How did medieval people wipe their a**? What was the weather like in the Middle Ages? How much was medieval money worth?
Medieval historian and co-host of the Gone Medieval Podcast Matt Lewis answers Google’s most searched questions about life in the Middle Ages.
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00:00 Introduction
00:41 Did medieval children go to school?
01:34 Were there medieval universities?
03:00 How old were medieval people when they started working?
03:23 Were there apprenticeships in the medieval period?
04:22 What was the weather like in the medieval period?
05:31 Where did medieval people sleep?
06:48 What hairstyles were popular in the medieval era?
08:21 How did medieval people wipe their a**?
09:33 Did medieval people wear underwear?
10:11 What music did medieval people listen to?
11:05 What was the average height of an adult in the medieval era?
11:58 Did medieval people brush their teeth?
12:46 How did medieval people hear about news?
13:33 Which medieval country was the best to live in?
14:07 Did medieval people go on holiday?
15:13 What were the existing religions in the middle ages?
16:37 How diverse was medieval England?
17:46 How did medieval people tell the time?
19:07 What did the average day look like for a peasant, priest or king?
20:59 How likely were you to die of the plague?
21:33 What was the plague cycle?
22:10 How likely were women to die in childbirth?
23:07 How much was medieval money worth?
24:16 What was the average lifespan in the middle ages?
24:41 Was there a judicial system in the middle ages?
26:32 How did medieval people entertain themselves?
27:12 How did people share stories in the middle ages?
28:31 Were medieval people flat-earthers?
29:03 Did medieval monks party?
29:40 Conclusion
27 Comments
History Hit has 1.28M subscribers. I would like to know what % of that live in USA, Liberia or Myanmar? Most people use centimeters to tell the height of a person.
The question about diversity…seriously?
The vast, vast majority of England was white. Any nonwhite people would have been a complete anomaly.
19:37 8k calories a day? 🤨 That's pretty wild… Source?
Do another one like this please. About medical courts and justice: could you appeal decisions? Assuming you had the resources, could you get the king to adjudicate on your case? If not the king, maybe a king appointed judge? I’ve never heard of a “King Solomon” type story from the Middle Ages.
that huge gap between wealthy and poor is back. hence the unrest these days
Universities are an islamic idea and have roots there, not in western Europe
I doubt there was many of, if any at all, spear chuckers in the UK tbh
There were travelling troupes of minstrels (musicians), ballad singers, and showmen (actors) that basically made a living from going up and down the country and put on shows in towns and villages (and castles, when invited). Food and board were the main payments to them, but also coin (not much), of course. Those were the people bringing along news with them, although the information they shared with townsfolk and country people might not always have been the latest news. News (and people) travelled slowly, but at some point you would eventually receive them – belatedly. 😉🙃
In re music, instruments developed in the mediaeval include crumhorns, sackbutts, shawms (wind/brass), tabors and various hand percussion things, rebec, viola da gamba (cello like), viola da braccia (viola type), rebec is an early violin. Troupes of 'waits' would play for alms (sort of buskers) in towns, and the first known example of licencing of this is the award of such a permit to The Waites Of Beverley. 🎶🌟👍
The idea of some monks living in a state of continual partying is both feasible and amusing. The amount of wine they appeared to have, beer, mead and so on, well as long as they could keep working, they could be in a constant haze..
Some things never change! Nice one Matt and team. 🌟👍
Zoroastrianism is still practiced to this day; albeit by a small number of people. But its influence on other religions such as Christianity and Islam is larger than most people realize and it’s a fascinating study on how religions have evolved and changed over time.
Great video! And I'm stealing the line "if the bishop's not around then the party is on" 😂
The peasant work wasn’t as much of a grind as he makes it out to be. They actually worked less than the average american today
I‘m a history student soon graduating from college. I absolutely love the medieval period and it sucks so many people have these stereotypes about it and don‘t even bother to learn about those times! Thank you for this great video
All sailors knew the earth was round by looking off to a the distance and viewing the curvature of the ocean.
When speaking about news, you didn’t mention town criers. When did they begin using that system?
Only a spherical Earth would cast a round edged shadow on the Moon, which is what everyone can observe with their own eyes in the nightsky during half moon periods. Why would Earth be flat when all other bodies we can observe in the sky (Sun, Moon, planets) are spherical?
Not Louis CK’s best work, but very informative!
All the answers are implicitly or not about the Middle Ages in England, or at least in feudal north-western Europe: music, justice, pilgrimages, monasteries etc. And there's nothing wrong with that. And there's nothing wrong with that. Except for religion, where you go out of your way to mention every religion in the world, including Africa and America. Why is that? Why this special treatment when it comes to religion? As with other topics, you could have talked about England, the overwhelming preponderance of Christianity and the particular situation of the Jews. That would have been much more instructive than these vague, politically correct generalisations
You forgot to mention Charls v, Holy Roman Emperor
Crazy to think that medieval people were smarter than flat earthers. lololol
People tend to be confused/shocked about “second sleep” and it’s honestly so funny to me… like that’s human nature!!
If i sleep at the right time, i’ll wake up and then sleep again, and it’s usually the best sleep i can get.
The main reason why most people don’t do this is because their schedule won’t allow for it. I’m a student, so during summer i can have a second sleep but for the rest of the year i can’t 😔
I think this guy might be giving kings too much credit. They were and remain lazy feudalist masters
I didn’t intend to comment but this is my field so I have to speak up. The 20th century statistics on maternal mortality for both gestation and childbirth are largely under estimated and under-reported. While it’s true that mortality rates have declined with advances in technology and education, those improved outcomes have only been noted in the 20th century and have not improved significantly since despite further advances. These statistics are the result of a number of serious problems that culminate in a state of under reporting. Hence, maternal mortality is a “hidden in plain sight”issue that degree granting programs are only now beginning to acknowledge. Even with advanced technologies, research emphasis in the past century has overwhelmingly been placed on mitigating infant mortality. Those same advancements increased our post mortem testing capabilities and our ability to detect proximal and underlying disease states in the mother. For a number of reasons, this lead to a shift in attribution reporting and primary cause of death is being attributed to these undetected/ undiagnosed/ untreated conditions. While the pregnancy/ childbirth is listed as causally proximal – if at all. Unless one knows how to access and read the detailed breakdown of Morbidity and Mortality Reports (unlikely unless you’re a clinician or work in public health), these “proximal” causes aren’t part of the statistical record. The fact is the vast majority of these conditions can be mitigated and would not necessarily cause death during pregnancy and childbirth had they been detected and addressed. Meaning many of the maternal deaths occurring today are and have long been preventable. The issue is further complicated by the general perception that maternal mortality is a non issue. Meaning institutions and municipalities are not encouraged to begin accurately reporting these numbers given the questions it would invite about standard of care. Additionally there is fact that maternal mortality is absolutely subjective based on access to prenatal and post natal care. The numbers are simply woefully inaccurate and the real question is- with all the advances we continue to see- why isn’t the number falling? Why isn’t it actually insignificant? The answer is that maternal mortality is an issue hidden in plain sight and at minimum- the flawed understanding surrounding it must change. I share this with the deepest hope that it inspires any who read it to look into these issues so we can save more lives. Both mother and child should have every chance possible to survive.
The name bubonic becomes from the greek word vouvonas [βουβωνας] which means the region of human body around genitals or ypogastric pubic region. In Greece we also say [βουβωνικη κηλη] which means hernia of that region. The type of plague that inficted that area named bubonic plague. Thank you and sorry but my english are not good at all.
In the thumbnail there’s the question “why is medieval art so bad?” and my answer would be have you seen any modern art lately?
Guy was hesitant to say medieval Englad was majority white.