Life of a Peasant in the middle ages

Peasants dining on bread

        Life of a peasant in the middle ages was a sad class to be born into.  Since upward mobility was minimal at best (the best one could hope for was to either buy ones nobility or to be married into it, a difficult task indeed), if one stayed a peasant, one could expect to stay one.  The living conditions were rough.

      For example, a house for a single family of peasants was one room.  All the cooking, eating and sleeping were done in that one room.  The family owned a single bed, everyone slept together. This meant that children learned early on about the “birds and the bees”.

      The house was also where one kept all the animals, such as pigs or cows.  This was good in the winter when it would get cold.  The extra warmth from the animals enabled everyone to be a bit more comfortable during the worst of European winters.

           Food was a bit more vegetarian than we may be used to.  Since a peasant could make extra money selling off his livestock, eating meat was considered a treat, one that was saved for special occasions such as Easter.

Finally, the clothing that a peasant owned was minimal.  One or two sets were usually the standard.  Since bathing was unheard of, and washing clothes time consuming and expensive, the same set of clothes was worn year round.

A detailed look at a peasant's home during winter.