When you think of the Middle Ages you think of Kings and castles, knights in shining armor saving the princess, and savage warfare to coincide with horrible diseases and plagues taking lives. For the most part that was true, but we are forgetting about the majority of the population, otherwise known as ?the commons?. These people can easily be compared to you and I living in these times. The peasants were not a part of the noble class or associated with the clergy, but just lived plain and simple lives and tried to get by with what they had. In those times they did not have a lot. Since all of us would be considered peasants in those times, I am going to take us back to that era and compare the life of a peasant to our lives now. From the day they are born all the way to their death. I will go over the different types of commoners, go over how they grew up, what they ate, and even what they did for fun back in those days. Childbirth in Medieval times were much of the same as they are now. I say this in the biological way only of course. Birth was not in the hands of a physician, but entirely up to a midwife. The only reason there would be a doctor there is if there was a pathological complication.
The setting for childbirth was different as well. All of the childbirth?s would take place at the home, as compared to 2hospitals in today?s times. Hospitals were predominantly used for long-term care for the poor. Another huge difference in childbirth was the risk to the mother. The closest estimate of childbirth deaths was about 14 deaths for every 1,000 childbirth?s. This is very high in modern standards. In 1988, Nigeria was reported to have a rate of 8 deaths in every 1,000 births, which was unusually high even for a Third World country.(Singman,McLean p40) The first formal event that an infant had to go through was the ceremony of baptism. This is true for Christians in today?s times as well. This was the single most important of the rituals administered by the Church. Without baptism the child could not enter into heaven. In those times Baptism was so important that everyone was encouraged to learn the basic words of the ritual. In Middle English the words were, ?I crystene thee in the nome of the Fader, and the Son and the Holy Gost. Amen. The Christening would usually take place a week within the birth of the child. It all depended on how healthy the child was. In today?s times, everyone is invited to the Baptismal celebration of their newborn.
The Essay on Time and Life
According to a popular saying,schooldays are the happiest days of your life. Is there any truth in this? Answers to this question are bound to vary greatly from person to person. A person’s answer will depend on how happy the person’s schooldays actually were and on how happy the rest of his or her life has been since. To give a really true answer to this question you have to be fairly close to ...
Back then the godparents were summoned and the rest of the family would proceed to the church without the mother being present. The reason for that was because it was custom for her not to enter the church prior to her own ceremony of ?purification?, which is supposed to cleanse her from the 3spiritual stain of childbirth. Today we are given two godparents. They were given two godparents of the same sex and one of the opposite. The godparent?s role in the child?s life was a very important one. They were to play the role as the religious instructors towards the child. (Singman,McLean For the most part Baptism marked the child as part of the church as well as society. Church and society were considered to be equal. After this ceremony the child would receive the most important symbol of its public identity: a name. Just like today people had a wide variety of names to choose from. Most of the names, however, were ones of saints or those that had a French origin. The girls had very few saints names to choose from so they choose anything excluding the names of Mary or Martha. Just like in any society during any period, the shape of an infants life depended on its social background.
The mothers had no option of weather to get baby formula so all medieval mothers breast fed for the first two or three years. There was an interesting technique that was practiced in medieval times. It was called ?swaddling?. This was done because of the tenderness of the limbs, the child may easily and quickly twist and bend and take abnormal shapes. To prevent this the child?s limbs would be bound with strips of cloth and other suitable bonds. This also kept the infant 4warm as well as out of trouble. During the first few years of life the child was almost always under female Childhood in the Middle Ages was a time of great danger, due to the ever present risk of illness or disease. It definitely was not like today when you have all these vaccinations you can give to a child to prevent disease and the cleanliness for today?s standards. Infants are at a much lower risk to develop illnesses, at least opposed to those times. Another issue in infants was accidental death. These occurred with more of a risk to poorer families because household duties would leave the infant unattended on many occasions. Just like today when you leave an infant left alone dangerous things can occur. some statistics that I have to throw at you are in the latter half of the fourteenth century, nearly 300 of 1,000 children died in their first year of life. This compared to a Third World countries rate of 125 in 1,000. (exceptionally high in today?s standards).
The Term Paper on Children today prefer to play computer games to traditional games
People nowadays are busy with their own lives by spending much time on their gadgets like tablets, iPads and laptops including the children. They are either doing their job or playing games because of habit on the gadgets and forgot the traditional games. It is agreed to say that children today prefer to play computer games to traditional games. For instance, children nowadays did not participate ...
These figures could have been worse or better when you put in the factor of the Black Plague. Early childhood consisted of a combination of learning and play. This was no different then today. Kids today go to Kindergarten to learn, but they also receive recess and most of the learning activities are based around having fun so they get the idea that learning is fun. The Middle Ages provided only one form of education, and that was their 5religious instructions. This was the primary responsibility of the godparents to teach the child by the age of five the basic elements of Christian belief. Just like today, the children would have to learn good manners such as, not to pick their nose, scratch or rub themselves, or swear. The most important thing that a child learned was its mother?s language. It was also important for the child to know the significance of keeping their hands and faces clean and to cut their nails. In the commoners class, a child of four or five might be put to do some small household chores such as acquiring water or watching a younger sibling. Sure they might have done some work, but the majority of a child?s life was devoted to play and exploration of the world around The medieval idea of childhood development says that infancy ends at the age of seven.
The Term Paper on Maasai Women Age Marriage Society
The Maasai are one of the many southern-most tribes located in Kenya. They are physically related, and also in many other forms related to the Samburu and Turkana. The Maasai have a relatively complex culture and traditions. In fact, for many years they were unheard of. By the late 1800's we soon discovered more about the Maasai, mostly from their oral histories. It is presumed that the Maasai ...
Now the child can be more integrated into society. A child, by the age of seven has learned the basic elements of religious belief and thus receives the sacrament of Confirmation. This ceremony is administered by the bishop to mark the child?s full entry into the Christian community. In today?s times kids do not receive Confirmation until around the age of twelve or thirteen. My theory of why they rushed this sacrament upon the kid?s is because of the shortened life expectancy of the people in that era. As the kids grew older they would start 6to get their place in society and begin to practice certain traits that their parents would teach them. Girls would learn different tasks then the boys. Girls of commoner status would have to learn such chores as cooking, spinning, sewing, laundry, healing, and other, needful domestic skills. The sons of commoners would be set off to learn how to fish, herd, and care for larger livestock. Over the years they would continue practicing their line of work and one day would grow up to do that specialty for the rest of their During the adolescence years the children are now becoming integrated in the world of adults. At the tender age of fourteen a child was subject to a national poll tax that was initiated in the late fourteenth century. At fourteen nowadays, the best you can get a child to do is to clean his room every now and then. I could not imagine having to pay a tax at that age. A peasant girl would be doing exactly what her mother was doing. She would be performing things such as, carding wool, spinning thread, cooking, cleaning the home, tending the garden and dairy, and looking after the younger children. That meant that there was little time for ?Barbies? or experimenting with make-up. The boys had to grow into their jobs because their bodies were not ready to do the heavy field work. When they 7did mature, however, they did exactly what their elders did For the most part of a peasants teen life they remained
The Term Paper on Unmarried Women Marriage Family Time
English - Pride and Prejudice Social and Historical context of the Novel The social context in which Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice operates, is one of firm class divisions, formality, and extreme importance placed on knowing what was considered proper behaviour. It reflects many accepted beliefs of the time - in early nineteenth century England. There were very strict distinctions ...
subordinate to the economy of adults. Most economic classes were able to go from subordinate to independent at the age of twenty one, which was the legal age of inheritance. Peasants remained semi-dependent until he inherited a holding, until which he continued to work for his family?s holding. For laborers or servants, coming of age would not be very beneficial for the at all. They would probably be forced to semi-dependent for the rest of their lives. Women on the other hand were treated as though they were adolescence until they were married. The most important step to independence for both the man and the woman was marriage. Marriage fell under the jurisdiction of the church. Marriage was delayed until the proposed couple had a place to live beforehand. This is a lot like today, because no mother or father wants to live with their newly married daughter or son. This a way to get the kids out of the house. This simply meant that most peasants would not get to marry until later in life. Men usually would not marry until their late twenties. Women would get married usually in their late teens. Marriage in the Middle Ages was fairly an involved process. It begins with an arrangement between the two families involved.
They 8would discuss what property was being settled on the prospective spouses. The next step was called a ?betrothal?, where for three successive Sundays, the marriage had to be publicly announced in church. This was done to see if anyone who saw that the marriage should not go on they should say so. This is like today when the priest says ?if anyone knows why these two should not be joined in marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace?. Someone only says something in the movies though. The wedding itself is held at the door of the church. The man gives his wife a ring as part of the ceremony, which is followed by a feast. No difference then today?s weddings. Sure the ceremony takes place in the church, but there is a ring involved and we have a reception which is the equivalent to the large feast of a medieval wedding. Another way that people got married in the Middle Ages was by having sex. It was considered to be a legal marriage if a promised marriage was followed by sex. The difference between the Middle Ages and modern times is that back then marriage was pretty much a permanent thing. Once you chose your partner there were not too many choices of getting a divorce. They had divorces, but only if the either partner had been tricked into the marriage or if the man was found to be sexually impotent.
The Term Paper on Video Game Violence Games Violent Play
Video Game Pop Culture Misunderstanding Our society isn't safe for our children anymore because of drugs and alcohol abuse, sex, violence, war, playing video games... Playing video games? This is the last straw; some video games are made the focus of controversy when much better things can be argued over. Well, don't get me wrong, some of these games show horrific acts of and much less to our ...
It is not like today when everyone gets at least one divorce in their life time for the most senseless reasons too.(Singman,McLean p53-54) 9 Now that we are all grown up and have a wife to share our life as a simple peasant with, let us take a look at the lovely home in which we get to live in. The peasant home had very few rooms, usually one to three rooms. In some cases the structure not only held the family, but also held the livestock as well. The frame of the house was made of timber, and the walls were commonly filled with wattle and daub. Wattling was long stakes fixed upright between lateral beams, with flexible sticks woven densely between them. The daub was a clay or loam mixed with straw or some similar fiber for strength. This reminds me much of a beavers damn the way the walls are put together with the sticks. The roof was put together with straw or reeds. The floors were usually packed dirt. The houses were only one story. In the back there might also be additional buildings for animal storage. There usually was also a garden for herbs, vegetables, and any other household plants. The peasants house was not a very comfortable place to live. I think they would love to trade places with us and be a peasant in these times where everyone has a home and is comfortable with all the luxuries it provides. Back then they were lucky to have a place to cook with in their homes.
As with every other aspect of medieval life, a person?s social and economic status determined the food they ate. It turned out that the diet of a peasant was much better than 10that of the aristocracy. The only reason was because the peasant?s could not afford to indulge themselves in the finer foods of red meats, sugar, and fat. The commoners had to eat more fiber and vegetables. Bread was the staple food for all people as it is for everyone today. Beans and bacon was the well-known food of the peasant. A prosperous peasant might be able to eat 2-3 pounds of bread, 8 ounces of meat or fish, and 2-3 pints of ale per day. The poorer peasants drank water instead of ale and boiled their grains into puddings or gruel rather than bread. We are commoners and we all have food to eat in healthy portions, so we should be thankful for what we have and pray for those who do not have anything. They would be the poorer peasants, who just have Even though peasants worked almost all the time, they did have time to get away from their drudgery for recreational activities. They had approximately eight weeks a year for leisure time because of Sundays and holy days. What they did with that time was entirely up to them and varied from family to family.
The Term Paper on Article Critique on Video Game Play and Aggressive Thoughts and Behavior
The study by Vincent Cicchirillo and Rebecca M. Chory-Assad (2005) entitled Effects of Affective Orientation and Video Game Play on Aggressive Thoughts and Behavior investigates the effect of violent video game on aggressive thoughts and behavior and the mediating role of affective orientation on this relationship. This study is prompted by the scarcity of research examining the role played by an ...
There was an old saying about how the peasants looked upon leisure time. It is said that the peasant lived in memory of the last festival and in anticipation of the next. Through their games and festivities, they expressed their values and their sense of identity. The games they played express how they saw the 11world. It turned out that many of the games they did play were the same types of games the nobility played only with less fancy equipment or less space. I can compare this to a major league baseball team who gets to play in a large stadium with all the best equipment that the world has to offer. They of are representing the nobility class. Now, just across the street in an alley, there is a group of youngsters who also want to play baseball. They do not have the luxury of all that fancy equipment and space, so they make the best of what they are given. They find a stick in the dumpster and find a tennis ball nearby and play in that confined alley with just as much enthusiasm and joy as the professional team.(nobility class).
Recreation time really did not vary from class to class. Even boys and girls took part in all the same activities. As the girls turned into women, they did not participate in the physical games, but did attend them as spectators. Women were very active in other games such as table games and dancing. A favorite pastime among the commoners was wrestling and chicken fighting. These activities are the same as today. We do these activities in high schools, colleges, and chicken fight in swimming pools. Other activities that we enjoy today and the medieval people did include foot races, skating in the winter with skates made out of bone, and exhibitions of strength by throwing heavy stones. There many 12forms of ball games that can be comparable to today?s forms of baseball, football, soccer, or field hockey. Most of the games played by the commoners were discouraged because they encouraged rough play and gambling. The only activity that was encouraged was archery. This was because it would help in military purposes. The kids kept themselves busy with games that could be equivalent to today?s ?Marco Polo? called Hoodmans blind. This is were one child is blindfolded with his hood and the other kids go around hitting him with their sleeves or even sticks and he has to guess who made the last hit.
There were also less physical games such as chess or playing dice. These are both things we do today. We play chess and we also shoot craps at casinos, so everywhere we go we bring a piece of history with us. They also played the simple ?heads and tails? game with a coin. There is evidence that the first form of cards were from the Italian deck of swords, coins, cups, and batons. I?ve played Italian cards and it is fun once you learn the point system and all the rules of the game. Everything back then besides the physical activities and chess involved some sort of betting. The people would gamble on all the animal fights, dice games, card games, most all These games that involved more risk and danger for a humans life, might suggest that the value of life was much 13lower, but it might also contribute to the importance of the game. The games gave meaning to the person who was Being a peasant in the Middle Ages really meant that you did not belong to yourself. In reality everything you owned belonged to the lord of the manor. The peasants were required to work for their lord and in return for the work the peasant got to farm his own land. All in all to be a peasant could be a little step above slavery.
At least they were considered to be humans. I still would not want to be a commoner in the Middle Ages because of all the threats of disease and warfare and death around every corner. That does not sound like fun. We say that we have it rough with technology moving to fast. I would rather have all this technology then have none whatsoever. The only technology they had was all the new farming equipment and methods that the peasants came up with. Sure they might have had fresh air to breath back then and the world was probably the most beautiful thing without us ruining it like we have in modern times, but again I have to say that I would not want to be a peasant for the simple fact that you have to work constantly without a choice of what you want to do or when you want to do it. Oh Yeah, and if you do not like what the lord says then he can simply have you killed. I?ll take my chances
