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'medieval people barely washed themselves'
'40 was considered old age during the middle ages'
'medieval marriages were always arranged'
'witch hunts were rampant during the middle ages'
'medieval people thought the earth was flat'
me:
'40 was considered old age during the middle ages'
'medieval marriages were always arranged'
'witch hunts were rampant during the middle ages'
'medieval people thought the earth was flat'
me:
'medieval people barely washed themselves'
no. of course this varied from person to person and place to place, but it was common practice to wash from a basin regularly, or even in a natural water body in rural areas. public bath houses were the place to be in cities, and it was
no. of course this varied from person to person and place to place, but it was common practice to wash from a basin regularly, or even in a natural water body in rural areas. public bath houses were the place to be in cities, and it was
rude not to wash your hands before+after eating. while there was no running water in the modern sense of the word, a lot of cities and large buildings had basic plumbing and offered toilets with better drainage etc. the whole 'medieval people stunk' is a shitty humanist 'we are
better than our ancestors' spiel. also something to consider: do you enjoy being smelly? likely not, right? why would medieval people do?
you can find more on this here: https://www.ancient.eu/Medieval_Hygiene/
you can find more on this here: https://www.ancient.eu/Medieval_Hygiene/
'40 was considered old age during the middle ages'
no. this misconception stems from a logical fallacy. life expectancy just takes into account at what age most people die. for the middle ages the statistic is incredibly skewed because of the high death rate in children less than
no. this misconception stems from a logical fallacy. life expectancy just takes into account at what age most people die. for the middle ages the statistic is incredibly skewed because of the high death rate in children less than
five years of age (due to various childhood illnesses that were untreatable at the time). you had to be extremely lucky to get through your first five years of life, but once you got through early childhood and weren't taken down by some tooth infection it wasn't uncommon at all
to live well into your seventies or eighties. in fact, if you take into account the extremely high death rate in children and consider that this rate pulled life expectancy back to 40, you can conclude that there must've been a lot of people on the other end of the statistic as
well. so 40 wasn't considered old age at all, it didn't differ much from perceptions today. plus, if you follow the logical fallacy - aka assume 40 was old age and that child death rate was mild - life expectancy wouldn't have been 40 but rather around 20 probably, as the numbers
balance each other out. (I'm no statistics expert though soooo don't take my word for this one)
here you can find more about this fallacy: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20181002-how-long-did-ancient-people-live-life-span-versus-longevity
here you can find more about this fallacy: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20181002-how-long-did-ancient-people-live-life-span-versus-longevity
'medieval marriages were always arranged'
noble and high class marriages, sure, yes. peasant marriages? no. both the bride and the groom needed to wholeheartedly consent for them to be married. in fact in some regions of medieval Europe, you could marry without anyone present,
noble and high class marriages, sure, yes. peasant marriages? no. both the bride and the groom needed to wholeheartedly consent for them to be married. in fact in some regions of medieval Europe, you could marry without anyone present,
you just had to speak your marriage vows in each others presence and technically you were then married, IF you could prove it afterward. there were a lot of young couples who did this, and there's been evidence of children of nobelty who ran off with their lovers against their
parents' will. the only drawback was that you had to make sure you could prove it later, so usually a witness was your best bet. of course, a whole lot of medieval fuckboys made sure to be completely alone before taking advantage of this, but that's another story.
more on this here: https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/love-and-marriage-in-medieval-england/
'witch hunts were rampant during the middle ages'
no. witch hunts mostly took place during the renaissance. next.
while practising witchcraft was a thing in the middle ages, it was usually considered more of a frivolity than something evil. admittedly, attitudes started to
no. witch hunts mostly took place during the renaissance. next.
while practising witchcraft was a thing in the middle ages, it was usually considered more of a frivolity than something evil. admittedly, attitudes started to
change toward the end of the middle ages, and there *was* a sporadic execution here and there, but the actual witch hunt craze would only happen by the early modern period.
also, something to note here: witches were hardly ever young women, mostly they were older widowed women.
also, something to note here: witches were hardly ever young women, mostly they were older widowed women.
also, men weren't immune to accusations, and ended up at the stake in similar numbers as women.
more on the witch hunts here:
https://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/witch/werror.html
more on the witch hunts here:
https://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/witch/werror.html
'medieval people thought the earth was flat'
please god no. this is classic middle ages slander. why do people actually think the romans/greeks made all these scientific discoveries and then the middle ages came around and suddenly everyone had heads full of sawdust? no no no.
please god no. this is classic middle ages slander. why do people actually think the romans/greeks made all these scientific discoveries and then the middle ages came around and suddenly everyone had heads full of sawdust? no no no.
that is what the renaissance and this 19th century dude called Washington Irving would want you to believe. don't let them! medieval people knew the earth was round, and science wasn't shunned in the Middle Ages. period.
don't believe me? here: https://www.thoughtco.com/did-medieval-people-believe-in-a-flat-earth-1221612
don't believe me? here: https://www.thoughtco.com/did-medieval-people-believe-in-a-flat-earth-1221612
so what did we learn today? the middle ages weren't the dark ages we think they were and the 
humanists were bigheaded roman fanboys with no regard for actual history
humanists were bigheaded roman fanboys with no regard for actual history
here's our lord and savior terry jones (rip my hero) talking about this https://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/feb/08/highereducation.news
okay so this thread has definitely cost me 5 years of my life I need to go lie down
There's also so many misconceptions that I left out, I could do a whole thread on medieval women alone (which im probably gonna do sometime in the future) sometimes I feel I should start a podcast about historical misconceptions or something 
yikes sorry for my spelling + grammar in this thread!!! I know the correct spelling of nobility I was just writing in blind medievalist rage
Also - if you're interested in the middle ages consider giving me a follow! I tweet about this stuff fairly often and I I love drawing (late) medieval scenes! I also really love drawing historically accurate burgundian clothing.
andddd some more
