In medieval times was it better to live in a town or village?

Answer 1

In the Middle Ages, a village was defined as a community with a church, but without a permanent market place, a town hall, or full time town governmental officials. Most medieval manors had villages on them, because the Church was very interested in providing places of worship to the people on the manors.

Village dwellers were mostly the farmers and other laborers who lived on the manors. There were usually people who worked at trades, including a baker, and possibly a blacksmith, a carpenter, spinners, possibly weavers, potters, and so on. There were also the people who were servants in the manor.

Life was fairly simple, and revolved mostly around the seasons and the farming work needed in the proper times. Fields had to be plowed, crops tended or harvested, and food put away for the winter. Fences had to be mended, repairs to buildings had to be done, and so on. All of this was assigned to members of the community by the reeve, or undertaken according to some tradition.

Everyone was expected to go to church. Everyone was also expected to provide support for the government, for example by attending manorial court, if a person was of class or office that required it.

Though there was no market, there might be fairs every year. Sometimes acting troupes would come through a village and put on a play. There were regular feasts on saint's days. There were sporting events in some villages, such as medieval football.

It was not particularly exciting, unless there was a war, plague, famine, or Viking raids. These were things most people would want not to think about.

Answer 2

Both town and village had their rich and poor, had some who lived quite comfortably, and had others who struggled for basic needs. The main difference between the two is the focus of the economy and the type of work one might do.

Villages were heavily focused on agriculture, tending crops and animals. There was a wide range of standards of living. The poorest villagers hand only a cottage and perhaps a half acre or acre of land to garden and had to hire out to others to support themselves. The middle range had perhaps ten or twelve acres of land which was enough to support a family. A few had considerably more, thrity, forty, or in rare cases even more land, and had houses not that much inferior to the manor. Villages would have a church unless they were very, very small, and a few professionals as well, such as a miller, a smith, a carpenter, a baker, in a large village perhaps a few others. But most people farmed and subsisted on their own produce, animals, wool, hides, etc, and sold the slim surplus in a nearby town.

Those towns, the smallest of which were not necessarily larger than a large village, and even among the larger were typically a few thousand people, (true cities being very rare and still small by modern standards), were focused on crafting and trade rather than farming. They could not feed themselves and had to import food from their hinterlands, both from the peasants as well and buying the cash crops from the fields of the feudal lords in the area. Most of the residents of these towns practiced a trade, had a profession, or worked for someone who did. There were also merchants, those who were not producing any goods but were in the business of buying and selling the work of others, sometimes over distance. There were permanent markets with regular market days, something the village did not have. There were also accommodations for travelers (a village would not typically have an Inn) and taverns, as well a luxuries like cook shops where one could purchase ready to eat hot food. Larger towns had bath houses. A city would have a trade fair once or twice a year in addition to weekly market days.

As to which was better there is no clear answer. As I have said both had a range of wealth and lifestyles from bare subsistence to considerable comfort. Both involved a great deal of hard work to make a living for most people. Town had more resources, comforts, and distractions at hand, but also were more crowded, had crime, and (although they were not as severe as sometimes made out) could have sanitation and health issues. Villagers lead a simpler life with more elbow room, probably a closer community, and fresher air, but did hard physical farm labor by hand and had half a day's walk to buy a new pair of shoes or a comb.

Answer 3

The Middle Ages was a stinky dirty dangerous time. About 90% of the people were very poor and lived in houses made of wattle (sticks woven together with mud, dung, and straw over them) in one room with a fireplace. They had a candle made of tallow that put out a black oily smoke and ate very course breads and oatmeal type foods. No one took baths and no one washed clothing so fleas and other bugs were living on people. The water was bad and the food rotten. Most people died young from diseases or in wars. Large cities like London or Paris could be smelled miles away because of the dead animals, dung in the streets, and poor garbage collection. Rats were everywhere and there were no bathrooms. The rich lived in large drafty castles and did eat better because they could hunt in the forests they controlled. Poor people were sentenced to death for killing a deer in the Kings forests. People worked hard, died young, and had to pay taxes to the king for everything including death.

Answer 4

YESSIRRRRRR