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How was life different in Towns and the countryside in medieval England?…
How was life different in Towns and the countryside in medieval England?
Countyside
Dangerous bread
Hazardous for health
Even if the harvest was a good on fungus could grow on the wheat, affecting the bread which was then consumed by the peasants.This was the ergo virus, causing ergotism, inflammation of 'burning' pustules and blisters
Drink and water
Hazardous for health
People drowned while bathing in the rivers As well as washing their clothes with urine in the stream, it washing downstream.
Helpful for health
Most villages, as they were based by streams had a ready source of drink and food, in the fish from the river. people inadvertently killed germs by sterilising it with alcohol.
Daily bread
Hazardous for health
If it was a poor harvest there would be mass familne, such as the great famine in 1313-1315 where 10% of the population starved to death
Helpful for health
As people did phsical work their fitness was excellent
Towns
Roads and Streets
Helpful for health
As there were no refrigerators to keep meat fresh, Drovers walked livestock such as cattle into town to ensure meat was as fresh as possible when it was sold!
Hazardous for health
The same cart was used to transport rubbish as well as grain, fruit, cheese, timber and cloth meaning these could be contaminated. Country roads turned very muddy in winter and could be hazardous. Towns were sometimes cobbles but these often turned to dirt and mud too. Drains ran down the middle of the streets but were often damaged by carts and animals
The town's water and waste
Helpful for health
In the centre of the town was a fountain which spring water flowed throw pipes from springs in the countryside. The church built these initially because priests needed clean water for acts of worship and could afford to lay the pipes. By the late middle ages town councils took over the conduits and went selling door from door.
From 1293, London paid rakers to clear the streets and dispose of rubbish outside the town walls, usually then spread by peasants on the fields as manure!
Hazardous for health
Medieval Trades made a lot of mess, Butchers especially. By the end of the middle ages most councils had ordered all butchers and fishmongers to do their cutting on the outskirts of town and dispose of the rubbish themselves.
Markets and Shops
Helpful for health
Markets were central to town life, traders served customers from the spaces in front of their houses, Markets could include tailors, barbers, herbs and spices.
Sugar was rare and expensive in the Middle ages which meant that people actually had a diet relatively free of sugar, using only honey to sweeten food.
Hazardous for health
Streets vendors and taverns sold hot food and ales- tavern ale was strongly brewed so drunkenness was a common problem despite the church's warnings about the sins of gluttony
Smell
Hazardous for health
Limeburners created smells as well as physical waste, as did metal workers such as those who made the lead pipes
Archeologists have found evidence of breathing problems in children, whereas this has not been found by those in the countryside.
Trades and Mess
Hazardous for health
Other trades worked on the edge of town such as:
Tanners scraped hair from animal hides and used natural acid to make them soft
Limb burners made the limewash paint that stopped rainwater from destroying the walls of buildings
Dyers needed to dispose of liquids that had soaked cloth in
Masons were left with rubble and dust after making and mending houses
House and Garden
Helpful for health
Gardens were a luxury, further out of town. This was used for growing vegetables. This gave them a better diet than the rich foods of the wealthy
Hazardous for health
Rich people lived on upper floors, to avoid the resultantly damp, moist and rat ridden of the floor below. Rainwater would grow stagnant in water, causing more smells as well as the waste