Surviving Winter in the Middle Ages

YouTube ^ | December 16, 2022 | MedievalMadness

[SunkenCiv]

How did people live and die during the harshest months of the year? How did they stay warm? What did they eat? How did they keep themselves entertained in an age before modern day luxuries like electric blankets, double glazing, and Netflix? The onset of the Little Ice Age, between 1300 until about 1870 meant that the long, dark winters of the Late Middle Ages were colder and more dangerous. With starvation and death from illness always threatening to strike, winter was a frightening time. Welcome to Medieval Madness.

Surviving Winter in the Middle Ages... | MedievalMadness | 178K subscribers | 605,503 views | December 16, 2022

[SunkenCiv]

For European peasants winter was an especially difficult time, but some winters are more difficult than others. In the fifteenth century, a series of particularly bad winters struck throughout the 1430s, causing famine, exacerbating disease, and changing culture.

The Bleak Midwinter of the 1430s
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered
1.13M subscribers | 79,413 views | December 16, 2022

[SunkenCiv]

Transcript
0:00	[Music]
0:01	as I sit here with three electric
0:03	blankets wrapped around me powered on
0:05	full my bottom half and a foot spa
0:07	filled with boiling water and my hair on
0:09	fire in an attempt to keep warm I'm
0:11	wondering how did people live or even
0:13	die during the harshest months of the
0:15	year in the Middle Ages how did they
0:17	stay warm what did they eat how did they
0:19	keep themselves entertained in an age
0:21	before modern day luxuries like double
0:23	glazing God of War Ragnarok and Netflix
0:26	the onset of the little ice age between
0:28	1300 until about 1870 meant that the
0:32	long dark winters of the late Middle
0:33	Ages were colder and more dangerous with
0:36	starvation and death from illness always
0:38	threatening to strike winter was a
0:41	frightening time welcome to Medieval
0:43	Madness
0:49	foreign
0:57	most peasant houses were badly insulated
0:59	and would be full of cold droughts made
1:02	from wood wattle and daub European
1:04	houses were often built on top of Earth
1:06	Mounds which helped to keep them warm a
1:08	fire which provided heat as well as a
1:10	place for cooking was often Central to
1:12	the home with ventilation holes in the
1:13	roof rather than a central chimney which
1:15	would lose too much heat and leave the
1:17	house open to the elements of course
1:20	this meant that the peasants would reek
1:21	of smoke as soot would quickly
1:23	accumulate especially during the winter
1:25	months sometimes there would be a second
1:27	floor which would be reached by a ladder
1:29	and would be used for storage tables and
1:32	beds would be in the main area around
1:33	the fire there might be an adjacent area
1:35	where livestock could be kept the
1:38	Vikings of Scandinavia built long narrow
1:40	fire pits in their long houses these
1:42	fires were lined with stones which
1:44	absorbed heat from the flames and
1:46	allowed it to be distributed throughout
1:47	the building Viking long houses had
1:50	integrated buyers where cattle would be
1:52	sheltered during the colder months not
1:54	only were cows chickens and pigs kept as
1:56	a source of food and roma materials but
1:58	also as a source of heat using animals
2:00	for their additional body heat had its
2:02	drawbacks though it meant that life
2:04	indoors was crowded stinky and noisy but
2:07	at least you wouldn't freeze to death if
2:09	you were spooning a pig with a decent
2:10	fire blazing some Marvin Gaye playing in
2:12	the background a couple nice bottles of
2:14	Chateau Cheval Blanc you get the picture
2:16	in houses which used portable braziers
2:19	safety was quite a problem and many
2:21	houses burned down because of
2:23	carelessness Stone buildings are
2:25	notoriously cold and glass windows were
2:27	only for the elite in the winter months
2:29	of the 1230s London's Palace of
2:31	Westminster was glazed so that the
2:33	chamber may not be so windy as it used
2:35	to be it did not solve the problem of
2:37	coldness but at least it stopped any icy
2:39	winds from blowing through the building
2:40	and in southern France on the island of
2:43	magilon the cathedral windows were
2:45	sealed with plaster during the colder
2:46	months poorer people could only try and
2:49	cover their wall openings with paper or
2:50	foliage to prevent drafts
2:55	clothing
2:57	a combination of both insulation and
2:59	radiation were the best ways of keeping
3:01	warm and this was done by being near to
3:04	a heat source and keeping the warmth
3:05	trapped near to the body with thick
3:07	clothing layering was the easiest way of
3:09	achieving this linen undergarments would
3:11	be worn beneath wool and outer clothing
3:13	wool was hot heavy and very itchy so the
3:16	linen would act as a barrier between the
3:18	wool and the skin it was also so much
3:20	easier to wash and dry linen clothes
3:22	Outdoor Clothing such as boots Woolen
3:25	gloves scarves and cloaks would be worn
3:27	indoors in the coldest months between
3:29	the smoke sweat and animals Indoor
3:32	Winter living for the medievals must
3:33	have been a particularly pungent time
3:35	when Out of Doors fully more affluent a
3:38	metal hand warmer could be obtained
3:40	priests might use these as their hands
3:42	would become numb during long sermons in
3:44	a freezing cold Church the thought that
3:46	the Blessed Sacrament might be dropped
3:48	during communion was scandalous so a
3:50	decorative hand warmer would be used
3:52	made from metal the hinged Bowl was
3:54	perforated and filled with hot charcoal
3:56	which would allow the heat to escape and
3:58	warm the hands without burning them
3:59	bricks and stones would also be heated
4:01	in the fire and then wrapped in cloth to
4:03	be taken to bed as a kind of medieval
4:05	hot water bottle for those who were
4:07	wealthy enough their winter clothing
4:08	would be fur lined and even peasants
4:10	might use rabbit and lambskins for the
4:12	same purpose certainly not as glamorous
4:15	as I mean but just as effective in
4:17	keeping out the cold
4:18	of course permission from the Lord would
4:20	be needed to catch any game these
4:22	Sanctuary laws of 1363 made it illegal
4:24	for anyone other than the wives and
4:26	Daughters of land-owning peasants and
4:28	craftspeople to wear Fox lamb rabbit or
4:31	cat fur
4:33	weather
4:36	it wasn't just those in the north that
4:38	suffered from the cold in some instances
4:40	the weather on Mainland Europe could be
4:42	particularly brutal during the winter of
4:45	1363 to 64 most major rivers and lakes
4:48	froze over between December and March at
4:51	Mains in Germany the Rhine was frozen
4:53	for 70 days this allowed the town of
4:55	cologne which was further Downstream to
4:57	hold a market on the icy River the town
4:59	of fosseis and Belgium was covered in
5:01	snow for over three months and even in
5:03	southern Europe the Venetian Lagoon the
5:06	Atlantic ocean near to Bordeaux and
5:07	France and the Estuary of their own were
5:09	frozen during February of 1352 the
5:13	Florentine area of Italy was covered in
5:15	a snow blanket for over a month and in
5:17	1359 quote the snow Rose across central
5:21	Italy to an extraordinary height so to
5:24	lighten up the roofs the snow was thrown
5:27	into the streets and some of the towns
5:29	were blocked with inhabitants trapped
5:30	for several days in their homes bologna
5:33	saw drifts of up to 18 feet and in
5:35	Medina they were even higher the winter
5:38	of 1389 saw dramatic impressive
5:41	snowfalls in the lazer region of
5:43	Southern France a Chronicle from the
5:45	city of Montpellier recorded quote
5:48	these snowfalls were so great that they
5:50	destroyed many farmsteads
5:52	many died because their houses fell down
5:55	on them other people died of cold others
5:58	of hunger
5:59	because people had run out of provisions
6:03	this sort of weather was normal in
6:05	Scandinavian countries and would not
6:07	have hampered travel and communication
6:09	as it did further south the Vikings used
6:11	various types of skis for hunting and
6:13	transport in other parts of Europe
6:15	peasants were more likely to have boots
6:17	and slays pulled by horse which meant
6:19	that long distance travel was not an
6:21	option in bad weather isolated and
6:23	mountainous areas such as those in
6:25	Lozier were unlikely to survive during
6:27	the harshest Winters
6:31	food
6:33	in farming communities the work was
6:35	endless and there was always something
6:37	that needed to be done hey lots of
6:39	preparation and hard work was needed to
6:41	survive a medieval winter the Gathering
6:43	of firewood might go on from as early as
6:45	spring and through the summer when it
6:47	would be collected bundled and stored
6:50	any food that was harvested in the
6:52	Autumn would need to be preserved in
6:53	some way to last over the winter months
6:55	pickling smoking drying and brining were
6:59	often used as ways to make meat and
7:00	other produce stay fresh for as long as
7:02	possible grains cereals and pulses would
7:05	be dried out and stored in either
7:07	ceramic or clay pots so that they could
7:08	be put into potted stews and soups later
7:11	ground up grain could also be added to
7:13	Breads and biscuits fresh fruits and
7:15	berries would be particularly hard to
7:17	find over the winter months so they had
7:19	to be preserved by air drying or
7:21	pickling in the summer goats cows and
7:24	chickens would provide fresh milk and
7:25	eggs dairy products being an essential
7:28	part of the diet milk could be made in
7:30	into butter cheese or yogurt in
7:33	Scandinavia a sort of sour milk cheese
7:35	called skya was eaten in huge quantities
7:37	after the milk had been curdled and
7:39	strained to make cheese whey is left
7:41	over as a byproduct and is perfect for
7:43	use in pickling a large keg or Cask
7:46	might hold up to 30 liters or 53 pints
7:49	of whey and could easily hold a side of
7:51	beef salted smoked and dried lamb beef
7:54	ham and fish could be kept for an
7:56	extremely long time most people would
7:58	live near to a source of fresh water
8:00	whether that would be a well stream or
8:02	river so its collection shouldn't have
8:04	been a problem in the case of extreme
8:06	weather when people found themselves
8:08	trapped inside then the snow itself
8:09	could be melted and used
8:14	the Great Famine
8:17	of course no one can gather in the crops
8:19	if there is nothing to harvest famines
8:21	in Europe were thought to have occurred
8:22	about once every 20 years the worst of
8:25	these was the Great Famine of
8:27	1315-1317. very heavy rain hit in the
8:30	spring of 1315 causing the crops to fail
8:33	which was only the beginning of the
8:35	misery to come crop yield fell by up to
8:37	a third as it seemed as though the
8:39	Reigns would never end and animals died
8:41	because of starvation and disease the
8:44	catastrophe caused huge levels of
8:46	criminal behavior that included
8:47	infanticide and cannibalism Europe did
8:50	not recover fully until 1322. the famine
8:53	affected up to 30 million people wiping
8:56	out between one and a half to three
8:57	million although the black death in the
8:59	middle of the 14th century was going to
9:01	be more deadly the Great Famine was the
9:04	late Middle Ages worst natural disaster
9:08	entertainment
9:09	[Music]
9:12	after making sure that all maintenance
9:14	work was taken care of and chores were
9:16	done people needed something to do to
9:18	avoid going stir crazy not much
9:20	agricultural work could be done in
9:22	Winter and a lot of time was spent
9:24	indoors medievals might enjoy games in
9:26	the snow though such as sludging and ice
9:28	skating on frozen lakes and rivers using
9:30	horse Shin bones or pieces of polished
9:32	wood escapes later the skates were made
9:34	from Iron in Viking communities snowball
9:37	fights were thought to have been a great
9:38	way for training the children for future
9:40	battles the book of hours from 1460 that
9:44	belonged to the Duchess of burgundy
9:45	shows an illumination of a snowball
9:47	fight with children and adults and there
9:49	are other depictions in frescoes and
9:51	manuscripts indole's time was spent
9:54	spinning wool telling stories or playing
9:56	games board games like chess and
9:58	backgammon were popular as were dice
10:00	games Vikings tended to play board games
10:03	of strategy the inability combined sport
10:06	with the procurement of food with their
10:08	winter boar hunts one of the most highly
10:10	read texts in the high Middle Ages was
10:12	the secretum secretorum the Treatise
10:14	covers many topics from ethics to
10:16	astrology and medicine to Justice it
10:19	states that the dominant humor during
10:21	the winter season was phlegm and its
10:23	harmful effects could be prevented by a
10:25	change of diet hot Meats such as pigeon
10:27	game and mutton and fine red wines are
10:30	recommended whereas bloodletting
10:32	fornication and laxatives should be
10:34	avoided as should any sort of
10:36	overindulgence although it is better to
10:38	overeat in the colder months rather than
10:40	at any other time because the natural
10:41	heat of the body is drawn inwards and
10:43	this results in better digestion good
10:45	knowledge to have in the season that
10:47	includes Christmas for those living in
10:49	the southern regions of Europe which
10:50	experience the warm temperatures and hot
10:52	summers a harsh medieval winter would
10:54	have come as quite a shock those in the
10:56	Northern areas were better experienced
10:58	and equipped to cope with the ice and
11:00	snow with their pelts and ski
11:02	dangers came from starvation as food
11:04	stores would diminish and lower
11:06	temperatures always meant the easiest
11:07	spread of disease as people were crammed
11:09	together indoors stockpiles or
11:11	Provisions would help keep the people
11:13	warm and fed but for the medievals in
11:15	the depths of winter death was never
11:17	very far away
11:19	thank you for watching this episode of
11:20	Medieval Madness do hope you're staying
11:22	warm this winter and we'll see you next
11:24	Friday for another episode cheers

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

Alcohol in medieval times, medieval drinks, Wine, Beer, Ale, distillation in medieval times
Interesting History
557 subscribers
18,406 views
December 17, 2022
Music: Spirit of Fire - Jesse Gallagher
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFWxL2wp-oE

What did peasants eat in medieval times?
Modern History TV
753K subscribers
6,303,962 views
March 2, 2018
Jason begins a journey through the social strata of the medieval age by taking a look at the kinds of food the knight might have experienced in his travels. He’s joined by food historian Chris Carr, who first demonstrates some of the dishes the knight might have eaten when staying at a humble roadside inn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeVcey0Ng-w

[ocrp1982]

The simple and obvious answer is, people were far more rugged and resilient back then. They had to be.
I remember as a child looking at my grandfather in awe. He was an old man. Obviously. But, his ability to easily handle harsh conditions. Manual labor. His attitude towards hard work under harsh conditions was amazing to me. My dad had many of those traits himself but, not to the degree my grandfather had.
It occurred to me, even as a boy, that we are getting much softer over the generations as we “progress” in providing ourselves through technology more and more comforts.
My grandfather was the catalyst for those thoughts. He simply amazed me with his rugged persona and his work ethic. He seemed almost like Superman to me in comparison to what I was used to seeing on a daily basis.

[Jonty30]

One of the types of jackets they used was called a gambeson. It is a jacket with a high collar and it went down as far as the ankles. It is a two layer jacket that you would stuff with insulating materials.

The materials used would depend on what you can afford and your station. A poor person might use a combination of feathers and hay and a wealthier person might be able to afford down.

[RoosterRedux]

People were more rugged and they were also smarter (because intelligence, like muscle, adapts to challenges).

Adapt or die.

Using this same logic, it might be said that, in facing their own challenges, wild animals are a lot smarter than, for example, today's college graduates. Smarter in their own way of course.

When parents put barriers between their children and life's challenges, they make them less adaptable--they prevent their children from learning from learning "adaptability."

The other day I heard someone say that most depression and sadness is due to boredom. A challenging life is a lot of things but it certainly isn't boring.

[Sacajaweau]

Real fur coats helped along with awesome fireplaces.

[RoosterRedux]

And imagine what it felt like to curl up--skin against skin-- with your mate under those furs near that big fire after a long day of hunting and all the hard chores that life required...belly full for once from a great meal.

Just think of the satisfaction of having been victorious over the harsh elements of nature for one more day.

A now for a good night's sleep...and a little baby-making.;-)

[MayflowerMadam]

We found a diary of Grandpa’s at the farm a few years ago. It’s south of Buffalo with harsh winters. He was a farmer and would deliver milk and food to be sold in Buffalo and Rochester — by horse and buggy.

The trip is two hours by car now in perfect weather. He was gone for days at a time in blizzards.

I just wanted to cry reading about this and other trials they dealt with in the late 1800s and early 20th Century.

Mom and my brother’s family live in the farmhouse now, and winters still are a problem. -15 yesterday morning and they lost power. I was freaking out, but Mom, who’s 98, was in great spirits. She’s been through worse.

[riverrunner]

A week ago we lost power for two days after 9.5 inches of wet snow.

I just through more wood on the fire.

Got out the kerosene lamps and went about the day.

City people have no idea.

[Adder]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRvIB_0xrKY , for example.

You do what you have to do.

Not sure these old bones of mine could anymore.

Merry Christmas, Civ! I enjoy your work!

[Travis McGee]

[Every winter was a test of survival in pre-industrial times in cold climates, but one winter lasted 3 years.]

Why 536 was ‘the worst year to be alive’

Glacier cores reveal Icelandic volcano that plunged Europe into darkness

https://www.science.org/content/article/why-536-was-worst-year-be-alive

Ask medieval historian Michael McCormick what year was the worst to be alive, and he’s got an answer: “536.” Not 1349, when the Black Death wiped out half of Europe. Not 1918, when the flu killed 50 million to 100 million people, mostly young adults. But 536. In Europe, “It was the beginning of one of the worst periods to be alive, if not the worst year,” says McCormick, a historian and archaeologist who chairs the Harvard University Initiative for the Science of the Human Past.

A mysterious fog plunged Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia into darkness, day and night—for 18 months. “For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during the whole year,” wrote Byzantine historian Procopius. Temperatures in the summer of 536 fell 1.5°C to 2.5°C, initiating the coldest decade in the past 2300 years. Snow fell that summer in China; crops failed; people starved. The Irish chronicles record “a failure of bread from the years 536–539.” Then, in 541, bubonic plague struck the Roman port of Pelusium, in Egypt. What came to be called the Plague of Justinian spread rapidly, wiping out one-third to one-half of the population of the eastern Roman Empire and hastening its collapse, McCormick says.

Historians have long known that the middle of the sixth century was a dark hour in what used to be called the Dark Ages, but the source of the mysterious clouds has long been a puzzle. Now, an ultraprecise analysis of ice from a Swiss glacier by a team led by McCormick and glaciologist Paul Mayewski at the Climate Change Institute of The University of Maine (UM) in Orono has fingered a culprit.

[Travis McGee]

The Mystery Of 536 AD: The Worst Climate Disaster In History

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKUz5Vjq9-s&ab_channel=Timeline-WorldHistoryDocumentaries

[Travis McGee]

Imagine the sun only as bright as the moon for a few years.

In ancient times, people struggled to store up food against famine, but AD 536 was the worst test ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKUz5Vjq9-s&ab_channel=Timeline-WorldHistoryDocumentaries

536 AD - Worst Year in History

[Qiviut]

Couple of things ....

Very fortunate to have ‘known’ both sets of my grandparents, all of whom had tough lives and who survived by working hard every day - the kids, my parents, had to pitch in as well - everyone worked for food & fuel - it was a matter of survival. My dad in particular had a more austere life on a farm in the Shenandoah Valley. We spent nights in the house as kids. There was ONE source of heat, a large coal stove down in what was a ‘family’ room next to the kitchen. It had a large table where the family gathered to eat, some chairs and an old couch. It was the one ‘warm’ room in the house & the farther you got from that stove, the cooler it was. Granddad had his rocker right in front of that stove.

When visiting, we slept upstairs in an unheated room. The bed was piled high with quilts. There was ice on the inside of the windows. When electricity finally came, there was a small electric heater that really didn’t take much of the chill out of the air and the bucket for use if you had to pee during the night was still cold as ice. I found out that if you put your clothes under the covers for a while, they warmed up & it was much more pleasant getting dressed for the dash downstairs to the coal stove to really warm up. As a boy, my dad slept in a small room that was above the family room - he would open the window and in the morning, sometimes snow would have drifted in.

My maternal grandparents had built a house when mom was a kid - the old house (that I never saw) had no modern source of heat, but the new one had an oil furnace in the basement. Hot air was blown up through a grate in the floor - the grate was in a hall between the kitchen and their bedroom downstairs. Granny also had an electric stove, but half of that stove was a ‘fire box’ - she could burn small pieces of wood, paper, etc. in it & that was a small source of heat in the kitchen. It was also great for warming up food.

There was another grate in the ceiling above the grate on the ground floor - the heat went straight up into the upstairs, but the only place it was really warm was to stand on that grate ... we kids loved to do that and get warm, before piling into bed with heaps of blankets so we could stay warm during the night.

I’ve done a lot of hiking in Shenandoah National Park. There are some cabin ruins still visible - those made out of chestnut logs have lasted a long time. What struck me, seeing these cabin ruins, is how very small the cabins were - basically one room with a stone chimney. When keeping warm is a struggle, the smaller the area you have to heat, the easier it is and with enough wood, I suspect they could stay fairly warm.

[GingisK]

There was a time, even within my own memory, when people knew how to take care of themselves. They did not rely on the government to feed them, clothe them, entertain them, house them, or even provide them with entertainment. When winter came they owned blankets, heavy layer clothing, and had a pantry of food put away. Humanity is regressing. Sit back, prop up your feet, and watch civilization collapse.

[Alberta's Child]

I once read a commentary about human resilience and boredom. One of the points the author made is that mental illness was pretty much non-existent in London when it was being bombed by the Germans in WW2.

[Alberta's Child]

A friend of mine lived in the Syracuse area during that epic ice storm across upstate New York and eastern Canada back in the late 1990s. Some areas were without power for weeks — during some very brutal cold stretches.

He said the oldest people in his area seemed to take it all in stride. And the ones who coped better than anyone else were the elderly folks who had no problem buying things at the few stores with generators — because they never bothered to use ATMs and had plenty of cash on hand.

[scottiemom]

This was educational beyond belief and I truly enjoyed the list of ways that people were able to withstand winter during the middle ages. I wonder however,the degree of importance in the question, “How did they keep themselves entertained?” It would seem to me that “entertainment” is a relatively superfluous consideration when compared to life or death. Strange that social media has become “life or death” in importance in these final days. Man has reduced his reason for existing to the self-important drivel he feels compelled to write to complete strangers. Why?