Life in the Middle Ages

[Matt3737]

vs

Could you clarify what point, if any, you are trying to make?

I'm not sure I follow what you mean....

Are you saying cannibalism is acceptable so long as a priest hands out the body and blood of the ritual sacrifice?

 

[Siimplicity]

i think that in order to foster a better understanding of times long past, it is very important not to judge in comparison with our modern day understanding. everyday life was so different then and the people of that age did not have it so easy as many of us. perception of life and death was far from our current world view.

in a time long ago, things that may seem distasteful to us now may have been considered absolutely vital. who's to say -- we weren't there -- we are striving to understand why -- the best way is to remain open to their point of view.

 

[BrokenDaniel]

in think that in order to foster a better understanding of times long past, it is very important not to judge in comparison with our modern day understanding. everyday life was so different then and the people of that age did not have it so easy as many of us. perception of life and death was far from our current world view.

in a time long ago, things that may seem distasteful to us now may have been considered absolutely vital. who's to say -- we weren't there -- we are striving to understand why -- the best way is to remain open to their point of view.

I concur

Standards of morality are relative and certainly fluctuating through time. It already happened, so it's much more intelligent to strive to understand the why instead of playing the partisan so quickly.

 

[Misadventure]

One of my favorite things from this era is the printing press. It changed the world in so many ways and for the first time allowed information to be easily circulated worldwide. Without it, we wouldn't have computers today.

 

[Arg]

We still have cock fights where we live, and not the gay kind.

 

[Artisan]

The most interesting thing in my opinion is the changes between maps inside of Europe. flipping through them, you see them change drastically all the time, you see insane wars being fought whilst several countries are expanding and experiencing their golden ages. Whilst if you look at the map, you realize that had it not been for eastern europe, all of the modern day "west" would not be the way it is now.

There have been hundreds of years of desperate struggles against an ever expanding ottoman empire.
And judging by the maps, it been only slightly over a 100 years ago since the end of that struggle that has almost been completely forgotten in western school's their history books.
It definitely makes one think about the modern day political decisions being made.

A youtube video showing europes history through maps from 3000bc - 2013AD. (watch from about 3 minutes in to see everything relevant to what I just posted, though the borders are a lot less static if you look at some other similar videos)
[video=youtube;l53bmKYXliA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l53bmKYXliA[/video]

 

[the]

A lack of knights who rode dragons.

 

[Enkidu]

A youtube video showing europes history through maps from 3000bc - 2013AD. (watch from about 3 minutes in to see everything relevant to what I just posted, though the borders are a lot less static if you look at some other similar videos)
[video=youtube;l53bmKYXliA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l53bmKYXliA[/video]

Fascinating video! Thanks for sharing. My only qualm was how the early steppe tribes from Iran to the Urals were labeled as 'Scythian' from 2000 BCE to 1200 CE then promptly switched to Huns before Attila's reign. In reality, those were very loosely confederated micro-kingdoms that weren't really ethnically related to each other. The same with Finno-Ugric as early as 2000 BCE; that one baffles me a bit. Otherwise, it was really fun to watch, especially when the Romans, Golden Horde, and Ottomans shift the borderlines

 

[Artisan]

Fascinating video! Thanks for sharing. My only qualm was how the early steppe tribes from Iran to the Urals were labeled as 'Scythian' from 2000 BCE to 1200 CE then promptly switched to Huns before Attila's reign. In reality, those were very loosely confederated micro-kingdoms that weren't really ethnically related to each other. The same with Finno-Ugric as early as 2000 BCE; that one baffles me a bit. Otherwise, it was really fun to watch, especially when the Romans, Golden Horde, and Ottomans shift the borderlines

yeah it's not very accurate, it has 5 year gaps as the smallest at one point which completely jumps over ww2. It also fails to show the fluidity of some of the more contested borders, but for someones pet project, I think it's a nice video. Perhaps one day I'll come across someone who does it on a year by year basis so it actually looks animated instead of a few second gap between transitions.

 

[Gaze]

After reading so many historical romance novels , I'm learning more about the Scottish clans and their feuds around the 13th century. What's interesting is the Scottish fight for self determination, with King Robert the Bruce at the helm. The clans feuds lasted centuries. The clan Grant was a very powerful one. What's so cool is that each clan had its own plaid, and occupied particular regions. Found this map.

Edit: Apparently, Macleod and Campbells were also very powerful clans.

Also, I've always been curious about the story behind the crests.

The patterned plaid or tartans for each clan is also fascinating:

 

[Gaze]

Tartans

So, apparently, Scottish clan tartans weren't really rigidly defined and clans were only associated with a particular tartan in the 18th century. Funny enough, a hoax was responsible for claims of clan specific tartans.

Ever since the Victorian "tartan craze", tartans and "clan tartans" have been an important part of a Scottish clans. Almost all Scottish clans have more than one tartan attributed to their surname. Although there are no rules on who can or cannot wear a particular tartan, and it is possible for anyone to create a tartan and name it almost any name they wish, the only person with the authority to make a clan's tartan "official" is the chief.[SUP][36][/SUP] In some cases, following such recognition from the clan chief, the clan tartan is recorded and registered by the Lord Lyon. Once approved by the Lord Lyon, after recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Tartan, the clan tartan is then recorded in the Lyon Court Books.[SUP][37][/SUP] In at least one instance a clan tartan appears in the heraldry of a clan chief and the Lord Lyon considers it to be the "proper" tartan of the clan.[SUP][note 1]
[/SUP]Originally,there appears to have been no association of tartans with specific clans; instead, highland tartans were produced to various designs by local weavers and any identification was purely regional, but the idea of a clan-specific tartan gained currency in the late 18th century and in 1815 the Highland Society of London began the naming of clan-specific tartans. Many clan tartans derive from a 19th-century hoax known as the Vestiarium Scoticum. The Vestiarium was composed by the "Sobieski Stuarts", who passed it off as a reproduction of an ancient manuscript of clan tartans. It has since been proven a forgery, but despite this, the designs are still highly regarded and they continue to serve their purpose to identify the clan in question.

Also,

A sign of allegiance to a certain clan chief is the wearing of a crest badge. The crest badge suitable for a clansman or clanswoman consists of the chief's heraldic crest encircled with a strap and buckle and which contains the chief's heraldic motto or slogan. Although it is common to speak of "clan crests", there is no such thing.[SUP][39][/SUP] In Scotland (and indeed all of UK) only individuals, not clans, possess a heraldic coat of arms.[SUP][40][/SUP] Even though any clansmen and clanswomen may purchase crest badges and wear them to show their allegiance to his or her clan, the heraldic crest and motto always belong to the chief alone.[SUP][10][/SUP] In principle, these badges should only be used with the permission of the clan chief; and the Lyon Court has intervened in cases where permission has been withheld.[SUP][41][/SUP] Scottish crest badges, much like clan-specific tartans, do not have a long history, and owe much to Victorian era romanticism, having only been worn on thebonnet since the 19th century.[SUP][42][/SUP] The concept of a clan badge or form of identification may have some validity, as it is commonly stated that the original markers were merely specific plants worn in bonnets or hung from a pole or spear.[SUP][43][/SUP]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_clan

 

[Gaze]

[video=youtube;QCJ30l09few]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCJ30l09few[/video]

 

[housel]

Middle ages- no toalet paper- no tnx

 

[Artisan]

Middle ages- no toalet paper- no tnx

in some countries, they use their right hand and some water instead x)

 

[brightmoon]

Difficult to judge how life was back in those times. Not a great chance of living beyond your fifties, especially during the time of the bubonic plague. I think you would have been better off living in the Roman Empire, because the standard of living was likely higher. During the middle ages it likely would have better living in the Abbassid Caliphate, the Umayyad Caliphate, China under the Yuan dynasty, or Japan during the Muromachi period or the Kamakura period. Sounds like Europe was not the best place to be in this timeframe.

 

[sprinkles]

[video=youtube;NR7dG_m3MsI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR7dG_m3MsI[/video]

 

[Fidicen]

There is so much literature, culture, art, music, architecture, etc. from this era. We also saw a ton of political changes and social development as well. What's the most interesting thing you've learned about this period?

Returning to the original question, what I find most interesting about the Middle Ages is literature and architecture. It's also fascinating to discover how much there was development despite the period being called the dark ages. I find it amusing that the idea of the dark ages is so strong that even though the period is often said to start before the year 500 and end in the 15th century, some people claim that Boethius or the 14th century Italian authors (Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarca) aren't a part of it, instead assigning their works to late antiquity and early Renaissance. In many ways literature really flourished in the period even though the level of illiteracy was high. Our ideas of what is romantic is very much born from the ideals of French (or Occitan) troubadours, and if it wasn't for the medieval horror tales of hell, many of which were recorded in the Divine Comedy, Christians would have much less to talk about. I also like how for example Boccaccio could combine the elevated and the vulgar styles, and while later literature up to early 19th century got even more sophisticated, I sometimes think the later developments made literature too florid, and later on too simple as it became a mass market industry.

Also the Middle Ages saw the rise of Islam and the cultural flourishing it initially brought with it, the fascinating architectural developments, the arabesques and the patterns you can stare at for ages, the Islamic poets and the Arabian Nights. And of course in the west the Romanesque and Gothic architecture, in many ways the most impressive cathedrals people have built. Also a lot of the great Buddhist artworks were made and developed during that time.

 

[Ren]

@Fidicen aka the new gravedigger

Here's what's cool about the Middle Ages. Music:

And care for others:

Spoiler: As well as a general sense of peace and benevolence

 

[bonfire]

A few things I like are the music and the architecture, besides that, meh.

 

[Artisan]

There is so much literature, culture, art, music, architecture, etc. from this era. We also saw a ton of political changes and social development as well. What's the most interesting thing you've learned about this period?

That the victors of the subsequent periods write history in a manner that fits them best.

The most interesting thing in my opinion though is that a lot of the medieval stuff, such as fairytales/folkstales and things associated there to originate from middle and eastern europe.

In modern times people associate the iconic subjects of the middle ages with Britain and France nearly exclusively, which would be like associating modern day western society with Scandinavia, whilst the A lot of the modern day people would say America is perceived as the center of western society...

Although that is slowly shifting. Bottom line. Public perception of the center of the world wide stage has shifted from where it had been in that day and age in correlation to the Middle ages.