How Medieval Peasants Spent Their Free Time

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Published 2021-07-25

Life for peasants in the Middle Ages was difficult, to say the least - Medieval peasant jobs could often involve long hours of back-breaking labor in less than sanitary conditions - but it wasn’t all bad. Peasants actually had a lot more free time than you might expect. They got every Sunday off, as well as special holidays mandated by the church, not to mention weeks off here and there for special events like weddings and births when they spent a lot of time getting drunk. One estimate is that during the 1300s, peasants might only have worked 150 days a year.

#MedievalEra #MedievalPeasants #WeirdHistory

All Comments (21)

@HistoryOfRevolutions 2 years ago

"You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace" - Frank McCourt
@mumtazsheikh690 2 years ago

"Injuries and death were routine. So, naturally, it was extremely popular" if that doesn't sum up our species I don't know what does
@Bluey1714 2 years ago

"Medieval peasents have more off time than most Americans do" pretty much summarizes how it feels like to be an employee in America
@OmarJames 2 years ago

Not gonna lie…I’d pay good money to watch a game of mob soccer
@danaott2849 2 years ago

I wonder if that is where the saying," He/She is the apple of my eye." 🤔
@terrenceappleby9315 2 years ago

The days when people created their own kind of fun from whatever that was handy. Interesting how three activities ended up in some kind of jousting.
@davidsigalow7349 2 years ago

Peasants would spend their free time thinking, "Boy, I am sure glad I'm not a serf, as my life would really suck."
@oldmandoinghighkicksonlyin1368 2 years ago

Sounds more fun than my current pastime of binging YouTube videos.
@seanentzel9616 2 years ago

Like my high school history teacher always told us.. "Names, dates, and places change, but the concept always stays the same" 🤷🏼‍♂️
@0boro 2 years ago

Pretty crazy that peasants worked less than we do now. Big corpo sure does love to raise us thinking that being workaholics is the only way to go.
@pamelamays4186 2 years ago

Suggestion: The difference between the lives of noble/royal women and peasant women.
@StevenFox80 2 years ago

Lotteries were already around in ancient Rome. Some rulers went pretty nuts with the prizes you could win. (from Villas to dead dogs or even bees)
@MotoHikes 2 years ago

2:08 "You see that ludicrous display last night?" "The thing with Arsenal is, they always try to walk it in!"
@shesaknitter 2 years ago

I was surprised to learn that they actually HAD any free time!
@IDK.Buckaroo 2 years ago

“More free time them most Americans” never have I been so offended by something I 100% agree with
@C-130-Hercules 2 years ago

People back in the old days used to walk around saying “man, this is a long time ago” 😮
@Tim_the_Enchanter 1 year ago

Honestly, it never occurred to me that Medieval peasants had down time. I just thought they worked in the fields all day and then went to sleep when it got dark.
@iamjimb 2 years ago

The old version of football would still be pretty fun. Imagine a bunch of kids from different streets competing to get it back to their street
@steveberthelette7742 2 years ago

Do one on the mini ice age. Fascinating information on that subject.
@Mr_M_History 2 years ago

Reason #431 why history is important to study. We have no idea how good we have it in 2021