The deep irony is that most artificial lighting throughout history was in the form of liquid consumables, namely pressed oils and rendered fat. A small dish with a fiber wick resting at the edge could be filled with any number of plant oils or liquid animal fats and the wick lit for a source of light. These oil lamps grew progressively more complex and would eventually develop to run on synthetic agents such as petroleum and kerosene, amongst others. Candles were not the primary light source for the peasant populations who required light in the dark of night. And the use of rendered animal fat is also what kept whaling around as a profitable industry for a considerable amount of time. The history and development of lighting is a fascinating subject.
@@LowellMorgan I think the irony he was referring to was the Monocled British bloke was indicating everyone who didn't have access to candles just pranced around in the dark for ages and ages. In New France, there were plenty of sources of combustible used for lighting. Rendered beaver fat, and other tallows come to mind. In many cases, the colonists lived better than the Europeans.
Wax candles were always a niche lighting solution for ceremonial or representative use. Tallow candles were more common, but the common man's everyday light sources were rushlights (rushes soaked in grease) or fatwood (slivers of resinous wood). Or oil lamps, in olive-growing regions.
Oil lamps were by far more commonly used throughout early history. The first examples are as old as 70,000 BC. Olive oil, fish oil, whale oil, and sesame oil were some of the most often used fuels.
Ya i was going to comment that, reed lamps, where super common, same with tallow "candles" only people using beeswax where basically nobles and big churches/monestaries
@@redsusas00and? 8 vid a year is almost every month imagine having to draw pictures that slightly different to the last picture but still almost identical 24 times just for a single second in a 5 minute video
@@somerandometopicone time a Bee stung me on my pecker and my pocket swelled up 3 times it's normal size and my girlfriend liked it so much that now we have been married for 7 years
@@redsusas00 My fellow citizen, that is called "quality over quantity", and I'm pretty sure this video did take way more time to be developed and created than your single comment here, therefore, if you don't have enough patience to wait for more videos, you can watch other educational channels while you wait SideQuest to upload, such as Kurzgesagt, Sam O'Nella, TED-ed, Sprouts, and etc.
0:44 Or anybody who could read. It wasn't just nobles and clergymen who were not analphabetic, there were people who needed to write and read for their job, like merchants, bookmakers (at least when it came to book presses), or architects, and it wasn't too uncommon to have one person who can read per household, or at least per village. Written orders were the prime modus of getting information across space, thus needing a big enough apparatus to accomodate that. Also, back then literacy meant knowing latin. There were works fully or partially in local languages as well, as you can see from many archeological reference, such as the old hungarian maria mourning text, or the merseburg charms.
Exactly, I am so tired of people repeating the same old boring myth of "only a minority could read" - no, a majority could read, because reading and writing is a very useful skill
Fun fact: Candles were so valuable that in proper households, there was a servant whose job was to count the candles. In French, the word for a high quality candle is "cierge" and the servant was titled "compte cierge" and the word became concierge.
I read that burglars would also steal candles from homes, besides silverware, jewelry, and coins. I wondered why they would go after something so mundane, but it now makes sense as candles were quite expensive back then. And probably lighter to carry, easier to hide, and resell.
For most of the population there were the common tallow candle or reed lights. Beeswax was preferred by both the Church and Nobles and were much more expensive. It was much less smokey and smelly than tallow. But even tallow candles were Upper grade or Lower grade. The tallow from mutton or beef was preferred as it made a better candle. The ones made from pig tallow are definitely smoker and more smelly
@@nunyabiznes33 A candle literally is an oil lamp where the oil is mostly solid instead of liquid, which makes it more convenient to store and less of an issue to move around. I also can't find much info on oil lamps in medieval Europe quickly, so I have to imagine they weren't terrible common, especially in places like England.
0:43 this is a common myth. literacy in the middle ages was more widespread than most people think, especially in cities (although it would obviously vary depending on time period and location). the myth perpetuated because whether or not somebody was considered "literate" back then and for a while after was whether or not they could read Latin. there was one study that pulled the literacy rates of europe based on this flawed methodology, then it took off from there
It also doesn't help that common people back then didn't have access to books---and that modern people cannot think of anything else that could be written and read. I still remember the times we wrote our shopping lists with pen and paper instead of talking to Alexa. But not the notebooks our parents wrote their favourite recipes into, instead of xeroxing them from magazines...
@@HenryLoenwind I remember when we used to chisel our shopping lists on stone tablets. Ah, the good old days! We made most our tools ourselves too. It was always a challenge to use a long stick all six of us to lift the cart to put the stone wheel in the wood shaft. Then we eventually discovered that we could work special sand into gold coloured metal and we managed to make some tools to shape wood into wheels. It was always a challenge to tie the cart to the bull to get to the market though. That and the sting tied to the bull's balls to make it move.
There's plenty of evidence that even common folk would write messages to one another. Often on strips of tree bark or small bits of wood, because they were more plentiful than parchment, paper, or papyrus.
if you follow the cadance of the video it's clear the story starts at the beginning of the middle ages when Christianity was still spreading throughout Europe. A period in history where even kings and other nobles got away with being illiterate. After all there was little being written down and so little to read. Which is why some call it the dark ages. it's a period of time where there are notably fewer written records.
People also used tallow to make rush lights, basically hollow rush stalks which were dried and soaked in tallow. They'd give off very little light but enough to find you way around a dark room, and were useful to carry a flame to other places.
I remember when channels like WendoverProductions, RealLifeLore, etc only had a few thousand subscribers, then they blew up to a million within a year or two. This is one of those channels.
@@illbeyourmonster1959 HE WILL get his moment soon and even a millions subs is less for this channel , they just need exposure to public , viewers will do everything themselves
I've only ever watched one WendoverProductions video - it was on a subject I have written a book on, it was such unmitigated bollox I could not even finish the video and have studiously avoided them ever since...
Fun fact. Finnish people (and probably many others) used something called päre, Wich was basically just long slab of wood that was lit on fire (they came in many forms but usually they were narrow and long, they would burn for a quite a while and were cheap and piss easy to make)
0:37 it's not like people had to trade or anything. there's even a letter about a woodcutter that had forgotten his shirtvat his home. that's basically peasantry. they could read and write. there are also so many other things missing. things like lamps and also a grass-like plant that was used as a cheaper candle alternative.
Medieval history tv had a good video on lighting - they used a special bundle of grasses dipped in tallow which was SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper to make - he even goes over how to make it
Modern History TV. Rush lights. It's definitely cheaper, but it's basically the same concept. I imagine overall in terms of fuel used vs. brightness*time they're about the same on fuel use. After all, a rush light is basically a super thin candle. It's important to remember rush lights didn't burn for very long, whereas candles burn for quite a long time. I imagine that's what it really came down to: rush lights don't require fancy wicks, just some grass, and you can make them with little bits of fat, whereas proper candles would use less ubiquitous materials, and, even if they provide the same light by fuel use, you need to "invest" far more fuel into the candle.
@@angryzombie3316 Perhaps, though whale oil held demand, well used for candles and lamp oil up until recently. Spermaceti famously burned smokelessly, though it was higher end.
tallow candles were very popular in the early United States and pioneers heading west often had molds to easily create multiple tallow candles at a time
I've only recently discovered this channel, watched 4-5 vids so far. This one is really interesting, but I wonder if they would ever do a follow up on how oil lamps impacted the price of wax, candle usage, etc. As a kid I used to love historic tales like John Paul Jones and whaling ships, etc. I realize that was much later than the period discussed, but older civilizations were using lamps far before whaling become an industry.
Wax and tallow candles were not the only lights used. There were also oil lamps (fueled with vegetable oil or animal fat), rush lights, and torches. Each day f these had its disadvantages compared to beeswax candles, but they all produced light, and they were all cheaper than beeswax.
This video has quite a few misconceptions and errors. I wonder how much research was actually done. Tallow candles and rush lights were a relatively cheap lighting option that was widely used in the middle ages, even by "peasants"
I thought the same. There are many many many misleading information, not completely untrue but certainly can lead to wrong conclusions. You can also see with how many comments are pointing out different errors.
I was just saying this in a thread above and people giving me s*** for it. Lol not to mention it's just pretty much plagiarism of another video and he even mentions the video in this video. I like his World War II stuff but I think this is crap.....
If the candles in your DnD campaign only cost 1 copper piece, as described in the Players Handbook, that must mean bees are abundant (but the classic DnD worlds have vast forests), or they found other ways to make candles
Okay, but how expensive were candles in the middle ages? All I got as an answer was that nobles and clergy were the only ones that could afford them... but also the only ones that used them, with not even a frame of reference as to how the price compared to other items.
@commentor ok Since this was the first of their videos served up to me, obviously not, and since they didn't answer the question in any term relatable to modern understanding, it was the last. So, yes, unless this channel works by shit posting like The Onion, I do not understand how it works.
Thank you that’s very interesting. I’m Currently writing a dissertation (thesis) on the knights Templar medieval East Anglia and one of the things which came up was the keeping of bees.
really thought the title said "Candies" and thought this was the most well thought out, candle focused build up to the story of candy in the middle ages but nonetheless what an interesting video
What about oil lamps? Were those not used at all in the middle ages in europe? They were the most common form of artificial lighting dating back to antiquity in many places in the world. I can’t imagine that animal and/or vegetable oils would have been nearly as expensive as fats or waxes that could be used for candlemaking.
We talking metal, glass, or stone lamps? Whilst lamps go back to prehistory, decent ones using metals and glass really only became a thing in the last 400 years or so, and rendering out the oils before distillation and industrial ways of refining came about meant it was a stone cold bitch to get usable oil that wouldn't either poison you, act more as a smoke generator than a light source, and threw good light for little consumption of the oil in question. Essentially, same issue as candles, except for the lantern part that would require a decently competent black smith with the skills and tools needed to make said lantern, and someone to do the glass bit (Sure, you can have a lantern WITHOUT glass, but the reason we USE glass in storm lanterns is both to increase the temperature at the wick to burn fuel more efficiently and throw more light, AND so that the flame is steady, not constantly flickering in every single breeze) as well, which would boost the cost and make it something that only those in the merchant class and up would be able to afford, and not for long due to the cost of the oil. There's also the issue that animal fats and vegetable oils were already being used up as soon as they were made, mostly for cooking, and lubricants in places that needed them, such as watermills, powder mills, and granaries, and thus setting some aside to burn purely for lighting would have been seen as wasteful; whilst I have no doubt the medieval world knew of and exploited petroleum sources and rendered/ refined them and used them that way, Europe has a fun issue in that historically, Europe doesn't really have a lot of terrestrially located oil reserves (Most of its off shore, except for the russian stuff, which is its own fun can of worms!), and those it does have on land were not really that easily exploited using medieval tech, on top the fact that there wasn't much USE for the petroleum products for the most part, at least until the Age of Sail and Exploration REALLY kicked off and the need for pitch and tar and stuff took off. TL;DR; Lamps existed, but they were expensive, and the fuel for them either better used elsewhere or also extremely expensive as well.
I think these were popular but only in areas that, obviously, had access to lots of olive oil, probably around the Mediterranean. After the age of exploration went whaling became much more popular I think that oil lamps spread pretty much all over Western Civilization, but until that point they were probably much rarer
I think this video omitted oil lamps because of the English focus. For people in northern Europe olive oil (as far as I know olive oil was the only vegetable oil available in Europe at the time, correct me if I'm wrong) was also expensive but it had uses other than burning so if you could afford some olive oil you would put it on your food rather than burn it.
@@ElizabethJones-pv3sj linseed oil would have been available in areas that grew flax, at the very least. Oil would have been valuable enough for other uses that burning it was a luxury, though it likely did happen.
About literacy in the middle ages, I've heard it claimed that illiteracy of common people has been somewhat exaggerated and that there were a number of common people who could read, even if only signs, lables on containers, and brief notes. They may not have had access to many books (unless they were a noble, clergy, or well off merchants). I beleive Shadiversity talks about this a bit since he is pretty into youtubing about medieval things.
My understanding of "literacy" in the Middle Ages is that they meant the ability to read Latin rather than the local language. That is why the literacy rates were so pathetically low. Even back then it was really hard to do normal tasks without being able to read, for example, signs, prices, keeping records, etc.
I had no clue about beeswax candles being so valuable in the Middle Ages and why that was so. This was an incredibly fascinating video! Extremely well done! Please keep the outstanding videos coming and God bless you, my friend!
I heard a saying once. Fossile fuel saved the enviroments. So on top making candle cheaper and saving the trees, it also provided us with heating mechanics that required less trees and Whale fat for an example
There's a fundamental mistake very early on here. Candles were not the main source of artificial light prior to electric sources, lamps were. There's a very good reason for this, all you need is rendered fat or oil from any source to make a lamp. I also am a bit suspicious of the claim that Christianity created demand for candles and this is what led to the boom in bee husbandry. A lot was changing during this time period so it's tough to nail down any large-scale production difference to a single factor. Yes Christians in Europe started building giant temples and reading lots but Christianity was already a dominant force in the Mediterranean for over two hundred years before we see an explosion of beekeeping in Europe. I suspect population increase and urbanization we're larger factors.
the end of this reminds me of a quote i cant quite remember but it was something like, some of the greatest advancements in technology don't come from inventing new things but rather making previous inventions more affordable and available to the common man
...Lies? Or, poor research? Nobles and clergyman could read, write, and speak Latin and/or French, depending on period and place of course. Peasants were able to read and write just fine in their own native languages. Do you think farmers (or any tradesman) would just go and flash their hands at vendors and declare, "I has this many!!"... sigh. People weren't stupid. They had what they needed to conduct daily life.
Are we really gonna ignore lamps that literally ran on anything from lard to vegetable oil? They are a very common find in European archaeological sites.
This is the third video I’ve seen from you recently and I love your content. I just subscribed and put notifications on. You’re extremely underrated, I hope you hit 1M subs by next year.
I wish you would have pointed out the "recycling" of candles. After using up a candle, you could sell/exchange back the melted wax when getting more candles. There's also the matter of the wicks, using candles to measure time, automatic candle snuffers,
So here I ended up thanks to Kim Komando. You've got another subscriber tonight. Good stuff. I'm seeing other videos of yours on the side list, and I think I'll check out the Why Were the Romans Bad at Math? one. All those funny-looking numerals might have something to do with it (and if not, I'm probably gonna end up at the NOT WHAT YOU THINK channel afterwards).
Clergy is not the one buying stuff. The perish as in the community is. I think it would be useful to also compare the usage of oil lamps that was much more common.
Thanks for shedding a light into the past about candles. 🕯 The facts about the bees just has me buzzing with excitement to know more about history. I only joking, Great video. 😂✌ Keep up the good work. 👍
