What did medieval people do for ENTERTAINMENT?

In this episode of Medieval Misconceptions we'll go through the various types of entertainment of the medieval period.
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#medievalmisconceptions

[@matthabir4837]

Increasing the population: always a popular activity.

[@benjaminthibieroz4155]

wondered when someone whould bring up this one :)

[@Domebuddy]

figured this would be a vastly popular method of passing time.

[@synistersydofficial]

“And then I finally rest, and watch the sunset on a grateful universe.”

[@gecko2738]

You mean having unprotected anal sex?

[@ooi97]

As well as decreasing population, many enjoy both activities

[@derekmenebroeker4993]

With people in the medieval era loving board games and acting, I bet that D&D would've been insanely popular had it existed.

[@businessproyects2615]

D&D without studded leather.

[@pierre-mariecaulliez6285]

Seeing the kind of controversy D&D spawned in our era, having it played during the eras of the Spanish Inquisition or the Witch Hunt could have had rather disturbing outcomes...

[@musicalaviator]

@@pierre-mariecaulliez6285 I roll a natural 5 in Magic. *inquisitor* IN WHAT!??!?! BURN THE WITCH!!!

[@gholland5840]

@@pierre-mariecaulliez6285 set it during the Roman empire

[@jlan7844]

@@pierre-mariecaulliez6285 Actually, I'd say that there wouldn't be near as much controversy back then as there was when D&D actually came around. Most of the controversies involving Christianity in modern times, like everything fun for the kids being "devil worship", stem from the ultra-religious snobs of the Victorian era and their warped views on Christianity. And we can't forget their desperate need to find ways to see themselves as superior to the "savages" native to the lands they claimed. Heck many of the things that get called "ungodly" in this day and age were regarded with indifference by the original Christian churches, or even encouraged in some cases. Like finding your spouse physically attractive for example. An entire book of the Bible itself is about that being a gift from God to encourage couples to stay together.

[@zackakai5173]

I feel like Tolkien did a good job conveying how important songs and poetry were to people in that era. Damn near every character in the Lord of the Rings has at least a few songs they can pull out at a minute's notice, and some (like Bilbo) have dozens ready for every imaginable occasion.

[@uzivatel56]

Every dwarf carried a musical instrument and they jammed together for fun.

[@JeveGreen]

"Home is behind, the world ahead... And there are many paths to tread... Through shadow, to the edge of night...! Until the stars are all alight... Mist and shadow, cloud and shade... All shall fade... All shall fade..."

[@jacobmills1064]

@@JeveGreen that's not half bad

[@Acehalo2]

Would it be remiss to say "at a minuet's notice"? :P

[@Armored_Muskrat]

And Sam's first reaction to hearing the song about Moria was "I want to learn that." Not only do they have songs memorized but they're keeping an eye (ear?) out for new ones they enjoy to add to their repertoire.

[@Maria_Erias]

Your comments about how rewarding life was are very on point. As someone who's actively participated in the wilderness survival community and even taught it, I can absolutely confirm this. When you have a day that is filled with "work", but each of those tasks you do directly impacts your own survival or even comfort, it makes everything feel so much more rewarding. The 3 hours you spent gathering and splitting wood for a fire is going to cook your meals and keep you warm all night. The 2 hours you spent working on your shelter is going to directly impact your own comfort and how well you sleep. The few hours you spend foraging for food, hunting, or fishing is going to push food in your belly. And then, laying there at the end of the night, worn out and tired but with a full belly and laying in a nice, warm bedroll in a windproof and waterproof shelter that you built, you get a sense of contentment and satisfaction that "modern life" just doesn't compare to. Human beings are wired to appreciate and enjoy results. During a modern work day, very often for white collar work, the results we see are nebulous, at best, and very rarely directly impact us in any meaningful way. That's why work is such a grind: it's unfulfilling because it's not rewarding to us on a personal level, we can't look back and actually *see* what we've done that day.

[@sixthcairn]

One of the few comforts I've found working in the stressful world of healthcare is that I can often see rather evidently the result of whatever it is the team has done. I've heard a similar effect from people I know from construction, seeing the project you're working on gradually rise up is definitely quite neat. It might be why certain games like Minecraft are so satisfying: being stranded in the middle of nowhere and doing all sorts of small individual stuff that quickly add up to something quite tangible feels quite rewarding; I can only wonder how it feels for some folks who've had a world that's a decade or so old, basically having built a city or something all on their own.

[@maxximo2367]

I really love this comment. I think a lot of people who suffer from doing "pointless" work, that just doesnt make their free time rewarding. Most of them are pretty stressed out and sometimes even unpleasent. So I see myself blessed to be a train conductor. I interact a lot with people, have chats and solve problems. I have tasks to do on the train to make sure we will reach our destination safely and pleasant. What I work for has a goal, and thats what makes me appreciate my work so much! And after reaching this goal, I learned to appreciate small things like sitting back for a minute, watching the landscape outside, drinking a soda or coffee to peacefully make time go by. So, like you said, you just get to appreciate life more if you work for a goal, not for the sake of working. But sadly, nowadays, most jobs just have no personal end goal, except waiting to get a pay check...

[@Maria_Erias]

@@maxximo2367 That's how I've felt. The jobs I've hated in my life are the ones that paid me the best. Sitting around in an office, making six figures a year was financially rewarding, but soul crushing. My favorite jobs were delivering pizzas in college (because I got to drive around all shift with my window rolled down and music blaring), working at a lumber yard (because I got to help people solve problems with their house or project), or teaching survival. None of those jobs paid very well, but I went home at the end of my day happy, even if I was making a third of what I did at a desk.

[@shadowslayer9988]

@@Maria_Erias That's why people especially men are starting to prefer trade schools

[@Blox117]

does opening a solar panel and have electricity do it count?

[@BBB_bbb_BBB]

When I went away for basic training, to pass the time since we were all without electronics and such we regularly started singing to kill time. It was pretty funny having 50 people all just randomly busting out into Barbie Girl.

[@vladimirmarkov2047]

I'm Barbie girl in a Barbie world! Life is plastic. It's fantastic!🎼

[@chadboyle4107]

That sounds incredible

[@ovrair6340]

​​@@chadboyle4107 however it probably sounded very bad (fun nonetheless)

[@userJanus3003]

I was in a foreign country and once had a long wait for the bus. Another American and I wound up killing time trying to remember all the lyrics to "American Pie," to the amusement of some of the locals.

[@tortunaru1602]

Exactly, army actually brought up to me that I love to sing and actually have a good voice to do soo, the thing I never even considered in the past

[@SwedishSinologyNerd]

Another reason why LotR is a masterpiece, I so often hear people bellyache about the "tedious" poems that "slow everything down" and "ruin the flow" etc etc, when in actuality Tolkien is giving a fairly good glimpse into what medieval life was like albeit in a world of his own making. Also, fun fact Shad! In China during the Tang dynasty poetry was so important that people (mostly literati naturally, but still) would greet each other with improvised poems that were then to be answered in turn.

[@OniGanon]

Ancient chinese rap battles?

[@SwedishSinologyNerd]

@@OniGanon Haha, yes and no! Unlike modern rap battles or skald bettles in England, you rarely if ever dissed the other person (it was a friendly greeting after all), the competition was largely in showing off your freestyle poetry skill. The real test came during the elite's party games (Say, competitive tea tasting and delivering your judgement of the tea in verse, or a similar game played with incense sampling (basically the party host would prepare several bowls of incense, and you had to tell which ones they were, or which one's the odd one out etc etc, it gets really convoluted, and then link the answer with a famous poem)). You also had more recognizable talent games where you'd strum on your zither and whoever did it best won.

[@AnimaVox_]

This was also part of old Japanese tradition. People would communicate in haiku to each other quite often.

[@SwedishSinologyNerd]

@@AnimaVox_ That's pretty neat! I wonder if Vietnam and Korea (the other Sinosphere countries) had similar practices?

[@kevinsullivan3448]

Government documents in England were written in verse for over a century. Imagine getting a letter from your town council about how your hedges need to be trimmed written in iambic pentameter...

[@simonspacek3670]

There were a lot of "skill games" too. Throwing darts, balls, rings, knifes, horseshoes,... Running and wrestling. During some festivals it was common to jump over bonfire. I would assume a lot of "magic tricks" were also popular (you know, making a stone disappear from table and so). Often card games were played at homes or in pubs. I would assume that card games were very popular among merchants, after all, pack of cards is small and easy to carry, so it is perfect for traveling. Also we have reports of various gambling games with dices, again very popular with merchants and other traveling people. Well, we do not have that many records of games, but we have records of cheating and later punishments, either for cheating or for beating/killing a cheater. And of course, storytellers. There were local storytellers and also wandering storytellers. Often seen (heard) in pubs. Pubs were probably more significant back then, after all it is great place to talk with you neighbors and making good beer is a skill, so I don't thing a lot of people did it at home. One more thing is dancing. Dancing was super popular. It is great way to show your stamina and dexterity is safe way. For nobility there were hunts and long walks, just check how many parks or garden are still around castles and chateaus. I know, this was (probably) not that common in medieval times, but for sure they appeared in renaissance times. And then there were things like executions and pillories, but I'm not sure if I would it call "fun", but it was entertainment.

[@der_sebbl]

I highly doubt the part about cardgames. Paper was expensive in medival times

[@simonspacek3670]

@@der_sebbl Cards are well documented in 1370's, but yes, they were not that wide spread until 1390's. In 1400's people were printing them for general public. Compared to today world, I would say that it was like TV. Not cheap, but available if you want some. And how often you have to buy a deck? But yes, that is end of medieval period. I stand behind skill games and dice.

[@der_sebbl]

@@simonspacek3670 Ah okay. Somehow I thought you were talking about earlier medieval periods. In that case I have to say that I stand corrected. Never doubted the rest of what you said tho

[@simonspacek3670]

​@@der_sebbl To be honest, I had to doublecheck. I also thought that cards were way older, I thought that they spread around 1300's. And I'm glad that you challenged me, after all, challenging views and information is the only way to get more accurate knowledge and that is all what Shad's channel is about, right?

[@jordkells]

Makes me think that maybe Tolkien's depiction of Hobbits might be more representative of a medieval lifestyle than most other large media.

[@mitchhaelann9215]

One of the most prominent modern evolutions of classical storytelling: Roleplaying Games. They're collaborative stories with audience participation. Throw in some minor gambling elements with dice deciding success and failure for actions, and you've got a great way to burn three or four hours a week.

[@lukelblitz3627]

"minor gambling elements" Nah Roleplaying games are games first and stories second,as far as everyone i know says

[@The_Somewhere_Monarch]

@@lukelblitz3627 yeah don’t know about that one chief. Everyone I know says the combat is lackluster but the main appeal of the game is the roleplay.

[@Snow-Willow]

@@lukelblitz3627 @wocky That 100% depends on your party and who you play with, and the particular campaign you're playing. I've played role play heavy games where that's the part that shines, and roll play heavy games where the tactical combat is the star. And of course the temperament and preferences of the people you play with will change that too. Myself personally, I'm pretty shy and get awful stage fright in the role play situations, so I much prefer the combat and those kind of mechanical elements. But my best friend is a published writer and does small local plays so naturally he prefers the role play elements. It's all preference....and system. Some game systems, yeah the combat just sucks.

[@shigerufan1]

@@lukelblitz3627 Try telling that to any DM that improvises his campaigns, if you're not using a premade module you essentially have to write it yourself.

[@tricksterjoy9740]

@@lukelblitz3627 a Good role playing game to virtually everyone I know, is a collaborative story first, game second.

[@TheFatalcrest]

You know these little questions always came to mind when I was younger. Being a child who played mostly outdoors on the porch, or with toys indoors all the way until I began to play video games and watch cartoons, I wondered how many people spent free time in history.

[@ShinDangaioh]

Well before video games a lot of people flew kites for fun. I have no idea how far back kite flying went.

[@Gr3nadgr3gory]

Haven't you ever heard of stickhoop?

[@adorabell4253]

There would have been a lot of young boys running around with sticks pretending to fight. We mostly pretended ours were guns but different times call for different pretend arms.

[@ironclamp5325]

@@adorabell4253 All the way back until the sticks were pretended to be… bigger sticks!

[@SergioLeonardoCornejo]

I always wondered what their entertainment was, but for a different reason. I have always been extremely aware of how different is entertainment between individuals. So that led me to wonder how it was in the past.

[@Alssadar]

As a coincidence, I had just read a chapter from Frances and Joseph Gies' Life in a Medieval City (discussing 13th century Troyes, one of the Champagne fairs) about childhood last night : "Children play with tops, horseshoes, and marbles. They stagger about on stilts. Girls have dolls of baked clay or wood. Adults and children alike engage in outdoor games, such as prisoner's base, bowling, blindman's buff. sports are popular too--swimming, wrestling, and early forms of football and tennis; the latter is played without a racket but with a covering for the hand. All classes enjoy cock fighting. In winter, people tie on their feet skates made of horses' shinbones, and propel themselves on the ice with a pole shot with iron. Boys joust with the pole as they shoot past each other. Young and old play dice, chess, and checkers. Chess is in great vogue. Some people own magnificent boards, mounted on trestles, with heavy pieces carved out of ivory--the bishop with his mitre, the knight fighting a dragon, king and queen in ceremonial robes and crowns. The game has recently evolved into its permanent form; until the twelfth century, the two principal piece on either side were two kings, or a king and his minister, who followed him step by step. But the minister was turned into a 'a dame' without at first changing his obedient course of play. Then the dame became queen and was left free to maneuver in all directions. The Church condemns games of all forms--parlor games, playacting, dancing, cards, dice, and even physical sports, particularly at the universities. Games flourish, nevertheless, even at the court of the pious St.-Louis, as the Troyen knight-chronicler Joinville observes. On shipboard during his Crusade, the king, in mourning for his brother Robert of Artois, lost his temper when he found his other brother, the count of Anjou, playing backgammon with Gautier de Nemours. The king seized dice and boards and flung them into the sea, scolding his brother for gambling at such a moment. 'My lord Gautier," observes Joinville, 'came off best, for he tipped all the money on the table into his lap' Parlor games are played too, such as those described in Adam de la Halle's Jeu de Robin et de Marion. In "St. Cosme" one player represents the saint and the others bring him offerings, which they must present without laughing. Whoever falls victim to his grimaces must pay a forfeit, and become St.-Cosme himself. In another game, "The King Who Does Not Lie," a king or queen chosen y lot and crowned with straw asks questions of each player, being required in return to answer a question from each. The questions and replies of the peasant characters in Robin are ingenious: 'Tell me, Gautier, were you ever jealous?' 'Yes, sire, the other day when a dog scratched at my sweetheart's door; I thought it was a man.' 'Tell us, Huart, what do you like to eat the most?' 'Sire, a good rump of pork, heavy and fat, with a strong sauce of garlic and nuts.'" It then says there's no children's literature, but many folk tales, as you mentioned, as the "greatest single source of popular entertainment for adults and children alike."

[@Kite403]

This is the stuff they should point out in history lessons. Humans gonna human, as it turns out XD

[@shadowslayer9988]

@@Kite403 Exactly we always find a way to entertain ourselves.

[@carso1500]

@@Kite403 people do what people do, we are spoiled for choice now a days (not that i conplain i love it) but humans always find ways to amuse ourselves

[@dragonlord8415]

The Church condemed games or gambling on games?

[@JMObyx]

@@dragonlord8415 I don't think the Catholics ever did that. It was just the Victorian Era elites who did that, they did so because they were desperate to make themselves feel superior to the "savages" they conquered and even their own medieval ancestors, a propaganda campaign so effective that multitudes even now believe that the period between the Fall of Western Rome and The Renaissance was a dark age!

[@silverscorpio24]

One (of the many) things I love about Tolkien is how prominent songs and poetry and riddles are in those cultures. Bilbo's main hobby is writing his biography and singing new songs. The Elves all over Middle-Earth sing ballads. Even the Dwarves have a sacred poem about Durin the First and Mirrormere.

[@thevictoryoverhimself7298]

Family singing is super wholesome. I don’t think our family did it in organized fashion but my dad would just play his guitar and sing alone to entertain himself and I can still sing most of the songs. He’ll be gone soon and it’ll always be a little aspect of him that will live on whenever I sing his songs to myself , at least as long as I’m alive

[@abcdef27669]

In rural areas, people still sings a lot, usually during the work.

[@coin0matic]

My dad would often bang out songs on the piano and I'd often join in. That's part of why I am so fond of Billy Joel. It was honestly a wonderful time with my father.

[@missa2855]

It not so common during the everyday, but for family get together here in Denmark it is quite common to sing together.

[@whosweptmymines3956]

Yeah, group singing and family singing are great. A lot of my fondest memories are about my times growing up singing together with my family.

[@kevinsullivan3448]

If you father is still lucid, get him to sing songs and record them.

[@salve9921]

Ancient Romans had clay gladiator figurines to which I assume was played as action figures for kids. I wonder if the Medieval period had any of those. I also wonder if kids in the past used bread dough as playdough.

[@Gravelgratious]

You should assume that because your human brain can think of it ,those in the past did as well. Same species , same impulses for fun.

[@userJanus3003]

I've heard of gladiators being used to promote products (and apparently Ridley Scott wanted to show that in the movie "Gladiator" but thought audiences wouldn't believe it), and now I'm amused by the idea of gladiators advertising their own action figures ("Colosseum Playset sold separately").

[@princesseville6889]

In good years a family certainly coulve formed a flour+ equal parts salt dough with little water. It never fucking molds abd you can knead it forever - if the kids didnt straight up play with mud it was propably salt kned dough.

[@bobsmith5088]

Ahh, dolls. That's probably a big one for girls.

[@fgregerfeaxcwfeffece]

@@Sc4recrow44 Yes, and: Clay isn't really a sophisticated material. You can just dig it up in many regions and it's not very deep down. Like realistically reachable by someone who is only in shape because round is a shape. In some places parts of the ground is already clay. Or at best a dig of 10-50cm. So that applies to pretty much everywhere where not everything is completely sealed in concrete. But figures made in the most easy way like this would not be very durable but also VERY easy to produce. So those very likely seen as cheap and disposable. Which easily explains why we haven't found many. They simply weren't fired at sufficiently high temperatures and or broke. If you just fire or more correctly: dry clay figures. They would be exceedingly cheap. Like: A child could make dozens in one day. Without the help of an adult. If you play outside for years you WILL know where to easily get clay. If you live in a region where that's possible. In most of central Europe it is. I am 32 and know where to get clay right now.

[@raptorjesus3396]

The thing with medieval poetry is that generally no unified writing system was in place, to the point where noticeable language drift occured from town to town. When observed from the perspective of the clergy or nobility a person capable of written Latin and or French was considered as literate in public. The Germanic writing system was widespread during the Habsburger regency but the versions or German spoken and written were not regulated, or normalized, but accepted for trade agreements. Yet people proficient in written Germanic did not count as literate in the eyes of people who mattered, the nobility and clergy. I think that this is where the misconceptions, that all peasants were illiterate originates from. Thanks for listening to my TEDTalk on why most things are better now

[@andreas_rr]

Fun Fact: Singing and Storytelling is something we did a lot when camping back when i was a scout. Like, we were camping in summer for 2 weeks each year, (ideally) without phone or anything, and it was a great time sitting around the campfire and singing, etc. And even simple group activities like building a fireplace, cooking place, tables and benches, etc. is incredibly enjoyable and helps relaxing, as we live in a too fast-paced, stressful world where everything has to be quick and efficient and not time-wasting and so on.

[@patriciawright8786]

ARR--How many people do you know who are interested in building furniture?

[@AnotherDuck]

Can confirm that singing, storytelling, and similar antics like acting is part of scouting life. Also that if you have a campsite you're staying at for more than a day, you're going to continually improve on it with various additions like tables, drying racks, and what else, until it's time to leave. Mostly because it's fun building stuff. And competitions. Loads and loads of competitions. If there's something you can do, you can race doing it. If there's something you can score in, you can compete with scores. If there's an even remotely appropriate body of water nearby, expect lots of water activities as well. If you don't want to, there's a 50/50 chance you'll be dragged screaming to it.

[@MrMarinus18]

I think a lot of why we now struggle to do it is the hyper individualist culture there is right now. Where everything is for the convenience of the individual rather than for the good of the group. Where you very often choose to not do it because you don't feel like it rather than doing it because you want to make them happy. I think this hyper individualism is a very toxic thing. We should feel a social pressure to commit to our community and from what I've seen social pressures aren't gone, they just have transformed into making yourself a celebrity.

[@Kacpa2]

What most people dont get is that medieval life in a village is almost no different to modern small farming villages in say eastern europe and Poland. And until recently the way of life overall was nearly identical. People. Its just the surrounding enviroment and technology that changed, people and their habits remained almost identical

[@Kacpa2]

For instance my grandparents and especially grandgrandparents and extended family on my fathers side lives pretty much in very similar way you described medieval life. Its not as alien as people think really

[@abcdef27669]

Just remember that Tolkien was inspired by his own childhood in rural England, when he created the Hobbit Shire.

[@Kacpa2]

@@abcdef27669 Exactly :)

[@nickelakon5369]

A lot of people can't even imagine that cause they grew up in the city or are just far removed from that kind of lifestyle.

[@Gravelgratious]

Asian,and African farmers waving hello. Their lifestyles didn’t change either,even with colonization.

[@AudraT]

A while ago I watched a reality show where they had families living on homesteads from the 1800's era for an extended period of time, like 6 months to a year or something like that. After they finished their homestead living and went back to their normal lives a lot of them complained that they were bored. Even the children with all their technology and video games said they felt bored.

[@josephfuller272]

There's a very visceral satisfaction in actually completing tasks. I grew up gardening (2 acres), taking care of goats, and playing outside the large majority of my childhood. Most of the time I'd get bored of playing and find something to do.

[@giovanni545]

Whats the name of the show?

[@AudraT]

@@giovanni545 Golly. I have no idea. It was probably 10 years ago at least when they showed it. It was a miniseries. I know this response is a year late, but I turned off notifications a long time ago because I got tired of KZbin notifying me every time a troll said something mean. So, I had no idea you had asked me a question. Sorry.

[@ramflight]

Wait... your brother's Jazza?! I feel like I should have known this lol P.s. The bit with the singing... I'm reading LotR at the moment and, since it's written as a Medieval-type of lore, there's a lot of singing there as well. They take time and pride to come up with songs and poems, and show them fff. Which is actually wholesome and, well, .. cool!

[@mariaria2499]

6:00 we would usually sing random songs in our classroom back in senior highschool. I remember the first thing we ever did as a class was form our chairs in a huge circle and started taking turns singing. There were no teachers. Most of us were still strangers then somebody just said, "Hey guys I have a guitar, lets sing." Its just interesting to note that singing with friends just to pass time is still kind of a thing in my country (Philippines). You can find a karaoke machine almost everywhere here.

[@MrMarinus18]

My family were all musicians. I played the tuba, one sister played the clarinet, the other the belgian horn, my mom the flute and my brother the trombone. Music was not only enjoyable but also a really great excersize to build up work ethic and very rewarding. Seeing yourself improve slowly little by little. Every attempt being ever so slightly better than the last. A Dutch tradition that's still alive is giving gifts with a poem attached and the gift is kind of expected to be something worthless but in a very elaborate packaging. The idea being that the effort put into the packaging and the poem is to convey your love and appreciation for that individual. Buying them an expensive gift is actually looked down on. I remember doing it at school and it was always so much fun seeing the incredibly elaborate contraptions people build and came up with. I have made a wireframe balarina on a set, a 'lifesize' Pikachu, a large riddle build out of beer bottles, a truck made from cardboard. I think looking back those were some really great times. There was social pressure to do it, not doing it really wasn't considered an option but because of that everyone did it. I think forcing people to participate in group activities can actually make them more fun because it removes the hesitation. If you have no choice but to participate then you just have to focus on enjoying it.

[@calloganvoyaterre]

On narrating stories: back when I was in public school, the first through third grades (Canadian system, so Primary) had 'storytelling' every year, where one would either retell a known faerie tale story or write their own story and recite it in front of the class. The best students from each class would then recite it again in front of the whole of the primary grades in the gymnasium. I got chosen in third grade (age 9) to tell mine, which my mother helped me write. I loved it, and then hated it when it turned into 'speeches'. Until 8th grade (last intermediate grade before high school) when I said to hell with this and did a speech about aliens, which was pretty much storytelling again for me. I always get so anxious speaking in front of people, but when it's telling a story, I just get enveloped in it.

[@cramerlaybourn1733]

Caqxxq

[@Gr3nadgr3gory]

I kinda liked presenting, I got to rant to a room of captive listeners. Hopefully it was about something I liked.

[@oneproplanet]

Found the bard, welcome to the club

[@inquisitorbenediktanders3142]

When it comes to activities I'd like to highlight one game in particar: *mobball* The rules were (and are) the following: The population of one town would come to a different town. Their job is to get a ball from one side of the town to the other. The residents of the town have to stop them from that. This would go on for an entire day at times.

[@censoredbybigbrother1175]

Sounds insanely fun and very british.

[@AndrewHalliwell]

The variation was between villages, one goal in the centre of each village. That was one of the no holds barred type of games were it often got violent.

[@eanschaan9392]

That sounds like an absolute riot. Time for a comeback?

[@lordrorek1907]

Honestly, I think the storytelling tradition is also very much alive in the form of tabletop games. It's a group of people gathering around to tell a story together. Take out the paper and dice and I think medieval people would find it familiar.

[@MrMarinus18]

It's not the only place. I think fanfiction in many ways is the same thing. Some fanfic writers get thousands of followers but most get about 100 and about a dozen strong followers and they really are like friends. Several of them are fanfic writers themselves and they just exchange stories, giving comments and improvement points and so on.

[@gogroxandurrac]

5:30 another consideration for craftsmen would be the demand of their area. Nowadays our factories run close to 24/7 because we have a global shipping network and enough demand to keep them running profitably for the entire time. Local craftsmen would only have local demand, and as such have a much lower need for efficiency/productivity. They would still need a high baseline competency, they couldn't charge for something comparable to what anyone else could make themselves, but the actual amount of work they'd need to do per day would be drastically reduced.

[@MrMarinus18]

But also craftsmen are not the same as factory workers and it's a lot more diverse. As a craftsmen you need to secure materials, prepare the materials, maintain your equipment, maybe pretty it up, convince people to buy it, actually do the selling. Also you have a lot of comfort that it is truly YOUR craft. In a factory you are doing the work but the product is not yours, it's your boss and you couldn't have made it without your boss. That disconnect between craftsmen and their craft is actually the thing Karl Marx most focused on, more so than inequality. He especially warned against capitalism becoming disconnected from reality and "value" becoming far too nebulous. Looking at some of the absurd prices of NFT's which are litteraly just links. Many think they are images but they are not as images can be easily duplicated. A NFT is a link, nothing more and it's not even a link nobody else could get. You just happen to be the first. So it really is value completely disconnected with reality. Karl Marx defined value as one of 2 things; either useful value as products that do something useful or enjoyable that the majority of people can agree on is valueable. Or sentimental value where something is very valuable to an individual because of external reasons like appearing during a vulnerable time or being associated with a loved one. Disconnected value is something that doesn't have either of that. Something that people hate making, people hate using and everything hates being around. Something that only exists to be sold with no real value to anyone, the people buying it don't actually want it. THey just want to sell it off again.

[@gogroxandurrac]

@@MrMarinus18 While I agree with your points about craftspeople, you're looking at value wrong. You're also assuming NFTs aren't the next version of modern art, which is more money laundering than anything else. Value isn't connected to reality. It's in the eye of the beholder. Entirely subjective. That's why NFTs work, because you're not buying anything real, you're buying perception or status. As soon as nobody cares about that, the value is gone and the NFT is devalued. To someone that never cared about status or perception, it was never worth anything. The same as art. No picture is worth anything objectively. It functions in the subjective realm.

[@MrMarinus18]

@@gogroxandurrac Value can be subjective. I tried to explain that with sentimental value. What I was getting at is if something doesn't even have sentimental value. Things that only exist to be sold without anyone actually desiring it. while there is a lot of money laundering going on art is still pretty. It's something that makes people feel good to look at or at least makes them feel at home or cozy. The judgement of that value is subjective but it's still there. With NFT's though the people buying them don't want them.

[@gogroxandurrac]

@@MrMarinus18 NFTs are the same as the original version of an art piece. The value is in other people knowing you have it. A good forgery of a famous painting is exactly equivalent in emotional/reactionary value because it's identical. In the same way that copying the NFTs art is identical in an artistic sense. The status of owning the particular piece is what they buy, not the piece itself. The only difference between NFTs and art is the prestige associated with them. NFTs are new and blockchain products in general are treated warily. The value fluctuation is more aggressive, but you can see similar trends in the work of new artists as their popularity changes.

[@Avarn388]

This is a neat topic. I’ve always been fascinated with how cultures go about their mundane lives and entertainment is a big part of it. And it also aids in my own writing when creating a believable world. Also I will be sure to check out your book Shad as I finally have time. :)

[@spacecowboy5486]

Regarding literacy and poems, there were even novels written especially for women. In Giovanni Boccaccio's "Decameron", in the first pages the author states that he wanted to write mostly about love and affairs because the women didn't have that many activities to do in their free time. Also medieval people really enjoyed gossip as much as we do now, there are traces of this even in Dante, Petrarca and Chaucher

[@galadballcrusher8182]

So went ahead and wrote a very scandlizing anthology

[@Morna777]

It comes about later afaik but quilting developed specifically to give women something to do in the middle of winter. My mom is a quilter and during the lockdowns it helped her a lot to have something to do with her hands.

[@ArturoLopez-ly2pn]

Another way storytelling has evolved with tecnology is both animated storytime youtubers, and podcasts! Seriously, podcasts are literally a bunch of friends telling stories, but there are hundreds to thousands of people listening.

[@sevenproxies4255]

I read about one way that professional painters in medieval times used to make paint. They would get some kind of pigment (some being easier and cheaper to find than others), and then they used raw eggwhite as a medium to mix the pigment with. The eggwhite would solidify when drying and make sure the pigment sticks to the surface that you're painting on. I think this method was used a lot in illuminated manuscripts for books.

[@user-yo1fb1kg4omykehiggs]

Hi, I know of the painting medium you mean, but it was egg yolk that was used to bind the pigment, I think it was called something like "tempra"

[@llamalady]

tempura is made with egg and white wine. You can use either only the yolk or the eggwhite, or both depending on the consistency youre looking for! then you can mix in any pigments you want and paint :)

[@MattDeMille]

Just variations on stuff you mentioned: Puppet-shows. And, holiday specific: If you haven't already, you should do a video on medieval holyday traditions, and the truths of them, from the Maypole to the Yule-Log.

[@RickardLejonhjarta]

these are always underrated topics, we know so much about kings and wars but not so much about what life was actually like

[@SixofQueens]

The whole "dramatic narration" was something I did in Latin competitions in high school. The category was officially called "dramatic interpretation", but it would just be a one or two paragraph passage from some classic Roman work, usually depicting mythology, and that was it. How you said it, how/whether you acted any of it out, etc. was up to you, and sometimes you'd make up a whole dramatic skit out if it and get a judge who HATED people being overly dramatic. There was also Latin Oratory, where you'd have a passage from a famous speech that you'd recite with whatever inflection you thought appropriate, and I think speech writing (in Latin), which was a bit more advanced as a category since your fluency also factored in. National Junior Classical League, good stuff.

[@ingold1470]

3:50 - There's precedent for medieval people loving TV! In the early 20th century people from primitive societies (which were of course colonised in this era) absolutely loved the movies when they could see them, especially slapstick comedies. Native auxiliaries in African colonies during WW1 were mesmerised by Chaplin films that they were treated to, & of Tuva, a Mongolian backwater of the Soviet empire Otto Menschen-Helfen wrote this: "the Kyzyl electric plant works only when the movie theatre is running. I saw the beautiful Pudovkin film "Mother". Tuvans rode from far and wide to view this wonder. The film broke at least 20 times that night, but the audience was happy, now the fairy tale would last so much longer. They couldn't understand anything, not the slightest bit. The subtitles were in Russian, they couldn't read them. But their pleasure was nevertheless unending. When horses appeared, the whole place went crazy! They screamed, jumped up, and had a magnificent time. They didn't care at all who was a Gendarme and who was a Revolutionary, because they didn't know what the fight was about. Whoever just fired, that was their man! Only once were they incensed and raving, I didn't understand the reason. The film didn't show anything outlandish; running feet, a raised arm, a face. But that was precisely why. What they were shouting was translated for me: "We paid full price, why do you show us just a foot? Where is the head? We want to see a whole person! Why do you make the screen so small? We demand a screen on which a whole person has room, we want a big screen, a big screen!""

[@frankbelmont1565]

Storytelling has evolved besides audiobooks you have dungeons & dragons which also combines dice games.

[@Trathien-]

one entertainment you missed (for obvious reasons) is executions and another is carnivals or events similar to them

[@benjaminthibieroz4155]

that could make for an entire video, a very interesting one

[@JGeMcL]

When I was a young guy, I have fond memories of watching Anne of Green Gables with my mom. It's a wholesome movie without a villain and without danger. Just a young girl trying to navigate her world in her own unique way.

[@colinmackay92]

I'm from Prince Edward Island so I really appreciated the Anne of Green Gables reference. I know Anne of Green Gables is a relatively worldwide thing but it's crazy to think that it's made it all the way to Australia. Thanks Shad!

[@c6q3a24]

My older sister used to love it in the 90s. As her younger brother it was a pain to have her playing the videos for the 500th time.

[@colinmackay92]

@@c6q3a24 Try living on PEI lol. I lived in a more rural area but if you're in the Cavendish or Charlottetown region you're surrounded by Anne stuff all the time. I love it though. It's a part of my culture in a way.

[@GrndAdmiralThrawn]

I’m in the US. I never read the books, but the 90’s adaptation with Megan Follows was something we would watch all the time as kids

[@colinmackay92]

@@GrndAdmiralThrawn it's crazy to me how far its reached. When I'm in the US and someone asks me where I'm from I'll say "same place as Anne of green gables". The reaction is usually confusion or a laugh because they think I'm messing with them lol. Then when I explain they understand but seem to know virtually nothing about PEI or where it is but they know all about Anne lol. I love it though.

[@ThinWhiteAxe]

I grew up reading those books and they were always really special to me. I related to Anne on so many levels. And I love the way L. M. Montgomery described things.

[@Swedishmafia101MemeCorporation]

They talketh on Discord servres by method of letter correspondence 🙏

[@SirStanleytheStumbler]

Or face to face "shudders"

[@nowgoawayanddosomethinggoo8978]

"This jousting tournament is sponsored by Raid Shadow Legends"

[@Rabarbarzynca]

Main prize - winning players can raid losing side lands without king retaliation!

[@Scarecrow-sq1vh]

I'm glad you mentioned singing as something people enjoyed doing as it reminded me of something I found in my research. There were a group of soldiers from western France who became famous for their singing. These soldiers became known as the Brittany Spears.

[@joeg451]

Kingdom Come Deliverance depicts a couple other interesting forms of "entertainment". Pranks (like throwing manure at The Deutsch's freshly whitewashed house) are definitely an interesting one, since it's not really a wholesome way of entertaining oneself, but they could range from relatively harmless to completely harmless. Tournaments and contests are another one, and doubled as a way to train soldiers (I guess that falls under sports in your video). Owning and training a dog (as a pet, not like for a specific job) could definitely be a sort of entertainment as well. Public trials/executions/shaming were also considered entertainment, although they didn't happen predictably

[@GrndAdmiralThrawn]

The dice game they play in that is still something you can literally just get at your local supermarket.

[@philipleiser2090]

As always, this is a very interesting topic...Kids today have no idea how we lived without the internet, smartphones etc. Most "grown ups" seem to have forgotten as well. My kids stream all their tv shows, so "normal" tv with adds drives them crazy, I can only imagine what they would think of a world with only 4 channels, lol. On topic so to speak: I think a medieval version of "Cards against Humanity" would sell...as far as bringing things back, who is up for "Medieval rules American Football?" Oh the carnage! (I joke)

[@huldu]

If you've never experienced something then you don't know what you're "missing" out on. Just imagine people a few hundreds years from now and what crazy things people will do. Of course we don't know about it now so it's hard to imagine what it could be. I think one huge issue today is that we're so dependant on stimulus all the time and it's starting to create mental issues. This is something we need to get a handle on as it'll get far worse as time goes on. It's just sad to see people turning into zombies because they've lost the "meaning" of their life. They let work consume them and that's all they do until they die.

[@Gr3nadgr3gory]

In that world I would have never really stopped reading literature. Probably would have read about the same amount of manuals.

[@LindaGailLamb.0808]

I'm getting old... I was always a bookworm. Still am. I couldn't afford to buy too many books... but I've had my library card for a looong time. Plus, I grew up with cats. my sister and I used to stuff Cool Cat into doll clothes... it's amazing, what some cats who grow up with kids learn to put up with... 😁. Looking back, I realize he maybe wasn't always thrilled.... but he wasn't being hurt and he grew up loving attention, so he put up with it till we got tired of it for that day and did something else. Then pretty soon, he'd follow us and get in the middle of whatever else we'd gone to do 😊. Our cats all loved the attention.

[@rac1equalsbestgame853]

In a world like that I would porbaly read a ton, play card games with a close circle of buds for entertainment

[@vetoratu]

Many people call Middle Ages the dark ages! Medieval times were such an important and beautiful part of history and many important events that have impacted history happened back then!

[@leos.2322]

Propaganda after a certain revolution in france and it's sympathizers in england became more like dominant culture they started telling people that what came before them was infinitely worse, after all they hated it.

[@Al.Sulikas]

Only a fraction of the medieval period is called the Dark Ages, and it's only due to lack of proper records of the time, not for whatever reason talking heads give.

[@loowick4074]

I also suppose stuff in some areas were worse than others. Like the Byzantine... I mean east Roman times never truly experience a true dark age.

[@ailediablo79]

When they say dark ages they mean in contrast to the rest of the world. No matter what you going to say comparison between China and Muslim world on one side with Europe on the other is like comparing USA to Iraq in 2021.

[@ailediablo79]

@@Al.Sulikas that is also true.

[@QueenCloveroftheice]

I write poetry for entertainment purposes! Back when I worked at a Halloween store, I wrote a humorous but dark short poem about a man who uses real body parts as yard decorations for Halloween and posted it for my coworkers to enjoy in the break room. I also wrote a funny poem about how the sunlight always gets in my eyes when I’m driving. Very relatable for people lol

[@bewbsplox5289]

As a gamer this answered some of the questions I had about what types of games people played back then but I was also curious about what medieval music was really like because I listen to a lot of that stuff on channels like ravnskjold, Celtic music world, fantasy music world etc and I'm sure I'm not the only one that has the misconception of medieval music being this really dramatic well composed music with beautiful women playing gigantic harps, bards playing flutes and tiny guitars. I would really like to know more about what the music and the instruments of the day were really like. What was the level of quality and price of those instruments, would they have been something considered "common man"

[@somerandomrpgenthusiast8451]

There's the channel Farya Faraji. With several of his songs, he tries to be accurate to the instrumentation ancient/medieval people would've had at the time.

[@Painkiller040]

This seems to give good tips incase power goes out. Keep up the good work shad!! Love from Sweden!!

[@bankerduck4925]

I have actually thought about this myself. I assume they ate together for fun. Now, I love the castle, sword, fantasy realism in books and movies, medieval misconceptions videos, and what not... But this is most definitely a very interesting video idea! Lovely!

[@kulestdude2531]

I have read The Name of the Wind and I can confirm that the story telling provides a lot to worldbuilding and story telling for the entire story. If you have not read the book, I would highly recommend it. Like what another reviewer said, "... Shelve The Name of the Wind beside The Lord of the Rins... and look forward to the day that it is mentioned in the same breath, perhaps among equals."

[@benjaminbrand3714]

Love this! This is such an interesting piece of cultural anthropology that isn't spoken about enough! Good on you!

[@laurenzwegler7141]

Could you make a video about poison on weapons? It's depicted in video games, movies and books so often, but was it actually used that often?

[@benjaminthibieroz4155]

as that what said, it's quite useless on melee weapon since you gonna kill the oponent way faster by slashing him. Unless you have some very fast deadly or debilitating substance, but it would be very expensive and dangerous to use. However there's still example of them being used, in context of hunt and battle. Some tribes in Amazonia used curare on their arrows for the paralysing properties. And it was common for medieval archers to put their arrows into dirt or shit so that wounds would cause infection and kill their targets anyway (if combat was to last several days like consecutive ambushes and sieges, securing a kill for the future was pretty effective).

[@kevinsullivan3448]

Real people don't have hit points. If you were injured in a battle you could still die from infection. Poison is something you put in food or drink, not smear on a weapon. Other than darts rubbed on poison arrow frogs for hunting small game in the Americas.

[@kaptinbarfbeerd1317]

@@benjaminthibieroz4155 So true, this is why I wondered what the point of "poison" or an other damage over time type weapon was in video games. In most games I played, it was useless and just skipped over them unless they had some niche use. The exception would be a tranquilizer but this probably doesn't count as the goal here is to incapacitate the target instead of killing it.

[@RaderizDorret]

I've only seen poisons used on weapons in the context of certain indigenous tribes in South America tipping blowgun darts and arrowheads with curare but that's mostly in a hunting context, I think. Curare is a paralytic agent that shuts down your muscles, causing death by a asphyxia which is available in the Amazon River Basin. But toxins available to Europeans? You'd be looking at strychnine, death cap mushrooms, deadly nightshade, and so on, none of which are all that great when injected into muscles as far as I know. I'm ignoring snake venom because I don't think medieval types would be too keen on trying to milk venom out of a very irritated adder.

[@benjaminthibieroz4155]

@@RaderizDorret true. They had access to some nasty ingested poison, but none suited to wounds as far as I know...as for snakes...we just lacked the most venomous type, plus their venom takes time to kill as well.

[@abcdef27669]

"I'm bored... I think I will start a new Crusade this weekend, and call all the homies" - Some random knight.

[@quagsiremcgee1647]

Finished the book recently, and I loved it. The themes in the book were great. Highly reccomend.

[@rebeccam4746]

I love that the first picture you used to talk about poets was a portrait of Christine De Pizan, the first author in France to earn a living that supported she and her family as a court writer, poet, and biographer.

[@danielgorrell4299]

Definitely would recommend a fast from unnecessary use of technology (phones, computer, video games). It opens up time for cultivating hobbies, reading, exercise, outdoor adventures, and spending time with family and friends. (It also is healthier for you).

[@byletheisner5006]

Videogames are one of my main hobbies I cultivate.

[@godzilla995]

@@byletheisner5006 🤓

[@G59forlife.]

@@godzilla995 you know most people in developed countries play games right?

[@godzilla995]

@@G59forlife. what does that have to do with anything

[@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051]

@@godzilla995 You called the guy a nerd for playing video games when most people do.

[@SuperShadowKin]

I've actually recently thought about modern depression and the monotony of our daily lives. Are jobs have become so simple and efficient. It's actually become a negative to our hippieness.

[@Horvath_Gabor]

It's part of it, but I'd say most of us have it pretty nice nowadays. Unless you live in a hot-spot, you don't have to worry about wars, raids, the biggest plague in our generation was a mild cough with very occasional complications, and we have more sources and variety of entertainment than what we could consume in a lifetime. The reason why we get depressed despite all that is because out world grew too big. Media, both the normal and the social variety, keeps bombarding you with stressors all the time. Wars, the economy, crime, healthcare issues, illnesses, wealth inequality, and so on are all things that you cannot do anything about, but you still learn about them because our brains are wired to crave information. Add all of that together, and your brain just gets flooded with stress hormones about things that are, by all intents and purposes, should not really concern you, and before long, that inevitably lead to depression in one form or another.

[@robo5013]

Any kind of work is negative to my 'hippieness'😉

[@markbaker4425]

@@Horvath_Gabor thats a part of it but the work is a major factor. Remember that adam smith. The father of capitalist economics said "In the progress of the division of labour, the employment of the far greater part of those who live by labour, that is, of the great body of people, comes to be confined to a few very simple operations, frequently one or two. But the understandings of the greater part of men are necessarily formed by their ordinary employments. The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects too are, perhaps, always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding,or to exercise his invention in finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become. The torpor of his mind renders him, not only incapable of relishing or bearing a part in any rational conversation, but of conceiving any generous, noble, or tender sentiment, and consequently of forming any just judgement concerning many even of the ordinary duties of private life"

[@sevenproxies4255]

Imagine what a smash hit table top roleplaying games would be in medieval times. Think about it, they already had all components for it. They had dice games, they had story telling and they had a keen fascination with mythical creatures and fairytales. I'm honestly surprised that there are no accounts of medieval people playing table top rpg's. SOMEONE surely thought of combining these different elements into a fun game of make believe with rules and dice rolls, right?

[@KairuHakubi]

i'm reminded of that bit in Simon the Sorcerer II when he comes across some nerdy teens in this medieval fantasy world and he asks if they're playing dungeons and dragons and they're like "that's boring real life stuff. we're playing Apartments and Accountants"

[@Coldyham]

Have you heard of the voynich manuscript? There's theories that it's medieval people doing their own fantasy world building

[@georgejones5019]

I've thought about this, then I've considered various experiences I've had. I was in the boy scouts and an avid backpacker for a bit. When you're miles from civilization and on a trail, there's no TV or internet. When you were relaxing or taking a break you'd converse or tell stories, even while traveling. Sometimes we'd do some kind of recreation at camp sites like Frisbee golf or archery. I also think it depends on the lifestyle the person in that time period and their role in society. A warrior/knight would spend a big part of their day training and working out to be in shape and prepared for the battlefield. Farming would be feast or famine (heh), where they would be very busy at certain periods of the year, but not very busy during others. They also spent time hunting recreationally and to obtain food as a reward. Fishing. They spent time in the pub. Religious events. Singing. Plays. Recreational sports. Really not too much different from what we do now.

[@jean-sebastienmatte2358]

When I get particularly depressed and hopeless, I slurge poems on Facebook. They are not fun poems, but despair is a particularly potent muse.

[@jean-sebastienmatte2358]

I am a French speaker, so here is one I wrote, it's in French, tho: Vivre en des temps intéressants, Certains le veulent et pourtant. Pour le sage est malheur, De sa vision il labeur. Regards de dérision l'entourent, Circonstances se suivent à leurs tour, Pour lui faire lui faire douter toujours, Que l'Homme est un être d'amour. Tristesse est nom de saison, Malédiction est la raison. Empli de bonté il projette, Sachant que les gens en jettent. Ignorance peux-tu le sauver? Il est trop tard pour retourner. Une fois vu, nul peut effacer. De votre savoir désespérez.

[@clericofchaos1]

well apparently, my ancestors in Scotland were throwing big rocks and trees at each other and getting into fist fights, and my ancestors in America probably didn't have much time for entertainment. Tribal dances would have been just about it, with the rest of the day focused of surviving.

[@pazdivina965]

Scottish hockey…… stealing cows…… yep. The scots kept plenty busy lol

[@patriciawright8786]

clericofchaos-My Irish ancestors spent much of their free time drinking. This activity I might have the slightest chance of getting my friends & family interested in doing this weekend. The tabletop roleplaying would get me booted out the door.

[@MrMarinus18]

15:00 You also have a "third place" which is either the town square or the church. A place to hang out and chat with the locals. They still exist in many parts of Europe.

[@carlosmarte428]

Just got your book yesterday, Shad. It was so good that I ended up finishing it in a day! Looking forward to the next installment if you’ve got that in mind.

[@GallowglassAxe]

So there are quite a few good games that we still have listed from the medieval period. Especially board games. 9 Men Morris which is shown at 15:47 Backgammon which is shown at 16:31 And chess are featured in the Nintendo Switch game 51 club house games In the early medieval period hnefatafl (which means corner escape) was hugely popular in Europe especially where Norse trade was taken place. It was later replaced with modern chess. In Africa we have Mancala, India had ludo, and in Japan we have Shogi which are also feature in 51 Club House Games. As for sports various forms of field hockey was widely popular. In Ireland they had hurling and in Scotland its known as Shinty. The youtuber Irish medieval History just did a video covering the history of the sport. Ireland and Scotland has a ton of sports. Pole vaulting (which was for distance not height), spear/dark throwing, foot racing, shot putting, caber tossing, Sheaf tossing, weight for height and length. I could add a lot more but its a deep rabbit hole to follow.

[@taleg1]

My family had both a family band, and two family choirs one consisting of adults mostly and the other with kids. But then my whole family has musical backgrounds and have several minor celebrities that do music or singing, only 2-3 are known outside our home country, but still nearly every kid in my generation had to partake in the choir and all of us were at one point forced to start to learn a musical instrument. Some took well to this, others not so much.

[@johnedgar7956]

Thank you Shad! This was both useful and entertaining!

[@shibalikchakraborty5344]

This is really informative & really opens up a whole new side to the depiction of medieval period . (infact in my own TTRPG i am planning to include story tellers as quest-givers) . One thing I would like to mention is the singing . The taking turns in singing can still be seen as a common form of entertainment in some parts of the world . From where I am (India) we often play games that involves singing . In there one is supposed to sing a song that starts with the last letter or the previous song sung by the other person . We still play this game a lot when we are travelling in large groups during family trips .

[@ooi97]

Things my family did that medieval people used to do: - singing - storytelling - theatre for other family members - card/board/nothing games - knitting - brewing - carving - drawing - poetry - instrumental music - wrestling/canoeing/other sports All without modern technology. We live in a big city. Our parents were teachers and scientists. It was in this century. We've always had a PC at home.

[@nymphrodellsalavin]

I'm a Quaker, and one of the things we do when we get together is sing for fun (Rolling River, this Little Light of Mine, Dear Friends). Btw, we often refer to the Light of God, and walking in the Light... Makes certain fantasy stories really funny

[@andrewparamonoff]

We can really see the refreshing choice of regular nececcary activities when talking a look at the lives of "professional homeowners" in our time. With all the great and tricks of our civilization, the "owning" of land and house is still pretty diverse work that requests many different skills from the person who perform that maintaining.

[@eduardoferreiradesa5716]

The painting part really caught my attention. That and poetry. Really learned something interesting today :) thanks shad

[@PSDuck216]

Also: “tennis”, called Tenez (French: receive it). It looked more like handball. Everyone played it: royalty, clergy, monks, townspeople and peasants (aka farmers, not a perjorative in those days). It started iirc about 1330. In England, only the king (or royalty) could hold a tournament. That law dated before the Black Death. Overall, good show! Cheers!

[@Rabarbarzynca]

Yeah, audiobooks and earlier, radio dramas, were/are a link to old style storytelling. In general, rhetorics was big back then, to the point that it was something profesionally learned - obviously it was quite important for nobility to extert their charisma this way.

[@HrothgarTheSaxon]

Thanx for this video Shad, I appreciate my games-loving friends even more now!

[@martinatuzincinova5941]

On the storytelling note. Lately I've discovered that I really enjoy listening to people on KZbin mainly talking about some topics they like while I'm working. Like medieval period or anime nuance or religion or lost civilisations etc. The longer the better and so I've been introduced to the world of video essays. I feel like it draws a parallel with the storytelling when you enjoy good stories. ❤️

[@d.w.w.sweetz3008]

Shad, lemon tree by Peter, Paul and Mary? I grew up as a child every other Christmas with Peter who wrote lemon tree and would sing it to us kids each Christmas he came. The best Christmas also one of my last Christmas with Peter, we watched the movie "meet the fockers." My dad wanted to talk about puff the magic dragon and knew about that scene where they talked about puff.

[@thegonk1345]

The stick always existed. Stick supremacy!

[@willforest5302]

Thank you Shad! knowing that people used to do group singing for fun has really made me understand why we sing in church. also the keep hold of the ball game shad mentioned that still takes place is the Atherstone Ball Game.

[@derkeve]

This was very informative and fun. Thank you so much for making this video.

[@Tennouseijin]

When I was little, my grandpa used to tell me children's stories which were written in rhyme by popular writers (Kornel Makuszyński, Julian Tuwim), but my grandpa would memorize them by heart.

[@amirhosseinmaghsoodi388]

Two great topics of great interest at the same time! Sorry knightswatch. I assumed this is the shorter of the two.

[@joshhall3040]

Speaking of narrating stories, I listen to audio books while at work and it definately makes the workday go by much faster. And when I listen to The Shadow of the Conqueror I want to work longer so I can listen longer. Lol. Awesome video Shad!

[@eirrenia]

Loreena McKenitt has done some absolutely beautiful poem adaptations into song, including “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes; also set music to an entrancing reading of Prospero’s speech from Shakespeare. As an artist I’d say she very skillfully bridges the medieval and modern.

[@torshec8634]

Playing dice games in Kingdom Come Deliverance. Watch out for loaded dice.

[@sevenproxies4255]

As someone who likes to work with my hands, I can't imagine why any medieval people would be bored. There's carpentry, smithing, leatherworking, carving, scrimshawing, and even engineering if you feel inventive to do. How does one get bored with so many activities being both available and relevant? 🤔

[@sevenproxies4255]

@N Fels Yeah, and most of that information has only bored and desensitized me.

[@benjaminthibieroz4155]

even monks who are supposed to have a calm and secluded life did a lot of diversified work, ranking to farm tasks to writing and art.

[@kari2570]

Watching this video brought back some nostalgic memories of my grandad singing all the time whenever we were over at his place. As a kid, that was just normal, but now 30 years later, I'd almost forgotten it was a thing.

[@janbaltes2863]

Great topic to discuss. Thanks a lot :)

[@FazekasPK]

There is a joke for this... A kid asks his grandfather: Grandpa! Back when you had no TV, no computers and phones, how did you have fun? The grandfather answered: It is why your father has 9 brothers... (Translated from hungarian)

[@thepokemontrainer6094]

Tell me about it shad, you wanna know what hat I like to do when I don’t have anime or video games, listen to my favorite music from those video games, movies, and anime. They create soundtracks for a reason!! But I love to listen to early music as well, let me tell you I waste more time listening to music and reading than anything else, and that includes the Bible as a Christian who still doesn’t know allot, I still need to read the Bible because I chose too. I already learned allot and I want to know more!!

[@mysteryguy892]

I have been wondering this for ages Thanks

[@CurtisJensenGames]

Hearing you talk about your family home evening puts a smile on my face

[@lukeblundell5610]

Obviously past time; they played DnD -5e 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@mattiadallasta1698]

In the city of Treviso we have a peculiar style of game cards called "trevisane" which can be dated back to early renaissance; they are used for many games that are played (at least as far as i know) only in Italy, for examlple "scopa" (literally "broom") or "briscola" etc. . There are variants for almost every region but i can suppose that the figures represented in the cards number 8, 9 and 10 of each suit of "trevisane" cards (a footsoldier, a cavalryman and a king) are there to represent the soldiers of the coalition that besieged Treviso in the early XVI century. This is just my ipothesis, but it is quite fascinating to think that those cards were invented just few years after the siege (maybe it is only a nice coincidence). Anyway the style of the figures and the bywords written on each ace card have basically remained true to the tradition with no significant evolution since the XVI century. Also, little "easter-egg": in the "trevisane" type, the 10, king of the suit of batons, (we have quite exotic suits: batons, swords, cups and coins) bears on his chest the heraldry of Treviso, which is the turreted city, the latin name "Tarvisium" and the motto "Monti, Musoni, ponto dominorque Naoni"

[@douglasknupp4574]

The exotic suits are just the same as regular tarot.

[@mattiadallasta1698]

@@douglasknupp4574 Ah...that's disappointing: now my theory makes no sense at all. Thank you anyway, I didn't know tarots very well.

[@lytsedraak]

Very interesting video, thanks for making this.

[@HobbyDad251]

The NPR radio show "A Prairie Home Companion" gives a window into how people entertained themselves in the past. You've got stories, skits, and music played on "folk" instruments. Obviously it's a radio show now, but this would be pretty standard stuff for a village hall show or just friends and family hanging out on a Sunday night. Anyway, thank you for talking about this topic!

[@wokenlunatic2849]

Another people do in Medieval Time do Entertained them are *🔥WATCH PEOPLE KILLING EACHOTHER!🔥* (Hunger Game x WWE style)

[@Blitzkriegx15]

Can you make a video about hook swords

[@rachelkingston9394]

Shad, love the content man; keep it up! Do you have any recommendations for other channels that I can also watch to expand on my general history knowledge?

[@kristataylor1652]

I spent a lot of time hiking, backpacking and other hobbies that mean i don't have electricity. So many of the things you talked about we would do out on the trail or around the campfire. One of my best friends and i had a book we would read our loud to eachother around camp. It was so great

[@Alanth]

I wonder if gleemen were an actual thing back then

[@JurassicReptile]

I wonder if you'll ever do a video on the stereotype that medieval people would immediately burn anyone different because they thought they were a witch, cause that shows up a lot in media. in fact, a whole video on the belief of witches, werewolves, and vampires affecting medieval life would be fascinating.

[@patriciawright8786]

Jurassic Reptile--That would be interesting. Much more interesting than the Maypole or Yule-Log!

[@angeldude101]

Ah yes... I am _very_ interested in hearing what Shad would have to say on this topics. Ultimately, whether or not they were killed, those who would've been labeled as such would've still been people, and if they really were different in a more fundamental way, then there'd be no reason to assume that they aren't still around.

[@benjaminthibieroz4155]

it's mainly a big cliche. First, the vast majority of executions for witchcrafts happened AFTER the middle ages. Inquisition was created in 1215, and one of its purpose was precisely to prevent arbitrary executions (which would imply some would happen). When they were in charge of trials, convicted actually always had the possibility to recant and escape death (which wasn't the case later). Of course, medieval people would most likely be distrusting of stangers, especially one they would consider weird (some ethnic groups like jews and gipsies were actually persecuted and murdered on many occasions). However, that would jump to the accusations of witchcraft and build a pyre is a massive overexageration. They weren't idiots and knew how to differentiate weird behavior and obscure science to occultism. For example, one classical exemple of that persecutions is female healers (herborists and midwives). However, these women were actually very respected in the communities they worked in. Of course, based on still modern examples in developping countries, a crowd frantically killing someone out of fear and hatred probably happened. Was it common? I don't think so at all. Was it legal? Not at all. Both the lord and the local church wouldn't tolerate this happening outside of their juridication. Finally, this stereotype is often portrayed to be perpetuated by either priests or superstitious peasants. However, the official position of the Church for the longest time was that witchcraft didn't exist and as such couldn't be condemned, and superstitious people would more likely respect/fear a witch rather than fighting her. So, as much as i enjoy that trope, it's actually a cliche

[@absentmindedsmartguy]

You talked about games adults would play in their setting rooms and it reminded me of at scene in A Christmas Carol.

[@RacingSnails64]

Informative, I'll have to take notes 👍