Life in a Medieval Village

by Frances Gies, Joseph Gies

The reissue of Joseph and Frances Gies’s classic bestseller on life in medieval villages.

This new reissue of Life in a Medieval Village, by respected historians Joseph and Frances Gies, paints a lively, convincing portrait of rural people at work and at play in the Middle Ages. Focusing on the village of Elton, in the English East Midlands, the Gieses detail the agricultural advances that made communal living possible, explain what domestic life was like for serf and lord alike, and describe the central role of the church in maintaining social harmony. Though the main focus is on Elton, c. 1300, the Gieses supply enlightening historical context on the origin, development, and decline of the European village, itself an invention of the Middle Ages.

Meticulously researched, Life in a Medieval Village is a remarkable account that illustrates the captivating world of the Middle Ages and demonstrates what it was like to live during a fascinating—and often misunderstood—era.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval, Medieval History, Reference, Historical, British Literature

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 20, 1989

About the author

Frances and and her husband Joseph Gies were historians and writers who collaborated on a number of books about the Middle Ages as well as wrote individual works.

Reviews

[Jason Koivu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of the three books in the Life in a... series by Gies, Life in a Medieval Village seems the most informed, as well as having been written with the most heart and love.

All three are collaborations between Frances and Joseph Gies, who wrote numerous books together as well as on their own about the Middle Ages period. ...Village came out in the 90s, while the other two in this particular series, ...City and ...Castle were published in the late 60s and early 70s respectively. They suffer in comparison to the later volume, where the information bubbles forth and the writing flows freely. Is this a case of time offering more scientific evidence or the authors' own evolving education? All I know for certain is that I really like this book!

It should be noted that the focus is mainly on the English village, so much of the historical influence and the details garnered are inevitably skewed thusly. (If memory serves, ...City focuses on a city in France, so there is some slight variation in the series.) Here is a little taste of the book from just about right off top...

The village that the Anglo-Saxons called Aethelintone (or Aethelington, or Adelintune), known in the thirteenth century, with further spelling variations, as Aylington, and today as Elton, was one of the thousands of peasant communities scattered over the face of Europe and the British Isles in the high Middle Ages, sheltering more than 90 percent of the total population, the ancestors of most Europeans and North Americans alive today.

All year round from morning to night, the absolute minutia of the peasant's daily life is delved into: work, play, prayer, crime, punishment, marriage, death and taxes. Those last five items are why we know so much about the people of this time and place, for records were kept and have survived to show who did what to whom when and how much it cost them, $$$ being the all important bottom line. By the end you feel somewhat attached to the people of Elton. I nearly called them "long suffering people." But that notion of the Medieval peasant's impossibly difficult life must be put to rest.



Certainly they busted their rumps more than we do today from a physical standpoint, but if it were ungodly impossible and lords so tyrannically unjust as often portrayed in fiction, would any of them have lasted through it all? No, there were respites such as holidays aplenty. The authors give a well-balanced account that probably gets a little closer to the truth than what we've been led to believe.

Yes, all this information could be garnered online...and perhaps you can trust what you happen upon. For novelists doing light research or students doing school reports, this is a solid and compact gem of a resource.

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 4 out of 5]

The roots of county and village names in England are explained-very interesting

[Nathanimal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whew boy that was dry.

[Edd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never spent so much time absorbing information which is so completely and utterly useless to me, such that I can be sure that this will book never add any value to my life whatsoever.

For example: Have you ever wondered why a modern day sheep farmer might look upon a13th century sheep herd with mild puzzlement? THIS BOOK HOLDS THAT ANSWER!

It's for this reason, that I absolutely adore this book. I found something interesting on every page, even though I'm sure I've become ever so slightly more dull at dinner parties for having read it. 10/10

[Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Have you ever read the Bible? Not just the interesting parts, but really tried to read the whooollee thing? Then some of the more boring parts of this book will seem very familiar to you. Detailed accounts of laws, and who begot who, and what the fines were for very specific amounts of land.

Life in a Medieval Village can be a trying read at times, but the little nuggets of interesting information help carry the reader through. I would have preferred a more narrative history than this format, which at times feels very much like lists of information organized into paragraph form. I really hate for my non-fiction to read like a college research paper, and there's a lot of that happening in this book.

Particularly baffling was their system of defining obscure terms. Often, you would encounter a word two or three times before they decided to define it. Why not define it the first time it appeared? I suspect shoddy editing, and while the glossary in the back helped, it was certainly incomplete.

If you are a dedicated reader of medieval history, this book will serve you well. If you just have a dabbling interest and don't want to get bogged down in minutiae, look elsewhere.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more of a survey-level work than anything particularly in-depth, but that's pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Like most people who haven't spent a lot of time studying the period, my knowledge of medieval life is tainted with all kinds of bits picked up from popular culture. For me, it's the mishmash of modern and medieval from tabletop RPGs and video games that comes to mind, with taverns by the village green, suspiciously-clean peasants wandering around, and not enough attention placed on where all the food comes from. If that's your own idea of the past, conscious or unconscious, Life in a Medieval Village will help set you straight.

Though I should mention that the title is actually specific. It's not "life in any generic medieval village," because something else that gets lost in popular understanding is that the medieval period wasn't the same in all places at all times (see also the common problem with medieval stasis in creative works). It's about life in a specific medieval village, Elton in England, or Aethelington, Adelintune, Ailincton, or Alyngton, among others, depending on when and who you ask. Elton has relatively extensive surviving records, so while it's not necessarily representative of anywhere else, we can get a pretty good picture of what life was like there, and that's valuable in and of itself.

One surprise is just how much daily business was contracted. We think of medieval life as being bound by custom and of modern life as being incredibly litigious, but the people of Elton took each other to court all the time, in both criminal and civil cases. Most punishments were fines, which makes sense--a medieval village was in danger of starvation in the best of times and could hardly be expected to spend resources on having someone sitting in a jail for a while--but there is one example of someone being ordered to the stocks. And there were fines for everything. For failing to provide proper labor for the lord, for assault, for insulting people, for premarital sex--the amount of fines levied for which indicated it was incredibly common among all ranks of the peasantry--and for any number of other events. There are even surviving contracts drawn up as a form of early retirement. A landholder would bequeath his (or her, most often in the case of widows) land to his heirs in exchange for a promise to be supported for the rest of her life. I'm surprised that hasn't caught on now, honestly.

Speaking of classes of the peasantry, the village records easily disprove the idea of a sharp lord/peasant distinction with little other differentiation. Many of the village offices--bailiff, reeve, woodward, ale taster, etc.--were chosen by the peasants themselves from among their number. Of the around 200 families in Elton in the records, 49 of them provided candidates for the village officers and just eight of them filled over half of the total office spots. Similarly, there are three broad classes of landholders: those who hold no land at all, small holders of perhaps 10 acres, and large landholders of 50 acres or more. Selling land was technically illegal since the law required it to remain within the family line, but in practice no one actually cared and land was sold all the time, allowing ambitious or lucky peasants to grow rich and peasants who fell on hard times to beggar themselves.

Another surprise is how many married priests there were. Apparently in medieval England, the answer is "most of them," and those who weren't married still had concubines. There's an example given of a cautionary tale where one priest had four children, three of whom became priests themselves, who urged the priests's concubine to repent of her sin while alive, but she refused to and was eventually carried off to hell when she died. More compelling to me is the story of the bishop coming to upbraid a vicar for having a mistress. The mistress hears of this and assembles a basket of food and meets the bishop on the road. When the bishop asks her whereabouts, she says she's taking a gift to the bishop's mistress, who was recently bedridden due to advanced pregnancy. Suitably chastized, the bishop visits the vicar and doesn't mention mistresses at all.

There's quite a bit more about farming practices, family arrangements, the lord's household and privileges, a bit of history, and everything else you could ask for. It can make for somewhat boring reading at times, but the chapters are well-labeled so if you don't care about "The Lord," for example, you can skip ahead to the next chapter and not really miss any context that will prevent you from enjoying later chapters. I'm not sure how applicable Life in a Medieval Village is to places outside Elton, but it gave me a comprehensive view of life in at least one medieval village.

[Pamela Bronson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned so much from this book, yet I still find it difficult to to explain things like the difference between villeins and freemen, because it's complicated! That was one of the main things I learned: the manorial system was complicated and most rules had exceptions. However, there are some clear facts and trends about one village in particular and medieval English villages in general - I enjoyed reading about them and am glad to know them.

It's impressive how well villagers cooperated to raise enough food and meet their obligations. They made their own rules about when crops should be planted and harvested, when different types of animals were allowed to graze the stubble, and many other agricultural matters. Peasants even held some local offices - some could only be filled by a villain, an "unfree" peasant.

The lords seldom dared to go against the consensus of the whole village, though they did live by exploiting them. I don't think anybody much thought about this; it was just the way things were. Only in the dreadful 14th century, when crops failed several years in a row, the Black Death struck, and the English kings taxed the people hard to pay for their war with France, was there significant rebellion against the system. (There were peasant revolts in many other European countries in that century as well.)

I like that the authors used a particular English village, Elton, as the focus of their studies. It's still there, too, though it has changed a good deal, naturally. (Many villages were abandoned.)

I also enjoyed and learned a lot from Life in a Medieval City (set in the French city of Troyes) by the same authors and plan to read their Life in a Medieval Castle.

I caught one error [but see Update below - I might be wrong, though I doubt it] which annoyed me, partly because anyone who can count and use a calendar can see that it's wrong: they describe Epiphany, January 6, as the Twelfth Day of Christmas. It clearly is the thirteenth, since December 25 is the First Day and, ... math. The confusion probably results from the fact that Epiphany Eve, which was often highly celebrated, is Twelfth Night, that is, the evening of the Twelfth Day. But it's such an unforced error. The historical novelist, Ann Swinfen, made the same mistake in her otherwise delightful mystery The Troubadour's Tale. I wonder if she made it independently or caught it from this book.

Update: There are some places/churches/cultures in the Christian world where the "first day of Christmas" is December 26, the day after Christmas Day, so in those places Twelfth Day and Epiphany would be identical. However, the Church of England counts December 25, Christmas Day, as the First Day, so Twelfth Night is Epiphany Eve and Epiphany is outside the Twelve Days - or is the thirteenth. I'm assuming this follows the tradition of the medieval Catholic Church in England.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this deep dive into medieval village life. It would be hard to read this book and not to learn something new about the everyday life of ordinary medieval people.

[Benjamin Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

it's kinda fuckin dry, Ricky

[Stuart Endick · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is much valuable information to be gleaned from this book about the manorial system in late 13th Century England, but it is a slow slog. Years ago when world history was meaningfully taught in American schools it was generally understood that medieval serfs lived in a state of bondage half way between slavery and freedom. This book fills in the considerably more complex details of the numerous obligations in labor, in kind, and scarce money that the villein (English serf) owed his/her manorial lord. The circumstance of no two peasants were alike: a few were free, a small percentage of villeins were relatively prosperous and able to acquire additional property with their surplus, but a large majority were subsistence workers who spent most of their long days toiling on the lord’s portion of the complex open fields outside the village. Of particular interest is the description of the administrative offices that ran the manor: steward, bailiff, reeve, and beadle, most often filled at the lower levels by the better off villeins. And most interesting is the description of the manorial courts that through the jury system collected the innumerable fines to enforce the fees and duties owed the lord. The jurors often were the better off villeins, who also are revealed in the manor court records as prone to bullying their neighbors, sometimes with violence. The plan of the book to focus on a single village, Elton near modern Cambridge, was a good one but the book would have been more readable if there were extended vignettes describing the life of typical villagers at different strata in the society. Also, the book tended at times to be an apologia for what was an overwhelmingly oppressive social system. Nevertheless I’d recommend it for serious history enthusiasts.

[denudatio_pulpae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Po poznaniu sekretów życia w średniowiecznym zamku, pora przenieść się na wieś.

Jak się żyło na średniowiecznej wsi? Biorąc pod uwagę ówczesny stan medycyny – zapewne krótko i dość ciężko, chociaż chłopi mieli swoje sposoby, aby umilać sobie czas. Autorzy dość dokładnie opisują status społeczny mieszkańców wsi, ich obowiązki względem pana oraz Kościoła oraz zwyczaje i normy, którym podporządkowane było ich życie. Podobnie jak w poprzedniej książce, dowiemy się sporo o życiu codziennym: gdzie mieszkali chłopi, co jedli, jak się ubierali, kiedy mieli czas na odpoczynek, jak kochali, jak witali na świecie dzieci i jak umierali.

Znajdziemy tu dużo informacji na temat średniowiecznego angielskiego systemu prawnego, co mnie osobiście trochę nudziło, szczególnie kiedy autorzy upierali się, że muszą wymienić kilka przykładów (koniecznie z nazwiskami), żebyśmy załapali.

Pewnie jeszcze kiedyś sięgnę po książki tej serii, ale nie czuję się na siłach, aby czytać je jedna po drugiej.
6/10

[Tomek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zdecydowanie bardziej podobała mi się książka o życie w średniowiecznym mieście.
Książka opisuje historię zarówno jednego miejsca jak i ogólnie kraju lub kontynentu (jednak głównie skupia się na samej Anglii lub dokładnym hrabstwie). Oprócz suchych danych i definicji można też przeczytać wiele ciekawych historii średniowiecznych mieszkańców wsi wyciągniętych z kronik i zapisów sądowych co umila nieco lekturę.

[Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Borrow.

Not as interesting as that on Medieval towns, but still good.

[Gary Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read and such a detailed insight into Medieval Village life! You learn about the make up of villages, the Manor, the farming system, judicial system and the daily lives of villagers.

[Karen Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed my re-read and whereas, from my review below, I was annoyed by some of the minute details the first time I read this book, I didn't feel that way the second time, so increase my rating to four stars from three! Funny, how time and I guess more knowledge of the period helps you to appreciate the research of the authors and the fact they do include such facts.

This is the third book in the Gies' series on medieval life and I have to admit that while I really enjoyed aspects of it (learning the differences between a seneschal, reeve and bailiff, reading about the squabbles and offences that erupted between villagers and which make 'Neighbours', 'Eastenders','Bold and the Beautiful' etc. as well as 'Criminal Minds' seem tame and unimaginative! Also, the details on childbirth and the role of the parish was fascinating), but overall felt that compared to the other two it became bogged down in too much petty detail - on ploughing, exact amounts of fines etc. I didn't feel that kind of specificity added much; on the contrary, it interrupted the flow of the narrative as you try and calculate the amounts (of a harvest, a tithe, a fine) in order to understand the impact when, the real point is the fact they were reaped or leveled in the first place. It also meant that, what to now has been a riveting non-fiction series, was dull in parts. I wondered if it may have been because it was Joseph's solo effort and not written with his wife, Frances, therefore reflecting his interests more than hers :) but I may be waaaaaay off. No doubt what I found distracting will fascinate others and, indeed, there is so much in this book to lose yourself in as life in a medieval village, from diet, to daily routines, to spiritual welfare and the complex feudal system governing the free person and villeins, is explored and explained. A very good read :)

[Juliew. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed how this was organized and also especially interesting were the black and white photos of the buildings(reconstructed mostly of course)but there were some older churches from the time that have survived as of this being published.This mainly focused on one English village in the East Midlands and with chapters such as The Village Emerges(showing the reconstructed buildings and others),The Lord,The Villagers and who the were,How they Lived,Marriage and Family,Village at work,The Parish and Village Justice it practically takes a look at all aspects of medieval village living.While the writing wasn't especially good it seemed well researched.With some circumstances being a great deal more complicated than just peasant and lord.It gives us a practical view of the people inhabiting such places during these times.Highlights for me were the records of the manorial courts as it gave an idea of the real issues of the day good or bad.Also of interest the customs of holiday celebrations,marriages,punishments for crimes,naming and Tudor connections.Recommend for someone interested in medieval times.

[Victor Sanchez · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the book has a great well of information and it's easy to understand the progress that came during the evolution of Village life in both technological and cultural settings along the centuries from the first migration to the medieval age, the reading can be very dry and boring in several sections.

Instead of making a good narrative or giving life to the life of peasants, lords, and merchants, it's more like a compendium of statistics and somewhat amusing facts presented in spread sheets for a power point presentation. I don't say it was bad, but if I wasn't on medication and found history to be very relaxing, it's probably that I wouldn't have ended the book.

It's a great material if you want to write historical accurate fiction or you decide to make a thesis about agriculture in medieval England. Besides that, it's better to read other books or listen to historical podcasts

[Mariposa Aristeo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book if you’re reading it for research, but otherwise, a bit dull.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considerable detail about medieval village life. Surprisingly complex social organization and political life. Heartening to see that many aspects of daily living have remained constant over the centuries despite all the apparent turmoil visible in various realms of social life.

If anything, reading this has confirmed to me that the modem problem is one of scale. The world is simply too big and too connected for human beings to navigate without psychological disruption. We live disconnected from our immediate communities, connected by geography, presence and history, and sort ourselves into tribes driven by self-consciously constructed identities or even built around pop cultural products. Rather than as people existing in relation to place and circumstance, we become isolated nodes that coalesce around powerful memes and media vectors of cultural influence.

What’s missing in the modern format is a more grounded, concrete and factual existence. The way forward will be to practice media hygiene, to secede from the collective frenzy guaranteed by the virtual nature of internet relations to ideas, identities, and disembodied people. What is the benefit of the material wealth guaranteed by technological progress if it causes the human organism and human communities to destroy themselves?

[Amanda Tero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is packed full of helpful details given in a very interesting and poetic form. There were times when I was bored in reading it, but those were mainly political parts, and I’ll be the first to admit that politics just aren’t my strong interest point. There were many captivating scenes, quotes, and examples given, as well as original pictures. It created a very realistic image of the medieval village, and I definitely benefited in my knowledge of medieval life by reading it.

Because this is historical, it covers all aspects of life, and touches on moral subjects not suited for younger readers, though nothing too explicit was portrayed.

A good resource for writers of the medieval era.

[Tymciolina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesująca okazja do wglądu w codzienność naszych przodków, którym nie powiodło się na tyle by wieść życie pana feudalnego.

Na przykładzie angielskiej wsi Elton autorzy uświadamiają współczesnemu czytelnikowi, że życie średniowiecznego chłopa nie różniło się wcale tak bardzo od dzisiejszych realiów pracownika korporacji. Nieustanna praca, coraz to nowe podatki (o dziwo warzenie piwa nie było opodatkowane, ale już akt cudzołóstwa tak), wyzysk, rzadkie chwile odpoczynku (marzenia o utopijnej Kukanii) i jeszcze raz praca. Całość okraszona licznymi wstawkami z akt sądowych obrazujących problemy mieszkańców wsi (choćby niewywiązanie się syna względem rodziców z umowy dożywocia zakładającej dostarczanie rodzicom w zamian za przekazanie ziemi kwarty pszenicy rocznie i ubrania z kapturem).

Warto przeczytać, mimo że początkowe i końcowe rozdziały nie zachwycają.

[kurp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ciekawe, acz ma dwa istotne mankamenty. Po pierwsze, prawdziwe mięsko zaczyna się gdzieś koło 170 strony (rozdział "jak żyli chłopi?") i szybko się kończy (kilkadziesiąt stron przypisów, bibliografii itp.). Po drugie, książka jest wybitnie anglocentryczna a nawet osnuta wokół konkretnej, wziętej za przykład miejscowości. Na swój sposób to ciekawe, bo też można popatrzeć, jak to działało na Wyspach (zazdraszczam ichnim historykom doskonałych źródeł, u nas na zakrętach historii pogubiliśmy tego rodzaju dokumenty), ale trochę szkoda, że nie dorobiliśmy się chyba podobnej, równie przystępnej pozycji traktującej o polskiej wsi.

[Kasia (Kącik z książką) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesuje Was średniowiecze? Jesteście przekonani, że ówczesny chłop miał gromadę dzieci, był we wszystkim zależny od swego pana i od świtu do nocy tylko harował na roli? W takim razie koniecznie sięgnijcie po Życie w średniowiecznej wsi, bo możecie się mocno zdziwić!

Cała opinia
http://www.kacikzksiazka.pl/2018/06/z...

[John Majerle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever been to a medieval fair and wondered what it would be like to escape to a simpler time of long ago before the world got so complicated? Then this is the book for you! Times were different back then, but perhaps not like you might guess (and definitely not like you see in the movies.)

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting! Like usual historical books, not an easy read, but this isn't difficlut either. Amazed me more of the similarities in humanity than the differences between then and now. Even has pictures!

[Soquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much about history and had many misconceptions corrected. I will never look at a word like villain in the same way again. We've come a long way but it's interesting to learn how much things haven't changed.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

While the book is accurate and has some interesting information in parts, on a whole it was only so-so. I was expecting to learn more about what daily life would entail for villagers, although I suppose given that the vast majority were self sufficient farmers, there might not be all that much to say. There was more about the law, how land was passed, and how punishments would vary depending on the class of the person involved. It was good enough to keep my interest, but I thought this series has books with more draw. I found Life in a Medieval City to be more to my liking.

I would consider this book to be adequate, but there may be more engaging books on this subject.

[Annabelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I dove into this book expecting stories reminiscent of The Last Duel - A True Story of Trial by Combat. Instead I am reminded of scenes from my boring history textbooks of high school past. My bad.

The writers had every chance to make this read enlightening and interesting. They failed on both counts. What I want is a book that I can count on to survive, the next time I transport myself to the 12th century!

[Rebecca McCusker · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to find a history book that's so well written and immersive. (Not to mention hilarious at times). Humanizes the people of the time period while exploring many facets of everyday life. Also provides an illuminating lead-in to Medieval times, as well as a beautiful exposition about how times eventually evolved into the early modern period.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://allbookedup-elena.blogspot.com...