Life in a Village/ Life in a Town

1. Life in a Village/ Life in a Town By Michael Ledford

2. Peasants spent many long hours farming and trading but The Catholic Church had many holidays. On these days the peasants had feasts, danced, sang songs and generally had a good time.

3. Clothing • In a town- merchants tended to be elaborate and changed according to the dictates of fashion • In a village- Peasants had only one set of clothing, two at most. Men wore coarse tunics, and long stockings or leggings. Women wore long dresses of coarse wool, and stocking

4. Food • Peasants had an unchanging diet of baked bread, porridge, stew, seasonal vegetables, and some meat. If a peasant lived near a stream or ocean, he may have caught fish to supplement his diet and ate it fresh, smoked, or salted. Otherwise, peasants ate what they could grow. • Most people worked as farmers during the beginning of the Middle Ages because farming methods were inefficient and most of the population was needed to farm the land for food.

5. Birth • Birth and infancy were the most dangerous stages of life for people in the Middle Ages. Records from the time period suggest that approximately 20% of women died during childbirth and 5% of infants died during delivery with another 10-12% dying in their first month. Healthy children were regarded as a gift from God.

6. Life Towns were almost always fortified with high stonewalls that encircled the town and patrolled by guards in case the lord decided to go back on his agreement.

7. Remember Town merchants had better lives then the village people but they all made the best of the situation.

8. Questions?

9. Macdonald, Fiona. "Medieval Towns." Www.mnsu.edu. 1989. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. <http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/middleages/town.html>. Brooke, Christopher. "Daily Life--Peasants." Www.mnsu.edu. 1971. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. <http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/middleages/pdailylife.html>.