If whoever you’re talking to happens to be a woman, include “sanitary products”. I cannot even imagine how horrible life would have been without even a basic sanitary pad on the heavy flow day.
Yes, when I hear the same thing I always say, nah. I'll take living in this modern era of modern medicine, reliable birth control, indoor plumbing, and women's liberation. Thanks.
Don't forget travel. Even the carriages the royals had in the day, they were no match for the roads. Now we have paved roads, and heat and A/C on demand in our cars.
@@PDZ2028 can't even comprehend how expensive it is to listen to music 🎵 everytime you want. Damn, you would need an entire orchestra wherever and whenever you go.
If you ever feel unlucky, just remember that King Edmund II "Ironside" of England was assassinated in 1016 when a viking climbed out of the toilet and stabbed him while he was taking a shite.
I think of this often AND disposable maxi pads. My mother and her sisters were very poor back in the 60s (yeah I know i was quite the shocking accident for a 40 something year old married couple 😆) She told me that my grandmother was a maid for middle class families like myself) She could not afford the disposable maxi pads they were available they were new, but women still wore these belt things but my grandmother would cut up old rags and sew them and make cloth pads for my mom and 4 aunts
While it's true that noble women were married off younger than common born women, it was usually closer to 15-16 years old with them usually having their first pregnancy by 16-17. Yes it's still way too young and GROSS but people back then weren't complete idiots. They knew getting a girl pregnant at 13 would very likely kill her and the baby (and it very nearly did almost kill Margaret Beaufort and her son Henry VII). Stories of noble ladies getting married at 12 or 13 stand out in history BECAUSE they were unusual.
And while they were sometimes married as young as toddlers, they rarely consummated the marriages (except in unfortunate cases like Margaret who was unable to have any more children after her difficult childbirth despite marrying twice more) until they were more mature.
Menarche occurred as late as 14 or 15, and ovulation wasn't a regular occurrence until as much as 2 years after that. So they might get married at 13 but the first pregnancy wasn't likely until 16 or 17.
What exactly is gross? The vast majority of girls these days are putting out by 17, vs in the past, these people having sex with their lifelong spouse. You also overlook life expectancy. That was another reason people married and had children earlier. Not to count, a girl in 1221 didn’t spend her most fertile years being a hedonistic consumer before finally marrying and having children near the end of her likely fertility
Poor people sold their urine to people who tanned leather back then. If you were piss poor, you sold urine like homeless people today dumpster dive and sell aluminum cans
it's hard to get proper context when all we experience is our time, right now. we don't get to experience the times previous to us, as our lives are so short and things are always changing. we try to keep track of history, but we've kinda forgotten how to tell it in interesting ways so we end up needing "weird" history channels like this one :p
Just saying but times are slow back then and now we want everything fast. Maybe good or bad but fast we tend to take things for granted and we don’t see the process rather the result
@a A Just because William The Conqueror never used a microwave doesn't mean that the millions of people out there who are barely making ends' meet and one bad month away from homelessness don't have legitimate grievances with their lives in the modern age. These great strides and innovations we've made a species in the last millennium should be helping us all live comfortably collectively, not just making the elite few richer than all the most corrupt kings in history combined.
Running drinking water, flushing toilets, temperature control, electricity, healthcare, etc etc. Hell, we have it *much* better than any king from that age hands down...but certain people don't think this way. For them none of these modern luxuries are worth the main perk of their lives - power. Power is so sweet to some that they would happily live knee deep in sewage if it meant they could rule over a large number of people with impunity. To this day this continues to be true.
@@harukrentz435 the more society goes to shit with the extremists on either side of the political plane, the more I want to live on a couple hundred acres far away from society. If I had to give up electricity to do this, I'd survive quite well, and it would be a price I'd happily pay.
The very thought of trying to stay alive back in those times, living with the filth, ignorance, discomfort, and rampant disease is quite enough to keep me from ever dreaming about the "romance" of living in those times. It must have been horrible!
Times weren't all that bad. There were some things better than it is now, too. Of course, we should be grateful for what we have and what all the people before us built up, but saying "it must've been horrible" is just incorrect. People back then enjoyed life, too. In 500 years, people will look down on us the same way, that doesn't mean we were all suffering and miserable all the time.
The fact that we can communicate with other people from across the planet with a device in our pocket almost instantly would blow a medieval persons mind
I've certainly considered this, particularly when I was staying at a hotel in the heart of Seattle. Not a fancy one, but still a fairly pricey room at a Hilton skyscraper. As I looked out the window across the city all I could think of was how even the nobility would have killed to stay in something like this...
The topics of the videos on this channel are essentially answers to what I always ask myself in my head when I zone out, especially the Titanic one that covers what people ate on the ship.
I spent a summer on the Virginia farm of a friend of my grandmother's. They had electricity, but no plumbing - this was in the 1960's. We used an outhouse during the day and a chamber pot at night. The pot was emptied in the outhouse the next day. Oh yeah - there was a Montgomery Ward catalog for toilet paper in the outhouse. 1960's, people.
I spent the holiday with my great-grandmother in a rural place in the Netherlands. Also outdoor toilet with a ton under the seat. The stench was terrible. And the toilets of one of my grandmothers was connected with the sewage, but was outside the house. That was in Rotterdam. A lot of my relatives still lived in houses with coal stoves. That meant that in the winter the rest of house was very cold. Stayed with an aunt in the winter, the blankets were frozen in the morning from the damp of your body.
It should be noted that most of these refer to Medieval Europe, rather than the Medieval period as a whole. Asia and Africa also had a "Medieval" Period; adding these regions into your videos, and comparing/contrasting them, would be very interesting and enlightening.
Chinese emperors had far more lavish and sheltered lives (for the most part) than European kings. They rarely went to battle themselves, had a harem of concubines, and a ton of cultural differences.
One should see that Medieval Kings were not Chinese Emperors etc. King wasn’t a term used in Africa, granted they had words that meant that; but again the title says Medieval Kings. It’s intellectually dishonest to say that cultures who do not use nor prefer the term “Medieval” when referring to that period of time in their respective cultures, should be included in videos whose title should obviously exclude them from said video. Either that or it’s gross virtue signaling. Generally when one searches for content on YT they search for that content explicitly. They don’t assume the content they wish to consume is included in content that does not explicitly say so. For example, when I want to watch a video about blood diamonds; I don’t watch a video about Jade mining ⛏️ n Alaska and say they should include the pros and cons of buying blood diamonds. If you watch videos about what you want to see, you aren’t left wishing that subject matter was being discussed. Try harder to entertain yourself more effectively.
I know right.. I love to think that Marie Antoinette will never know how it feels like to have a super clean bathroom to use whenever you want all supplied with soaps and toilet paper and the finest shampoos or have a super cool comfortable living room 69 degrees👌🏻) in the middle of summer while eating ice cream and gourmet imported chocolate bonbons. All bought at Walmart for a few dollars, very well within my meek peasant budget👌🏻
I am *SOOOO* grateful to be alive right now, at this point in time! I am so appreciative of modern medicine & scientific medical advancements! One of the main reasons is because I’ve had an autoimmune illness, Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA.) I was diagnosed around age 10, and I can’t imagine existing with this disease *without* modern medicine. The thought alone is terribly depressing. I’ve met elderly people who were diagnosed decades ago, who were unable to receive the treatments available now, and have permanently gnarled hands from it. My heart always aches for them. Untreated RA completely *ruins* your joints and the amount of disability it causes is devastating. Even with the best treatments available, RA is still very painful and disabling. I still have to deal with pain and immobility on a regular, but I’m fortunate that my joints haven’t been completely destroyed or disfigured. Looking at me, you’d never guess I have such an awful disease. Unless I’m having a really bad flare up and my joints are super swollen, and if I happen to be limping because of that. Otherwise, no other visible signs.
I thought the infant mortality rate for medieval people, especially upper class, was like 30-40%. That was definitely the case in children living past the first year. It seemed like only 30% of babies born alive actually made it to adulthood.
My mothers older brother died in the 1940's from tetanus, something that's basically unheard of today. She also lived in a house that had an outdoor privy until she was 17 in the 1950's. And this house was in a major city! There are still people alive today who can actually remember the 1940's and 50's. It wasn't that long ago.
Thanks for this interesting and balanced presentation on life today as compared with royalty in the past. Despite the many and serious problems we have now, I wouldn't trade places with any past royalty or aristocracy for any amount of money. I love studying the past and in college my degree was in history, but I wouldn't want to live there. Every time my family had an outdoor barbeque, an uncle of mine used to say that we were eating better than the kings and queens. How right he was! I think all of us need to watch this video and be a little more thankful. Thank you weird history!
I still would, I could literally have any executed just for talking shit with a simple order. If I did that even today I would be arrested and put in prison for conspiracy to commit murder or attempted murder or murderer and frabkly there are some shit people on this little blue marble. Aristocracy of then may not have had like basic hygiene and the miracles of modern medicine but damn there is still like a huge percentage of the world today that doesn't either becausw they HAVE NO MONEY. That is the part weird history is totally dodging and is ignorant about. In fact if you even watched this video you are probably still doing better than most economically speaking , but many people still live very nomadic and hard lives. I would still rather be rich in that time period than be poor today.
Funny thing is, people in the far future might have technologies and comforts beyond conceivable for us. And they will probably look upon our "modern" lives as utterly miserable, even though that's not how we feel, especially when compared to the lives of medieval people. I guess people just can't "miss" things they have no concept of. If you could actually travel back in time and become a medieval king, you'd be the most miserable of medieval kings, precisely because you're accostumed to a modern life which they had no idea even exists.
Lol! I was thinking this the other day! Another huge one I wish you would have mentioned is the food! I remember reading how rare oranges were back then (up until the past 140 years). Something we can buy bags of easily was something that was a rare treat even for the medieval royals! I remember this every time I eat one!
I think that I will stay where I am at. Sitting in my recliner throne, coffee, my dog in my lap, looking on my phone at this channel of you tube. Have a great new year. 🎉
they totally let you keep the coin ! the coin contains the magic and how should the whole thing work without actually having the coin ? it's also the origin of those bent coins that are now commonly referred to as love tokens (one of the types of love tokens) I once found a double bent penny from Henry III....very crisp and not much circulated - proper pre-plague touch piece !
4:57 - The definition of being "literate" in the medieval world was being someone who could read _Latin._ Most people who were exposed to writing could read well enough in their own language.
@@frostyfrances4700 - Serfs and cotters, who made up most of the population, until 1300 or so, rarely saw the written word enough to figure out the sounds. Read my statement again. Then, don't bother me.
It's in places where there was no own written language. As for many other places - someone who could read. P.S. as a choir singer, who has experience with catholic music, I can read Latin texts aloud. Understanding it is way more difficult. :)
Every chance i get i always cover my food in freshly cracked pepper. Because i always think at one point in history only the richest of kings could have done so.
This is Why i love history Cuz its not about memorizeing dates its about understanding How and Why we have it so ”good” in the present I appreciate the present by looking to the past to hopefully see the future more easily
Im severely disabled, and if i was born back then id be dead right away, but today i live better than a king on my meager disability... i still have plenty of food, healthcare, house, electric, internet, and running water. And i dont have to worry about jealous ppl assassinating me for my vast power lol
Me too even my dad used to introduce me to his conservative Republican friends as "This is my daughter, Che Guevara." I had been very much against the Iraq wars.
It was probably for the better anyways. Yes, you had to be chaste and religious, but you got to spend your days in peace surrounded by other women, and believe me, that would've been better than marrying some guy of the middle ages.
Just image how primitive and pathetic our lives will be viewed 1,000 years from now. "Did you know that back in 2022 they didn't have teleportation ! They had to drive a car, or even WALK to go places "
Ya, the focus on technological development vs actual power (being able to kill nearly any commoner is nothing to sneeze at) makes these comparisons yawn inducing. "They didn't even have smartphones." You don't say?
That's probably not the cake she had in mind 🤣🤣🤣 I died. Please don't leave. Just stay here being the voice of Weird History forever. You're the best!!!
I think it’d be cool to see a dental history compared to current dentistry. Most ppl hate the dentist as is and wanna see how it’s advanced for the good (or bad)
Wasn't as important then. People didn't eat a fuckload of refined sugar (or any sugar at all). The average medieval person's teeth would have looked better than ours, but more rounded (because of bits of stone in their bread).
Being a king is not easy unless you are Louis XIV before he was killed during the French Revolution. So, yes, being a king is not easy. If you act like you own the place you get killed and if you actually do something good and work hard you may end up killed by some other faction or kingdom’s army.
Blind people use VoiceOver to type they put their finger on the screen and the voice over tells them what is under their finger in that way they can choose letters and type just like anybody else… perhaps do some research before judging something you know nothing about… I am also very nearly totally blind
Yeah and 79k people in my city alone live worse than serfs of that day. In filth squalor no where to shower relieve themselves no food no hope toes falling off from gangrene. Greetings from the richest country in the world.
Well,while you might have a lot of luxury and rights as a medieval King, you still have a lot of pressure. Reigning over a whole kingdom and worrying over the economy,wars erc etc etc is not an easy task. So...just existing in the middle ages sucked
@@boopdino8053 bro Americans are one paycheck away from homelessness. Pressure? Every. Moment. Every. Day. And we have to keep up with SO much more than farmers.
@@ayannadivineempath Bad hygiene, lower life expectancy, bad medical care, malnourishment, less freedoms. There’s a give and take to everything in all aspects of time eras but they definitely did not have it easier. They just lived more simply and had one goal, work.
@@apexstrength3797 You still described the conditions of about 70% of the human population...today. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go poop in some potable water and go spend extra $$ for food that has _fewer_ calories. Because _obesity_ is now our most pressing problem. 1st world probs, man. 1st world probs.
You almost touched on travel. A journey from the Tower of London (which was also a Royal Castle) to Windsor Castle - 25 miles - was a one or two day journey.
Modern medicine are the most important, in medieval time, you could die by simply get tiny scratches on your skin, because antibiotics and anti septic wasn't available back then, tiny wound can be lethal due to bacterial infection.
I'm not gonna lie, that "once a week, depends on the weather" joke about pregnancy LITERALLY cracked me up to the point I had to laugh at it....cause I'm a woman😂
Imagine having a internet, games, have a ability to talk to people whenever you want, etc, that people lived in the past that they can only dream of, my grandma 80yo who still lived today is still fascinating how technology improved really fast.
I always think it's amazing that we live better than they did. I saw someone say something along the lines of, "but you dont have servants like they did", as if that is such a great thing. 😂 I am very picky on how things are done around my house and having a servant would not work for me. I'm sure it's the same for many people. I saw a comment stating that the picture of Charles V was wrong but it's correct so don't worry. Charles V of Spain had the notorious Habsburg jaw. Another comment stated that it's incorrect that women were not educated. I saw you said "many" not "all". Many weren't educated unless they had parents or guardians who believed that it was necessary.
Before getting to far into this video, I can think of a few things we've got that they didn't have. Toilets and plumbing, regular baths, clean water, clean and healthy food, heat/air, air purifiers, cars, bicycles, how about freedom and privacy. Certainly a loyally husband, can be intimate whenever we want (when not at work or other things). Comfortable clothes, computers, phones, pants, underwear, no pressure to bare sons, nor the pressure to be a baby making factory (although I do want to birth a child, still praying and hoping for that.) To name a few things. Can go places when I want to, can walk my dog when I want to, can go to dance classes when I want to, can study and learn what I want to (why do you think I watch these videos LOL), can swim when I want to, can wear jeans and t-shirts to church!
I will take modern day with all its flaws. I like my indoor plumbing. Thank you very much. Though I find history very fascinating and love this channel.
Medieval 'literacy' was often a measured of being literate in Latin (the only language that 'mattered' back then). Lots of people were literate in the local language.
Literate means you can read and write. Define 'lots' - as compared to what? The loose way you use the word, it could mean anywhere from half a dozen to thousands. Of course just about everyone could SPEAK the local language - but that's not literacy! Not even all the church officials in the past could read and write!
I've made jokes about this before lol if I ever got into a pissing contest with a medieval king I'd be like 'you've never had a taco! You don't even know what that is!'
Another thing I have over a king is that I'm not surrounded by people who are trying to control me and conspire to kill me when they can't... At least, I don't think.
But we never know. If you want to up the odds, just be a northeast damnYankee who retires to TinyTown in the blood red central Midwest. I wasn't here a month b4 the death threats started. 17 years later, I'm still here but would move out of this hellhole if I could.
You forgot to list the shear amount of food variety and access to foods like coffee, chocolate and sugar. Maybe royalty had better access to those things I’m medieval times, but not at the level we do now.
I went to a few castles when I visited Luxembourg a few years ago and although a lot of it was just ruins, some of them were still somewhat intact and I couldn’t imagine living in one.
@@stacyrussell460 I learned about washing my private parts after defecating a lot later. After going vegan and smelling the sickness on others who did not get clean with the toilet paper they used.
@@karenishness1 I was referring to something I heard in a tv show years ago about how people from other countries don't use toilet paper even today. They use their left hand & a bowl of water. It wasn't a slight towards you so please forgive my ignorance.
i also like that i can just step into a box any time i want and have well portioned drops of water pour down on me while being able to choose the temperature of the water. would make any king jealous
I don't think being a Medieval King sounds that appealing, but it would be interesting to live during those days. Plumbing is certainly something people take for granted today, it is used all the time and really limits sanitation problems. Great video, thank you for making it.
Let’s say that it would be great to live as a medieval King for 24h hours or a week maybe. But otherwise it sucks in many ways because we are used to a very different lifestyle.
I always think about the things Hollywood leaves out, like the smell of the people and places... I'm guessing you could smell a town like London from miles away.
Republican states such as IA, KS, LA, MS are passing laws that remove child protection. And allow kids as young as age 11 to work. Ditto for child marriage. Rather than move forward the Republicans are moving society backwards.
