The period of the Middle Ages (from lat. media - the middle) occupies a middle position between the time ancient world and New Time. The transition to it was marked by the Renaissance, the Great geographical discoveries, the industrial revolution and the emergence of a market economy.

The chronology of the beginning of the Middle Ages is beyond doubt. It is customary to consider the 5th century AD, more precisely, 476 AD, as the starting point, when the leader of the Germanic barbarian tribes, Odacar, deposed last emperor Western Roman Empire Romulus Augustulus. The word "barbarians" comes from "barbaros", as the Greeks called everyone who incomprehensibly chatted in an unknown and dissonant language.

This word has become a household word for the destroyers of material and spiritual values. In addition, representatives of the tribes - the conquerors of Rome were at a lower level of general cultural development than the Greeks and Romans.

For all those who study the economic history of mankind, it seems most reasonable to start the starting point of the New Age, following the Middle Ages, with the events of the industrial revolution in England in the 60s.

Conventionally, the entire Middle Ages can be divided into three stages:

the first - early Middle Ages from the end of the 5th - the beginning of the 6th century.

the second - the heyday of medieval civilization from the 10th to the 15th centuries;

the third - the late Middle Ages - from the end of the 15th to the middle of the 18th century.

So, the duration is set.

Location - Europe. This word comes from "Erebus" - "West" (translated from Semitic). Under the Greeks and Romans, Europe was seen as an object for collecting indemnities. It was, as it were, a barbarian periphery, the border of the Roman Empire. From north to south, the continent is located from the Arctic Ocean to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, from west to east - from the Atlantic coast to the Ural Mountains.

So, since antiquity, the concept of Europe has been identified with the geographical definition of "West" and opposed to "Asu" (translated from the Semitic "Asia"), or East. For the peoples and countries that already inhabited Europe in those centuries, one can single out common features economic, socio-political and socio-cultural development.

Countries have long been distinguished on the continent Western Europe: England, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Scandinavian countries. It's faster here than in Eastern Europe, the processes of feudalization and industrialization took place, achievements in science and technology were more clearly manifested. The Celtic and Germanic tribes were part of the Roman Empire and had the opportunity to meet and adopt some of the achievements of the advanced for that time ancient civilization.

Western European countries with the end of the Great Migration of Peoples established themselves in state borders. They actively used the advantages and benefits of their geographical position. The seas and rivers surrounding them, crossing the plains and mountains, facilitated trade and primary exchanges of information about various kinds of innovations in material culture.

Eastern Europe has become a place of settlement of Slavic tribes, which turned out to be geographically farther from the seas and the ancient world centers of culture.

A kind of outpost of Europe in the east was Byzantium - the successor of the Eastern Roman Empire.

The main feature of the early Middle Ages was the emergence of feudalism in the young European states.

A qualitatively new civilization - Western (European) - is formed precisely in the Middle Ages on the basis of a synthesis of the relations of private property and the colony (lease relations) of antiquity and the communal-collectivist principles of European tribes.

The third component of this synthesis new civilization was material and spiritual culture ancient east the foundation of all world civilization. Without taking into account these closely interrelated processes that determined the material basis of European civilization, one cannot understand the features of the progress of the European economy in the Middle Ages, the formation of world economic relations.

By the beginning of the Middle Ages, the productive forces of Ancient Greece and Rome were largely destroyed, the monuments of material and spiritual culture perished in fires during the raids of barbarian tribes, in continuous wars, with the active migration of large masses of the population.

Many labor skills were forgotten, the qualifications of artisans were lost. In the early Middle Ages, the development of technology and people's knowledge of the world around them was at a very low level.

This led to low labor productivity.

Middle Ages

Manual, handicraft production prevailed. For the successful development of vast new spaces in the north and in the center of Europe, covered with dense forests, the means of communication were primitive. Poor communication between individual regions made it difficult to exchange experience in economic life, which also held back progress. Wars, epidemics of plague and cholera, mass diseases of people and domestic animals greatly undermined the productive forces of society.

But at the same time, the most important process of the formation of modern states was taking place, within the framework of which national economic complexes began to gradually form.

Appearance already in the XIII century. in England, the Parliament, then the first constitutions in a number of countries legislated the right of private ownership of the main means of production. The works of scientists in chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, mechanics were used in technical improvements, navigation; rising living standards of the people. The dissemination of knowledge accumulated by mankind was facilitated by printing. 1000 years after the fall of ancient Rome, a galaxy of brilliant thinkers, rightfully headed by Leonardo da Vinci, put the production and cultural experience of antiquity at the service of people.

They reached new heights in technology, science, art, often looking far ahead, ahead of their time. The Renaissance was not only the heyday of medieval civilization, but also worthily introduced human society into the New Age, leading it through the Great Geographical Discoveries.

So, there was no smooth transition, no progressive movement in the development of productive forces according to ascending line from the era of the Ancient World to the Middle Ages, but there was undoubtedly economic progress, especially characteristic of the third period of the Middle Ages.

Early Middle Ages (V-X centuries)

The question of the population of Europe as a whole and its individual regions in the era of the Early Middle Ages in modern historical science is still debatable. Due to the lack of accurate statistics, we can only name the most approximate figures.

So, by the middle of the 5th c.

Italy remained the most densely populated region of Europe, where 4-5 million people lived, 3-5 million lived on the territory of modern France, about 4 million lived in Spain, up to 3 million in Germany, and about 1 million in the British Isles.

What years are the Middle Ages?

The population of Europe was constantly changing. Crop failures, epidemics, incessant wars led to a demographic decline. But from the beginning of the 7th c. the European population begins to gradually increase.

However, population growth in Europe during the Middle Ages was neither consistent nor constant.

To a large extent, it depended on changes in life expectancy, fertility and mortality. In the Early Middle Ages, the average life expectancy for a man was 40-45 years, for women - 32-35 years.

Such a short lifespan can be explained by the depletion of the body due to constant malnutrition, frequent epidemics, constant wars, and nomad raids. Also, factors influencing the reduction in the average life expectancy of women were early marriages and short intervals between the births of children.

High and late Middle Ages (XI-XV centuries)

The general population growth, which began as early as the 7th century, continues until the beginning of the 14th century.

By this time, 10-12 million people lived in Italy, France and Spain, 9 million in Germany, and about 4 million people in the British Isles. This was the maximum that the traditional agricultural economy could feed.

In the middle of the XIV century. An incomparable blow to the European population was dealt by a terrible plague epidemic, called the Black Death.

According to various sources, it claimed from half to two-thirds of the population of Europe. After this, the most terrible wave, the plague returned to Europe more than once. So, the plague epidemic of 1410-1430 was accompanied by huge victims. It was only by the beginning of the 16th century that the population losses caused by the plague could be replenished. Material from the site http://wikiwhat.ru

average life expectancy

Coming to the beginning of the XI century.

socio-political stabilization, increased productivity, general economic recovery, and a decrease in the frequency and intensity of epidemics led to an increase in average life expectancy: for men - up to 45-50 years, for women - up to 38-40 years.

The number of people over 50 years old in the XII century. accounted for 12-13% of the total population. In the XI-XII centuries. the number of children in families is increasing, which is associated with a decrease in the level of infant mortality due to improved living conditions.

Material from the site http://WikiWhat.ru

On this page, material on the topics:

• The population of medieval Europe

• The population of the Kama region in the Middle Ages

• Life expectancy in Europe during the Middle Ages

• The population of the cities of the Middle Ages

• Population in the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages cover the period from the 5th to the 17th centuries. In the early periods of the Middle Ages, many peoples began to form statehood, which was accompanied by large-scale conquests and the creation of huge early feudal states.

All the battles and battles that took place at that time were distinguished by particular cruelty, bloodshed and total plunder of enemy territories. AT further development feudal relations became the basis for political fragmentation and long internecine wars.

At the junction of antiquity and the Middle Ages in the history of Europe, Asia and North Africa, there was another period, which was called the "Great Migration of Peoples".

There was a migration of the barbarian tribes of Asia and Europe to the territory of the ancient centers of civilization, where barbarian states were created. They became the basis of medieval states. At the same time, new public relations and the culture that developed in them later had a huge impact on neighboring nations, the development of which no one interrupted by force.

As a result, medieval feudal states with more or less significant political and economic differences were formed.

The early Middle Ages (V-XI centuries) are considered by many historians as a period of decline in military affairs. Only from time to time were short-term military successes of one or another people, commander or some state. Among them one can name individual moments Arab Muslim conquests, Viking campaigns, military achievements of the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne, the Chinese Tang Empire, the state of Mahmud Ghaznevi.

There was a simplification of military affairs, i.e.

e. everything was like in the days of military leaders, only now in Christian states. As a result of this, the number of troops was sharply reduced, but the quality of a professional fighter who devoted his life to the art of war increased markedly. Battles in the early Middle Ages took place between tiny armies of a few hundred or thousands of fighters.

For complex constructions and the maneuvers of people were sorely lacking.

The armament and equipment of the knights remained unpretentious. The main weapons were the sword and spear. In addition to them, there were battle axes and clubs. Foot soldiers began to use composite bows of the eastern type.

By the XI century, a crossbow appeared in Europe. An interesting fact is that the bow and crossbow were considered at that time the most dangerous weapons, because an arrow fired at close range easily pierced chain mail.

In order to get as close as possible to the enemy, the troops began to build a column and a wedge.

The knights, as a rule, tried to save their horses for the attack. They let them rest, because the heavy equipment of the warriors was extremely tiring for the animals. The knights usually rode at a pace, and at this time they were ideal targets for archers and crossbowmen.

And such troops in the 11th-12th centuries during the Crusades clashed with the armies of Muslims.

Problems began to arise immediately. Muslim warriors inherited the wonderful military traditions of Iran and the eastern regions of the Roman Empire.

They were protected by chain mail and a caftan quilted on cotton wool, over which a shell was put on, consisting of interconnected plates. The spheroconic helmet was equipped with a steel half-mask and a chain mail aventail (a part of the helmet that covers the neck and sometimes the face).

Muslim warriors carried with them round, small shields, greaves made of leather reinforced with steel plates.

The collision of a simplified European military machine with a much more complex and developed eastern nevertheless highlighted two important advantages of the Europeans - stamina and endurance.

The European rulers in the East recruited mercenaries for horse archers from local residents. Such warriors were called turkopulas. To strengthen discipline, the knights had to give up many of the joys of life, tame pride and arrogance, and observe subordination. Then spiritual and chivalric orders began to appear.

Uccello. "Battle of San Romano"

The military traditions of the Roman Empire were almost entirely adopted by the Byzantines. They used a combination of squads belonging to the emperor and nobles, with mercenary and allied detachments, as well as militias of military settlers. The armament of the Byzantines, although it resembled the Muslim one, was closer to the ancient Roman prototypes.

There were good prerequisites for the development of military affairs in China, where, in addition to practical, detailed military treatises, the commander had at his disposal numerous fighters, detachments of nomadic federates, as well as wide selection weapons and a powerful industrial base.

The Japanese received the initial impetus for the development of military affairs from Korea and China, where there was a cult of weapons.

The Japanese had especially great achievements in the production of blades, which in the 7th-8th centuries began to be made using the Damascus method.

In the 13th century, the Mongol invasion almost completely changed military affairs in Asia and Europe. Genghis Khan and his successors had military successes only thanks to the strictest discipline based on a system of material incentives and the most severe punishments for various misconduct.

Steppe squads turned into real army, which retained all the advantages of a nomadic army - speed of movement, maneuverability on a campaign and on the battlefield, as well as the traditions of dividing troops and allocating reserves, methods of false retreats with luring into an ambush.

Under Mongolian influence Western European armor has changed. The metal now hugged every part of the knight's body.

Turkey also made its contribution to the development of military affairs. Although strike force The Ottoman troops, as before, were heavily armed horsemen, the basis of the army was foot shooters and saber fighters - Janissaries, who were brought up in special schools.

In the middle of the 16th century, the horseman was armed with a shield made of thick leather, a long spear, a saber, or a konchar, a knack and a pair of pistols. The effectiveness of such cavalry in battle was so great that it served in the future as a prototype of two types of cavalry - lancers and hussars in Europe.

Since the development of crafts and manufactories continued, commodity-money relations also developed. As a result, centralized states began to form in Europe. All these transformations created the prerequisite for changing the methods of warfare, i.e.

e. permanent troops began to arise, surpassing in their organization, armament and preparedness of personnel the previously existing feudal detachments and non-permanent armies. During this period, firearms appeared in the arsenal of the armies, which simply revolutionized the way wars were waged.

In connection with the advent of firearms, the composition and organization of armies changed radically.

For example, the heavy knightly cavalry disappeared from the battlefield, and the infantry was armed firearms, and she became the main branch of the military. In addition, another branch of the armed forces arose - artillery.

New social relations, mostly capitalist, were established in the most economically developed countries, which included, among others, England and the Netherlands. In the period from the 12th to the 18th centuries, mercenary troops, as a rule, prevailed, and mass armies did not exist.

Zurbaran. "Defense of Cadiz from the British"

At that time, the target for hostilities was not the army, but the territory of the enemy, because all wars were fought just for the sake of capturing new lands without decisive battles. The troops maneuvered a lot, forcing the enemy to retreat, that is, the war was waged not to destroy the enemy, but to exhaust him. This strategy became known as maneuvering.

Its essence was to exhaust the enemy with maneuvers without resorting to major battles. In this regard, powerful fortresses with strong garrisons were built on the borders of states. Therefore, the soldiers at that time had to be able not only to perform maneuvers, but also to storm the fortress or besiege them.

In the Middle Ages, battles took place in a variety of territories.

For example, we can name the attempt of the Mongols under the command of Kublai Khan to invade Japan, and the Japanese - to Korea, the struggle for dominance in the Mediterranean between Christians and Mohammedans, the wars between European states for influence in the world and authority on trade routes and colonies.

J. S. Copley. "The Death of Major Pearson"

All these reasons contributed to the promotion of talented military leaders, including admirals, who became the founders of naval combat tactics.

The most characteristic example is the Anglo-Dutch wars, which at first used armed commercial ships. During the battles, the ships lined up in different ways, but most often - in two wake columns.

The tactics developed by the Dutch admiral Ruyter were countered by the onslaught of the English flagships, who advanced from the cavalry commanders.

Having won this war, England found itself in the position of the largest maritime power, for which the waterways were of vital importance. It is quite natural that it was in the British fleet that there were many capable admirals, distinguished by their strength of character, fortitude and ability to fight at sea.

Among them are Anson and Benbow, who most successfully proved themselves in battles with France, Spain, Holland and other countries. But the French sailors also showed great courage and excellent knowledge of maritime affairs.

The most prominent of these were Duquesne and Tourville.

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The Middle Ages (Middle Ages) is the designation of the period of world history accepted in historical science, following the history of the ancient world and preceding modern history. The concept of the Middle Ages (Latin medium aevum, literally - the middle age) appeared in the 15-16 centuries among Italian humanist historians, who considered the period of history preceding the Renaissance to be the "dark ages" of European culture.

The 15th century Italian humanist Flavio Biondo gave the first systematic exposition of the history of the Middle Ages in Western Europe as a special period of history, in historical science the term "Middle Ages" was established after a professor at the University of Halle X.

Keller called one of the three books of his textbook "History of the Middle Ages" (Ch. Cellarius, Historia medii aevi, a tempori bus Constantini Magni ad Constantinopolim a Turcas captain deducta..., Jenae, 1698). Keller divided world history into antiquity, the Middle Ages, modern times; believed that the Middle Ages lasted from the time of the division of the Roman Empire into East and West (395) and the fall of Constantinople (1453). In the 18th century, a special branch of historical science arose that studied the history of the Middle Ages - medieval studies.

In science, the Middle Ages date from the end of the 5th century - the second half of the 15th century. The conditional date for the beginning of the Middle Ages is the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and the end date of the Middle Ages is associated with the fall of Constantinople in 1453, with the discovery of America X.

Columbus in 1492, the Reformation in the 16th century. Supporters of the "Long Middle Ages" theory, based on data on changes in life common people, connect the end of the Middle Ages with the French Revolution. Marxist historiography has preserved the traditional three-part division of history into ancient, medieval, and new - the so-called "humanistic trichotomy".

She considered the Middle Ages as the era of the birth, development and decay of feudalism. Within the framework of the theory of the change of socio-economic formations, Marxists associated the end of the Middle Ages with the time of the English Revolution of the mid-17th century, after which capitalism began to actively develop in Europe.

The term "Middle Ages", which arose in relation to the history of the countries of Western Europe, is also used in relation to other regions of the world, especially to the history of those countries that had a feudal system. At the same time, the time frame of the Middle Ages may differ. For example, the beginning of the Middle Ages in China is usually dated to the 3rd century AD, in the Near and Middle East - from the spread of Islam (6th-7th centuries).

There is a period in the history of Russia Ancient Rus'- before the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Consequently, the beginning of the Middle Ages in Rus' refers to the 13th-14th centuries. The end of the medieval period in Russia is associated with the reforms of Peter the Great. Differences in chronology and the impossibility of applying the unambiguous application of the term "Middle Ages" to all regions of the world confirms its conditional nature.

In this regard, it seems reasonable to consider the Middle Ages at the same time as a global process, and as a phenomenon that had its own characteristics and its own characteristics in each country. chronological framework.
In the narrow sense of the word, the term "Middle Ages" is applied only in relation to the history of Western Europe and implies a number of specific features religious, economic, political life: the feudal system of land use, the system of vassalage, the dominance of the church in religious life, the political power of the church (the inquisition, church courts, feudal bishops), the ideals of monasticism and chivalry (a combination of the spiritual practice of ascetic self-improvement and altruistic service to society), flourishing medieval architecture- Gothic.

The European Middle Ages is conditionally divided into three periods: the early Middle Ages (end of the 5th - the middle of the 11th centuries), the high, or classical, Middle Ages (the middle of the 11th - the end of the 14th centuries), and the late Middle Ages (15th-16th centuries).

The term "Middle Ages" was first introduced by the Italian humanist Flavio Biondo in his work "Decades of History since the Decline of the Roman Empire". Before Biondo, the dominant term for the period from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Renaissance was the concept of "Dark Ages" introduced by Petrarch, which in modern historiography means a narrower period of time.

The humanists intended to designate in this way the boundary epoch between antiquity.

which inspired them, and contemporary times. Since humanists primarily assessed the state of language, writing, literature and art, this "middle" period seemed to them the embodiment of the savagery of the ancient world, barbarism and "kitchen" Latin.

In the 17th century, the term "Middle Ages" was introduced by the professor of the Gallic University J.

Keller. He divided world history into antiquity, the Middle Ages and modern times. Keller believed that the Middle Ages lasted from 395 until 1453.

In the narrow sense of the word, the term "Middle Ages" applies only to the Western European Middle Ages.

In this case, this term implies a number of specific features of religious, economic and political life: the feudal system of land use, the system of vassalage, the unconditional dominance of the Church in religious life, the political power of the Church, the ideals of monasticism and chivalry, the flowering of medieval architecture - Gothic.

In a broader sense, this term can be applied to any culture, but in this case it means either a predominantly chronological affiliation and does not indicate the presence of the above features of the Western European Middle Ages, or, conversely, indicates historical period, which has signs of the European Middle Ages, but does not coincide in chronology with the Middle Ages of Europe.

Knighthood in the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages - the era of domination in Western and Central Europe feudal economic and political system and the Christian religious worldview, which came after the collapse of antiquity.

Replaced by Renaissance. Covers the period from the 4th to the 14th centuries. In some regions, it was preserved even at a much later time. The Middle Ages are conditionally divided into Early Middle Ages, High Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages.

The most important feature medieval culture is the special role of the Christian faith and christian church. In the context of the general decline of culture immediately after the destruction of the Roman Empire, only the church remained for many centuries the only social institution common to all countries, tribes and states of Europe.

The church was the dominant political institution, but even more significant was the influence that the church had directly on the consciousness of the population. In the conditions of a difficult and meager life, against the background of extremely limited and most often unreliable knowledge about the world, Christianity offered people a coherent system of knowledge about the world, about its structure, about the forces and laws acting in it.

The Early Middle Ages in Europe is the period from the end of the 4th century.

until the middle of the tenth century. In general, the early Middle Ages was a time of deep decline in European civilization compared with the ancient era.

This decline was expressed in the dominance of natural economy, in the fall of handicraft production and, accordingly, urban life, in the destruction ancient culture under the pressure of the unwritten pagan world characteristic feature life in the early Middle Ages were constant wars, robberies and raids, which significantly slowed down economic and cultural development.

In the period from the 5th to the 10th centuries.

Against the backdrop of a general lull in construction, architecture and fine arts, two striking phenomena stand out that are important for subsequent events. This is the Merovingian period and the Carolingian Renaissance on the territory of the Frankish state .. Merovingian art. The architecture of the Merovingian era, although it reflected the decline of building technology caused by the collapse of the ancient world, at the same time prepared the ground for the flourishing of pre-Romanesque architecture during the Carolingian Renaissance. The Carolingian Renaissance.

In Carolingian art, which adopted both late antique solemnity and Byzantine grandeur, as well as local barbarian traditions, the foundations of European medieval artistic culture were formed. Temples and palaces were decorated with multicolored mosaics and frescoes.

The era of the Middle Ages

Russian and Western medieval studies consider the collapse of the Western Roman Empire at the end of the 5th century to be the beginning of the Middle Ages, however, in the encyclopedic edition of the UNESCO History of Humanity, the milestone was drawn at the time of the emergence of Islam.

Regarding the end of the Middle Ages, historians have no consensus. It was proposed to consider as such: the fall of Constantinople, the invention of printing, the discovery of America, the beginning of the Reformation, the Battle of Pavia, the beginning of the English Revolution, the end of the Thirty Years' War, the Peace of Westphalia and the equalization of the rights of Catholics and Protestants on the principle of cujus regio, ejus religio in 1648, 1660- years, the turn of the 1670s-1680s, the turn of the 1680s-1690s and some other periods.

Supporters of the so-called Long Middle Ages, based on data on the development of not the ruling elite, but the common people, consider the end of the Middle Ages, which entailed changes in all layers of European society, the Great French Revolution.

AT last years Russian medieval studies attribute the end of the Middle Ages to the middle or end of the 15th to the beginning of the 16th centuries. The most correct is to consider the Middle Ages both as a global process and as a phenomenon that had its own characteristics and its own period in each country. For example, if Italian historians consider the XIV century to be the beginning of the New Age, then in Russia the beginning new history usually attributed to the end of the 17th and the first decades of the 18th century.

It is very difficult to organize within the framework European Middle Ages, for example, the history of the states of Asia, Africa, pre-Columbian America. Disagreements in the chronology of the era and the impossibility of applying the term Middle Ages to all states of the world confirm its conditional character.

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Middle Ages. The most controversial and controversial era in the history of mankind. Some perceive it as the times of beautiful ladies and noble knights, minstrels and buffoons, when spears were broken, feasts were noisy, serenades were sung and sermons sounded. For others, the Middle Ages is the time of fanatics and executioners, the fires of the Inquisition, stinking cities, epidemics, cruel customs, unsanitary conditions, universal darkness and wildness.

Moreover, fans of the first option are often embarrassed by their admiration for the Middle Ages, they say that they understand that everything was not so - but they love outside knightly culture. While the supporters of the second option are sincerely sure that the Middle Ages were not called the Dark Ages for nothing, it was the most terrible time in the history of mankind.

The fashion to scold the Middle Ages appeared back in the Renaissance, when there was a sharp denial of everything that had to do with the recent past (as we know it), and then with light hand historians of the 19th century began to consider this the most dirty, cruel and rude Middle Ages ... the times from the fall of ancient states and until the 19th century, declared the triumph of reason, culture and justice. Then myths developed, which now wander from article to article, frightening fans of chivalry, the sun king, pirate novels, and in general all romantics from history.

Myth 1. All knights were stupid, dirty, uneducated dorks.

This is probably the most fashionable myth. Every second article about the horrors of Medieval customs ends with an unobtrusive morality - look, they say, dear women, how lucky you are, no matter what modern men are, they are definitely better than the knights you dream of.

Let's leave the dirt for later, there will be a separate discussion about this myth. As for ignorance and stupidity ... I thought recently how it would be funny if our time was studied according to the culture of "brothers". One can imagine what a typical representative would then be modern men. And you can’t prove that men are all different, there is always a universal answer to this - “this is an exception.”

In the Middle Ages, men, oddly enough, were also all different. Charlemagne collected folk songs, built schools, and knew several languages ​​himself. Richard Lion Heart, considered a typical representative of chivalry, wrote poetry in two languages. Karl the Bold, whom literature likes to display as a kind of boor-macho, knew Latin very well and loved to read ancient authors. Francis I patronized Benvenuto Cellini and Leonardo da Vinci.

The polygamist Henry VIII knew four languages, played the lute and loved the theatre. And this list can be continued. But the main thing is that they were all sovereigns, models for their subjects, and even for smaller rulers. They were guided by them, they were imitated, and those who could, like his sovereign, could knock down an enemy from a horse and write an ode to the Beautiful Lady enjoyed respect.

Yeah, they will tell me - we know these beautiful ladies They had nothing to do with their wives. So let's move on to the next myth.

Myth 2. The “noble knights” treated their wives like property, beat them and didn’t set a penny

To begin with, I will repeat what I have already said - the men were different. And in order not to be unfounded, I will remember the noble seigneur from the XII century, Etienne II de Blois. This knight was married to a certain Adele of Norman, daughter of William the Conqueror and his beloved wife Matilda. Etienne, as befits a zealous Christian, went on a crusade, and his wife remained to wait for him at home and manage the estate.

A seemingly banal story. But its peculiarity is that Etienne's letters to Adele have come down to us. Tender, passionate, yearning. Detailed, smart, analytical. These letters are a valuable source for crusades, but they are also evidence of how much a medieval knight could love not some mythical Lady, but his own wife.

We can recall Edward I, whom the death of his adored wife knocked down and brought to the grave. His grandson Edward III lived in love and harmony with his wife for over forty years. Louis XII, having married, turned from the first debauchee of France into a faithful husband. Whatever the skeptics say, love is a phenomenon independent of the era. And always, at all times, they tried to marry their beloved women.

Now let's move on to more practical myths that are actively promoted in the cinema and greatly confuse the romantic mood among fans of the Middle Ages.

Myth 3. Cities were sewage dumps.

Oh, what they just do not write about medieval cities. To the point that I came across the assertion that the walls of Paris had to be completed so that the sewage poured outside the city wall would not pour back. Effective, isn't it? And in the same article it was stated that since in London human waste was poured into the Thames, it was also a continuous stream of sewage. My fertile imagination immediately thrashed in hysterics, because I just couldn’t imagine where so much sewage could come from in a medieval city.

This is not a modern multi-million metropolis - 40-50 thousand people lived in medieval London, and not much more in Paris. Let's leave it aside fairy tale with a wall and imagine the Thames. This not the smallest river splashes 260 cubic meters of water per second into the sea. If you measure this in baths, you get more than 370 baths. Per second. I think further comments are unnecessary.

However, no one denies that medieval cities were by no means fragrant with roses. And now one has only to turn off the sparkling avenue and look into the dirty streets and dark gateways, as you understand - the washed and lit city is very different from its dirty and smelly inside.

Myth 4. People haven't washed for many years.

Talking about washing is also very fashionable. Moreover, absolutely real examples are given here - monks who did not wash themselves from excess “holiness” for years, a nobleman, who also did not wash himself from religiosity, almost died and was washed by servants. And they also like to remember Princess Isabella of Castile (many saw her in the recently released film The Golden Age), who vowed not to change her linen until victory was won. And poor Isabella kept her word for three years.

But again, strange conclusions are drawn - the lack of hygiene is declared the norm. The fact that all the examples are about people who vowed not to wash, that is, they saw in this some kind of feat, asceticism, is not taken into account. By the way, Isabella's act caused a great resonance throughout Europe, a new color was even invented in her honor, so everyone was shocked by the vow given by the princess.

And if you read the history of baths, and even better - go to the appropriate museum, you can be amazed at the variety of shapes, sizes, materials from which the baths were made, as well as ways to heat water. At the beginning of the 18th century, which they also like to call the dirty century, one English earl the house even got a marble bathtub with taps for hot and cold water- the envy of all the acquaintances who went to his house as if on a tour.

Queen Elizabeth I took a bath once a week and demanded that all courtiers also bathe more often. Louis XIII generally soaked in the bath every day. And his son Louis XIV, whom they like to cite as an example of a dirty king, because he just didn’t like baths, wiped himself with alcohol lotions and loved to swim in the river (but there will be a separate story about him).

However, to understand the failure of this myth, it is not necessary to read historical works. It is enough to look at pictures of different eras. Even from the sanctimonious Middle Ages, there are many engravings depicting bathing, washing in baths and baths. And in later times, they especially liked to portray half-dressed beauties in baths.

Well, the most important argument. It is worth looking at the statistics of soap production in the Middle Ages to understand that everything that is said about the general unwillingness to wash is a lie. Otherwise, why would it be necessary to produce such a quantity of soap?

Myth 5. Everyone smelled terrible

This myth follows directly from the previous one. And he also has real proof - the Russian ambassadors at the French court complained in letters that the French "stink terribly." From which it was concluded that the French did not wash, stank and tried to drown out the smell with perfume (about perfume is a well-known fact).

This myth flashed even in Tolstoy's novel "Peter I". Explaining to him couldn't be easier. In Russia, it was not customary to wear perfume heavily, while in France they simply poured perfume. And for a Russian person, a Frenchman who smelled abundantly of spirits was "stinking like a wild beast." Those who traveled in public transport next to a heavily perfumed lady will understand them well.

True, there is one more evidence regarding the same long-suffering Louis XIV. His favorite, Madame Montespan, once, in a fit of a quarrel, shouted that the king stinks. The king was offended and soon after that parted with the favorite completely. It seems strange - if the king was offended by the fact that he stinks, then why shouldn't he wash himself? Yes, because the smell was not coming from the body. Ludovic had serious health problems, and with age, he began to smell bad from his mouth. It was impossible to do anything, and naturally the king was very worried about this, so Montespan's words were a blow to a sore spot for him.

By the way, we must not forget that in those days there was no industrial production, the air was clean, and the food may not be very healthy, but at least without chemistry. And therefore, on the one hand, hair and skin did not get greasy for longer (remember our air of megacities, which quickly makes washed hair dirty), so people, in principle, did not need washing for longer. And with human sweat, water, salts were released, but not all those chemicals that are full in the body of a modern person.

Myth 6. Clothes and hairstyles were infested with lice and fleas.

This is a very popular myth. And he has a lot of evidence - flea traps that were really worn noble ladies and gentlemen, references to insects in literature as something taken for granted, fascinating stories about monks almost eaten alive by fleas. All this really testifies - yes, fleas and lice in medieval Europe were. Only now the conclusions are made more than strange. Let's think logically. What does a flea trap testify to? Or an animal on which these fleas should jump? It doesn’t even take a special imagination to understand - this indicates a long war going on with varying success between people and insects.

Myth 7. No one cared about hygiene

What was it that had to happen to humanity at the beginning of the 19th century, so that before that it liked everything to be dirty and lousy, and then suddenly it suddenly stopped liking it?

If you look through the instructions on the construction of castle toilets, you can find curious notes that the drain should be built so that everything goes into the river, and does not lie on the shore, spoiling the air. Apparently people didn't really like the smell.

Let's go further. There is famous story about how one noble Englishwoman was remarked about her dirty hands. The lady retorted: “You call this dirt? You should have seen my feet." This is also cited as a lack of hygiene. And did anyone think about strict English etiquette, according to which it is not even possible to tell a person that he spilled wine on his clothes - this is impolite. And suddenly the lady is told that her hands are dirty. This is the extent to which other guests must have been outraged to break the rules good manners and make this comment.

And the laws that every now and then issued by the authorities different countries- for example, prohibitions on pouring slop into the street, or regulation of the construction of toilets.

The main problem of the Middle Ages was that it was really difficult to wash then. Summer does not last that long, and in winter not everyone can swim in the hole. Firewood for heating water was very expensive, not every nobleman could afford a weekly bath. And besides, not everyone understood that diseases happen from hypothermia or not enough clean water, and under the influence of fanatics, they were written off for washing.

And now we are smoothly approaching the next myth.

Myth 8. Medicine was practically non-existent.

What can you not hear enough about medieval medicine. And there were no means other than bloodletting. And they all gave birth on their own, and without doctors it’s even better. And all medicine was controlled by priests alone, who left everything at the mercy of God's will and only prayed.

Indeed, in the first centuries of Christianity, medicine, as well as other sciences, was mainly practiced in monasteries. There were hospitals and scientific literature. The monks contributed little to medicine, but they made good use of the achievements of ancient physicians. But already in 1215, surgery was recognized as a non-ecclesiastical business and passed into the hands of barbers.

Of course, the whole history of European medicine simply does not fit into the scope of the article, so I will focus on one person, whose name is known to all readers of Dumas. It's about about Ambroise Pare, the personal physician of Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. A simple enumeration of what this surgeon contributed to medicine is enough to understand at what level surgery was in the middle of the 16th century.

Ambroise Pare introduced a new method of treating then new gunshot wounds, invented prosthetic limbs, began to perform operations to correct the "cleft lip", improved medical instruments, wrote medical works, which surgeons throughout Europe later studied. And childbirth is still accepted according to his method. But most importantly, Pare invented a way to amputate limbs so that a person would not die from blood loss. And surgeons still use this method.

But he did not even have an academic education, he was simply a student of another doctor. Not bad for "dark" times?

Conclusion

Needless to say, the real Middle Ages is very different from the fairy-tale world of chivalric novels. But it is no closer to the dirty stories that are still in fashion. The truth is, as always, somewhere in the middle. People were different, they lived differently. The concepts of hygiene were indeed quite wild for a modern look, but they were, and medieval people they took care of cleanliness and health, as far as their understanding could.

And all these stories ... someone wants to show how modern people“cooler” than the medieval ones, someone simply asserts himself, and someone does not understand the topic at all and repeats other people's words.

And finally - about memoirs. Talking about terrible morals, lovers of the "dirty Middle Ages" especially like to refer to memoirs. Only for some reason not on Commines or La Rochefoucauld, but on memoirists like Brantome, who probably published the largest collection of gossip in history, seasoned with his own rich imagination.

On this occasion, I propose to recall the post-perestroika anecdote about the trip of a Russian farmer to visit an English one. He showed the farmer Ivan a bidet and said that his Mary was washing there. Ivan thought - but where is his Masha washing? Came home and asked. She answers:
- Yes, in the river.
- And in winter?
- How long is that winter?
And now let's get an idea of ​​hygiene in Russia according to this anecdote.

I think if we focus on such sources, then our society will turn out to be no cleaner than the medieval one. Or remember the program about the parties of our bohemia. We supplement this with our impressions, gossip, fantasies and you can write a book about the life of society in modern Russia(we are worse than Brantoma - also contemporaries of events). And the descendants will study the customs in Russia at the beginning of the 21st century, be horrified and say what terrible times were ...

P.S. From the comments to this post: Just yesterday I was re-reading the legend of Thiel Ulenspiegel. There Phillip I says to Philip II: - You again spent time with an indecent girl, when noble ladies are at your service, refreshing with fragrant baths? And you preferred a girl, yet failed to wash off traces of the arms of some soldier? Just the most unbridled Middle Ages.

2. How do we know about the Middle Ages?

The Middle Ages ended more than 500 years ago, but leaving behind, it left many traces. These testimonies of the past, which appeared in the Middle Ages and have survived to this day, are called historical sources.

Helmet from a burial at Sutton Hoo. Reconstruction

Historical sources are very diverse. The most complete and detailed information about the Middle Ages is given to us by written sources: laws, documents (for example, wills or inventories of land holdings), historical and literary works. Not all written sources that once existed have survived to this day. Many documents perished during fires and floods, wars and popular uprisings. Sometimes they perish in our time. Therefore, scientists try to ensure that documents fall into special storages - archives, and in addition, they strive to publish them whenever possible.

Visual sources can also tell a lot: illustrations in handwritten books, paintings, sculptures.

One of the most famous pictorial sources is an embroidered carpet (more than 70 m long) from French city Bayeux. The story of the conquest of England by the Norman Duke William is reproduced on the carpet. Of course, historians know a lot about this event of the 11th century from written sources, but only here you can see how people of that era built ships, sat at a banquet table, and held weapons in battle.

Diverse material sources are no less important for understanding the past. In many ancient cities, medieval fortifications, churches, and houses have been preserved. Material sources also include various utensils, clothing, tools, weapons, and much more. Some things from generation to generation have been preserved in private collections and museums, others end up in museums today as a result of archaeological sites(e.g. the 7th century treasure from Sutton Hoo in England).

Scene from the Battle of Hastings. Fragment of a carpet from Bayeux. 11th century

And more recently, in the south-east of France, in Lake Paladru, underwater excavations of a settlement based on a narrow cape at the beginning of the 11th century were carried out. After 30 years, it was suddenly flooded by rising waters. Leaving, the settlers barely had time to capture the most necessary things: money, some tools and weapons. The rest was flooded, and literally everything was preserved under water: the remains of dwellings, wooden utensils, iron tools, animal bones, plant seeds and much more. Here's what scientists have learned from these findings.

The inhabitants of the village skillfully combined farming and cattle breeding, fishing and handicrafts. The wealth of utensils and 32 coins found by archaeologists, which were dropped by the inhabitants, testify to the prosperity of the settlement.

Gold clasp for a cloak. Sutton Hoo. 7th century

But scientists were especially interested in the fact that, along with tools, weapons were found that only real warriors used: a battle ax, spears, fragments of swords. This means that the inhabitants of the village were both peasants and warriors at the same time. Thanks to archeology, it was possible to lift the edge of the veil of time and find out how these peasant warriors lived.

Other historical sources can also tell a lot about the Middle Ages: names and titles, oral legends and traditions, folk customs that retain the features of ancient times.

Exploring the sources, generations of historians managed to learn a lot about the Middle Ages. But this does not mean that all issues have already been resolved. After all, history is always closely connected with the present, and therefore each generation of historians responds to the spiritual needs of their contemporaries, asks the past new questions and receives new answers to them. The Middle Ages is controversial, which means that people still care about it. His knowledge continues.

Average time to read: 17 minutes, 4 seconds

Introduction: Myths about the Middle Ages

About the Middle Ages, there are many historical myths. The reason for this lies partly in the development of humanism at the very beginning of the New Age, as well as the formation of the Renaissance in art and architecture. Interest in the world of classical antiquity developed, and the era that followed was considered barbaric and decadent. Therefore, medieval Gothic architecture, which today is recognized as extraordinarily beautiful and technically revolutionary, was underestimated and left aside in favor of styles that copied Greek and Roman architecture. The term "Gothic" itself was originally applied to Gothic in a derogatory light, serving as a reference to the tribes of the Goths who sacked Rome; the meaning of the word is "barbaric, primitive".

Another reason for many of the myths associated with the Middle Ages is its association with Catholic Church(hereinafter - "Church" - approx. Newo than). In the English-speaking world, these myths have their origin in disputes between Catholics and Protestants. In others European cultures, for example, in Germany and France, such myths were formed within the framework of the anti-clerical position of influential thinkers of the Enlightenment. The following is summary some myths and misconceptions about the Middle Ages, which arose as a result of various prejudices.

1. People believed that the Earth was flat, and the Church presented this idea as a doctrine

In fact, the Church never taught that the earth was flat, not in any period of the Middle Ages. Scientists of that time had a good understanding of the scientific arguments of the Greeks, who proved that the Earth was round, and knew how to use scientific instruments such as the astrolabe to determine the circumference of a circle quite accurately. The fact of the spherical shape of the earth was so well known, generally recognized and unremarkable, that when Thomas Aquinas began work on his treatise "The Sum of Theology" and wanted to choose an objective indisputable truth, he cited this very fact as an example.

And not only literate people were aware of the shape of the Earth - most sources indicate that everyone understood this. The symbol of the earthly power of kings, which was used in coronation ceremonies, was the power: a golden sphere in the left hand of the king, which personified the Earth. This symbolism would not make sense if it were not clear that the Earth is spherical. A 13th-century collection of sermons by German parish priests also mentions in passing that the earth is "round like an apple" in the hope that the peasants listening to the sermon will understand what it is about. Popular in the 14th century English book The Adventures of Sir John Mandeville tells of a man who traveled so far to the east that he returned to his homeland from its western side; and the book does not explain to the reader how it works.

The common misconception that Christopher Columbus discovered the true shape of the Earth, and that the Church opposed his journey, is nothing more than modern myth created in 1828. Writer Washington Irving was commissioned to write a biography of Columbus with instructions that he present the traveler as a radical thinker who rebelled against the prejudices of the Old World. Unfortunately, Irving discovered that Columbus was in fact deeply mistaken in the size of the Earth and discovered America by pure chance. The heroic story did not work out, and so he invented the idea that the Church in the Middle Ages thought the Earth was flat, and created this tenacious myth, and his book became a bestseller.

Among the collection of popular expressions found on the Internet, one can often see the alleged statement of Ferdinand Magellan: “The Church claims that the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round. Because I have seen the Earth's shadow on the moon, and I trust the Shadow more than the Church." Well, Magellan never said that, in particular because the Church never claimed that the Earth is flat. The first use of this "quote" occurs no earlier than 1873, when it was used in an essay by an American Voltairean (a Voltairian is a free-thinking philosopher - approx. Newo than) and the agnostic Robert Greene Ingersoll. He did not indicate any source and it is very likely that he simply made up this statement himself. Despite this, Magellan's "words" can still be found in various collections, on T-shirts and posters of atheist organizations.

2. The Church suppressed science and progressive thinking, burned scientists at the stake, and thus set us back hundreds of years

The myth that the Church repressed science, burned or suppressed the activities of scientists, is a central part of what historians writing about science call "the clash of ways of thinking." This persistent concept originated in the Enlightenment, but established itself in the minds of the public with the help of two famous works 19th century. John William Draper's A History of the Relations Between Catholicism and Science (1874) and Andrew Dickson White's The Struggle of Religion with Science (1896) were highly popular and authoritative books, spreading the belief that the medieval Church was actively suppressing science. In the 20th century, historiographers of science actively criticized the "White-Draper position" and noted that most of the evidence presented was grossly misinterpreted, and in some cases even invented.

In the era of late Antiquity, early Christianity did not welcome what some clergymen called "pagan knowledge", that is, the scientific works of the Greeks and their Roman successors. Some have preached that the Christian should shun such works, for they contain unbiblical knowledge. In his famous phrase, one of the Fathers of the Church, Tertullian, exclaims sarcastically: "What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?" But such thoughts were rejected by other eminent theologians. For example, Clement of Alexandria argued that if God had given the Jews a special understanding of spirituality, he could have given the Greeks a special understanding of scientific things. He suggested that if the Jews took and used the gold of the Egyptians for their own purposes, then Christians can and should use the wisdom of the pagan Greeks as a gift from God. Later, Clement's reasoning met with the support of Aurelius Augustine, and later Christian thinkers adopted this ideology, noting that if the cosmos is the creation of a thinking God, then it can and should be comprehended in a rational way.

Thus natural philosophy, which was largely based on the work of such Greek and Roman thinkers as Aristotle, Galen, Ptolemy and Archimedes, became a major part of the medieval university curriculum. In the West, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, many ancient works were lost, but Arab scholars managed to save them. Subsequently, medieval thinkers not only studied the additions made by the Arabs, but also used them to make discoveries. Medieval scientists were fascinated by optical science, and the invention of glasses is only partly the result of their own research using lenses to determine the nature of light and the physiology of vision. In the 14th century, the philosopher Thomas Bradwardine and a group of thinkers who called themselves the Oxford Calculators not only formulated and proved for the first time the theorem on average speed, but also the first to use quantitative concepts in physics, thus laying the foundation for everything that has been achieved by this science since then.

All the scientists of the Middle Ages were not only not persecuted by the Church, but they themselves belonged to it. Jean Buridan, Nicholas Orem, Albrecht III (Albrecht the Bold), Albert the Great, Robert Grosseteste, Theodoric of Freiburg, Roger Bacon, Thierry of Chartres, Sylvester II (Herbert of Aurillac), Guillaume Conchesius, John Philopon, John Packham, John Duns Scotus, Walter Burley, William Hatesberry, Richard Swainshead, John Dumbleton, Nicholas of Cusa - they were not persecuted, held back or burned at the stake, but they were known and revered for their wisdom and learning.

Contrary to myths and popular prejudice, there is not a single example of someone being burned in the Middle Ages for anything related to science, just as there is no evidence of the persecution of any scientific movement by the medieval Church. The trial of Galileo happened much later (the scientist was a contemporary of Descartes) and was much more connected with the politics of the Counter-Reformation and the people involved in it than with the attitude of the Church towards science.

3. In the Middle Ages, the Inquisition burned millions of women, considering them to be witches, and the burning of “witches” itself was a common thing in the Middle Ages

Strictly speaking, the "witch hunt" was not a medieval phenomenon at all. The persecution reached its apogee in the 16th and 17th centuries and almost completely belonged to the early period of modern times. As for most of the Middle Ages (i.e. 5th-15th centuries), the Church was not only not interested in hunting so-called "witches", but she also taught that witches do not exist in principle.

In contact with

What a blessing that we live in modern world where there is adequate medicine and high tech allowing you to live in comfort. With enviable constancy, manufacturers release new gadgets, and doctors are tirelessly looking for cures for various diseases, but our distant ancestors not as lucky as we are. Ancient people relieved themselves in public toilets, which could explode at any moment, and also panicked when they noticed a pimple on their face, which was then often mistaken for leprosy.

Great need

Every person, for sure, once went to a terribly neglected public toilet, which seemed to him just the embodiment of all nightmares. However, this is nothing compared to the ancient public toilets. Toilets in Ancient Rome were a real test of courage. They were ordinary stone benches with an irregularly cut hole that led to the city's primitive sewer system. Such a direct connection to the sewers meant that all sorts of vile creatures that live in the sewers could sink their teeth into the unfortunate toilet visitor's bare buttocks.

To make matters worse, the constant accumulation of methane levels led to the fact that often the toilets simply exploded. In order to simply survive when visiting the toilet, the Romans applied images of the goddess of fortune Fortuna and conspiracies to ward off evil spirits on the walls of the toilets.

Job search

In England in the 1500s it was illegal to be unemployed. The government treated the unemployed as second-class citizens, and punished them for crimes much harsher. Also, unemployed people should not have traveled, because if they were caught, they were branded as vagrants, beaten and sent back.

Problem skin

Skin conditions such as acne or psoriasis can certainly seem like a nightmare to many. However, thanks to hundreds of creams and tablets, today it is possible, if not cured, then at least to stop exacerbations. But this was not at all the case in the Middle Ages, when a large pimple could mean panic and expectation of imminent death. Because of the rampant paranoia associated with leprosy, many less serious skin conditions, such as psoriasis, were often mistaken for signs of a terrible disease.

As a result, people with psoriasis or dermatitis were often evicted to the leper colony as if they had leprosy. And if they lived among "ordinary" people, they were forced to wear special clothes and a bell to warn healthy people about their approach. And in France in the 14th century, many psoriasis patients were mistakenly burned at the stake.

Going to the theater

Today, going to the theater or cinema is considered a completely cultural and safe way to spend your leisure time. But a couple of hundred years ago it was a deadly occupation. theater houses and the music halls of the 1800s were notorious for being built haphazardly, constantly overcrowded, and highly flammable. Therefore, even if it was lucky that there was no fire with many deaths, there were often crushes at the exit caused by false alarms.

In England alone, more than 80 people have died in theaters in just two decades. And the worst theatrical tragedy in history happened at the Chicago Iroquois Theater in 1903 - the flames claimed the lives of more than 600 people.

Fighting

While fights don't happen every day, in the Middle Ages, any minor skirmish could quickly turn into a deadly fight. For example, Oxford University in the 14th century was far from being as refined as it is now. In February 1355, a group of drunken students at a local tavern insulted the quality of the wine they were served.
The irritated innkeeper did not hesitate to answer. This eventually led to the epic slaughter that became known as Saint Scholastica's Day. 62 students were killed.

Vote

Today, voting at worst can be met with annoyingly long lines and the slow realization that the vote cast has little to no impact. However, in the 19th century, only the most die-hard supporters of democracy were brave enough to take to the streets on election day. Everyone else barricaded themselves in their houses so they wouldn't be kidnapped.

So-called "cooping" was a common practice in which street gangs bribed political parties, kidnapped people from the street and forced them to vote for their candidate. Victims were kept in a dark basement or back room, threatened with torture, and forcibly drugged for several days to make them more compliant before being taken to the polling station.

Working with the police

While admittedly no one likes talking to the police today, that's nothing compared to what happened a couple of centuries ago. The inhabitants of 18th century London had significant cause for concern when they encountered a policeman on their way. Many of these police officers were impostors who used the trust of the masses for their own nefarious purposes.

Some just used a fake cop badge to squeeze some easy money out of people, but the real thugs went much further. These false officers caught young women at night under the pretense of "suspicious activity". This led to the fact that the townspeople avoided real policemen by any means, which only made them easy prey for criminals.

Buying spices

In the Middle Ages, many spices were considered medicines or even hard currency. Moreover, they even regularly killed for spices. For example, nutmeg was once found only in the outlying Banda Islands. Over the course of several centuries, the spice wars virtually wiped out the indigenous population as various European powers sought to seize control of these islands. More than 6,000 people died.

Hospital trip

They had no education, and newspapers were full of advertisements for the recruitment of medical staff "without work experience." This crazy practice has led to more than one tragic incident in hospitals.

Walk around the city

Apparently, people in the Middle Ages couldn't even walk quietly around the city without something outrageous. For example, public nudity was quite fashionable during the 17th and 18th centuries. Ironically, most of the followers of this liberal new trend were religious.

Representatives of such movements as the Ranters and Quakers argued that God is in everything, so nothing can be considered evil or inappropriate. They reveled in sex and drugs and walked naked through the streets. It turns out that the hippies of the 20th century were quite modest.