How was the lifestyle of a lord in medieval times?

Answer 1

I believe by today's standards for most it was very unpleasant - Dirty, disease ridden, oppressive and probably short.

Peasants and serfsMost people were serfs. I cannot say they worked harder than family farmers do today, but they worked hard. Some worked without pay, in exchange for the right to live on the land and work it. In such a case they gave a feudal lord, who protected them and owned the land, a portion of what they grew for rent, or they worked a certain amount of time each week doing work for the lord. Other serfs kept the entire crop and paid money for rent. Some serfs were foresters, miners, laborers for stonemasons, porters, or people who worked at any of a host of laboring jobs.

They lived in cottages which were very simply built. Some were wattle and daub, which was woven reeds chinked with mud and hung into openings of a wooden frame. Some were rough stone chinked with mud daub. Very often the cottage had a single room, sometimes with a loft. The roof was typically thatched with bundles of reeds. The floor was dirt, unless a person had a lot of money.

Serfs were usually bound to the land. They were not slaves, but they were not free either. They could not be bought or sold, but they could not move away, legally, without the permission of the lord. On the other hand, they could not be evicted without cause, because they had a right to the land, even though a lord or king owned it. They had security, of a sort. The person who organized the serfs, doing such things as deciding what individual plots would be farmed by which serfs, was a reeve. The reeves also were the people through whom the serfs communicated with their lords. In many places, they elected by the serfs from their own ranks.

In England, some kings required many farmers, called yeomen, to be armed at all times. They were sometimes allowed to shoot varmints such as rabbits to keep them from destroying the fields and supply themselves with meat. The result of these farmers being armed was that England was able to field large armies of trained archers quickly. They were very effective against mounted knights, and killed many in the Hundred Years War.

People raised chickens and ate eggs. They raised pigs, sheep and cattle and had dairy products, especially cheese. They made beer, and it was a source of much of their protein. They ate a lot of vegetables, and a whole lot of bread.

A serf who wanted a better life and was willing to give up the security of the manor might run away. If the lord could find him within a year, he could be returned to the manor, but after that he was considered free in many places. The freemen of towns and cities were people who had done this or whose ancestors had done this. They became bakers, chandlers, soap makers and so on.

Cooking was done out doors, unless the weather was bad. A manor or monastery might have had a kitchen in a separate structure, so cooks could stay out of the rain, but there were no chimneys or fireplaces in most of the middle ages, because they were invented in the eleventh or twelfth century. So for most people, a fire for cooking or warmth was lit in the middle of the floor, and the smoke rose to a hole in the roof or holes under the roof peaks. People who lived in towns and cities usually could not afford to cook, because they did not have convenient places to do so. The result was that most of the poorer townsfolk bought food from food vendors. There were also high quality profession cooks, but their food was too expensive for most people to eat.

People were very clean, because they associated cleanliness with godliness, and wanted to be shunned by neither God nor man. Many villages and most towns had public baths where people could bathe in warmed water, and there was always a question of propriety about this because the Church leaders were uncomfortable with public nudity. On smaller manors and in the country, people bathed wherever they could get water to bathe in, including rivers in the winter.

Nobody had the slightest idea of how disease was transmitted. They were interested in being clean, and they could eject lepers and victims of the plague from society in order to prevent spread of disease, but their ignorance made any measures they took ineffectual. I have read that at one point a third of the people of Iceland were put out of the towns and cities because of leprosy, and Scotland was not much better. They believed diseases resulted from exposure to bad air, so if things stank, they did something about it.

There were far more schools, and far more people were literate, than many people today realize. The Byzantine Empire opened the first system of primary schools in the world, in 425 AD, with the intention of having all soldiers be literate, and the system remained in use until 1453. There was a period of about five hundred years of low literacy in the West, which began about two hundred years before the fall of the West Roman Empire, but even during this time, some schools were open. There was a school in Wales, Cor Tewdws, or Theodosius' College, which opened under the reign of Emperor Theodosius, who died in 395, and it remained open until Henry VIII closed it over 1100 years later. The King's School in Canterbury, which is open today, opened in 596. The oldest state run school in Britain, Beverley Grammar School, was opened in 700 and later survived in an environment where the state was run by Vikings for decades. There are over seventy primary and secondary schools still open today that were opened in the Middle Ages. Considering how long schools typically last, there may have been thousands of them. Many people were illiterate, but many people could read and write. Even some Vikings could read and write.

Western universities were opened, starting in 1088, and there were over seventy of them opened during the Middle Ages. Students were legally considered clergy, and got special treatment under the law. In the East, universities had been around much longer, and the University of Constantinople dated from 425.

Architecture and art proceeded. The Gothic architecture we admire today was of the Middle Ages, and was called Gothic because the people of the Renaissance thought the architecture was barbaric, and worthy of the name of a race they also thought barbaric. Such was the conceit of Renaissance people.

Most people were religious, and most went to church at least weekly. Some went to church every day. Some went several times each day. A large number of people went into religious service. Monastic life was open to most people, and it offered a level of security and compassion lacking in the secular world.

Anyone who got into legal trouble would be tried. In England, a jury of peers meant a jury of that person's equals, so the nobles were tried by nobles and serfs by serfs. The justice system is thought of today as unjust and even brutal, and it is clear that in some times torture was used, but clergy were prohibited from participating in torture, and this made an important impact on the court system.

There were ecclesiastical courts, run by clergy, and anyone who qualified had to be tried in such a court, which was part of the benefit of clergy. To qualify, a person had to be a cleric, but it was not clearly defined what this meant, so in time a tests came to be used: a person qualified for ecclesiastical court by being able to read the 51st Psalm. Then that person could not be tortured and ate food supplied by the Church while the trial was underway.

Defense was different, and so was a jury. The jury was made up of people familiar with the case, who could ask questions and reach a decision. In some places an adequate defense was when the defendant swore innocence and twelve people asserted their belief that the oath was valid.

Punishments varied greatly according to the culture, legal code, and king. In the Early Middle Ages, legal codes were results of attempts to reconcile Germanic laws with Roman laws. Many crimes were punished with fines, including even those involving death of another, and this was not limited to those who killed slaves or serfs, but extended to those who killed kings. The amount of the fine was related to the status of the person killed. Killing a serf might cost 60 solidi, which was 720 pence, two to three years' wages at a time when a penny was a day's wage. Killing a priest resulted in a fine of 300 solidi, or 400 if he was saying mass at the time. Killing a nobleman had a fine of 1200. In some places, killing a woman resulted in a fine equal to half of that of a man of the same rank; in other places it was double. Other crimes were dealt with similarly. Rape had a fine of 60 solidi. Lifting a woman's hem to expose her legs had a much lower fine, and lifting her hat or veil resulted in a lower fine yet, 5 solidi, or about two months' wages.

Prisons were used primarily to hold people awaiting trial or people who were considered dangerous. There were forms of confinement, but these often were requirements that the convict never leave a certain small geographical area, such as the neighborhood he lived in or the manor he lived on.

Though there were rulers who were simply cruel and tortured people often, the Church was not happy with torture and actively lobbied against it. The punishments of the Middle Ages were usually aimed at retribution rather than revenge. The fine for stealing was usually three or four times the value of the thing stolen, with the court keeping a quarter to cover its costs, and the rest going to the victim. In the later times, when a fine for murder or rape was no longer considered acceptable, they became capital crimes. Laws of the 13th century gave the family of a rape victim the right to perform the execution. In England of the 14th century, a rape victim was given the right to mutilate her attacker in any way she saw fit, including blinding and castration.

Witch trials were a product of the very end of the Middle Ages, and were much more important in the Renaissance and later. People in the Middle Ages were no more superstitious or intolerant than those of the Renaissance, or today, for that matter. Frankish and Lombard law forbade executing witches unless it could be proven they had actually killed someone with a curse. In fact burning a witch was a capital crime.

Of course they had the crusades, which were a series of wars fueled by a combination of religious feelings and greed. But the Catholic Church was not the only game in town. There were Jews living in many places, and while they were abused in some, they were invited into others, where they were protected. Large numbers of Muslims lived in Spain through the Middle Ages, only to be persecuted and driven out as the Middle Ages had ended. Heresies were the targets of crusades, but there were a large number of heretics who were left alone by the Church at various times including some kings and emperors.

An abused wife, a felon, or any runaway could take refuge in a church or monastery, and in some places even the king could not remove such a person from the sanctuary they had. There was more than one queen who decided to leave her husband and moved into a convent, leaving him wondering what to do about it. Violation of sanctuary could get a king excommunicated.

An excommunicated king was not in good shape politically because all people with oaths made to that king were freed of those oaths. Anyone who had sworn to guard, obey, or support him was free to do whatever he wanted. Anyone who might think he had a better right to the throne was free to assert it. Any king who had a treaty he did not like with that king was free to regard it as invalid.

Women had rights, and could even rule in most kingdoms. They did not, for the most part, because their claim came after that of any male heirs. They also could not rule in France, the Holy Roman Empire, Denmark, or a few other countries. But they could rule in Scotland, England, the various Spanish kingdoms, Poland, the Byzantine Empire, and other places. A few, such as Margaret I of Denmark, ruled even though the law forbade it. In her case, she could do this because the most important people in the country trusted and supported her. Also, when the "rightful" heir sent an army to take her throne, she thoroughly trashed it.

The members of royalty had arranged marriages, but most people did not. In many places a woman represented herself once she came of age. Also, the Church sometimes nullified marriages that were imposed, simply for that reason, if either of the partners requested it. The age of marriage for most people was surprisingly high, and in the Late Middle Ages, marriages took place at an average age of 25, in many places. Church weddings, too, were not usually required until after the Middle Ages were over. People took vows to each other, often without even witnesses, and then usually registered the fact they were married at the church, though it was not required. (I didn't believe these things either, but this is what the link below says, and it appears well documented.)

They had entertainments of various kinds. Theater was important through the entire Middle Ages, and changed considerably during the time. People liked to make music and dance, and in some places, it was normal for groups of people to sing together almost spontaneously; unsurprisingly, the source on this was Welsh.

There were sports, including forms of football that seem more like a riot than a game, but could have involved entire villages, playing against each other. They played tennis, and a game called battledores and shuttlecocks, which was rather like Badminton for two, but without a net. They bowled, and played forms of billiards. Children played with dolls and balls, as, I would imagine, they have through all history.

There is so much more to add.

There is a bunch of reference links below, and some related questions.

The Feudal systemIn the Middle Ages society was organized into a kind of pyramid called the feudal system. At the top of the pyramid was the king. Below him were the barons or tenants-in-chief. The king granted them land and in return they had to provide soldiers in time of war.

The church was an important part of the feudal system. The church owned vast amounts of land and livestock. Furthermore the peasants had to give a tithe or one tenth of everything they produced (crops, eggs, animals) to the church. Many bishops and abbots were very rich and powerful.

In the Middle Ages the king ruled by divine right. In other words people believed that God had chosen him to be king and rebellion against him was a sin. However that did not stop rebellions! Kings had limited power in the Middle Ages and rebellion was easy. A great deal depended on the personality of the king. If he was a strong character he could control the barons. If he were weak or indecisive the barons would often rebel. Warrior kings who fought successful wars were the most powerful as they were popular with the nobility.

The Black plagueThe SpreadingThe Black Plague is a disease that spread throughout Europe and Asia. It was carried to Europe on Asian merchants' ships which had black rats which carried fleas which carried a type of bacteria.This was mostly used by the silk roads or the ship trading route.It spreads to Europe and northern Africa.The fleas then suck on the Europeans. This disease is easily for people to get infected due to the middle ages conditions, the streets were filled with trash and even human waste( toilet waste). So it is normal to see rats and mice running across the houses of the middle ages, so fleas will suck on the rats' blood(which carries bacteria) and then infected to other humans. Mongolia 14th CenturyMongolia was at sake of war which was known as the 100 years war they had been attacking the city of Caffa. Soldiers and warriors became infected and thousands began to die, but ironically, instead of burying the dead soldiers, the mongols began to catapult the infected dead bodies towards the enemies and into the city of Caffa. Some enemies succeed to escape and move to Europe. Some families of the men that return home hug or kisses them( which they did not know the men were infected. EuropeThe Italians that came back to Europe had been infected to the black plague and was spreading it to everyone they can touch. Soon afterward, about 2/3 of Europe moved to the country which they thought it was more safer than in the city. They began building villages around the countrysides. Soon afterward, the countryside was also infected by the disease, started by every morning, there will be a man yelling " Bring out your dead! ". The Europeans soon later realizes that this is a plague that will wipe off the entire face of Europe. AftermathFor about suffering from the plague for about 4 years, The Black Plague is finally coming to a rest. In the 4 years suffering, over 25,000,000 people were dead In Europe. It was the biggest plague ever in history. It wiped out over 1/3 of Europe's population, In china, about 50 million people died and 75 million worldwide earning its name the black plague.

Answer 2

Today we think of this time in a romantic way. King Arthur and castles. Knights fighting for the fair maiden. Well, it wasn't that way at all. It was a time of death, chaos, and wars. It was a time when 90% of the people were peasants or serfs and had a bowl of barley soup three times a day. When they lived in wattle houses that are just mud, straw, dung, and white washed over. That were one room with no heat or cooling, a dirt floor, and a bed of straw for a mattress. They used tallow candles, which smelled and gave off an oily smoke, and went to bed at sundown and got up at sunrise. Who didn't live much longer than 40 years, but the average life span was more like 20 years old. They died of diseases, war, murder, and accidents. The women died in childbirth and many babies soon died after they were born. The women had no rights and the children could be used, abused, and sold. People were not educated nor could they read or write. They didn't even remember important dates unless an event happened around the date they wanted to remember. Their world was a pretty stinky place. Everyone smelled because no one took a bath or washed their clothing.

The knights were more like the mob than knights in shining armour. They would beat and rob people in the name of their overlord. It was a time when the strongest had the power and the weak were under the power of the strongest. The people who lived under this person worked and died for him. Paid him taxes and went to war when he decided he wanted a war. They had no rights nor liberty. The castles were cold and damp with only one large room that was heated by a fireplace. Most often the great hall was used to meet, sleep, and eat in. It had rushes on the floor that contained rotten food, animal dung and feces, mice and other creatures. They ate off of trenchers which were big slabs of bread or a wormy rotten piece of wood. The food was mushy, over cooked, under cooked, rotten, and bad tasting (this is one reason why everyone wanted spices). Salt was so valuable that it was kept in a special box called a salt box and was only at the head table.

The Church told everyone that they were born in sin and to get to heaven when they died they needed to repent all of their lives. They paid taxes to the church and helped make it rich. The Church told everyone what to think and how to think it. They taught everyone that to talk to God you had to go through them and they knew what God wanted. He wanted everyone to follow the teachings of the church. They didn't allow for science or other thinking to grow. If it did they cut it off at the source. They controlled the powerful and powerless.

Now, think you would like to live there? To go back? None of us would last the first night.