For a few hours or a few days. A year if I was miraculously lucky, but not speaking Middle English and not having any math or engineering skills to get me in good with a royal court somewhere would limit my ability to feed and shelter myself. And even then, there's the plague and malnutrition thing to worry about.
Delmond Conagher Maybe because they're not godamn-infants anymore???? A typical "No-Shit-Sherlock" remark. So much so, I almost enjoy the stupidity of it all. A funny thing happens to me every time I have a meal: I stop feeling hungry as soon as my stomach is full. Fascinating!
I mean.. They had the plague, we have children being shot down in schools. They had cruel religious acts. We have planes flying into buildings and bombers trying to spread hate. They had wars with swords, we have nuclear bombs ready to fire at any time. It evens out
I'll still take living in 2019 over the Middle Ages. Great point, though. It really does show that technology changes but human nature never truly does.
“Life got better for them. And all it took was the death of hundreds of millions of people.” That statement is seriously haunting. Well done, thanks for the great videos.
Actually, people usually washed at least once a week. In some cities, it was even law. And I'd say this video is exaggerating a bit. But yeah, it was certainly a lot harder to live than now. I think that disease and infections would be the biggest risk for us to die of though.
@@peachvanilla9833 Like I said, and some others too. Most people did wash at least once a week. They didn't get the germs thing, but they didn't like to smell bad either. They thought diseases were spread by miasma... aka, bad smells. However, their cities were terribly smelly of course... but not so much the people.
@@gunthergerster6471 Do we really think now that medieval people who had such beautiful art, poetry and architecture did not notice when something had a bad odor? Even "primitive" civilizations that are alive nowadays keep their bodies clean and free of bad odors
I really appreciate this video, as a 47 year old who romanticized the middle ages in the early 80s after watching the quest for the holy grail and playing d&d type games. I said to my dad it would be cool to be a knight back then and he wisely pointed out that no, no it wouldn't. He's 74 with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's now but i'm going to mention your video to him.
I can honestly say I'd rather be alive in the dark ages than now. Living an extremely long time too comfortably and waiting to die for 20 years is a lot more frightening to me than what I know of history. Closest thing to freedom ever tasted by human beings barring hunter gatherer days is most likely iceland circa 900 AD. We are all just modern peasants now plugged into the machine. In the end the powers that be will have leeched a vast majority of your labor out of you.
@@kievanrus9434 you do have a point. I hate that I work as hard as I do with very little to show for it. Make all kinds of efforts, be as efficient as possible, do people favors, and you just get shit on by people who don't appreciate it or can't ever be satisfied.. which is to say, wealthy people. I can't blame them, if I was wealthy and gainfully profiting from other people's work I'd probably be the same way. It's my hope that in the next 30 years we figure out ways to extend lifespans with some meaning. In my 20s I'd always say I'll be dead by 55. Well i'm hoping i'm only halfway there now but only if there's any quality at all, and judging by my genes there probably won't be. The other thing is 4 years ago I married a woman with 4 kids, special needs 3 of them, and I want to be around and useful for them. Unfortunately I feel like they don't appreciate it either. And one final thing, i hate how modern life requires you to be on call 24/7. Facebook Twitter texts cell phones instant messaging, if you don't answer immediately you get accused of not caring and "disappearing." I'd rather wait for the king's messenger and get an ink pen letter than have to deal with everyone wanting everything at once. Rant over.
@@cygnustsp People have never been more free than now. But it's up to you to use the chance. Or let society bury you. Modern life doesn't require you to be on Facebook and whatever. You're allowed to disappear if you like. And it's up to you if you listen to other people or not. ;)
@@cygnustsp be grateful for the things you do have. You probably have a roof above your head, clean water and some food. A lot of ppl even to this day don’t have that..
It`s stupid anyway. First it starts with a Straw man-argument (as if Hollywood or others movies would really depict the Middle ages as heaven on earth) and then it paints a picture of the Middle ages (mind you a period of around 700 years) being all hell on earth. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fcVwcvWePhU.html
@@Astuga Middle ages are always depicted as beautiful and glorious, only the more educated showed it how dark it was, you would see the same thing with the Roman's, who are shown to be decadent and slavery addicted. Your argument is a strawman.
Thank you. That and the fact that that's in childbirth is unnatural, and is created by medical malpractice. It has become a staple misogynistic media that wants to glorify the disposable mother. In the middle ages you can say it was about them respecting sacrifice. Men died in war. This still carried on today's media. Four people value destruction instead of creation so they make false equivalence
@Joe Smith Carbs are made of sugars. You're thinking of specific types of sugars. But honestly, they had few veggies and little meat. Not a good way to live.
No, you won't. Because your gun will finally break or run out of ammo. They have bows and crossbows. They have swords, axes and maces. And... They really know how to use them. You, on the other hand have no clue how to handle it properly. Life sucks, eh?
@dachicagoan Well I'm a peasant. Born one and will die one. Just like most of the 90% So what's with that profile photo? I should send you a shirt. I'm positive you earn more income doing what...lol with no shirt. :P
I did a life count of potential death moments that modern medical intervention thwarted. I should have died 4 times. That realisation made me very very grateful to be a 20th century baby.
Kinda sucks that they’re using it like Old Norse society was the same as, say, the Anglo Saxon society in this video, but I can’t really complain since it’s my favourite show.
@@iamnathanael2132 Only if you're referring to the early medieval era, in which "dark ages" is a term used to describe a lack of archeological evidences or texts from those eras when compared to later on.
" They may have been illiterate , but that doesn't mean they were stupid."....Love that !..a whole lot of what we term 'learned people' these days, needs to know this lol
The average peasant had a lot of skills the average post-modern man or woman doesn't have. Most adult peasant women would have known how to spin, weave, dye, and sew clothes, preserve meat by drying and salting, prepare a meal over an open fire in a hearth, treat the ill with herbal medicine, and after awhile be skilled in midwifery; men would have been skilled in archery particularly if they had lived in England where archery practice was mandatory, known how to hunt for small game (as well as known which animals they were forbidden to hunt). Both genders would have known how to keep pigs, chicken, and oxen and how to slaughter them as well as how to dry and salt them (no vegetarians then at least by choice), plough fields, plant seeds, and tend fields. They would also be much better at memorizing and reciting what they had heard.
Nemesis861965. If you think people had it easy back then, you’re wrong. Being a Caucasian male in the upper class was the best thing you could be back then. You had the most safety, rights, luxury and choice, while every other group was oppressed in some way.
No. Middle Ages ran from the 5th Century (Fall of Rome) to the 15th Century (fall of Constantinople/New Rome...or I've seen 1492 as the year of the end of the Middle Ages).
@@chrismath149 Of course they were aware of natural remedies that provided respite from pain---the poppy is the first thing that comes to mind----but the knowledge was rudimentary at best, and served them mainly in the preparing of analgesics---or local anesthetics----rather than anything in the realm of what we know as "general anesthesia"...The latter is a remarkably new part of medicine, only beginning with the use of ether in the later 19th century---and its administration was incredibly haphazard and dangerous....There is a reason why we have anesthesiologists----licensed doctors of anesthesia---because it is a fairly advanced science---comprehensive knowledge (or lack of it) can be the difference between life and death for a patient....
@@masterzombie161 Most Islamic countries ( _and most European countries_ ) have been using *bidets* for hundreds of years, and it is much more "sanitary" to "wash" out your _private parts_ than to simply just _wipe_ . Most of the older homes ( _built 20 years ago_ ) here in Europe, all have "bidets" installed right next to the toilet. New modern built homes do not however.
Toilet paper is actually a bit disgusting because you don't really get clean while using it and it's not good for the environment. Using toilet paper is similar to using a towel to get rid of visible dirt instead of washing your hands. Just because the dirt is gone doesn't mean your hands are clean.
Where on Earth did you get your current infant/toddler mortality rate stats? I'm not seeing anything in Europe or the US under 2.2% Once I heard ".0002%" I couldn't watch any longer. That's so incorrect.
I don't know... if we are here is because our ancestors back in those days managed to live long enough to pass on their blood, so we have at least some of their tough character dormant in us... dormant because now we are frail and soft compared to those people.
Sometimes I wonder how I survived my childhood, falling from the 2nd floor twice, split my forehead opened, and here I am years later teaching people how to fix their cars on RU-vid
"Noble knights on noble steeds, beautiful ladies with pointy hats..." Only if you were very, very rich. A common person would more than likely be plowing a field with oxen or doing some other laborious task, or possibly be a serf, which would be absolutely miserable. To make things worse, even though you'd be better off as a Nobleman since you wouldn't have to deal with famine and starving in the winter, your diet would be less healthy than that of the lower classes, who ate mostly vegetables. Basically, medieval peasants were what people now would call "involuntarily vegetarian" because meat was a luxury, and only noblemen or the king himself could hunt by law (the _Charter of the Forest_ proves as such); hunting animals as a peasant would get you imprisoned or even publicly executed in some cases, even if you were starving.
forensic science and technological advancement help to prove innocence and give litigation a sense of objective justice. logic and science provide what law and judgement lack. so nahh
@djhavok101 Michael Foucault Crime and Punishment - read it. Innocence incriminated is more important than criminals being punished - basic universal principle of criminology
Wrong, wrong and... wrong. If people died young that had an impact on median life expectancy. So if we say 30 as a median life duration, we have to take all those dying at a very young age in consideration. So for every baby dying, there is an "old" one surviving. Middle Ages had a fair share of old citizens, even people aged 80 and more. They were lucky of course, but not so rare. Also, Middle Ages is a VERY long time period and living in the years 900 or 1400 are two totally different things. For example, peasants were almost slaves in the 900's, they were free men (and often land owners) in the 1400's... So you made a disastrous shortcut here. Oh, and by the way, people were clean and used soap. Middle Ages also saw the creation of universities... And women had way more prerogatives and freedom than they had in the Renaissance. You still think it's a terrible time to live?
Of the 40+ comments I''ve read here you're the second person I've encountered to actually know the facts and point out the blatant mistakes in the video. It's worrying how people will just eat up about everything you tell them.
Same! A few scenes are from the show Vikings and I think I recognized Elizabeth (people being burned at stake but that's not a medieval movie), and Monty python search for the holy grail. Lord of the rings and the hobbit as well
Paco 25.000 vs 00.001 or 250/1000 vs 1/1000 or is it that the statistics are impossible to calculate assuming census records back in the middle ages, what few there were, are mostly gone?
This video doesn't understand how average life expectancy works. Around 5:00 they mention that the average life expectancy for peasants was 25-30 year. That doesn't mean that if you were a 24 year old peasant, you were about to die (which is kind of what the video implies). The reason the middle ages (or modern third world countries) had those super low ALEs was because of the high infant death rates that they mentioned earlier in the video. If 25% of the population died at the age of zero, and another 25% died before the age of four, then the ALE of the population would be greatly lowered (almost cut in half). But if you made it past that stage, into adolescence, your life expectancy would be much higher. It would still be lower than modern first world countries but it wouldn't be 30 years old.
This video is utter nonsense. Just about every point made is BS. Once you survived infancy and early childhood, the average life expectancy was about 55-60. In a battle, the victor would slaughter the losing side? Uhhh no. That was extremely rare. Generally, the casualty rate was low, especially compared to 19th and 20th century warfare. And what's the deal with lumping the Renaissance in with the middle ages? In some ways the Renaissance period was worse. One thing they got right was the fact that peasant life improved after the black death due to all the "job openings." Peasants actually had leverage for once.
The real difference was that people were physically tough but chronically ill. They could do hard manual labor while feeling aid that would put us all in bed.
Best way to survive in the middle ages was to live on a mountainside cultivating your own food and raising wild game yourself. Staying hidden from soldiers, bandits and annoying mooching relatives was best this way, lol.
Ohay, so first, if you want to make us learn things about middle ages, why show images of movies and series that are known to be highly innacurate? Shame also you do not cite any source. Overall...this video is the usual craps of people that doesn't take time to gather proper information. Let's debunk: 1) Child mortality: mostly true indeed. Bless modern medicine 2) Black death: Black death killd 30-40% of Europe populations. Certainly not 60%. (and that makes 25 millons dead, not hundred of millons. Check the numbers for god's sake). 3) Church : Okay, the critics of wealth and power of church you mention is just as anachronic the images you use (Protestant reform). Also...why do you mention executions in 1550? That's not medieval. If we consider burning as the stake, only 10% of executions of death by burning for heresy or witchcraft in Europe History were carried on in that periode. On essential fact being that a convicted heretic always had the possibility to recant in a trial the first time to escape executions. Torture was also the exeception more than the norm. 4) Women: you largely exagerate. Women were a significant labour force and had influence, during peasant assemblies or as lord's wife. Also, contrived marriage was purely a high class thing and girls from the common folk could refuse to marry someone. Also...1 on 3 death in childbirth? Seems bullshit to me. In sierra Leone, which has the highest mortality in childbirth in the world today, we're at one in 900... 5) Peasantry: More crap. Peasants had several clothes and they actually WASHED them. Starvations became exceptionnal in Europe after 1000 AC. And the life expectancy when no including infantile mortality was more around 40 years, which is consistent with the most underdevelopped country nowadays. 6) Travel : Granted, howevers inns were rather commons and organised considering the vast amount of travelling people 7) War: Losing didn't necessary implied the slaughter of the losing side. That would actually be a terrible idea. As for peasants...well first soldiers were mercenaries and usually not conscripted peasants, especially in the early middle ages when the scale of battles were rather small. No major battle in the middle ages never went above a rate of mortality of 20%. However, diseases and hunger killed more soldiers than fights. 8) Death penalty: COMPLETE BULLSHIT . First, why do you talk about post-middle ages AGAIN? Executions were rare in medieval Europe. Public humiliations, spoliations and payments were the norm, not executions or jail. 9) Poison and fungus: i don't know enough about this one 10) Doctors: quite ok 11) Middle ages weren't more violent than any other history period. in fact, it's actually far less violent than the centuries that came after. murder 10 times higher...source please? I don't see why they would commit more murder as that time than now. Not in that amount. There were judicial system, and religion. You couldn't go away with it so easily.
In my family ancestry we had knights,also I have no allergies, (except latex)strong constitution. Graced with endurance, so my chances are pretty damn great!!!!! And I keep my mouth shut even while drinking when I rarely do.
Sometimes i think we as a species are at our best when we're constantly surrounded by death and misery. But othertimes i think letting people be shallow and vapid on the internet is kind of the reward we got for all of the suffering and pain the people in acient times went to. I try to be respectful and hopefully we honor them by being grateful for our luxuries. This could all collapse into those times again after one big war after all.
Nature is great beauty and endless potential. It is also dangerous, with death around every corner. We are at our best in a natural state. We are far, far from that now.
As I read the comments, I suddenly heard the very loud whistling noise of some kind of air craft passing over my house. I started wondering what would be my best plan
Not only did everyone today survived the Middle Ages, but everyone of European descent descends from royalty, or more particularly Charlemagne, as well as more than a few peasants who survived long enough to have descendants. Furthermore, anyone with any English ancestry most likely descends from Edward III. The trick is in proving the same. See: www.stat.yale.edu/~jtc5/papers/Ancestors.pdf
If 25% of children were dying before the age of one then I don't think you could blame the societal pressure placed on women to have babies solely on the place of men. Living in a community was essential to survival and if those women had today's birthrates then we would have almost certainly gone on the brink of extinction. If wasn't a role only men forced on women but women forced it on each other because they knew their survival depended on it. I think it's really wrong to project our current social norms on people of the past because it's not fair to them. They lived in an entirely different world.
Wow, I could never think of the Medieval Ages and think of romance and fantasy. All I can think of is being cold in the winter and hot in the summer and not having an electric blanket or a hot shower. 😂
