Have you ever been curious
about Medieval life?
Would you travel back
in time if you could?
Do you think you would enjoy it?
How long would you last?
This is 'What if,'
and here's what would happen if
you lived during the Middle Ages.
Hear ye, hear ye!
The Middle Ages...
...sucked!
After 200 years of peace and
prosperity under 'Pax Romana,'
the Roman Empire fell
into crisis and decline.
Thus began the Middle Ages, more
commonly known as the Dark Ages;
beginning towards the end
of the 5th century
and lasting until the start of the
Renaissance in the 14th century.
This was a time when,
unless you were a knight, nobleman,
or the King himself,
life was brutal and scary.
Hygiene was poor, money was scarce,
diseases were rampant,
and punishment was cruel.
Beds were not soft, and toilets
didn't really exist,
but hey, at least you had the church,
and roughly 8 weeks of holidays and
festivals spread throughout the year.
The truth is, life back then was difficult,
but people got through it.
They even managed to have a bit
of fun while struggling to survive.
Compare how they lived
to your life today,
and see if you'd ever be able
to trade places.
Your typical day in a
Medieval town starts at 4 am.
The church bell tolls, announcing
the first mass of the day.
But unless you're from a noble or royal house,
you won't be going to church this morning.
Instead, you'll be preparing your
goods for sale at the market,
which opens at 6 am.
And there you'll stand for
the next 9 hours,
hoping you'll make enough to
buy a chicken for dinner,
instead of the same old
cabbage and beans.
Of course, not everyone in the
Middle Ages was a peddler.
The skill set in any given town
could be quite diverse,
with blacksmiths, tailors, masons,
winemakers, and don't forget the tax collector!
At around 3 in the afternoon, most retail
businesses start shutting down for the day,
and by 8 pm, the city gates are closed, and
the night watchman takes up his post.
Dinner at your house might
not be very special,
but up at the castle, the
King is having a feast!
All you can eat, all you can drink, and
not a single dull moment!
The fun doesn't stop with dinner.
When the plates are cleared, the town's elite
take to the dance floor;
even the knights.
Don't feel left out.
The commoners will get to have
their fun at tomorrow's festival.
But for now, rest up, on that
nice, straw bed of yours...
One of the good things about
the Middle Ages:
they did a lot of partying.
It's estimated that in total,
roughly 8 weeks of any given year
were taken off work for festivals or events.
While a lot of these festivals
were tied to the church,
the town also hosted tournaments,
which the church did not approve of.
That's probably because tournaments
made a spectacle of violence
from jousting to swordplay to
making prisoners duel to the death!
If you think that's cruel,
it doesn't really get any better.
Most serious crimes were settled
by a trial by ordeal.
For example, if you were accused of a crime,
you might be subjected to a trial by water.
Bound hand and foot, you'd be
tossed into a body of water.
If you sank, you'd be found innocent;
because if you floated,
it meant that you must've renounced baptism
when entering the Devil's service,
and were therefore prevented
from entering the water.
While the physics of buoyancy
wasn't exactly their strong suit,
science did exist in the Middle Ages.
For example, even in Medieval times,
the well educated were well aware
that the world was round.
This period also saw the inventions of
many items we still use today,
such as the mechanical clock,
and the printing press.
Too bad they didn't invent the toothbrush!
In fact, if you were wealthy, it was
fashionable to have rotting teeth,
since it showed that
you could afford sugar.
Obesity was also a sign of prosperity,
since, it showed that you could afford
meat and other luxury foods.
But if the nobles lived well,
the peasants were in the best health.
Their well balanced diet of
bread and beans,
paired with full days of physical labor,
kept them in great shape.
And as for their teeth, well, they
didn't have toothpaste back then,
so, the common practice was to wash your
mouth out with wine or vinegar after a meal.
Not very hygienic, but that's not what
the Middle Ages were about.
You kept your hands and face clean
to keep up appearances, but,
aside from the rich, no one really had
toilets or bathtubs like we do today.
This was a period of survival, and salvation.
And whatever people did to
get by usually worked...
at least until the 14th century.
The last century of the Medieval period
truly put the 'dark' in Dark Ages,
as it was marred by famine,
conflict, and Plague.
Also known as the Black Death,
the Plague wiped out as much as
60% of Europe's population
in one of the most devastating
pandemics in human history.
And it took roughly 200 years for the world
population to return to its previous level.
But over the next few centuries,
Europe underwent a renaissance,
a time when people pursued
truth and accuracy
through skepticism and
scrutinizing empirical evidence.
This period initiated a scientific
revolution that continues to this day.
When you look back on it, the
Middle Ages played an influential role
in the development of modern society.
But is it something we need
to visit to see for ourselves?
Or can we just trust the history books?
I'd be willing to bet most of you would rather
keep your interactions with Medieval Times
to the restaurant chain,
rather than having to rinse your
mouth out with vinegar after a meal.
Do you think people might
one day look back on our era
the same way we look back on theirs?
Well, that's a story for
another, 'What If.'
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