How times have changed

Alchin, L.K.

Middle Ages

g. Retrieved May24 2013  from www.middle-ages.org.uk

Hmmm, so I thought my days were long working, full time and raising 2 children ,

I love history and this is certainly interesting 

Daily Life of a Peasant in the Middle Ages

The daily life of a peasant in the Middle ages was hard.  Medieval Serfs had to labor on the lord's land for two or three days each week, and at specially busy seasons, such as ploughing and harvesting. The daily life of a peasant in the Middle Ages can be described as follows:

• The daily life of a peasant started at started in the summer as early as 3am
• A peasant would start with breakfast, usually of pottage
• Work in the fields or on the land started by dawn and the daily life of a peasant included the following common tasks
• Reaping - To cut crops for harvest with a scythe, sickle, or reaper.
• Sowing - the process of planting seeds
• Ploughing - To break and turn over earth with a plough to form a furrow
• Binding and Thatching
• Haymaking - cutting grass and curing it for hay.
• Threshing - To beat the stems and husks of plants to separate the grains or seeds from the straw.
• Hedging - creating boundaries
• Outside work finished at dusk, working hours were therefore longer during the summer months
• Peasants made some of their own tools and utensils using wood, leather and the horns from cattle
• Women generally ate when her husband and children had finished and had little leisure time

So ended the daily life of a Medieval Peasant during the Middle Ages.

Daily Life for Peasant Women in the Middle Ages

The daily life of lower class women in the Middle ages was hard. Women were expected to help their peasant husbands with their daily chores as well as attending to provisions and the cooking of daily meals and other duties customarily undertaken by women. The daily life for peasant women in the Middle Ages can be described as follows:

• The daily life of a peasant woman started at started in the summer as early as 3am
• She first had to prepare a breakfast, usually of pottage
• Work in the fields or on the land started by dawn and the daily life of a peasant woman during the Middle Ages would include this type of hard work during busy times especially harvest
• Preparations had to be started in order to provide the daily meals
• Peasant women were expected to look after small animals - geese, chickens etc
• Weaving, spinning and making and mending clothes were also part of a woman's work
• Preparing rushes for lighting
• Making preserves
• Tending the vegetable plot and collecting berries and herbs
• Women were also responsible for the children and need an understanding of medicines and herbs for basic nursing requirements
• Outside work finished at dusk, working hours were therefore longer during the summer months
• Women generally ate when her husband and children had finished and had little leisure time