pronounciation "ROO-SLIP"? Just curious. Great video thanks!

[@johnscullion3656]

Unlike lots of You Tube content, this imho, has a high dergree of objectivity, accuracy and genuinely interesting factual information. It is neither exaggerated, nor over-dramatised, yet quite riveting. I have just subscribed, please excuse my opinions, accept my compliments, it is just so refreshing to find genuinely educational content.

[@grindelston5968]

222k subs, nice round number this pleases my 'tism

[@MrCombatmedic00]

Damn people stank!

[@braudhadoch3432]

Imagine no anathesia

[@NathanDudani]

Culture, literally

[@Votrae]

That would've been so cool to own nothing and have everything around you determined by terrifying invisible magic

[@cornerstore_d]

You mean how most people live today ?

[@LmaoMoni]

How was this not considered slavery?

[@kimberleysmith818]

It is. Serfdom is a form of slavery

[@john-ic5pz]

Rye oats and barley..... so wheat wasn't common? Maybe the "new" wheat/gluten intolerance isn't so new after all. I assume we been eating wheat since the middle ages.

[@tmr4342]

🦇

[@ariyune7007]

But but, according to twitter they led better and more relaxing lives than us today!

[@gabygoulet6403]

Potatoes. In the middle ages. Really?