What If You Lived During the Middle Ages?

WHAT IF

At least they didn’t believe the world was flat.

Transcript

00:00 [Music]

00:13 Has thou, I, been curious about medieval life?

00:18 Wouldst thou travel back in time, if thou couldst?

00:21 Doth thou regard thou wouldst enjoy it?

00:24 How long wouldst thou last?

00:27 This is WHAT IF, and hithers what would befall you,

00:31 if thou lived during the Middle Ages.

00:34 [Music]

00:37 Hear ye, hear ye!

00:39 The Middle Ages sucked!

00:44 After 200 years of peace and prosperity under Pax Romana,

00:48 the Roman Empire fell into crisis and decline.

00:51 Thus began the Middle Ages,

00:54 more commonly known as the Dark Ages.

00:57 Beginning towards the end of the 5th century,

00:59 and lasting until the start of the Renaissance in the 14th century.

01:05 This was a time when, unless you were a knight, nobleman, or the king himself,

01:10 life was brutal and scary.

01:13 Hygiene was poor, money was scarce,

01:17 diseases were rampant, and punishment was cruel.

01:23 Beds were not soft, and toilets didn't really exist.

01:28 But hey, at least you had the church,

01:30 and roughly eight weeks of holidays and festivals spread throughout the year.

01:35 The truth is, life back then was difficult, but people got through it.

01:40 They even managed to have a bit of fun while struggling to survive.

01:44 Compare how they lived to your life today,

01:47 and see if you'd ever be able to trade places.

01:51 Your typical day in a medieval town starts about 4 a.m.

01:55 The church bell tolls, announcing the first mass of the day.

01:59 But unless you're from a noble or royal house,

02:02 you won't be going to church this morning.

02:04 Instead, you'll be preparing your goods for sale at the market, which opens at 6.

02:10 And there you'll stand for the next nine hours,

02:12 hoping you'll make enough to buy a chicken for dinner,

02:15 instead of the same old cabbage and beans.

02:18 Of course, not everyone in the Middle Ages was a peddler.

02:21 The skill set in any given town could be quite diverse,

02:24 with blacksmiths, tailors, masons, winemakers,

02:29 and don't forget the tax collector.

02:33 At around 3 in the afternoon, most retail businesses start shutting down for the day.

02:38 And by 8 p.m., the city gates are closed, and the night watchman takes up his post.

02:43 Dinner at your house might not be very special,

02:45 but up at the castle, the king is having a feast.

02:48 All you can eat, all you can drink, and not a single dull moment.

02:54 The fun doesn't stop with dinner.

02:56 When the plates are cleared, the town's elite take to the dance floor, even the knights.

03:02 Don't feel left out.

03:03 The commoners will get to have their fun at tomorrow's festival.

03:07 But for now, rest up on that nice straw bed of yours.

03:12 One of the good things about the Middle Ages, they did a lot of partying.

03:16 It's estimated that in total,

03:18 roughly eight weeks of any given year were taken off for festivals or events.

03:23 While a lot of these festivals were tied to the church,

03:26 the town also hosted tournaments, which the church did not approve of.

03:31 That's probably because tournaments made a spectacle of violence.

03:35 "No!"

03:39 From jousting, to sword play,

03:41 to making prisoners duel to the death.

03:44 If you think that's cruel, it doesn't really get any better.

03:48 Most serious crimes were settled by a trial by ordeal.

03:52 For example, if you were accused of a crime,

03:55 you might be subjected to a trial by water.

03:58 Bound hand and foot, you'd be tossed into a body of water.

04:02 If you sank, you'd be found innocent.

04:04 Because if you floated,

04:06 it meant that you must have renounced baptism when entering the devil's service,

04:10 and were therefore prevented from entering the water.

04:14 While the physics of buoyancy wasn't exactly their strong suit,

04:18 science did exist in the Middle Ages.

04:21 For example, even in medieval times,

04:23 the well-educated were well aware that the world was round.

04:27 This period also saw the inventions of many items we still use today,

04:31 such as the mechanical clock and the printing press.

04:35 Too bad they didn't invent the toothbrush.

04:37 In fact, if you were wealthy, it was fashionable to have rotting teeth,

04:42 since it showed that you could afford sugar.

04:44 Obesity was also a sign of prosperity,

04:47 since it showed that you could afford meat and other luxury foods.

04:51 But if the nobles lived well, the peasants were in the best health.

04:55 Their well-balanced diet of bread and beans,

04:58 paired with full days of physical labor, kept them in great shape.

05:02 And as for their teeth, well,

05:04 they didn't have toothpaste back then,

05:06 so the common practice was to wash your mouth out with wine or vinegar after a meal.

05:11 Not very hygienic, but that's not what the Middle Ages were about.

05:15 You kept your hands and face clean to keep up appearances,

05:18 but aside from the rich, no one really had toilets or bathtubs like we do today.

05:23 This was a period of survival and salvation.

05:27 And whatever people did to get by usually worked,

05:30 at least until the 14th century.

05:33 The last century of the Medieval period truly put the dark in dark ages,

05:43 as it was marred by famine, conflict, and plague.

05:48 Also known as the Black Death,

05:50 the plague wiped out as much as 60% of Europe's population

05:54 in one of the most devastating pandemics in human history.

05:58 And it took roughly 200 years for the world population

06:01 to return to its previous level.

06:04 But over the next few centuries,

06:06 Europe underwent a renaissance,

06:08 a time when people pursued truth and accuracy

06:11 through skepticism and scrutinizing empirical evidence.

06:15 This period initiated a scientific revolution that continues to this day.

06:20 When you look back on it,

06:22 the Middle Ages played an influential role in the development of modern society.

06:27 But is it something we need to visit to see for ourselves?

06:30 Or can we just trust the history books?

06:33 I'd be willing to bet most of you would rather keep your interactions

06:36 with Medieval times to the restaurant chain

06:39 rather than having to rinse your mouth out with vinegar after a meal.

06:43 Do you think people might one day look back on our era

06:46 the same way we look back on theirs?

06:49 Well, that's a story for another WHAT IF.

06:54 [MUSIC]

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