The middle ages

Got Thrown Into A Pigsty

Sep 14, 1312

The poor people’s houses barely had two rooms, they had thatched roofs and were easily destroyed, layers of herbs and bushes as floors, they had small windows and worst of all they were cold, wet and dark. They would be made of willow or oak sticks woven together to form a type of mesh which provided some sort of insulation in winter. The house stove would be located in the middle of the room so as well as cooking food it would heat the house.

Thrown Out For Being A Vagrant

Sep 15, 1312

Usually if you were mentally disabled, crippled, sick, poor, deformed or just wanted money easy with no work involved you would be called a vagrant. Vagrants were people that were too poor to provide for themselves or their family so they would go to the streets and scab. In the winter vagrants would go to the blacksmiths tavern to try and keep warm near the fire and would get scraps from the butchers for food.

Broken Leg

Sep 16, 1312

If you were sick in the Middle Ages it was serious. You couldn’t just go to the doctors because they only treated the rich, you would go to the villages wise-woman, priest or barber. They pulled out teeth, amputated broken bones and performed other operations. The average age a peasant would live to was about 35, but about 1/3 died as children. If you could make it to your mid-teens you could expect to live to your forties.

Confess To The Priest You Missed Mass

Sep 17, 1312

Going to church was very important in the middle ages. The pope was the head of the church; his job was to ensure that everyone had a chance to go to heaven and to look after the needs of people by teaching them about god. The church was the only international organisation; even kings had to obey it. The church controlled wills, rights to inheritance and marriage, baptism and burial. If you disobeyed the church you would be excommunicated

Bought Best Cow

Sep 18, 1312

Farming was critical to a peasant’s family so they could afford something to eat and somewhere to sleep. They worked almost 7 days a week and were required to give a curtain amount of days each week to work on their lord’s land and in return they gained land rights. Eventually they owned the land they farmed. No one could take their land from them while they were alive unless they committed a crime or disobeyed the law.

Beaten Up

Sep 19, 1312

The laws in the middle ages are much different to the ones you may face these days. A person’s incense was tested by putting them in dangerous positions and getting them to overcome difficult tests. They may be asked to swallow poison, pull an object out of boiling water, walk over hot ploughs, carry a red-hot piece of iron over a curtain distance and if a burn got infected or blistered the judges would rule them guilty.