Village Life

Living in a village during the medieval times was one of the worst places to live in. Firstly, you had about as much freedom as an animal in a zoo enclosure. Unlike living in a medieval town, you were not able to buy a charter – a piece of paper that gave you permission to leave your town for another – and if you were caught trying to leave your village, the punishment was not something worth trying for.

The Domesday Book kept a record of all the villagers, their earnings, the animals they owned and how much money they had. They had no privacy or say in who got surveyed and would be punished if the truth was not told. The King was in charge and lent land to the barons who in return provided knights for the King’s kingdom and paid for the land lent to them. There were usually only about 200 barons, who were still incredibly high classed and they lent land to the 4,000 knights who then in return gave the barons money for the land and fought for whoever the barons needed for them to fight for. Finally, the villeins (approximately 1.5 million) were given land from the knights. They were intituled to this land on the condition that they paid for all of the land and food used.

Houses were absolutely foul in the medieval times. They were completely built of mud, animal dung, straw and urine and had to be 100% handmade. Moreover, it was awfully time consuming, tiring to build, although was worth having, especially in the winter where the animal dung keeps you just warm enough to survive.

Winter was the hardest season to live through and the only time you may have to chance to taste meat. Winter involves looking after your cattle and other animals (which get killed for their fat and fur) and trying to stay alive. Whereas in autumn, summer and spring the main focus is to keep your crops and family well fed and healthy. The regular schedule for eating was around 6:00am, 10:am and 4:00pm and consisted of eating mostly bread, oats, bread, vegetables, bread, fruits and… more bread! They drank ale, which is a beer type drink because fresh or even drinkable water was often difficult to find.