Going Medieval

Some time ago, The History Channel ran a two-hour special named "Going Medieval", in which weapons expert Mike Loades takes an action-filled trip through the medieval world to see what life was really like for the people living in the Middle Ages (1200 to 1400) lived.

Some highlights:

Sword fighting was incredibly sophisticated, including wrestling holds and blows to disarm and subdue an opponent, and as much as possible you took your opponent alive to ransom him later.

Knights trained constantly: running a mile every day in armor, playing with stone medicine balls, and practicing with wooden swords twice the weight of a metal sword.

Shields were used to protect against arrows, but could be used as a weapon in close-quarters combat.

A treadmill-operated crane could lift nearly a ton of rocks to the tops of castles for construction.

Travel by horse used special ponies that could amble, which is a gait faster than walking, but slower than cantering or galloping. An ambler has good stamina; it could travel for hours and was very comfortable to ride.

For best international trade, use a boat called a cog. With a wide deck and shallow draft, you can take a large amount of cargo of almost any kind almost anywhere, even far up rivers.

Small port towns could be established almost anywhere, and they allowed international trade to bring goods from anywhere to anywhere. As such, people in the Middle Ages had access to an astonishingly wide variety of goods.

The Middle Ages were colorful, with dyed fabrics being common.

Month-old stale urine was used to fix many dye colors or used in soap.

Even at very close range (12 yards) longbow arrows might not penetrate chain mail and underpadding, but could hit with 300 pounds of pressure, doing considerable soft tissue damage.

Even so, longbows led to the development of plate armor, which led to the development of firearms.

Hunting was better training for warfare than jousting.

People hunting deer for food used "stalking horses": two men dressed up in a horse suit to distract the deer.

Examples of food eaten by ordinary people: pike (fish was about the only meat generally available), mutton, peas, apples and honey, curdled cheese and eggs, pigs, geese, bread.

Pastry crusts were used as baking dishes; they weren't meant to be eaten.

Food was cut with knives, but eaten with fingers. You used the thumb and middle finger (the "fingers of courtesy") to hide the mouth.

Ale was nutritious and safer than water to drink.

Pigs were used to clear land and till the ground.

Plowmen were paid professionals.

Villages were cooperatives where people pooled their resources and shared everything.

People slept naked, even when sharing a bed. They wore nightshirts to show contempt for their bed mates.

Medieval people made and used soap.

They used sticks for toothbrushes, while herbs were used for toothpaste.

A counterweight trebuchet could hurl a stone up to a mile. They also hurled fireballs, rotting corpses, even beehives.

Castles had murder holes; openings or shafts in ceilings to drop heavy rocks on top of attackers.

People called packers collected kindling and firewood in the forests and hauled them to the villages.

Inns were for travelers, but taverns were for villagers and townsfolk.

Taverns provided heat and light when it was otherwise too expensive to heat and light individual homes.