The Sights, Sounds, and Smells of Medieval London...

14th-century London was tiny when compared to today's modern cities, but much larger than any other English town at that time. In 1300, the population stood at approximately 80,000, all crammed into one square mile. It was noisy, pretty stinky, packed with people, and not the safest place to be when you consider that getting mauled by a pig was a thing. Let’s travel back in time now to the London of the Middle Ages and experience the sights, sounds, and smells of life there in the heart of the city. Welcome to Medieval Madness.
0:00 Introduction
00:46 A Rotten Idea
3:12 Kicking Up A Stink
4:33 Shop ‘Til You Drop
5:35 Walking the Streets
7:22 The Dangers of Crossing the Road
8:39 It's A Celebration
10:39 Cheap As Chips
Narrated by James Wade
Written by Lisa E Rawcliffe
Edited by Jamit Productions
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 © 2023 Top5s All rights reserved.

[@globbitz4958]

As horrible and miserable as this period of time sounds - I'd do anything to travel back in time to spend s day in medieval London. Just out of morbid curiosity of what people back then were like. The more things change the more they stay the same, but some aspects of their culture are just incomprehensible to imagine. Then I'd time travel to dinosaurs for a pallette cleanser.

[@cainmathewson1857]

Just walk through Southside Chicago at 12 pm. Same thing

[@BeckBeckGo]

I like the idea that I’d be quite tall. Don’t any of you debunk that!

[@globbitz4958]

@@BeckBeckGo I feel that 🤣

[@nektarios5291]

​​@@cainmathewson1857 can we have one day go by where some American doesn't make something totally unrelated about some place in America no one has ever fuckinh heard of

[@yomansam4689]

@@nektarios5291Do Europeans not understand context clues?

[@Paul-ou1rx]

Can you imagine going to a historically accurate medieval festival.

[@mattbryan1099]

I’ll bring the rotten meat

[@regulustheron2565]

According to Netflix, you just have to go to San Francisco

[@willgibbons1733]

Ian Mortimer's book "A time-travellers guide to medieval England" is a great read, for anyone interested.

[@coloneljackmustard]

It's been sitting on my book shelf for quite some time, perhaps I'll read it tonight. Good suggestion!

[@SW-kr9fl]

Excellent book

[@Redlox70]

Thank you 😊

[@autumnsjournal5352]

Definitely a must read.

[@heulwenhughes4110]

It's an excellent book, loved every minute of reading it. Great recommendation x

[@lanky_schnoople7010]

Now this is the medieval content I subscribed for 😈

[@flash_flood_area]

indeed!

[@seanprice8391]

This is a great video about present day San Francisco.

[@nektarios5291]

Why do Americans feel this irresistible urge insert themselves into everything? Like legitimately how tf have you made medieval London about San Francisco, wtf?

[@funpheonix9752]

At least you’d probably get used to the smell after a while. While I miss my grandma a lot and I wish she was still here, she was genuinely one of my favorite people… her house *stunk.* She had way too many cats and didn’t clean their litter boxes enough, and she smoked cigarettes indoors. The smell would definitely hit you when you walked in, but after a while, it blended into the background and you didn’t notice the smell. And no, she never noticed how bad it smelled because she didn’t have a sense of smell. Oh, grandma… I miss her so, so much, but I don’t miss the smell of her house at all.

[@RochellBarbara4690]

😢 awe reminds me of my nana she passed away in 2018 but she smoked indoors too and you’d get a headache soon as you entered her home 😂. But I sure do love and miss that woman ❤

[@Max-mi1tz]

Always a good day with medieval madness

[@orchidorio]

I can't believe this! I am fascinated by the middle ages and I am always curious about what the average person's experience of it may have been. It would have been smelly.

[@IronClawGaming]

The thing is if you lived there during that time it would just be normal to you. Kind of like letting children die of cancer because they can’t afford the treatments is normal for Americans.

[@stephaniezini]

St. Jude doesn't charge families anything for treatment or living arrangements and food when children are being treated

[@poeticsilence047]

​@stephaniezini which is mind blowing to me since we can't figure out how to do that for all tax paying Americans. That's why I feel like we just refuse to.

[@jasonnunya3875]

Nobody wants to pay for decades of smoking and eating fast food. Not even the person who needs the medical care.

[@stefhulskamp4779]

Non-american here, eat clean, excercise - but had cancer due to legally sanctioned corporate PFAS pollution. Collateral damage to profit I guess. So fuck that. There's shitloads of cancer due to pollution and other reasons than living unhealthy. As late side-effects of treatment I will probably die around age 45, and will peobably be poor until then due to cognitive damage Never commented on youtube before but really man - it's not that black and white, I get the frustration so not trying to attack you, it's just not that black and white.

[@benchippy8039]

I got bit by a pig once, punched it in the neck but I was only about 8 so didn’t have the effect I hoped

[@MrHangman56]

the only benefit it london had back then compared to todays cities... it was built in scale to people's walk speed, not car speed

[@aik51912]

My sense of smell is abnormally strong. The pure STANK of that time would have done me in.

[@michaellyons5208]

Sadly, the great fires were both the best and worst thing to happen to the city in a very ironic way.

[@asa9528]

Been bingeing your content and i almost squealed when i saw the new video notification! I’ve been hyper fixated on the medieval period lately and you’ve been scratching that itch. Love your stuff :)

[@h0rriphic]

I love this channel so effing much.

[@patricialong5767]

Very colorful, I'm sure, but I'd much rather live in this era, thank you!

[@jenny2tone242]

Same here.

[@nektarios5291]

Well what a remarkable piece of luck it is that you've got absolutely zero choice in the matter

[@tendies9248]

Its such a shame most of these homes are gone now

[@PawelSorinsky]

They burnt in 1666 and then in the Blitz in the 1940s.

[@Momo4060i]

Nice been waiting for the new episode all day long 😄

[@paulmaryon9088]

Great channel, and a great video, thank you

[@unholyscum]

Ah yes...perfect for a Friday Night

[@valentinkambushev4968]

In my country it's Saturday now.

[@tinygrim]

Yay #26 😊 I'll take it. THANK you 😊 awesome always you be. 👍😁

[@jubi400]

This is really interesting stuff! Where do you find this information?? I feel bad for the 9 year old bride. So much for a childhood!

[@aw5557]

Yea....Um I think they have a different name for that these days.😳

[@jubi400]

@@aw5557 Of course. 😕

[@CallMeByMyMatingName]

​@@aw5557early, long-term commitment

[@Contessa6363]

This gives a whole new meaning to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle!! 😮😮😂😂

[@maths-monkey]

I used to work in Cheapside and recognise Wood Lane, Honey Lane, etc - they are still there today (although offices now).

[@kimberlypatton205]

I love this channel so much!

[@millriverfarm]

one of your better videos recently. thank you for this!

[@RemusKingOfRome]

OMG ! we are soooo lucky to be living in a modern society. I thin i would leave Med London for the country.

[@jameshyde6582]

Awesome video like always. Your videos are some if not the best on KZbin. Thanks for what you do.

[@58s-]

Lovely production, amazing illustrations...all fabulous....all original lovely❤

[@rarebird_82]

Yey, new episode 🥳

[@LindaMerchant-bq2hp]

I feel for the poor animals

[@Judykag]

Love!!!!!!❤

[@thatoneguy5958]

Sounds like my recent and last trip to Portland.

[@nektarios5291]

And yet another American just inserting some random place in America into a conversation for no fucking reason... it's a video about medieval London. Nobody gives a shit about portland wherever the fuck that is

[@Contessa6363]

The whole animal thing . That would be the main reason I would not be able to come and visit one day. 😮😮😮

[@CorvoFG]

Some things haven’t changed. The drinking and begging for a start.

[@annak9646]

21st century London is grim, never mind what it was like in the Middle Ages lol 😂

[@SW-kr9fl]

2:08 made me burst out laughing 😂 Your delivery is great

[@valentinkambushev4968]

And people say the Roman Empire was a bad thing!!!

[@fluttzkrieg4392]

I mean, slavery is pretty bad, but London was awful for almost everyone.

[@metalwellington]

no one said that

[@mrfren2115]

It was for most people you forget that Rome was extremely cruel and living under the empire made life rough. Most people didn't live in the cities in fact hardly anyone did so it doesn't matter that the cities were horribly filthy after it fell. The average European person benefitted from not having to deal with Romans and this is coming from someone who likes Rome. If the Roman empire was a good system at the end it wouldn't of fell. If it would of stayed Hellenistic it probably would of survived and thrived as it did before.

[@fidelio9301]

⁠@@mrfren2115All systems fall. Even when Rome was good it would have fallen. That is always inevitable.

[@damiruhoda3255]

was ? ;)

[@coling3957]

These tales reinforce the fact that ppl in medieval England were not dirty and didn't live in muck. There were strict laws and ppl no more liked muck and filth than they do today.

[@jarrodreaves243]

Love it medical asmr jkjk keep it up bro love the videos

[@JamesFromTexas]

Why was there a curfew as early as 4 PM? That seems absurd.

[@jakegraham7265]

Because of goobers like you

[@flyselbyhigh]

That’s dusk in the wintertime

[@JamesFromTexas]

@@flyselbyhigh I get that it's dusk but why was there a curfew at nightfall at all?

[@flyselbyhigh]

@@JamesFromTexas no lit streets, lots of crime, no real police force… impossible to have any sort of control or cohesion for a city that densely populated at that technological time without insane crime. A lot of reason why punishment was so severe for crimes because you could realistically only catch a small portion of people, way more murders back then, or ‘accidental’ deaths

[@JamesFromTexas]

@@flyselbyhigh ah okay. Thanks for the explanation!

[@Kakaroto529]

So basically, modern day London.

[@ulrikeneumann7495]

It may be as it might have been - but London is, was, has been and always will be the town I love the most and the capital of the universe. For all eternities. ❤

[@crazyquilt]

When walking down Bladder Street, assure that you do not trod upon an Edmund. And as for meat-selling, I have a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel. First we go down to the docks...

[@Donnoha]

I can almost imagine the smell.

[@alexfilma16]

Still better than modern Londonstan.

[@coconutsmarties7916]

Alright Nigel 🙄

[@alexfilma16]

@@coconutsmarties7916 Thanks.

[@anenglishmanplusamerican7107]

Despite the challenges like Etori behavior and perilous road conditions highlighted in the video, there’s a strange allure to medieval times for me. The simplicity and authenticity appeal, despite the hardships. In that era, life felt more connected to nature and community. Sure, modern times offer comfort and technology, but there’s a unique charm in the medieval way of life that captivates me. What’s your take on this intriguing comparison?

[@ACL7211]

It's very interesting to learn about, but living in this time would be truly horrible. I don't think you should romanticize it at all. Just live on a farm somewhere and limit your technology use if you really want that.

[@anenglishmanplusamerican7107]

@@ACL7211 Well, I respectfully disagree with your view that the medieval era was a truly horrible period. I really don’t think so; in my opinion, people were truly humble folks in medieval times, and life was simpler without technology and today’s shenanigans. Regarding your suggestion, that’s what I will do when I get older and have a more stable lifestyle.

[@stinkyla5863]

Ironically, I just picked up a Walmart order with two packs of rotten chicken 🤬

[@jeffreyhawthornegoines8727]

Thank you, the video is excellent. I wonder though, were Ur, Niniveh or Rome as ignoble as this, or did they have better organization?

[@nektarios5291]

You're talking about cities that existed between 4000-2000 BC, and by Rome presumably you mean the late republican and imperial period around 100 BC -350 AD. Either way, this was pretty standard for most pre industrial cities, and early industrial cities weren't much cleaner or tidier. Ur and Nineveh were however, tiny, by comparison, probably not more than 10.000 inhabitants at their height.

[@user-vp8mu5fj7o]

Would love to travel back to these times for a whole day, to see and hear what the people truly did act like and sound. Id also like to be able to spectate a battle scene of these times, so much of history is lost/misunderstood, that we dont truly know anything, we know only what we think is true, there is some solid evidence of these times, but i truly believe theres so, so much more we are missing. Theres so much misinformation spread on the internet these days, but as far as i know, this channel is the only one i trust to deliever facts on these times, granted, there are some that are totally inaccurate, but the vast majority are pretty much what we believe to be correct. Much appreciated MedievalMadness, youre doing a fantastic job at delivering these facts.

[@gooddeal3186]

Where do you get your information from because it is really nice?

[@monicacall7532]

It’s times like this that I wish that my imagination wasn’t quite so vivid! I think that it’s funny that in so many TV shows and films the Middle Ages are presented like something that Disney would do. Try to imagine the REAL world that Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty might have lived in! Yikes!😲

[@nektarios5291]

You're confusing fantasy tales with actual medieval times 😂 Vikings or Kingdom of Heaven would have been better comparisons as those are actually set in the medieval period

[@chicagogyrl4846]

There is no way that 80,000 people could live in 1 mile.

[@CrazyCrethon]

The main reason why cities then were much smaller was due to the fact that hardly anyone had their own transportation and there was no public transit so you had to walk everywhere to get everything you needed. If it was too far away the city would not be able to be viable.

[@nektarios5291]

There are cities today where far more people live per square mile, Manila being a prime example. Why you would think that in pre industrial times when a city had to be enclosed by walls and there was no public transport cities would be more spread out is a mystery

[@jendagesse4524]

I don't think I would want to be back in that time

[@LisaHoneychan]

I’d hopefully remember to make (or buy, if needed) a ladies handkerchief filled wit sweet herbs to not gag walking the streets.😅

[@robnewman6101]

So Much Suffering!

[@NathanTarantlawriter]

I prefer to avoid the smells, thank you.

[@tigernotwoods914]

Drunk people fighting. Sounds like London didn’t change 😅

[@kagushira6024]

The upper floors going over the street was a constructional reason. The walls are bending the wooden floor bars upwards. If they wouldnt do that the floors would slowly bend downwards. Making the floor uneven.

[@lancevance1612]

Where do I find the song in the beginning/intro?

[@malicant123]

I LOVE the smell of plague sores in the morning!

[@UrzuaTroskenia0369]

I'd rather visit London then than now, considering what globalism done to it.

[@jenny2tone242]

I'm sure you would.

[@UrzuaTroskenia0369]

@@jenny2tone242would love it.

[@jenny2tone242]

@@UrzuaTroskenia0369 You would last 5 mins and be begging to come back.

[@UrzuaTroskenia0369]

@@jenny2tone242you'd be right, if I was a contemporary conformist of the mundane world.

[@jenny2tone242]

@@UrzuaTroskenia0369 Yet I suspect you take full advantage of the perks of living in this mundane world, yes?

[@Violet-cat]

I’m looking for a picture you used of an illustration of pigs on top of eachother where can I find it

[@nicholasleonardbookedits-si9ng]

Our cheek, the candle’s favorite place to come. Our hair where waters congregate to pray. Our teeth the angels wait to gaze upon in rare phenomenons our smiles stay. We’re taxed despite this miracle design. Where once a princess laughed, a tour guide’s there as cameras light the spiral stairs she climbed. In photographs her ghost almost appears. Who taxed a princess? Charging her to live? The morning blossoms on thy face for free, and still the government demands you give- -but mornings also bronzed a princess cheek. Deserving freedom, find that bygone wick, and never let them make you pay to live

[@edwinhageman9377]

Was "LONDILLUM"= THE ORIGINAL LONDON IN THE CENTER OF LONDON that the 👑Queen or King has too ask for permission to enter once a year??

[@Vicus_of_Utrecht]

*FUCK ME I HAVE BEEN WITH THIS CHANNEL FOR ALMOST A DECADE... 😮*

[@rickwilliams967]

I think I'm gonna pass on the smells...

[@OBGynKenobi]

I think you missed throwing the contents of the night pot out the front window without looking who was below.

[@Tttree1994]

9:04 they had a ferris wheel back then?!

[@stephielulu9096]

I can smell it

[@jasa4176]

How much offal would have been put into the Thames and Fleet? - I imagine there would have been quite a calling for some of it? Liver, heart, lungs and kidney for human consumption? And some of the leftovers for dogs maybe?

[@williamhiller3988]

Real Estate taxes were based on house footprint. So you enlarged the upper stories and avoided the tax.

[@indepthliterature]

Great video of what it was like back then. Such a good chanel for historical content. I would love to see longer and more esoteric content on here, and less of the social justice feminist narrative from the narrator. All in all great content on the middle ages

[@EA-js1me]

sOcIaL jUsTiCe FeMiNiSt NaRrAtIvE… As in the FACT that women were considered like objects thanks to religion and still are in many parts of the world?

[@nektarios5291]

Fedora detected

[@mariahsmom9457]

Sorry, did we just hear that King Richard III had a 9-year old bride??? 9:50

[@Stop4MotionMakr]

For some reason taking your vegan girlfriend to 14th Century London for a meat pie is conjuring up some seriously hilarious mental pictures in my mind 🤣

[@Liljenbergful]

Is it just me or does anyone else really want to know what the narrator looks like?!🤤

[@EA-js1me]

What if we’re all negatively surprised or even shocked? 😂 Sometimes it’s better not to know and let our imagination run wild.

[@newyardleysinclair9960]

Today i learned there were No modern hospitals in medieval london.

[@sarahlouise7163]

i never knew there was a curfew

[@oldtavernfarm]

Why people want to live in cities is beyond me.

[@nektarios5291]

Because we're not all rich enough to have land or a house in the countryside and commute massive distances to work

[@stompthedragon4010]

Ok, you have convinced me. I do not want to live there.

[@belindajohannesson6006]

😄

[@mirrorblue100]

Yecch

[@malc814]

Mauled by a pig..? Dude you're starving.. 😅 Sounds like dinner!

[@gerryboudreaultboudreault2608]

They drank a lot of ale, because it was safer than the water supply..

[@leedsman54]

I don’t believe a meat pie would cost five pence. That would be a huge proportion of a week’s wages.

[@nektarios5291]

Most people wouldn't have eaten out, they mostly just ate bread and pottage stews, and meat was a rarity for most peoples diet.

[@PrimericanIdol]

Imagine if the US had been a country during medieval times. Medieval New York would be unrecognizable.

[@nektarios5291]

Medieval New York existed, it just had a different name from the natives that lived there before you genocided them all

[@ZIMskol]

The pasty is pronounced like history - past·ee

[@lissarx2459]

Why on earth did they all squeeze into one square mile??

[@nektarios5291]

Logistics obviously, it's not modern times, most people didn't have access to any form of transport other than walking, there's barely any paved streets or roads, the list goes on

[@lissarx2459]

@@nektarios5291 Possibly , but that doesn’t seem likely. It’s not that hard to walk 2 miles and you know there had to have been more than one livery in London, more than one farm produce stand, ect.

[@nektarios5291]

@@lissarx2459 OK mate I'm sure you know better 🤣... Try walking that distance every day with no modern waterproofs in mud and rain and shit and come back and tell me that. Also the city was surrounded by walls, and no one wanted to live outside the walls as if there was a siege youd be fucked. Coming at it from a 21st century mentality with cars and electric etc it won't make sense because life was that different then.

[@lissarx2459]

@@nektarios5291 😵‍💫🤫

[@brandoncyoung]

Sounds like modern day India

[@squishyfriend5631]

What’s shawty doing at 0:24

[@willgibbons1733]

Looks like she's blowing smoke up his ass. They used to think it would help if you had just drowned to stick a bellows up your arse and blow smoke up it. Lol Thanks QI, I never thought I'd need that piece of info. Lol

[@milaces1323]

So medieval London would be a nightmare for my vegan ass 😂😂😂

[@cherylreznor181]

Wonder back then who cleaned up murder scenes now there are specialised people who do it would they have them back then people who would get rid of bodies after traumer an clean it all up. Or would it just be left there?

[@ManuLMalik]

In 1400 Khalifat History never had a Islamic Khalifat these kind of things 🤷🏼‍♂️☝🏼💚

[@user-ug2hk3go6i]

We are still assaulted by noise, like rap.

[@Noble-Hands]

Paysti

[@TAKE_BACK_BRITAIN]

5:22 “competing tradespeople.” No no, tradesmen. There’s no need to be politically correct for the Middle Ages.

[@flash_flood_area]

And yet, it was mostly all organic and biodegradable, so there's that

[@kitten-whisperer]

2:10 Jesus christ talk about a wild reaction to stinky meat

[@klyanadkmorr]

So this was paid for by UK water companies dumping sewage eh? Telling the peasants to be thankful for anything considered potable water

[@robnewman6101]

Oh! No thanks.

[@JohnDoe-zz7on]

Nope. I have no desire to go to the medieval days.