What Was Life like in the Middle Ages?

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One of the least understood periods of European history occurred between the 6th century and the 14th or 15th century (depending on which historian you ask). Commonly called the Middle Ages, this was a time period of extreme change for Europe, beginning with the fall of the Western Roman Empire. To a continent that had seen a drastic shift in the power structure, the world seemed to be particularly harsh. Rome had been a major player across Europe for well over a millennium. Then it was gone.
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[@jackdonovan554]

Think about it this way: All of us are the children of people who were the sole survivors of deadly wars, famines, and plagues. You come from a long line of ancestors who repeatedly beat the odds- which means you can, too. Remember that.

[@P71ScrewHead]

Amen..

[@mplwy]

I've thought along these lines as well. Thank you for pointing it out. It truly is amazing!

[@orbitalchild]

Or you just come from a long line of people who had stupid good luck

[@jackdonovan554]

@@orbitalchild Lucky bloodlines, then - regardless, we all inherited survival skills that we don't even know we have. Luck certainly appears to have been a major part of our survival, but memory exists in the blood-line, as instinctual responses, as well. We are all the products of successful survival skills...and luck.🙂

[@hdavv]

@@mplwy me too

[@kateriggall]

For 90% of this video I was like "yeah, all pretty standard," but right at the end I realised I had never thought about how gross living in a castle would be even compared to a village or farm. These are the crucial insights that were missing from my kids history books!

[@JamesRDavenport]

It really depends on a lot of factors though, but in particular when in the Middle Ages, and how wealthy the Lord was. Castles could vary from little more than a single motte and bailey barely furnished, to something very close to a fairytale castle. One thing regardless of period that would be hard for us modern people would be sleeping. In most cases, you'd be expected to share a bed, usually with multiple people. Even a Lord might sleep in his big bed with his Lady, all his kids, and their closest Knights and retainers all in the same chamber. Yes, even while doing THAT activity!

[@victorgiddens5612]

Yeah, like europe wasn't the world.

[@tweettweetjones1262]

@@victorgiddens5612 If you don't like Western Culture then move somewhere in the world where you learn about their history.

[@justacrusader3199]

But still,I wanna live in the middle ages

[@harrisonhogan2360]

​@@victorgiddens5612 wdym just plz be nice

[@mathonamoore123]

Another reason they drank beer was because a lot of water was not clean enough to drink. Purple was reserved for royalty because it took hundreds of sea snails, to harvest the dye, it was labour intensive work and they only came from the city of Tyre, in modern day Lebanon. That is why, it was called 'Tyrian or Royal Purple'. Purple was associated with nobility & higher up clergy too. The background music is headache inducing. Even when turned down it is very painful to hear. Your voice is better on its 'own. From Ireland, the 15th of April 2022. 🇮🇪❤️

[@LindaMerchant-bq2hp]

Purple ermine medieval imperial symbols

[@acceptyourselfbehappy1443]

Videos like this one help me with book research. One of the novels I'm writing is a historical scifi and I wanna make sure I have ALLLL my facts right! lol :)

[@dweight7891]

ooh sounds good, let us know your books title when you are finished

[@user-kw8ff9ne8l]

Excellent,could you do life in ancient Persia especially about the magicians?

[@LeRoyBoxley434]

So what you want is a video done on Persian Magicians?

[@user-kw8ff9ne8l]

@@LeRoyBoxley434 Absolutely.

[@pillcosby6569]

Lmaoo

[@babyramses5066]

@@user-kw8ff9ne8l a video on if you could survive as an ancient persian magician? Idk, I guess that depends on which king is in power at the time lol

[@alexanderaguilastratt7497]

Yes please.

[@LetStartWithThis]

so cool!!!!!!!!

[@priscillawatson7049]

I would love to learn about the paleolithic, neolithic etc...with dates and s brief narrative describing them thanks!

[@djsauce4498]

Idk why but im obsessed with these days.

[@yourface2884]

Some people are still saying that life would be easier than it is now - me, I did a bunch of reading this morning and I watched this video, and what I'm retaining stronger than anything is that I'd have to drink beer the consistency of porridge in place of water, DEPEND on it for some of my daily nutritional needs, and that even the highest of classes with the "nicest" materials for beds had beds full of lice and bed bugs. Yeah, no thanks. I'm pretty peasant-y by today's standards and I feel pretty certain that I am still better off than someone waking up covered in itchy bed bug bites 😂

[@jamesthue9974]

Do your books include pictures and maps? Nice job on the video.

[@CaptivatingHistory]

Many of them do!

[@keelijudge5074]

Literacy was actually very high in the middle ages amongst the present class. It's just that they read and wrote old English not Latin or French. English was the present language, and written formed were very common in way of laws and notices posted in the town squares and church porches. Many poems and short stories where written down as well as ledgers, and letters. But there were no books because books where so expensive and only available to the nobility who spoke Latin and French.

[@zacharyhockett6248]

"food in the middle ages came from farms" As opposed to now where it comes from where exactly?

[@k_supreme_3371]

GMO 😂

[@dingusdingus2152]

Sometimes it is found in the cabbage patch and sometimes the stork brings it

[@Watchmerise69420]

LMAO do you go to the farm to pick up your frozen chicken nuggets

[@zacharyhockett6248]

@@Watchmerise69420 as far as I'm aware those chickens came from a far. Do you think that they didn't have markets in the middle ages?

[@coolkid_2554]

@@zacharyhockett6248 they have markets but its poorly built and made of wood and smelly meats

[@matovicmmilan]

Nobody ever banned soccer in Medieval Europe. Football, on the other hand, was banned multiple times.

[@utah133]

Back then I'm sure the game could be described as soccer or football.

[@SpencerTaylor-yh6ln]

5:59 is that baseball?

[@ethansims9762]

After shorty w the absolute dumptruck @ 7:13 I stopped focusing

[@MajorHomeless]

yea haha i knew i wasnt alone

[@Fotosynthesis858]

I’d survive about 8-9 hours. Unless I could find an electric outlet to charge my iPhone 📲

[@hugovanpayns9557]

Nice vid, but I see some errors. There were three classes, not two. Those who work (peasants), those who pray (clergy) and those who fight (nobles).

[@godzillagaming887]

No joke I had to replay the video because I’m just 1:36 seconds I learned most year worth of highschool history class simplified and understandable😂

[@thewhitedoncheadle8345]

yeh thats bullshit. probably a kid who never listened during history class, then blamed the teacher for you not learning

[@justinfacer6332]

My last name "Facer" comes from doing the finish work or face of stone masonry.

[@LeRoyBoxley434]

I'm not so sure that is correct.

[@justinfacer6332]

@@LeRoyBoxley434 If you know otherwise I'm all ears

[@mikemurdoch9653]

Facer was really mouther so we know what your ancestors did.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

@@justinfacer6332 You can't be all ears if you're a Facer! 😜😁

[@justinfacer6332]

@@theoztreecrasher2647 oh but I am lol

[@martinschulz9381]

Good video...well done. Medieval fuedal farming was very backwards and localized. Bad weather events in gowning seasons like heat waves, drought, cold, hailstorms, hard rain as well as pests and blights etc. would often cause food shortages, famine and hardship. The high renaissance and the industrial revolution brought about scientific mechanized farming methods as well as food transport. Food could be brought in from more prosperous regions in bad years. In today's world the Middle ages are often glorified, romanticized, and idealized. Absolutely nothing could be farther from the truth. They were times of severe hardship and oppression.

[@KristinkaAranova]

I mean it’s like every period in human history, some had it hard , some had it comfortable

[@martinschulz9381]

@@KristinkaAranova The people who had it comfortable in the medieval times were the nobility and the clergy. For the majority of population, they were times of hardship and oppression. In modern times the middle ages have been glorified by fairy tales, romance novels, and movies. Nothing is farther from the truth. In antiquity, even in the grandest empires, most people were poor and by today's standards.

[@goyonman9655]

Hardship? - Yes Oppression? - No

[@martinschulz9381]

@@goyonman9655 In the Medieval times people were oppressed by the church, the ruling class, the class/lineage system, and they were bound by the laws of tradition. When they came to the new world the shackles were loose.

[@goyonman9655]

@@martinschulz9381 to be "bound by tradition" is a contradiction in terms a tradition is by definition what you do and feel to be right to do without needing legislation the modern world by comparison is the domain of all law and no tradition. Which makes it by definition more oppressive concerning the church, they were defended by the church against the oppression of secular powers

[@sonofamun8122]

the grocery store down my block serves a lot of beer breakfast sir

[@woodysagan424]

King N-word the 2nd 6:16

[@LindaMerchant-bq2hp]

Fascinating medieval times

[@wilheimreis8272]

Yep

[@59spadesofalife52]

I’m not ashamed these people were my ancient ancestors and i’m proud that I came from people that were so resilient in such a dangerous and absolutely scary world

[@ThoughtTorch]

Maybe someone will be saying the same about us in 500 years from now

[@_Super_Hans_]

Strange comment, why would you be ashamed of them?

[@59spadesofalife52]

@@_Super_Hans_ Your right actually I shouldn’t be ashamed I love that old type of festival culture. I see they had a lot of barbarism and that’s what I feel sort of ashamed of but they pioneered incredible things like medicine and prosthetics. I suppose it was just the brutality of the times people were still fighting to survive

[@seraphimdunn]

Dont feel bad about not being able to survive the Middle Ages. None of the people who lived in the Middle Ages have survived either.

[@dda40x1]

Actually, there were three classes in medieval times, Nobility, Clergy and peasants.

[@MrYeet-dl4cb]

what century are you talking about exatly

[@melroy757]

Life was so good back then 😊

[@Insolent_Rogue]

hell nao

[@july9566]

4:58 meanwhile the Aztecs across the world had mandatory public education .

[@harbinger6562]

I have 💯

[@brentmcintyre5529]

I have to ask myself would I even want to. Creature of comforts I am.

[@bezimenkostotebrigovic5149]

11:28 Belgrade, Serbia; I would say

[@Dinnerbone2254]

12:42 Thats the roman empire, not the byzantine empire, I’m pretty sure.

[@mllenicolettejeanne]

My favorite part of this video was the Sacagawea coin in the treasure pile representation from merchant ships.

[@matthewhardy4867]

the way he says herbs😂

[@freeman10000]

Aussie here. The American pronunciation of herbs never fails to crack me up 🤣

[@ChadwickTheChad]

Why would you laugh at the correct way to say it?

[@DaRedeyeJedi808]

And ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL

[@tmdavidson1478]

I've read that fireplaces with chimneys were known by the Romans, even if they were very pricey.

[@Nerathul1]

Whoever edited the video messed up and showed chili peppers (native to the Americas) when they meant black pepper.

[@idkhahahaha]

Sources? Where are the sources??

[@moiitsdanielle7138]

A simpler time would love to live like it for a week to just experience the good the bad and nasty xd.😊

[@Terron35]

Concluded that I'd rather spend this time period with my Native ancestors in the plains and not my European ancestors

[@adelinagrecu496]

Was that evan a question?!:)) I am european, but if I want to choose a place from history where to live I would want in America before Columb.

[@Alishasilly]

On my way to my history exam thankfully found this video

[@Marcoldnia]

If we get the jobs of the ancestors that gave our surname. I'm all in for this scenario of going to the middle ages.

[@J_Braz_]

If I were thrown magically into them as I am now then no. If I had been born and raised in them then probably.

[@thefanone]

I probably would have died by bad water. Great information

[@bigtexdallas257]

Middle Ages?! The Wild West was harder by far

[@Romanj28]

Imagine if Peasants had Brown Sugar for their Oatmeal

[@benedictwallis5820]

Soccer/ is still popular today. The world most played and watched sport… 😂

[@thelastbison2241]

They can feed their family except during famines (natural or manmade) and wars (foreign and civil).

[@alimay8344]

Guessing there was a reason why they couldn't mix the red and blue dye to make purple

[@roberw1912]

Medieval football was not really soccer. Medieval football is the ancestor of American football, Rugby and Soccer. Soccer is a 19th century development.

[@user-yq9ko7vu7c]

This picture 🖼️ is out of rensfaire fair or out of the Bible arts

[@kuest869]

Scroll past this video everyday and answer the question myself😭

[@yasifaizi4316]

what was middle age like in "Europe" Asia was in its top form at that time

[@HovitosDerErste]

It's football, not soccer.

[@AviViljoen]

To you it's football, to me it's soccer.

[@american1702]

@@AviViljoen ye

[@chrisnorton4382]

@@AviViljoen - medieval football was nothing like what gets called 'soccer', which is a 19th century development with rules based on a non-handling game. Medieval football was basically a riot with few rules. Handling was allowed, the object just being to get an object or 'ball' from one location to another, e.g. a struggle between two villages with dozens of men playing on each side.

[@AviViljoen]

@@chrisnorton4382 My comment stands.

[@izi5150]

You forgot the dragons. There were dragons flying around. And the incest. A lot of that too.

[@melhemalzammar7397]

U are so funny man

[@yourface2884]

Incest for days. That's probably why everybody was so freakin funky looking all the time 😂

[@forpeen]

The average life expectancy was definitely not 30+ if someone manages to live past 10 years old. It's closer to 55 - 60. Content quality on KZbin is really declining when even channels specializing in facts are factually wrong. Then again, it's FREE content on KZbin so I shouldn't be complaining.. lol.

[@kevinmcqueenie7420]

It's a common fallacy, centred around "average life span". With such a high number of infants not making it even beyond 5 years old it is skewed way too low. Average is not always the best way to measure something. As you say, anyone surviving until around 20 could reasonably expect a 50-60 year life span, not unreasonable, if slightly low, even by today's standards. Tiresome that this continues to crop up when it is so easy to debunk.

[@friedgreenaliernwomerns2600]

But you are complaining so SHUT UP

[@stevenericlutz]

Nah, we still call them spinsters

[@approachingtarget.4503]

Well...since my heritage is still doing the same thing they did in the middle ages, i would say yes. And my proven abilities of the armed forces continue in my blood.

[@CraigLumpyLemke]

8:41 OK, the guy on the left is grabbing his wife's WooHoo. What's the guy on the right doing? Romancing a swordfish?

[@greatgoat673]

Don't you have life in anglo saxon england?

[@bladestar8727]

Not to mention plagues, no doctors, witch hunts, wars, etc. No one expects the Inquisition! Break out the comfy chair and the fluffy pillow! What do you mean it's only a rabbit? Break out the Holy hand grenades!

[@KristinkaAranova]

Which hunts are a renaissance thing not medieval

[@Sayufxx]

Turns out my last name is a type of English dancing 💀💀

[@jeannestein5448]

I would much rather have live back then : I hate technology, and love simple things ; and the short lifespan would suit me ; who wants to linger on for decades in pain ?

[@Maidaseu]

The alcohol consumption was due to the lack of clean water and not to gain extra calories

[@tashaLei]

ADHD got me here! 😂😂

[@KristinkaAranova]

I guess we can thank Hollywood for always portraying the Middle Ages as dark and gloomy, when the Renaissance was arguably more intolerant and backward lol

[@justacrusader3199]

So bad people think it's always "dark"

[@prismak7607]

Also the Monty Phyton

[@pistachiosandpopcorn7146]

@@justacrusader3199 I clicked on this video because I thought it was always dark. I'm curious how in the hell we go from there...to here. How we now respect women (contrary to the popular belief being pushed that men don't ) and didn't back then. Or I should say..how I am lucky to be alive as a woman today compared...how that happens.

[@elyhew7232]

It was in fact dark. As a civilisation Europe regressed compared to other continents. This video is just an attempt to whitewash history.

[@SuperGGLOL]

@@pistachiosandpopcorn7146yes, because there are 209 genders now!

[@iananderson5561]

Too many generalisations and half-truths in this video. But still an interesting video.

[@CraigLumpyLemke]

Surnames indicate your ancestors trade. What about all those people with the last name Lipschitz

[@yourface2884]

Lmao 😂 if that's an accurate statement, I'm sure it doesn't apply to every culture or area

[@Rookblunder]

I wonder what the guy was doing that was called Master Bates.....

[@prismak7607]

If I had the DeLorean this is the period I would choose. Sustainable economy, limited wars and simple life.

[@giovanni545]

see this verse please Revelation 14:12 (1599 Geneva Bible) 12 [a]Here is the patience of Saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

[@jaywa3363]

I had my appendix out at 10 so im dead

[@TheRealDarthCosby]

how did salt make it possible for ppl to consume saltwater fish? curious about that comment...

[@yusted1]

Probably better than victorian england

[@LindaMerchant-bq2hp]

Mead grog ale wine gin england

[@pbailed8007]

Good if your rich, poor not so much…

[@jerrygmarchantmarchant141]

Let's do the math together no one survives life

[@friedgreenaliernwomerns2600]

...but some learn to shut the hell up

[@LindaMerchant-bq2hp]

Hurdy gurdy lute mandolin festivals jousting storytelling

[@ChrisLawton66]

Unfortunately, this reminds me far too much of a workplace training video for me to continue watching past the first two minutes. I love the subject matter, but not the format. Sorry.

[@yasminbarry7941]

If it is true that you could eat fish (even salmon) from nearby places. Plus plenty of vegetables from your own farm. And animals were more valuable alive than dead. And ..... Providing that some neighboring war lord didn't decide to come stomping in your territory.....sounds like an otherwise simple life in which, PERHAPS one could be happy by Middle Ages standards.

[@5gUmIsDeLiSoUs]

soccer is still played every where in the world lol

[@louisbrown4620]

No one survives life.

[@mrwrong4930]

Funny fact no one survived the middle ages

[@epicwolf]

No I wouldnt. I will be bored out of my mind.

[@rickyjuuice4867]

No Wi-Fi so no.

[@giveaf9370]

In response to the title... My answer is no. I smoke too much 🤪

[@IamPatrickStar]

Even though most of this is correct “congratulations on that” there are still a few errors in here

[@Lurah_New_York]

it seems easier to live in a poor country than it was to live in the middle ages

[@emilioprado5513]

Without a good shower, food, and constant fighting I think I can survive just teach me how to use a sword, and farm or fish and boom I’ll survived

[@friedgreenaliernwomerns2600]

You wouldn't survive today without free American food stamps and free healthcare provided by AMERICAN TAX PAYERS!!! You are a flea on the ass of this country!

[@clarkkent9634]

Ask Pelosi.

[@mplwy]

Um, food still comes from farms. What, do you think we 3D print it or something? Lol!

[@coolkid_2554]

tell me what meat can grow on plants?

[@yourface2884]

Meat still comes from farms. Cattle farms, poultry farms? Still, I don't know why some people are making that statement. Yeah, food comes from farms but most of us aren't responsible for harvesting it, processing it, and putting it on the dinner table. Most people don't even RESIDE near a farm, let alone have access to one. And being able to live off of only what you grow and harvest is almost completely obsolete for modern civilization, farmers make freakin bank

[@albertovaldes5181]

17:15 🥵

[@1PITIFULDUDE]

🙄

[@mmsm6370]

For real my girl kicked me out in the summer few years back, had to shit n the woods, bath in swimming pools n streams n shit. Eatin slim jims. LOL I some would say I had it made.

[@yourface2884]

But did you take her BACK though 😂

[@thespanishinquisition8617]

2/10 cursory look a the medieval era, not the survival skills test I expected

[@NUJAC1000]

Hell yes I would survive!! I'd be the king and have endless supply of women

[@friedgreenaliernwomerns2600]

you'd die the first skirmish or before

[@tekay44]

no

[@whome9936]

Ugh. These clip art parades on KZbin get to be exhausting. We do not need an image for every word that comes out of the narrator's mouth. Indoor plumbing? Ok. Stock photo of a toilet? Totally unnecessary to the storytelling.

[@mikemurdoch9653]

Without watching, I will say pretty crappy.