5 Point Fact Sheet

 

• Point 1 The Importance of Religion
-At this time it was very important socially and economically to be Christian.
-Excommunication was worse than death.
-There was a hierarchy of power emanating from the Church.

• Point 2 The majority life, peasantry was God awful
-Their working day started as early as 3am.
-Harvesting grain, which most of it was taxed, and other manual labor was the norm.
-They had to make their own tools.
-They had no toilet paper.

• Point 3 Entertainment was less electric in these days…
-Games such as chess were popular.
-Eating at banquets and feasts was the best way to party.
-War games, such as jousting, and hunting were also very popular among the upper classes.

• Point 4 Noble life was relatively easier.
-The days would start at dawn.
-Business matters and those of the peasants would be heard by the lords of the land.
-Nobles had access to arts and music.

• Point 5 The glorious Cathedrals
-Most were of gothic style, few deviating from it.
-Some were comprised of over 70 thousand tons of stone, timber, and lead.
-Most were filled with statues, tapestries and other works of art.

The Middle Ages are often glorified and romanticized to the point that we forget how brutal and unforgiving they were. Peasants were little more than slaves, building monuments for a religion that threatened them with damnation for not giving their everything for the church. Corruption was rampant as disease. Technology was nothing compared to what we have now. Hierarchy and social class dictated your lot in life with seemingly no control over it if you were born into a certain class. The picture I chose demonstrates what were held to be important at the time. The nobles and clergy were housed safely behind the giant stone wall. The peasants and other lower classes were housed without the protection of walls.