Facts about the life of ordinary people in the Middle Ages. 45 Interesting Facts About the Middle Ages Interesting Facts about the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, many states and empires were born, which later became the forerunners of modern countries. But the Middle Ages was a dangerous time - only the strongest, tenacious and adapted survived in this seething cauldron. The development of sciences and, as a result, technologies brought new times, more civilized, but, perhaps, devoid of some of that romance, now forever lost.

Facts about the Middle Ages

• Ear wax in those distant times was actively used in the economy. So, the dressmakers lubricated the ends of the threads with it so that they would not fray, and the scribes isolated from it the pigments they needed to draw illustrations in books.
• In the Middle Ages, it was not customary to wash in Europe, and neither in poor shacks, nor in luxurious palaces. The custom of washing at home was brought by the crusaders, who picked it up from the Arabs.
• The real problem in the Middle Ages was the plague, the epidemics of which mowed down entire cities. Then the now widely known plague doctors appeared, easily recognizable by their mask with a beak. Medieval doctors believed that the infection spread along with smells, and fragrant herbs were placed in this beak on the mask so that the doctor could breathe through this kind of respirator.
• In medieval castles, dogs were usually not expelled from noble feasts. There was a benefit from them - they ate leftovers that they threw directly on the floor, and licked the dishes, making it easier for the dishwashers.
• Interestingly, even palaces in the Middle Ages were usually not equipped not only with bathrooms, but even with toilets. Guests and residents relieved themselves right on the stairs, or anywhere else. So, in the famous Louvre there are exactly zero toilets.
• In one of the French museums, a letter from King Henry IV is kept, in which he writes to his waiting wife that she may not wash before his arrival, as he will arrive soon, in just 4 weeks.

• It was the Middle Ages that gave mankind such a barbaric invention as a steel chastity belt. These things often caused serious health problems.
• Outerwear made of expensive and dense fabrics in the Middle Ages was usually not washed, being dry-cleaned.
• Since the need to purify water before drinking was not known to anyone in the Middle Ages, people often replaced it with alcohol. The connection between dirty water and a sick stomach was already known, but there was nowhere to take clean water from, and the fact that boiling it would cleanse it had not yet been thought of. Therefore, instead of water, richer medieval people usually drank wine, and those that were poorer - mash or beer.
• Marriages in the Middle Ages were sometimes concluded at 12-14 years.
• Contrary to popular myth, life expectancy in that era was only statistically low. Mortality was much higher, it is a fact, but people with normal health had every chance of living to old age.
• At the beginning of the Middle Ages, buttons were used only as a decorative element of clothing. They began to be used for fastening later, around the 13th century.
• Physicians of the medieval era did not have the habit of washing their hands before examining a patient.
• To increase the shelf life, food in those years was usually pickled. It helped, but the taste of the food, of course, suffered. Spices also helped, but they were cosmically expensive.
• In the Middle Ages, it was believed that a beautiful female forehead should be high - this feature was linked with aristocratic origin. Therefore, some secular ladies even plucked the hair above the forehead to make it appear higher. Such is the fashion.

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.

Whose clothes had more than 10,000 buttons sewn on?
Buttons appeared long before our era, but were used only as decoration. Around the 12th and 13th century, buttons were again recognized in Europe, but now they also have a functional meaning of fastening into loops, and not just decorative. In the Middle Ages, buttons became such a popular accessory that one could judge the status of the owner by their number on clothes. For example, on one of the outfits of the French king Francis I, there were 13,600 buttons.

Where was the gallows that could serve 50 people at a time?
In the 13th century, a giant gallows of Montfaucon was built near Paris, which has not survived to this day. Montfaucon was divided into cells by vertical pillars and horizontal beams and could serve as an execution site for 50 people at a time. According to the plan of the creator of the building, de Marigny, an adviser to the king, the sight of many decomposing bodies on Montfaucon was supposed to warn other subjects from crimes. In the end, de Marigny himself was hanged there.

In what era was beer the most popular drink in Europe?
In medieval Europe, especially its northern and eastern parts, beer was a truly massive drink - it was consumed by people of all classes and ages. For example, in England, beer consumption per capita reached 300 liters per year, although now this figure is about 100 liters, and even in the Czech Republic, which is the leader in this parameter, it is slightly more than 150 liters. The main reason for this was the poor quality of the water, which was eliminated during the fermentation process.

What expression about a useless deed was literally carried out by medieval monks?
The expression “to crush water in a mortar”, which means doing something useless, has a very ancient origin - it was used by ancient authors, for example, Lucian. And in medieval monasteries, it had a literal character: the guilty monks were forced to crush the water as a punishment.

Which Indian prophet has been unofficially canonized by the church through a character in the parable?
In medieval Europe, the parable of Barlaam and Josaph was popular. The plot was that the young Indian prince Iosaph met Saint Barlaam and converted to Christianity. This story was nothing more than an adaptation of the life of the Buddha. We can say that the Buddha was unofficially canonized, since Iosaph is included in the Orthodox liturgical calendar (August 26) and the list of martyrs of the Catholic Church (November 27).

Why does Mona Lisa have her forehead shaved and her eyebrows plucked?
In Western Europe in the 15th century, there was such an ideal of a woman: an S-shaped silhouette, a curved back, a round, pale face with a high, clean forehead. To match the ideal, women shaved their hair on their foreheads and plucked their eyebrows - just like the Mona Lisa in Leonardo's famous painting.

When could not only people, but also animals be accused in courts?
In the Middle Ages, there were frequent cases of church trials of animals according to all the rules - with accusers, lawyers and witnesses. Any animal could be accused, from large domestic animals to locusts and May beetles. Domestic animals, as a rule, were tried for witchcraft and sentenced to death, and wild ones for sabotage could be excommunicated from the church or ordered to leave the country. The last such verdict on a cow was in 1740.

What cruel scenes were removed from the folk tales of Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm?
Most of the fairy tales known to us under the authorship of Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm and other storytellers originated among the people in the Middle Ages, and their original plots are sometimes distinguished by the cruelty and naturalness of everyday scenes. For example, in the tale of the Sleeping Beauty, the foreign king does not kiss her, but rapes her. The wolf eats not only Granny, but half the village into the bargain, and Little Red Riding Hood then lures him into a pit of boiling tar. In the fairy tale about Cinderella, the sisters still manage to try on a slipper, for which one of them cuts off her finger, the other - her heel, but then they are exposed by their singing pigeons.

Why were spices so expensive in Europe in the Middle Ages?
In medieval Europe, on the eve of winter, mass slaughter of cattle and meat harvesting began. If the meat is simply salted, it loses its original taste. Spices, which were brought mainly from Asia, help to keep it almost in its original form. But since the Turks monopolized almost the entire spice trade, their price was prohibitive. This factor was one of the motives for the rapid development of navigation and the beginning of the era of great geographical discoveries. And in Russia, because of the harsh winters, there was no urgent need for spices.

Why did only one bronze pre-Christian statue survive in Rome?
When the Romans adopted Christianity, they massively began to destroy pre-Christian statues. The only bronze statue that survived the Middle Ages is the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, and only because the Romans mistook him for the first Christian emperor, Constantine.

Who in the Middle Ages, having failed to conquer the castle, bought it?
In 1456, the Teutonic Order successfully defended the fortress of Marienburg, withstanding a siege by the Poles. However, the Order ran out of money, and there was nothing to pay off the Bohemian mercenary soldiers. This fortress was handed over to the mercenaries as a salary, and they sold Marienburg to the same Poles.

What functions were assigned to female samurai?
The samurai class in medieval Japan consisted not only of men. It also included female warriors ("onna-bugeisha"). Usually they did not participate in battles, but they had weapons to protect the house. They also had a jigai ritual - an analogue of seppuku for men - only women cut their throats instead of opening their stomachs. Such a ritual could be performed simply by the wives of dead warriors who were not part of the samurai class, with the consent of their parents.

When were books in libraries chained to shelves?
In the public libraries of medieval Europe, books were chained to shelves. Such chains were long enough to remove the book from the shelf and read, but did not allow the book to be taken out of the library. This practice was common until the 18th century, due to the great value of each copy of the book.

What was the reason for Giordano Bruno's burning at the stake?
Giordano Bruno was burned by the Catholic Church not for scientific (namely, support for the Copernican heliocentric theory), but for anti-Christian and anti-church views (for example, the assertion that Christ performed imaginary miracles and was a magician).

How many years did the Hundred Years War last?
The Hundred Years War lasted 116 years - from 1337 to 1453.

Why did medieval ladies wear marten and ermine furs?
Medieval ladies wore a piece of fur from martens, ferrets and ermines, as well as live weasels, on their arms or around their necks to protect against fleas.

How could so many samurai be forced to kill themselves at the same time?
According to bushido - the code of honor of the samurai - his life belonged entirely to the owner. In medieval wars, it was enough to kill the owner for all his samurai to commit “suicide after” (“junshi”).

Where did women carry their husbands on their shoulders from a given fortress?
When Weinsberg was conquered in 1140, King Conrad III of Germany allowed the women to leave the ruined city and take whatever they wished in their hands. The women carried their husbands on their shoulders.

Why were the stairs in the towers of medieval castles twisted clockwise?
The spiral staircases in the towers of medieval castles were built in such a way that they were climbed in a clockwise direction. This was done so that in the event of a siege of the castle, the defenders of the tower would have an advantage during hand-to-hand combat, since the most powerful blow with the right hand can only be delivered from right to left, which was inaccessible to the attackers. There is only one reverse twist castle, the fortress of the Counts of Wallenstein, since most of the men of this kind were left-handed.

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.

1. The Middle Ages are called the era that came after antiquity.

2. In the Middle Ages, many states and empires were born, which later became the forerunners of modern countries.

3. Sometimes the Middle Ages are called the Dark Ages, as if opposing enlightened antiquity and the Enlightenment, which went before and after the Middle Ages.

4. But 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.

5. In the Middle Ages, important changes took place in many areas of people's lives. 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.

6. 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.

7. Antiquity was filled with such a close connection with nature that it was actually deified and feared at the same time. 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, there were few discoveries and they rarely arose.

8. In the Middle Ages, people stopped deifying 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.

9. 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.

10. Torture was used only because it was part of 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.

TEMPLE OF THE MIDDLE AGES

11. 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."

12. You can sometimes 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.

13. In addition, church leaders knew how to write at a time when many kings put a cross instead of a signature.

14. In medieval Western European churches, special holes were made in the walls for lepers and other patients who could not contact other parishioners.

15. 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 Liturgy and church sacraments.

CITIES OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE

16. False facts about the Middle Ages appeared thanks to Hollywood, where many directors mix different periods and pass everything off as the Middle Ages. Of course, because of this, this period seems to us romantic and at the same time dangerous.

17. It is believed that in the Middle Ages, everyone used one-handed chains as weapons in battle. But historians believe that one-handed chains were unpopular in the Middle Ages because they were difficult to control. Two-handed weapons were mainly used at that time, as they were easier to control.

18. Many believe that people were tortured in the Iron Maiden. "Iron Maidens" are devices resembling an iron cabinet with spikes inside, designed to torture and execute people. In fact, such a device appeared only at the end of the 18th century and has nothing to do with the Middle Ages.

19. There is a fact that men forced women to wear chastity belts in the Middle Ages, but this is not true. The idea of ​​a woman wearing a metal chastity belt with a lock and key to protect her virtue was a joke or part of an allegory, but not a reality in the Middle Ages.

20. It is not true that medieval people thought the earth was flat. But all educated people in the Western world have known that the world has been spherical since the third century BC.

CONICAL HATS

21. In the Middle Ages, 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.

22. 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.

23. Marriages in the Middle Ages were sometimes concluded at 12-14 years old.

24. The real problem of the Middle Ages was the plague, the epidemics of which mowed down entire cities. Then the now widely known plague doctors appeared, easily recognizable by their mask with a beak.

25. Medieval doctors believed that the infection spreads along with smells, and fragrant herbs were placed in this beak on the mask so that the doctor would breathe through this kind of respirator.

MEDIEVAL LIBRARY

26. Books at that time in libraries were chained to the shelves. This is due to their great value and monetary value.

27. 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.

28. It is not at all true that all people then were incredibly dirty. Bathing figured prominently in the Middle Ages as a social, sexual, and festive activity. While bathing, they used soap, herbs and oils. Of course, people at that time were not as clean as they are today, but despite this, they also took care of hygiene.

29. Many have heard that in the Middle Ages, "witches" were tracked down and burned at the stake. This is not entirely true. Intensive persecution of the so-called witches occurred approximately in the period: XVI-XVII centuries. But even then, the preferred method of killing witches was hanging rather than burning at the stake. For most of the Middle Ages, people thought that witches were not real, and those who thought they were witches were simply deceiving themselves. The Catholic Church decided that witches were a threat around 1484, towards the end of the Middle Ages.

30. Contrary to popular myth, life expectancy in that era was only statistically low. Mortality was much higher, it is a fact, but people with normal health had every chance of living to old age.

MEDIEVAL CAFTAN

31. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, buttons were used only as a decorative element of clothing. They began to be used for fastening later, around the 13th century.

32. For men of that time, 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.

MEDIEVAL KNIGHT

33. Contrary to popular belief, knights on horseback did not dominate the battlefield in the Middle Ages. Ground troops were much more useful than mounted knights. Especially in the XIV century, wars were more oriented towards archery than cavalry.

34. It is not true that the armor at that time was so heavy that the knights had to be mounted on horses. Field armor in the Middle Ages actually weighed between 20 and 25 kilograms, which is lighter than modern fire and oxygen suits.

35. Earwax in those days was actively used on the farm. So, the dressmakers lubricated the ends of the threads with it so that they would not fray, and the scribes isolated from it the pigments they needed to draw illustrations in books.

36. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that a beautiful female forehead should be high - this feature was linked with aristocratic origin. Therefore, some secular ladies even plucked their hair over their forehead so that it seemed higher. Such was the fashion.

37. 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. And massive demand in Europe supported high prices - pepper was literally worth its weight in gold.

38. There is a misconception that the doctors of the Middle Ages did not know and did not understand what they were doing. It is a myth. Doctors in the Middle Ages did their best, using all available knowledge. Their practice was not barbaric stupidity: they led to discoveries that laid the foundations of modern medicine.

39. At that time 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.

40. 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 Wallenstein or the Scottish castle of Fernihurst.

41. 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 country of the beer champion - the Czech Republic.

42. Beer was popular mainly in the northern and eastern countries of Europe. In the south, wine has traditionally been drunk since Roman times - children and women diluted, and men could sometimes afford to drink undiluted.

43. The reason for this was not 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.

44. There is a widespread myth that in those troubled times the Vikings drank from the skulls of their enemies. This is not true. Vikings in the Middle Ages drank from vessels made from animal horns like real gentlemen.

45. The Middle Ages, of course, was a dangerous time - only the strongest, tenacious and adapted survived in this seething cauldron. But the development of sciences and, as a result, technologies brought new times, more civilized, but, perhaps, devoid of some of that romance, now forever lost.