Interesting facts about the Middle Ages. Facts about the life of ordinary people in the Middle Ages Middle Ages interesting facts

The most shocking fact about the Middle Ages that will make you wince

The most popular method of treatment in the Middle Ages was bloodletting. But, if you think about it, it was still a very safe practice compared to what medieval healers could still do. For example, a small hole in the skull was considered a good remedy for excruciating headaches, as well as epilepsy and mental disorders. It was drilled out so as to expose the meninges. Hemorrhoids should be treated by cauterization with a red-hot iron. Anesthesia, on the other hand, was reduced to toxic substances in a weak concentration, which led to an unconscious state, blows to the head with a hammer or a stick completely clamped in the teeth.

Not only a person could be put on trial, but also an animal that injured or killed a person. Tried dogs, pigs, cats. In medieval France, a cow was once condemned. She was found guilty and the executioners had to try hard to erect a gallows for the horned criminal. In the end, the cow was hanged, her body was burned, and her ashes were scattered.

To protect daughters from losing their virginity, and wives from adultery, parents or spouses put a chastity belt on the unfortunate. This structure was held at the waist and passed between the legs, covering the vagina and anus. Small holes were provided in the belt for the administration of natural needs. Although the most expensive belts, made in Bergamo or Venice (“Bergamo castle” and “Venetian lattice”), decorated with precious stones, gold or silver overlays, looked like works of art, they were still painful to wear. They left severe blisters, sometimes bedsores formed under the belts. Only the church court could save the unfortunate woman from suffering and order to remove the belt, which intervened only in the most extreme cases.

One of the most popular judicial practices in the Middle Ages was the ordeal - "God's judgment". Those accused of any offense or crime had to be burned with a red-hot iron or put their hand into a cauldron of boiling water. The inflicted wound was bandaged, and after a while they watched how it healed. If the wound looked good, then. God confirmed the innocence of the test subject. Otherwise, the person is guilty and subject to punishment. Women suspected of witchcraft were tested with water, bound and immersed in a pond. The innocent soul was supposed to... drown, and the witch was supposed to emerge.

Since it was laborious and costly to bring and heat large volumes of water, one bath could be taken by several people at once and several more after. Often a neglect of hygiene was considered a virtue, and some saints could not wash for months. If you could not boast of wealth and noble birth, then several very dirty people could get into the bath with you at once. However, noble ladies were also not always spared the need to splash in dirty water, because their turn came only after their husband and older sons. In public baths, complete anarchy and simplicity of manners reigned.

Medieval life was poor in spectacles, so going to see an execution was quite a pleasant pastime, comparable to a modern trip to the cinema to see a horror movie. True, a rare modern person could withstand such a spectacle and not faint. People were not only hanged, quartered or burned alive. Before that, they were also subtly publicly tortured. For example, Henry VII promised one of the organizers of the uprising against him that if he surrendered voluntarily, then not a single member would be separated from his body until he died. And he kept his word. The unfortunate man was hung on chains from the church steeple and slowly died for long days from thirst, hunger, cold, and at the end of this torture from wounds inflicted by crows. At the same time, the hands and feet, as promised by the king, remained with him to the end.

Alcoholic drinks

The idea that water should be purified and boiled in order to avoid infection did not occur to anyone. However, people could trace the connection between stomach diseases and dirty water. That is why commoners drank mostly weak beer, and richer people drank wine. Medieval man spent most of his life under the influence of alcohol.

The medieval woman was most often completely dependent on men. Before marriage, everything was decided by her father and brothers; after marriage, the life and property of a woman was managed by her husband. Only widows had greater freedom, but only as long as they did not remarry. True, a woman could go to church court if her husband hit her too hard or too often, but church men rarely rushed to defend the "vessel of sin."

Since even noble ladies could have two or three sets of clothes for the season, the outer dress was washed very rarely. A dress made of “heavy”, expensive fabrics, especially richly decorated with beads, precious stones, embroidery, could not be washed at all, but brushed. Underwear—usually long shirts—were washed more frequently, but ash mixed with urine could be the normal soak.

Sometimes the Middle Ages are called the Dark Ages, as if opposing enlightened antiquity and the Age of Enlightenment, which went before and after the Middle Ages. For some reason, it was after this relatively short era, which lasted one millennium and was full of wars and epidemics, that democracy, technological progress began to dominate in Europe, and such a thing as human rights arose.

Changes

Interesting facts about the Middle Ages - important changes. The Middle Ages were characterized as the time of the establishment of Christianity. It was with the help of religion that many changes occurred in the minds of people, which was reflected in the changes in society as a whole.

Women were completely equal in rights with men. Moreover, a woman in the ideals of chivalry has become a higher being, not attainable for understanding and a real inspiration for a man.

Antiquity was filled with such a close connection with nature that it was actually deified and feared at the same time. According to their characteristics, the ancient gods corresponded to natural areas and elements (sacred groves, forests, volcanoes, storms, lightning, etc. Antiquity, despite some technical progress, was characterized by a small number of scientific achievements. That is, the foundation of scientific knowledge was laid, but in general discoveries were few and rare.In the Middle Ages, man ceased to deify nature and natural phenomena.From Judaism to Christianity came the teaching that nature was created for man, and should serve it.This became the basis of technological progress.

Despite close cooperation, religion and the state in the Middle Ages began to separate from one another, which became the basis of a secular state and religious tolerance. This came out of the principle "To God - God's, and to Caesar - Caesar's."

In the Middle Ages, the foundations for the protection of human rights were laid. Strangely enough, the model of justice was the court of the Inquisition, where the accused was given the opportunity to defend himself, witnesses were interviewed, and they tried to obtain information as fully as possible without resorting to torture. Torture was used only because it was part of the Roman law on which medieval justice was based. As a rule, most of the information about the cruelty of the Inquisition is nothing more than ordinary fiction.

Features of society

Sometimes you can hear that the medieval church held back the development of culture and education. This information is not true, since it was the monasteries that had large collections of books, schools were opened at the monasteries, medieval culture was concentrated here, since the monks studied ancient authors. In addition, church leaders knew how to write at a time when many kings put a cross instead of a signature.

In medieval Western European churches, special holes were made in the walls for lepers and other sick people who could not come into contact with other parishioners. Through these windows people could see the altar. This was done in order not to completely reject the sick from society and so that they would have access to the Lituria and church sacraments.

The books in the libraries were chained to the shelves. This is due to the great value and monetary value of books. Books were especially valued, the pages of which were made of calfskins - parchment and copied by hand. The covers of such publications were decorated with noble metals and precious stones.

When Christianity won a landslide victory in the city of Rome, all pre-Christian sculptures were destroyed. The only bronze sculpture that has not been touched is the equestrian monument of Marcus Aurelius. This monument has been preserved due to the fact that it was mistakenly considered a sculpture of Emperor Constantine.

In ancient times, buttons were usually used as decorations, and clothes were fastened with brooches (clasps that look like safety pins, only in large sizes). In medieval times (around the 12th century), buttons began to be fastened into loops, their functional significance approaching the present. For wealthy citizens, however, buttons were made exquisite, often with noble metals, and could be sewn onto clothing in large quantities. Moreover, the number of buttons was directly proportional to the status of the owner of the clothes - on one of the camisoles of King Francis I of France there were more than 13 thousand buttons.

Women's fashion was interesting - girls and women wore sharp conical hats up to one meter high. This greatly amused the guys who tried to throw something to knock off their hats. Also, ladies wore long trains on dresses, the length depended on wealth. There were laws that limited the length of this decorative piece of clothing. The violators cut off the excess part of the train with a sword.

In men, the level of wealth could be determined by the boots - the longer the boots, the richer the person was. The length of the toes of shoes could reach one meter. Since then, the proverb “live in a big way” has gone.

Beer in medieval Europe was consumed not only by men, but also by women. In England, each resident consumed almost one liter per day (on average), which is three times more than today and twice as much as in the modern beer champion - the Czech Republic. The reason was not the general drunkenness, but the fact that the quality of the water was poor, and the small amount of alcohol that was in the beer killed the bacteria and made it safe to drink. Beer was popular mainly in northern and eastern European countries. In the south, wine has traditionally been drunk since Roman times - children and women diluted, and men could sometimes afford to drink undiluted.

Before winter, animals were slaughtered in the villages and meat was prepared for the winter. The traditional way of harvesting was salting, but such meat was not tasty and they tried to season it with oriental spices. The Levantine (Eastern Mediterranean) trade was monopolized by the Ottoman Turks, so spices were very expensive. This prompted the development of navigation and the search for new, oceanic sea routes to India and other Asian countries, in which spices were grown and they were very cheap there. And mass demand in Europe supported high prices - pepper was literally worth its weight in gold.

In castles, spiral staircases were twisted clockwise so that those on top would have an advantage in battle. Defenders could strike from right to left, this strike was not available to the attackers. It happened that in the family the men were mostly left-handed, then they built castles in which the stairs twisted counterclockwise - for example, the German castle of the Wallensteins or the Scottish castle of Fernihurst.

In fact, sexual prohibitions and prescriptions permeate not only the Middle Ages, but the entire history of mankind. Priests and legislators, thinkers and revolutionary figures have exhausted many tons of clay, papyrus, parchment and paper, trying to explain to people how, with whom, when, for what and in what conditions it is possible or not to have sex.

And in the Middle Ages, this trend was simply global.
This is the time that we call "dark", and we learned many basic ideas about sex and morality from them, obscurantist and terrible, carrying these ideas as the banner of the triumph of morality.

In those days, the sexual life of a person was under the vigilant control of the priests. The vast majority of types of sex were called capacious word "fornication". Adultery and fornication were sometimes punishable by death, excommunication from the church.

But, at the same time, these same controllers - the priests were very curious about the intimate life of a person, they really wanted to know what was happening in the beds of the laity. Spurred on by curiosity, theologians have left a plethora of descriptions and testimonies that give us some idea of ​​what sex was like in the Middle Ages.

Here are 10 facts about sex in the Middle Ages.

1. Courtly love: You can look, but don't you dare touch

The church forbade openly showing sexual interest, but allowed that love could have something to do with sex.

Courtly love is usually understood as a relationship between a knight and a beautiful lady, and it is very desirable for a knight to be brave, and the object of his worship is inaccessible.

It was allowed to be married to someone else and be faithful, the main thing is not to show reciprocal feelings for your knight in any case. One could be pale and weak, sadly bow her head and sigh, only hinting to the knight of reciprocity.

2. Adultery: keep your pants buttoned up, sir

For those who took seriously the dictates of Christian morality, sex did not exist at all. Sexual intercourse was allowed only in marriage. Premarital or extramarital affairs were punished very cruelly, up to the death penalty, and the Church also often acted as a court and executioner.

But it was not just about Christian laws. Marital fidelity was the only reliable way for men of noble origin to be sure that their children were really theirs. There is a case when the French king Philip, having caught his own daughters in relations with some of his vassals, sent two of them to a monastery, and killed the third. As for the guilty courtiers, they were executed by a cruel public execution.

The church dictated exactly how people should have sex. All poses except for the "missionary" were considered a sin and were forbidden. Oral and anal sex and masturbation also fell under the strictest ban - these types of contacts did not lead to the birth of children, which, according to purists, was the only reason for making love.

Violators were punished severely: three years of repentance and service to the church for sex in any of the "deviant" positions. Just tell me, how did they know? Were they voluntarily told in confession? Like this: Share with me, my son, how did you have a wife at night?

However, some theologians of that time proposed to evaluate sexual intercourse more gently, for example, arrange the permissible postures in this order (as sinfulness increases): 1) missionary, 2) on the side, 3) sitting, 4) standing, 5) behind. Only the first position was recognized as pious, the rest were proposed to be considered “morally dubious”, but not sinful. Apparently, the reason for such softness was that the representatives of the nobility, often suffering from obesity, were not able to have sex in the most sinless position, and the Church could not help but meet the sufferers.

The Church's position on homosexuality was firm: under no pretext! Sodomy was characterized as an "unnatural" and "godless" occupation and was punished in only one way: the death penalty. Lord, what did the monks do in their monasteries?

In the 12th and 13th centuries, it was common for sodomites to be burned at the stake, hanged, starved to death and tortured, of course, in order to "cast out the demon" and "atone for sin." However, there is evidence that some members of high society did practice homosexuality. For example, about the English king Richard I, nicknamed the "Lionheart" for his exceptional courage and military prowess, it was rumored that at the time of the meeting with his future wife, he was in a sexual relationship with his brother. The king was also convicted of "eating from the same plate" with the French king Philip II during visits to France, and at night "sleeping in the same bed and having passionate love with him."

5. Fashion: Is this a codpiece or are you just really happy to see me?

One of the most popular men's fashion accessories in the Middle Ages was the codpiece - a flap or pouch that was attached to the front of the trousers to emphasize masculinity, focusing on the genitals. The codpiece was usually stuffed with sawdust or cloth and fastened with buttons or tied with braid. As a result, the man's crotch area looked very impressive.

Of course, the Church did not recognize this "devilish fashion" and tried in every possible way to prevent its spread. However, her power did not extend to the king of the country and his closest courtiers.

6. Dildos: Size according to sinful desire

There is some evidence that artificial penises were actively used in the Middle Ages. In particular, entries in the "repentant books" - sets of punishments for various sins. These entries were something like this:

“Have you done what some women do with phallus-shaped objects, the size of which corresponds to the sinfulness of their desires? If so, you must repent on all holy feasts for five years!”

Dildos did not have any official name until the Renaissance, so they were designated by the names of items that have an elongated shape. In particular, the word "dildo" comes from the name of an oblong loaf of bread with dill: "dilldough".

7. Virginity and Chastity: Just Repent

The Middle Ages highly valued virginity, drawing a parallel between the chastity of a simple woman and the Virgin Mary. Ideally, a girl should take care of her innocence as the main wealth, but in practice this was rarely possible for anyone: morality was low, and men were rude and persistent (especially in the lower class). Understanding how difficult it is for a woman to remain chaste in such a society, the Church made it possible for repentance and forgiveness of sins not only for non-virgin girls, but even for those who have given birth to children.

Women who chose this path of "purification" should repent of their sins, and then atone for them by joining the cult of the Virgin, that is, devoting the rest of their days of life and serving the monastery.

8 Prostitution: Prosperity

Prostitution flourished in the Middle Ages. In large cities, prostitutes offered their services anonymously, without revealing their real names, and this was considered an honest and perfectly acceptable profession. It can be said that at that time the Church tacitly approved of prostitution, at least, did not try to prevent it in any way.

Oddly enough, commodity-money relations in sexual relations were regarded as a way to prevent adultery (!) And homosexuality, that is, as something that was impossible to do without. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote: "If we forbid women to sell their bodies, lust will spill into our cities and destroy society."

The most privileged prostitutes worked in brothels, the less privileged offered their services on the city streets, and in the villages there was often one prostitute for the whole village, and her name was well known to the inhabitants. However, there, prostitutes were treated with contempt, they could be beaten, mutilated, or even thrown into prison, accused of vagrancy and debauchery.

9. Contraception: Do what you want

The church has never approved of contraception, as it prevents the birth of children, but most of the efforts of the churchmen were aimed at combating "unnatural" sex and homosexuality, so people were left to their own devices in the matter of protection. Contraception was viewed more as a minor moral offense than a major sin.

10. Sexual dysfunctions: Sick, take off your underpants

If a man, for some unknown reason, could not have sex, the Church sent "private detectives" to him - experienced village women who examined his "household" and assessed his general health, trying to identify the cause of sexual impotence. If the penis was deformed or there were other pathologies visible to the naked eye, the Church gave permission for divorce due to the husband's inability to procreate.

Chastity belts.

This is a very controversial point. I read in one magazine that they were invented later and existed for a very specific purpose: they were used during long walks so that bandits could not rape a woman.

But do not think that the invention of the belt was dictated only by safety rules. Here is what the court archives of past centuries have to say about it.

In the 1860s, a Moscow merchant, “in order to save his young wife from temptation”, ordered an adaptation from an experienced locksmith. From the belt, although "made diligently", the young woman suffered greatly. Upon returning from trips, the merchant staged wild scenes of jealousy and "taught his wife by mortal combat." Unable to bear the cruelty, the wife fled to the nearest monastery, where she told everything to the abbess. She invited the assistant chief of police, who was extremely indignant. They called an investigator, a doctor and a locksmith. The unfortunate woman was freed from the terrible device and placed in the monastery infirmary for treatment.

Another incident, which happened around the same time, ended tragically. A craftsman put on a similar belt for his wife, going to the southern provinces to work. Neither he nor his wife suspected the onset of pregnancy. After a certain time, relatives, concerned about the condition of the young woman, were forced to invite a midwife. The pregnant woman was already unconscious. Upon discovering the belt, the midwife immediately called the police. It took several hours to rid the woman of the terrible device. She was rescued, but the child died. The returned husband ended up behind bars and returned home only after a couple of years... Full of remorse, he went to atone for sin in the monasteries and soon froze somewhere along the way.

This is the time of the great migration of peoples, the Crusades, the Mongol invasion, the opening of the Great Silk Road and the period of the Renaissance. We present interesting facts about the Middle Ages, which are even impressive.

Buttons in the Middle Ages were first used not only as an element of clothing decor, but also as a practical detail with which these clothes were fastened. It symbolized wealth and luxury. The more buttons on the outfit, the higher the status of its owner. King Francis I of France sported a suit with 13,600 buttons sewn on.

Glasses were invented in the Middle Ages. And first there were "progenitors" of sunglasses. In 12th century China, judges wore dark plates of smoky quartz. This was done in order to hide the expression of the judge's eyes from those present. And in the 13th century, eyeglasses appeared in Italy that improved vision.

The tradition of clinking glasses appeared in the Middle Ages. At feasts, glasses of wine could be poured with poison to get rid of the enemy. When the mugs hit each other, the liquid from one mug overflowed into another.

Thus, the poisoner's poison could get into his dishes. Clinking glasses, those present at the feast confirmed that there was no poison in the liquid. A big offense and the beginning of enmity was considered the refusal to clink glasses.

1493 is the year of birth of the Snowman, a funny companion of a snowy and frosty winter. For the first time, such a figure was made of snow in 1493 by the famous Italian sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti. In the Middle Ages, the Snowman was an evil and frightening companion of winter. They frightened naughty children. And only by the 19th century the Snowman became kind and cheerful.

Spices in the Middle Ages in Europe were very expensive. For example, 450g of nutmeg could be purchased for one cow or four sheep. Spices served as a currency and a means of accumulating capital, they could pay for purchases, pay fines. For 2 years they were on their way to get to Europe. Spices were the cause of new crusades, new voyages and significant geographical discoveries.

Mona Lisa, or Gioconda, in the mysterious painting by Leonardo da Vinci is the ideal of a woman of the Middle Ages. In the 15th century, a high forehead, lack of eyebrows, pallor, round face shapes and figures were in fashion. Many fashionistas of that time deliberately completely plucked their eyebrows and shaved their foreheads.

Other interesting facts about the Middle Ages can be found in the film.

What a blessing that we live in the modern world, where there is adequate medicine and high technologies that allow us to live in comfort. With enviable constancy, manufacturers release new gadgets, and doctors are tirelessly looking for cures for all sorts of diseases, but our distant ancestors were not as lucky as you and I. Ancient people relieved themselves in public toilets, which could explode at any moment, and also panicked when they noticed a pimple on their face, which was then often mistaken for leprosy.

Great need

Every person, for sure, once went to a terribly neglected public toilet, which seemed to him just the embodiment of all nightmares. However, this is nothing compared to ancient public toilets. Toilets in ancient Rome were a real test of courage. They were ordinary stone benches with an irregularly cut hole that led to the city's primitive sewer system. Such a direct connection to the sewers meant that all sorts of vile creatures that live in the sewers could sink their teeth into the unfortunate toilet visitor's bare buttocks.

To make matters worse, the constant accumulation of methane levels led to the fact that often the toilets simply exploded. In order to simply survive when visiting the toilet, the Romans applied images of the goddess of fortune Fortuna and conspiracies to ward off evil spirits on the walls of the toilets.

Job search

In England in the 1500s it was illegal to be unemployed. The government treated the unemployed as second-class citizens, and punished them for crimes much harsher. Also, unemployed people should not have traveled, because if they were caught, they were branded as vagrants, beaten and sent back.

Problem skin

Skin conditions such as acne or psoriasis can certainly seem like a nightmare to many. However, thanks to hundreds of creams and tablets, today it is possible, if not cured, then at least to stop exacerbations. But this was not at all the case in the Middle Ages, when a large pimple could mean panic and expectation of imminent death. Because of the rampant paranoia associated with leprosy, many less serious skin conditions, such as psoriasis, were often mistaken for signs of a terrible disease.

As a result, people with psoriasis or dermatitis were often evicted to the leper colony as if they had leprosy. And if they lived among "ordinary" people, they were forced to wear special clothes and a bell to warn healthy people about their approach. And in France in the 14th century, many psoriasis patients were mistakenly burned at the stake.

Going to the theater

Today, going to the theater or cinema is considered a completely cultural and safe way to spend your leisure time. But a couple of hundred years ago it was a deadly occupation. The theater houses and music halls of the 1800s were notorious for being built haphazardly, constantly overcrowded, and highly flammable. Therefore, even if it was lucky that there was no fire with many deaths, there were often crushes at the exit caused by false alarms.

In England alone, more than 80 people have died in theaters in just two decades. And the worst theatrical tragedy in history happened at the Chicago Iroquois Theater in 1903 - the flames claimed the lives of more than 600 people.

Fighting

While fights don't happen every day, in the Middle Ages, any minor skirmish could quickly turn into a deadly fight. For example, Oxford University in the 14th century was far from being as refined as it is now. In February 1355, a group of drunken students at a local tavern insulted the quality of the wine they were served.
The irritated innkeeper did not hesitate to answer. This eventually led to the epic slaughter that became known as Saint Scholastica's Day. 62 students were killed.

Vote

Today, voting at worst can be met with annoyingly long lines and the slow realization that the vote cast has little to no impact. However, in the 19th century, only the most die-hard supporters of democracy were brave enough to take to the streets on election day. Everyone else barricaded themselves in their houses so they wouldn't be kidnapped.

So-called "cooping" was a common practice in which street gangs, bribed by political parties, kidnapped people off the street and forced them to vote for their candidate. Victims were kept in a dark basement or back room, threatened with torture, and forcibly drugged for several days to make them more compliant before being taken to the polling station.

Working with the police

While admittedly no one likes talking to the police today, that's nothing compared to what happened a couple of centuries ago. The inhabitants of 18th century London had significant cause for concern when they encountered a policeman on their way. Many of these police officers were impostors who used the trust of the masses for their own nefarious purposes.

Some just used a fake cop badge to squeeze some easy money out of people, but the real thugs went much further. These false officers caught young women at night under the pretense of "suspicious activity". This led to the fact that the townspeople avoided real policemen by any means, which only made them easy prey for criminals.

Buying spices

In the Middle Ages, many spices were considered medicines or even hard currency. Moreover, they even regularly killed for spices. For example, nutmeg was once found only in the outlying Banda Islands. Over the course of several centuries, the spice wars virtually wiped out the indigenous population as various European powers sought to seize control of these islands. More than 6,000 people died.

Hospital trip

They had no education, and newspapers were full of advertisements for the recruitment of medical staff "without work experience." This crazy practice has led to more than one tragic incident in hospitals.

Walk around the city

Apparently, people in the Middle Ages couldn't even walk quietly around the city without something outrageous. For example, public nudity was quite fashionable during the 17th and 18th centuries. Ironically, most of the followers of this liberal new trend were religious.

Representatives of such movements as the Ranters and Quakers argued that God is in everything, so nothing can be considered evil or inappropriate. They reveled in sex and drugs and walked naked through the streets. It turns out that the hippies of the 20th century were quite modest.