How did changing seasons affect medieval life? How did itinerant workers survive the year? Credits: Ghost Direction, Camera, Sound, Editing: Kasumi Presenter: Jason Kingsley OBE Music licensed from PremiumBeat
I just love the comfortable manner in which your describe the rhythm of life in another era as if it was but yesterday. History comes to life when you speak
This whole series is exceptional! I cannot stop watching them. I cannot believe this isn't a major TV series. I love the presenter. He has the perfect look and voice and seems such a good bloke. The kind of bloke you'd love having an ale with after a hard day of jousting.
It brings people together in an uplifting way when we can get down about just how bad this situation is in the world...Thanks Jason and the team...(a lot of you I am sure) ...at some stage it would be good to meet other people like cameraman etc...as well as the horses!
Imho this whole not-season anymore nowadays is one of the reasons why we have some of the problems we have in our modern society. Doing the same job 300 days a years for 40 years straight. Its no wonder some people just go insane.
Idk if I can agree. I'm about to hit the 37th year I've been in my profession, still enjoy it and make a decent living. By the time I retire it will be >40 years. I think the problem is people going into jobs based on money vs. satisfaction. Money isn't enough all on it's own.
I lived in Bedford for a while in the '80's and I learnt to make lace. My teacher used to make lace in the lighter summer months and was a milliner (that maker) during the winter months. This seems very similar situation.
What a true video. We live in a 1700 square m garden, at the very end of a little village which was inhabited in earlier times by the servants of the Duke of Schwarzenberg (in the neighbourhood of original castle). We very much live with the seasons here. In summer, we work in our garden (big kitchengarden, lots of old apple trees, hedges). In the winter, we renovate our house and barn. Garden is hard to do in winter, and during summer nobody wants to be inside a lot.
Yes Sandra that is indeed amazing that you live with the seasons in mind, I live in the city so here lots of things are taken for granted specially the seasons.
No, we must not take this for granted. This year (and approximately the three years before), we reached really hot temperatures in summer. So we really should look better after this piece of rock we all live on.
That makes sense. It's interesting, though, that your usage is opposite of the one described in this video, since Jason describes laborers who worked outdoors in winter (not gardening but hedging ) and indoors in summer.
In the southern US we call your billhook a brush hook. Yours has an extra point on any I've seen, but like yours, ours are for clearing brush/small saplings as well. (Also as you said- a fine home defense implement!)
Your video series is so well presented, informative and warm hearted, sometimes it feels like you are a visiting time traveler reminiscing about a few things in between your other work. I really love the information and your beautiful, smart, happy horse companions. Thank you for sharing.
I watch all your videos even if it is a topic I am not the keen on. Love British history and your presentation is very natural and calming. Teachers me more than a fancy documentary. Like you are just chatting with your viewers.
Indeed its is quite fascinating how little the design of the bill hook/ hedging tool has changed, and very interesting observation about the seasons as well, we take so many things for granted these days. Awesome video as always Jason!
Galahad Dayne - Billhooks date from the Bronze Age, and a few examples survive from that period. Iron examples from the later Iron Age have been found in pre-Roman settlements in England, France, and Germany. Designs are specific to a particular use, and there have always been many variations. An advertisement for billhooks in an English tool catalog in 1939, listed 21 different designs. wikipedia.
Ever wondered what all the people that work in bathhouses do in the winter? Tilemaking has not a "season" anymore, but agricolture still has them, and tourism, a field that didn't exist in the middle ages, is very much seasonal, and so are many of the jobs that revolve around it. Seasonal workers are a categroy of workers recognized by the law in my Country and with a dedicated legislation.
The bill hook was used effectively in the battle of Flodden when Scots' spears were bill hooked.With the spear points lopped off their spears became ineffective. Scots' schiltron spear manouvers effectively ended after this battle.
This pairing of jobs certainly exists to this very day even in relatively modern setting. For example, in some regions of Russia drivers from the countryside operate farm tractors, combine harvesters and accompanying lorries during the agricultural season, while in the winter they man the snowclearing vehicles of various sorts (snowploughs, snoblowers, loaders, dump trucks, de-icer dispencers etc.) in urban areas or along the main roads.
Blacksmiths often kept Bees, you certainly can't do anything with honey bees in winter and there are days during summer where its simply too hot to be around a fire, also beeswax is a good preservative for iron and of course leatherwork. Many blacksmiths were also miners so married the three jobs, winter is not a great time for mining because there is too much water so blacksmithing mostly a winter job while mining and beekeeping (more like honey harvesting really) in the summer.
On this vid it’ll be the Knights who say Ni. They see bill hooks as a threat to their shrubberies. The other vids’ down-voter - probably the Black Knight.
I knew that bill-tool long before I had any interest in the medieval world. Back when I was about twelve, a neighbor asked me to help him remove a bunch of vines and brambles on his property. The tool he gave me for the task, he called a “Bushmaster”, but it was little different from the one used in the video. Some tools never go out of style I guess...
Have you made any videos about bodgers? I believe it has its origins in the Chilterns area. People don't bodge anymore but I would like to know more about it.
It is possible to create very complex designs and patterns in clay by layering flat slabs on top of each other, rolling them up sausage wise, then cutting across with string. It’s rather like millefiori glass making.
I didn't watch all episodes yet but I'm wondering if there would be an episode dedicated to the life in winter like how people kept warm and was there glass in the windows or where they just open holes in the wall?
I'm in the same boat as you in terms of watching these videos. However, I can answer one question. Medieval windows were empty holes covered with wooden shutters so you could close them.
Sort of a hedge axe. A few agricultural tools were modified into weapons. The flail comes to mind. Oh, and the cattle prod. :):):):) Well, after storage batteries had been invented.
You'd not weld the spike onto the end, you'd get a chisel and split it back from the hook, hammer the spike straight, draw it out to a narrow point, which should lengthen it greatly and then sharpen that.
I've seen modern toolshed bills with a spike on the top, and an axe or saw blade on the back. But I can't seem to figure what the spike would be for on a modern tool. It's obvious what the point would be for use as a halberd, but why have one for mundane use?
loveöy tiles how where they made i asume on the red backing one applied an layer like the dog wich was cut our from white clay and then laminated on the red backing.is that right??
@@ModernKnight Thanks for the reply..do you know prior attire on UTUBE ...she is completely dedicated to making and showing her garments through the ages. She is something like middle European but lives in middle England. Her last video was how to make a medieval shoe...She is wonderful...incredible seamstress...words fail me at her genius.!!
The trimming of hedges with a billhook was a seasonal occupation in the winter because that is when the hedges were dormant - the best time for pruning. This work was not done because the weather was unsuitable for tile making.
He didn't said it was. But he did say, that the times for each of those jobs worked well together. So if someone was a tiler during the summer, he could prune hedges in the winter and that way have a job for the whole year. :)
In some countries there are still institutes that keep track of the registration of heraldry, if you're in one of those you'd have to go through those. I have no idea what the costs and possible formal rank/noble birth requirements for it are. I'm guessing if your country doesn't keep track of them some form of generic copyright/trademark registration could make it yours. When dealing with the formal institutes your design will probably have to follow traditional heraldic design with the various elements to a heraldic achievement. Without the organisations there'd be more creative freedom I guess? In the UK (not sure if it applies to the Commonwealth worldwide) there's still an institute that keeps track of it for example. My country also seems to have a registry, but its business seems to be limited to government institutes, cities, counties, surviving families who already had them and a few private companies. It doesn't seem to be very focused on registering them for individuals here now where I live. But honestly? I suspect that people won't make a big deal out of whatever design you go with as long as you don't directly copy someone elses that actually cares about it and follow the general design guidelines so it won't stand out like in an ugly way. Do check on your laws though if you're in a country that historically had a strong heraldic tradition like much of Europe though, there might still be interesting odd laws to be aware of. Edit: I just remembered this as I pressed the submit button, shadiversity did a pretty long video about this some years ago: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aiJCqjvVpec.html It's more about the correct names for elements, something about the design rules and him explaining the not officially registered one he came up with for himself. Might be a good starting point if you do plan to get some information for further research.
Oddly enough, the only time I saw this shown in a story was in an anime. It actually depicted the culture clash of a modern woman thrown back into medieval times.
