[knarf]

If I was in my peat home on the bog, I never knew anything about those things ... and no one bothered to tell me.

[vladimir998]

Even there people would know and be equipped to tell you:

Because there were teachers: http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-227798282

And tools:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faddan_More_Psalter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathach_of_St._Columba

[wideawake]

In France during the Carolingian Renaissance and the Cluniac movement, the average person on the farm was well aware that monasteries with associated schools were popping up all over the region, introducing new and better agricultural methods, bringing renewed dignity to liturgy and architecture and enhancing the prosperity and literacy of the area. For two hundred years the spiritual, cultural and economic resources of the country grew by leaps and bounds.

But wars between Imperial factions accompanied by the Norman invasions destroyed economic and political stability and also destroyed a significant amount of what had been accomplished.

People who have lived their entire lives in a stable republic have difficulty appreciating how delicate these things can be.