Were peasants in medieval Europe really as dirty and stupid as most fiction depicts them?
>>351124
No.
>>351124
Yes
>>351124
Actually dumber than that.
Dirty? No.
Stupid? Kind of, they were deeply superstitious but very knowledgeable on what mattered.
>>351124
Pro-tip: Never base any historical knowledge on things you see in movies.
>>351124
>dirty
They wee dirty in the sense that they worked a lot and probably ended up dirty. If you got a friend or relative who works in construction you will understand this.
They were cleaner than people believes, but still didn't fulfill the higiene expectations of today.
>stupid
If you want to call it that, yeah. They were superstitious, had no education, no motivation towards any kind of intellectualism. They were probably worst than the chavs of the worst neighbourhood you can imagine.
I won't call them stupid, though. They had to be crafty to live. You would probably be the one to be considered dumber and more useless than a child in a medieval rural village.
>>351124
>dirty?
sure, by todays standards and by the standard of nobles. They lived off the land and didn't have much in the way of daily hygenic procedures
>Stupid?
certainly not. Sure they were superstitious and illiterate, but they had no other means of acquiring any knowledge aside from what they were told. Their daily lives and tasks wouldn't have been easy and certainly required a degree of knowledge
They weren't dirty at all before the Plague, and no more stupid than people today.
>>351124
No. People they weren't literate and educated in a humanist fashion, but they knew plenty of things that were relevant to their daily lives and probably a lot more capable of survival under the conditions they lived in than the modern person who considers himself educated but factually knows very little outside of his sphere, just like the peasants of old.
>>352762
The plague was mostly an issue in the cities. Peasants wouldn't be bothered by it comparably.
>>351124
>dirty
no
>stupid
yeah
>>351124
Peasants consisted of two groups: farmer and craftsmen. The peasants were paying the right to use land, excessive product was sold or kept own family use. The craftsman kept the medieval economy going
>>351124
Peasants have and will always be that stupid. It's the reason democracy, aka slavery to the masses, is shit.
>>351201
>worked a lot
Day for day, we work more than they did. Almost every religious day was a day you didn't have to work.
>>353124
Nobody respects a "historian" who injects political bias into the topic.
Go to bed Howard Zinn, you're drunk again.
>>353145
actually I've read this too, apparently medieval peasants had alot of time off for feasts and religious holidays.
>>351124
in modern terms they would be deemed "dumb" as many were illiterate, but they were more adept at survival and able to learn a craft with admirable skills. Blacksmiths for example were able to craft works of art that any modern blacksmith would be envious of
To people who think they weren't dirty, I offer this manual (for the nobility, mind you) written by one Daniel of Beccles. It enjoined men of breeding when in public not to comb their hair, clean their nails, scratch themselves or look for fleas in their clothing. Shoes should not be removed and urinating was to be avoided (unless you were a lord in your own hall). They were reminded of some familiar things to us, like not putting your elbows in the table, sitting up straight, or turning your head upward to belch, or spitting AWAY from the table.
So if 12th century nobility had to be reminded of this and were just starting to hammer out basic table manners that we would be familiar with like not picking your nose at dinner or digging for lice in your hair, it seems reasonable to assume your average peasant had next to no notion of what we would recognize as hygiene.
>>353176
excerpt from "Book of the Civilized Man"
>If there is something you do not want people to know, do not tell it to your wife
words of wisdom right there
>>353160
Never claimed to be a historian. It's true though.
>>353203
I never said you were one, I was using an actual historian to express a larger academic notion that injecting personal beliefs is bullshit and drserve disdain.
>>353224
I'm sorry anon it's hard not to. Especially when everyone else does it.
>Could grow their own food
>Built and maintained their own homes
>Only had to work hard a few days out of the year
>Had a sense of community and belonging
We shouldn't judge our predecessors stupid just because they didn't have the benefit of 800 extra years of technological and scientific advancement
As for dirty, I've read that communal bathing was big before the plague ruined everything
Living in Eastern Europe from tales I know of my great grandfather and older, they were smart and crafty as hell. No educated yes, but they knew the ways of land, knew more about animals and plans then many of todays laboratory scientists, about crafting things, they could read signs in the sky and quite accurately predict weather, fix anything they had.
In apocalyptic scenarios these kind of people would survive mainly.
>>351124
The funny thing about Medieval Europe is that peasants are cleaner than citizens in Cities
Another funny thing about Medieval Europe are that peasants are less tough than citizens. I mean sure, working in a rural society, but while Peasants fled to their feudal lords for protection, Citizens are actually responsible for their own protection and formed up Militias to defend themselves.
Ale was as necessary to life in a medieval village as bread, but where flour-grinding and bread-baking were strictly guarded monopolies, brewing was everywhere freely permitted and freely practised. The procedure was to make a batch of ale, display a sign, and turn one's house into a temporary tavern.
>>351124
Stupid as in the lack of booksmarts?
yes
stupid as in how to survive on the land?
no
>>351124
Absolutely not. Atheists only do that to further their mocking of Christianity
>>353699
The Burghers were almost retarded compared to contemporaries in america and africa when it came to living off the land.
>>353165
They usually didn't work over the winter and on feasts. Sure. But they had to work from sunrise to sunset, six days a week, for the rest of the year. Sometimes even on Sundays if it was necessary.
>>353673
>1% is what carried the human race to where it is now.
thank you!
No, and there were no Dark Ages either.
Fucking Hollywood has ruined a beautiful period in history and European life.
My favorite bit of reading on peasants was a comment by Gerald of Wales (12thc) that Welsh peasants could recall their genealogies 7 generations back.
It helps show that peasants weren't just ignorant livestock, they had a wealth of knowledge; not just on what was practical to them, but what was important to them beyond day-to-day survival (ancient bonds of kinship.)
9th century Irish genealogies record something like 20,000 names, it's just amazing.
>>354848
>and there were no Dark Ages either.
Yes the 5th-7th centuries in west Europe were just lovely a normal
Stop believing anti meme memes
>>355551
What exactly does it mean for a century to be "normal"?
What does it mean exactly for a century to be "lovely"?
>>355541
that's because celtic people are hobbits
>>353165
>a lot of time off for feasts and religious holidays
Thanks Catholicism!
Daily reminder that the French Revolution destroyed all those structures that existed as a protective buffer between the common man and the power of the central government.
>>351124
If you look at the most dirty and filthy places today, the people and their clothes are still pretty clean looking. I don't imagine people were ok with feeling dirty back then.
>>351124
They were very knowledgeable about natural history, specifically the migrationary patterns of small birds.
>>351124
Depends on where and when as to dirt. Generally, though, not as bad as in film.
As for intelligence they were just as smart as any other group of people; their overall education was lower, but not their intelligence, necessarily
>>353145
>muh religious holidays
If you work the land, you gotta reap when it's reaping season, doesnt matter if some old dude from Rome 300 years ago proclaimed some anal fetishist as a saint of the bottocks and it's holy ass week
>>355541
This. Of course people didn't know the same things as us back then, but they were just as smart as we are, just in ways that were practical to them (and sometimes beyond). I hate people that judge people in the past as stupid, I hate to use the word privilege but I feel like we have some sort of time version of it, everything is mighty clear with 20/20 hindsight.
>>355928
Yeah, but most farm work is intense for a couple days or weeks and then slows down and almost stops for a period.
Don't forget the whole winter thing too.
>>351124
This is worth viewing for Terry Jones alone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg3YDN5gTX0
>>351124
According to court records, peasants were active users of the court system in medieval England.
So one assumes that many of them were canny individuals. After all the middle class must have its roots somewhere.
>>355951
Have you ever tried ploughing with 12th century equipment? I'd imagine it was some tough shit.
Then there's the thing with unoptimal fertilisation and cycles and whatnot.
Also, farm life doesnt just involve reaping and sowing, it a million different things around the farm. And thats not even including the vassalage work at the royal demesne.
Sure, ultimately they might have worked a bit less, but its probably no drastic difference.
>>353252
Not if you want to avoid getting his shit and diseases all over yourself.
>>355951
>Don't forget the whole winter thing too.
>Don't forget the whole freezing in a wooden shack with rationed food thing too
>>356047
Fire was invented before the middle ages.
>>355962
Does he cross dress?
>>356075
I believe so.
>>355962
I watched this series with my parents when I was a kid. Comfy as fuck.
>>356069
Imagine weak as fuck insulation and an open hearth, they had to chop loads of wood
>>356161
They wore clothes back then though.
In the days before central heating it could be below freezing in your bedroom if you didn't have a fireplace in each room. Ask your dad or granddad if they recall it.
>>355962
It's really odd to think how all those shitty peasants are the majority of our ancestors.
>>356185
Yea it was for my dad, he would have a frozen nose in the morning. But if it was that bad for my dad in a 50s council house then a peasant must have had icy testicles.
Obligatory post
>>355860
>10 day work week
Jesus fucking christ.
>>351124
>stupid
I was under the impression that human intelligence is a constant, and that people of yore simply lack the collective knowledge we have today.
Is this not correct?
>>356233
Nutrition and education was sort of lacking.
>>356185
Yeah, mom lived in 50s backfuck nowhere, the semi modern solution was a huge tiled furnace/oven in a large common room and everyone spent the day there.
Most 19th century rural houses here usually joined the common and bed room, so you could be warm most of the day.
On the other hand, the prevalence of the polemic with royal woodlands and prohibition for farmers to chop wood might indicate that in feudal times tgey indeed didnt burn as much firewood
>>353145
Day for day compared to an Ameri-burger maybe.
>>356247
Google coppice, and often dead wood was free game.
And not all forest was royal.
>>353145
>live in a 90 % catholic country
>every major catholic holiday is also a public holiday
Feels pretty nice.
>>353673
>stay on the bottom rung of society or we'll hurt you
>haha look at that poor idiot, he's not rich and educated like us nobles who contribute everything to society and science
>>353673
>1% is what carried human race to where it is now
No that was fossil fuels
>This thread
Yes they were dirty as shit, medieval hygiene, even fucking once.
>Stupid
No, peasants were actually quite highly educated since they actually ran the estate generally, people have a view of nobles running the estate and reading and doing things, but this is false, nobles generally sat around on their ass fucking people in court or went off to war trying to dicksuck the king, so it was up to peasants to run everything.
If they were dumb, how did they measure field length and such things? How did they organize production? How did they write and record produce?
You only need to look at the Peasants Revolt of 1381 where Peasants specifically attacked legal and tax records to see they weren't dumb. If they were dumb and illiterate, how would they target specific personal documentation relating to personal serfdom and tax history?
>>353145
>The labouring man will take his rest long in the morning; a good piece of the day is spent afore he come at his work; then he must have his breakfast, though he have not earned it at his accustomed hour, or else there is grudging and murmuring; when the clock smiteth, he will cast down his burden in the midway, and whatsoever he is in hand with, he will leave it as it is, though many times it is marred afore he come again; he may not lose his meat, what danger soever the work is in. At noon he must have his sleeping time, then his bever in the afternoon, which spendeth a great part of the day; and when his hour cometh at night, at the first stroke of the clock he casteth down his tools, leaveth his work, in what need or case soever the work standeth.
Basically this.
The average work year in hours for a medieval worker 1400 hours.
The average work year in hours for a modern worker 2000 hours.
Better than the 1800s where it was 3500 hours though.
>>356313
Protestantism reduced public holidays by around 50-100 days between 1525 and 1800.
>>356189
>This nigga never experienced the wonder that is quilted blankets
>>356295
>No, peasants were actually quite highly educated
No. Being able to run an estate doesn't make you highly educated. Nor was it all the peasants running it, rather just the local leaders.
Educated doesn't mean good at social organisation and following the laws.
>>356295
You literally just watched the documentary posted here and then made that post.
>>351124
About being dirty well lots of them were farmers and that involves dumping in mud and dirt, plus water wasn't very resourceable as it is today. And about stupidity, well they obviously lacked education but they weren't retarded.
>>351201
You also forget that we had NO idea about hygiene
Ffs the black death proved that
Shit lined streets etc
>>356356
>>356358
No they weren't stupid.. They knew how to build homes, farm land, hunt, forge and gather, read the stars to know when to plant, make clothing, blacksmithing, the list goes on and on...
>>353145
That is also due to the nature of farm work. If you're a medieval peasant or serf, you only get so much land to cultivate. When you're done cultivating it, well... that's it, there's nothing more to do that would be productive. You can't hunt since it's illegal.
The industrial revolution changed that, since every hour spent working in the factory is as productive as the previous hour.
>>356366
Except.
It didn't
>>356368
>lot of fishing going on in Holland
well no shite
>>356368
Your picture is completely contrary to your point. It shows that the develop of a modern economy increased the amount of time the lower classes spent on activities other than agriculture.
>>353673
The leisure class was entirely dependent on agriculture to support it. For specialists and intellectuals to thrive a population of laborers is prerequisite.
>>356381
>there's nothing more to do that would be productive
>The industrial revolution changed that,
I pointed out you what you said was not quite right. How is the picture not supporting my view?
They knew about hygiene and staying clean and washing clothes... the black plague was just that a plague... people would cough and the virus would be everywhere in densely populated areas... I'm not sure how long it could live outside the body of animals and humans but it obviously lives long enough to hop onto another victim, host... look at hep c it lives outside the body for two weeks.. it's an encapsulated virus, like an egg and it's shelf life is up too two weeks outside the body before it decays and dies.. so the black plague was obviously an extreme killer and worked fast.. I mean look at the common flu alwAys mutating and killing people.. the flu has killed more people throughout history than anything...
>>356393
I'm not him btw
I don't your picture proves that or disproves that because it doesn't say how many hours of the week were spent on these various activities, just their percentage
>>356403
They did figure out quarantine due to it though.
>>356393
How does this prove my point incorrect?
If you're a farmer and you've got a few hours of free time because it wasn't a hard day, you're not gonna suddenly get your fisherman hat and turn into a fisherman for the rest of the day, that's not how professions work.
>>356408
It says labour input.
I reckon that might vary per season but typical jobs like weaving on a loom could be done the same amount of hours all year round except for harvest time.
>>356416
You said farmers just fucked around until the industrial revolution hit. At least that is what I read in your comment.
The picture shows rural industries were already quite developed near the end of the Middle Ages and large parts of a village focused on other commercial jobs while the leftover farmers tried to work as much land as possible.
Medieval people weren't stupid people, they knew mathematics and all that and could build structural marvels that still baffle us toady.. look at the Mayan civilization, look at the pyramids, look at the great wall of China, and the multitudes of castles that still stand in Europe to this day...
>>356425
>near the end of the Middle Ages
>1512
You can say that again.
Also it shows it's still mostly agriculture. Groundwork is limited in the same way agriculture is. You can dig trenches for fun once you're done but it's not gonna help anything.
As for fishing and peat digging this is obviously extremely region-dependent.
>>356432
12 years is near isn't it?
>but it's not gonna help anything.
Ehm, it is.
I don't have research on other regions besides Flanders which also had a very active rural wool industry. It's quite possible other regions had similar industries way before the industrial revolution.
>>356440
Rural industry existed everywhere, but nowhere with the same intensity as in Holland, England and certain German regions.
>>356508
tru dat.
>>356512
>Japan has accurate records for 730 AD
damn
>>356516
Fucking nips I swear.
They weren't dirty. This myth comes from the closing of thermal baths because it was a vector for plague.
I don't know if they were stupid, I'd rather say they were not educated.
ITT: Peasants are excusively manual farm labourers rather than litterally everyone who is not a noble or a priest/nun.
>>356247
Things rarely get banned if people doesn't do it.
Everyone in this thread needs to go out and read this book.
There are extensive records of washing, both themselves and their clothes. In pic related, the examples come from people drowning whilst bathing in bodies of water, normally rivers and streams. Theres one account of a man who fell into the river after having a bath and was "showing off" before he slipped.
In the local government records for places like Norwich, York, Coventry and London there are many local laws and ordnances about keeping the streets clean, who is responsible for maintaining gutters and who is allowed to use the running water conduits. Though of course the fact that they had to keep issue the same instructions over and over does suggest noone really paid attention to them.
By the end of the 14th century soap manufacture was a big industry all over Europe, with tons of the stuff being made n England for use in the cloth industry, with other examples where it is clearly for use for washing the body. (What we would call Castile Soap is described step by step in the Mappae Clavicula from the 12th century and there is a reference to tallow chandlers in Coventry making oatmeal soap).
>>353645
>while Peasants fled to their feudal lords for protection
Pretty sure that the peasants fucked the lord up the ass when he got too cocky more than once, so they were pretty though too.
>>356358
Why are all the peasants fat?
>>351124
They lived a lot like pre roman barbarians lived.
>>356775
Because they eat a lot.
Someone calculated how much meat people in the city of Frankfurt consumed per capita and it was quite a lot.
>>356777
Hardly.
>>351124
They didn't live till 30, it was probably more like 70, they were dirty but probably from working so hard, they were indeed stupid but knew a ton about blacksmithing, farming etc..
>>356757
London 1357
public proclamation to be made, and it on our behalf strictly to be forbidden, that any one shall, on pain of heavy forfeiture unto us, place or cause to be placed dung or other filth to be accumulated in the same. And if any persons, after proclamation and prohibition so made, you shall find doing to the contrary hereof, then you are to cause them so to be chastised and punished, that such penalty and chastisement may cause fear and dread unto others of perpetrating the like.
15th century examples from the Coventry Leet Book
Everyone with lands or houses in Little-park-street to cleanse their ditch and take away the dung near to Barons- well before All Saints' day, or 12 d. fine.
Householders to cleanse the Eed-ditch and the gutter ranning from the Peacock to the West Orchard opposite to their houses, twice a year.
Hit is ordeyned that no maner man cast no muke nor wede, ne no maner of filh in the watir cald Shirburn and that all maner of swyncote, stables & houses for bestes that ben ouer tbe watir be do awaye.
>>351124
Proof that peasants weren't stupid:
They were able to poop without toilet paper. I bet 80% of the people on this board can't even do that.
>>356850
>>356858
DESIGNATED
>>351124
>uneducated=unintelligent
When describing medieval people, I hit quite a conundrum. On the one hand, I am able to describe technological wonders like astrolabes, clockwork, trebuchets and cathedrals and castles that are still standing and breathtaking hundreds of years later.
Then on the other hand I am then forced to say they though you could prove you were not a witch by going to Oudewater in Holland, where you would be weighed on a special crane and if you were heavier than the weight, you were fine, but if you were lighter it was because you didnt have a soul and therefore were a witch.
Now, apparently noone so far has failed the test and been lighter, however the simple fact that this was a thing and people apparently travelled from all over Europe to get and be weighed and receive a special "NOT a witch" certificate is enough just by itself.
>>356881
You sure that isn't some 19th century bullshit?
>>356895
Nope, been there since the 1480s apparently.
>>356905
So at the tail end of the medieval period?
>>356915
Depends entirely on how you define medieval.
>>356928
1350-1492-1500-1525-1648
Pick one.
Or multiple.
I don't know any farmer that just has an easy day... They get up before dawn and work throughout the day till the son goes down... not easy work..
Wi willen de kerels doen greinsen,
Al dravende over tvelt.
Hets al quaet dat zi peinsen.
Ic weetze wel bestelt:
Me salze slepen ende hanghen,
Haer baert es alte lanc.
Sine connens niet ontganghen,
Sine dochten niet sonder bedwanc.
Wronglen, wey, broot ende caes,
Dat heit hi al den dach.
Daer omme es de kerel so daes:
Hi etes meer dan hijs mach.
>>356960
Dairy farmers had it sort of relaxed.
Meant getting out of bed early at six or seven in the morning and milking cows but after that you had the whole day to do some chores that could wait until next day or next month.
>>351124
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg3YDN5gTX0
>>351124
>as dirty
Not really. They bathed more often than you think.
That, and old Roman technology like aqueducts and public baths were still being put to use.
>and stupid
Obviously not.
People are not stupid, no matter where you go. They are emotional and overreact, at best. Hence, if little tommy gets the plague, it must be the witch next door. Burn her before she gets us all. There's no way of knowing it isn't her fault anyway.
Or if little tommy gets caught drawing the beloved prophet, he must be stoned abba-hoosnackbar.
>>356938
>1350
Anglocentrist pls leave
YOU ARE ALL PLEBS
ARE
ALL
PLEBS
I AM PATRICIAN N WUZ KING N SHIET
>>358250
Fuck you I'm an American.
The only classes I recognize are economic.
>>356881
Got a citation for this? Legitimately curious since it just seems like scale for flour or grain
You cold be in chav peasant communities while my forfathers was isolated on the coast and mountains....:-(
>>356789
>city
>peasant
Do you faggots know that despite its pejorative use, peasant is not a synonym for a commoner?
>>355561
Well it sure as shit doesn't mean centuries where society made huge steps backwards in terms of government, innovation, literacy or even basic human well being.
The whole anti dark ages thing is an opposition against the view that everyone in the dark ages was bathing in pigshit and the biggest human achievement from the time was a nice poem about wenches and fighting. This does not mean that there were no 'dark ages', because there sure as shit was a huge decline in the quality of society.
>>356189
>taking your dads stories for face value
Do you know the health implications that arise for having your nose frozen over a few days a year?
>>355973
>According to court records, peasants were active users of the court system in medieval England.
Of course they were. Before the black death there had been a massive population boom leading to lots of land disputes, and post-black death many peasants became more prosperous and were able to take their landlords to court over things.
People seem to forget that the systems of government (especially the legal system) come from the middle ages. I blame the renaissance writers constantly rimming the Romans and Greeks.
>>358750
What? Most places used Roman law as a basis for their legal systems, during the Middle Ages.
>>356881
I have to wonder, if no one failed the test, if this wasn't a societal release valve.
You ever be in the house at night, and the thought of something 2spooky crosses your mind, and you turn on the lights JUST IN CASE.
And then you see there's nothing there and you can sleep fine?
I can't help but wonder if this wasn't a similar dynamic.
Didn't queen Elizabeth once comment that "I bathe once a month, whether I need to or not."
I just imagine the ancient world smelling of BO, open sewers, and rank pussy.
>>358239
That was one of the last years of the first black death wave.
What happened in that shitty little Island in that year?
>>358384
It does mean that for most of 4chan. I hardly expect them to make the distinction between cottagers, villeins, freedmen, husbandmen and yeoman.
>>358766
Well not Northern France and England
>>358936
Terrible hygiene of a renaissance queen does not mean every person before here was even worse.
>>358966
>Terrible hygiene of a renaissance queen does not mean every person before here was even worse.
She was eccentric by the standards of the day, people found it to be excessive.
>>358992
Well there you have it.
But how does this relate to the medieval period or peasants?
>>359006
That besides a few minor blips on the radar, like rome at it's apex, or the pre mongolian arab world, people have been dirty and stinky.
Probably not mud perpetually caked to their faces like movies like to portray, but the funk must have been palatable.
>>359025
>palatable.
I meant palpable. I'm and asshole.
>>353693
Fug i wish i lived in a close-knit country town where that would happen
>>359025
If you dig into period sources you'll find that bathing declined around 1500 due to a number of factors. Even Erasmus wrote about how bathing was all the rage in his youth while it was nearly gone in his later years.
As for the Romans, you do realize they didn't bathe in bathhouses for cleanliness right? You weren't allowed to enter the baths if you were dirty to begin with so do away with any notion that Romans were clean because of bathhouses.
Same goes Arabs, do you believe each and every Arab living in the middle of the desert would have the chance to have a full immersion bath five times a day?
For the majority of history I'd say until the 1950-1960s bathing and cleanliness meant a wash basin full of hot water, a bar of soap and a sponge. Full immersion baths were something done for relaxation or fun much like a modern Jacuzzi, not something to clean the dirt of you.
Medieval and Roman bathhouses catered themselves much like modern restaurants do, in the Medieval bathhouses you could order a full immersion bath with dinner. The actual getting cleaning process was done in another room which was full of steam and where you undressed and were given a small washing basin with cloth. Same goes for the Romans who had to clean themselves before entering the heated full immersion baths.
>>359074
When I come to think of it, the actual getting clean part of a bathhouse was a lot like Japanese edo period bathhouses.
https://www.google.nl/search?q=japanese+bathhouse&biw=1920&bih=952&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4hKLE-cTJAhXFeA4KHViYAXkQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=japanese+bathhouse+edo&imgrc=ExIKy77pIeKH0M%3A
Pic related is a bathhouse in Constantinople/Istanbul
>>359074
>Same goes Arabs, do you believe each and every Arab living in the middle of the desert would have the chance to have a full immersion bath five times a day?
In Islam you have to wash every time you pray, which is 5 times a day. If you don't have water you're meant to use clean sand.
>>356881
Perhaps some clever monk or worker realized how retarded people were and came up with the idea to save peasants.
>>359110
>If you don't have water you're meant to use clean sand.
That's why they are perpetually angry, they got loads of sand in their buttcrack.
No but seriously they probably didn't have a full immersion bath five times a day.
>>359113
Clergy, church and Pope denied witches existed until the reformation, prior to that anyone claiming X was a witch was liable to be fined for libel/slander
It was chiefly nobility who insisted on things like trial by combat which the church opposed to because it's just bullshit.
>>359171
Must have been chiefly as a method of destroying pagan religions. Either that or the Church was pretty based.
>>359187
Both, the whole trial by combat was a germanic thing but the church also wanted to get rid of it because it's just unfair and random bullshit. Clergy were also forbidden to give death sentences in court. Oh and they worked out some doctrine that marriages should be based on mutual consent of husband and wife rather than arranged. Generally ecclesiastical courts were seen as softer and therefore the common man tried to get his case handled in those rather than other courts.
Then the reformation hit and they went full retard.
>>351124
No, movies represent them as carricatures.
Anyway, it depends on the place. A person from Constantinople certainly lived a different life from a shepherd in the middle of nowhere, just like a person from NYC lives a different life from a shepherd in the middle of nowhere today.
