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I have read in a few places that clean water for drinking was relatively rare for most people in medieval Europe and so everyone constantly drank beer or other alcoholic beverages instead. Is this true or a misconception and if it's true how anyone get anything done and why didn't people constantly die from dehydration and alcohol poisoning?
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Jan 24, 2013 02:07
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Am I correct in assuming that if a person from the Middle Ages were to somehow fall into a time machine and show up in 2013, that anyone who met them would probably pass out due to their hideous stench?
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Jan 24, 2013 19:21
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Hey just want to say thanks for answering my questions and the others, this has been a really great thread and you really know your poo poo!
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Jan 25, 2013 01:54
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What are your thoughts on how average people constructed national/tribal/ethnic identities in this time? I understand that in general "nations" as we know them today did not really exist and it was instead a system of land belonging to various lords who swore fealty to nobility and royalty, but I'm wondering more how people thought of themselves. Did people typically think of themselves as Saxons and Jutes for example or are these tribal identities something that modern historians use to talk about these times, and maybe the people just thought of themselves as living on Lord So-and-So's land? It seems like a time when a lot of these things were sort of in flux
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Jan 25, 2013 15:39
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A Buttery Pastry posted:Then there's southern France, which seem to have been much more similar to Catalonia than northern France for a long time. Yeah that was Occitania (where people spoke a few different dialects Occitan or "langue d'oc" ), it had a somewhat distinct cultural identity and included most of modern southern France, and parts of Spain and Italy. The French rather aggressively stamped it out, but there are a few Occitan speakers today and you'll see street signs in Occitan in some cities there. I used to work doing reconstruction on a medieval castle there (in Gascogny), I don't know that we were doing the most historically accurate job as none of us there were historians but luckily most of the older structures were intact and we could more or less follow the style. There is a lot of interesting poo poo to see around there if you have any interest in medieval warfare or castles in general, as it was where much of the Hundred Years War and Albigensian Crusades were fought, there are towers and keeps and larger castles everywhere Earwicker fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Jan 26, 2013 |
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Jan 26, 2013 02:48
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Xiahou Dun posted:Just for the record, Occitan isn't a variety of French. It's its own full on language. Occitan struck me as more similar to Catalan than to French. I've been to Bretagne and the Breton culture/identity seemed quite strong still, much more alive than Occitan culture seems to be.
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Jan 26, 2013 18:15
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SlothfulCobra posted:And speaking of longbowman, what were the non-english counterparts to the longbowmen like? Welsh
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Jan 31, 2013 00:23
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Obdicut posted:Did the use of war-dogs continue during the Medieval period? It continues to the present day, I don't think people ever stopped using dogs in the military.
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Feb 6, 2013 18:26
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Hey I'm heading to Wales in a couple of weeks, what are some of the coolest castles to visit? I'm planning on checking out Harlech, Caernarfen, and Conwy..
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May 10, 2013 16:23
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Ashcans posted:You should check out Cardiff castle. It's a pretty interesting site because there are viewable areas that span basically the entire lifespan of the fortification - you can go in and view parts of the original Roman construction, for instance, and then check out the ruined keep which is from the 1100s, I think. You can also tour the main building, which was occupied and updated until the end of the 19th century - so obviously it isn't very medieval anymore, but it does give you a nice sense of how the buildings developed and changed over time. I don't know that I would make a special trip just to see it, but being as it's smack in the city with tons of other stuff, it's worth stopping in. They also do fairly regular living history stuff there, so you might get to see some dudes riding round in plate or whacking each other with swords. I'll check these out, thanks! I'll be in Cardiff for a day or two so should be no problem. Most of the time I'll be up in the north though.
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May 10, 2013 18:41
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Cast_No_Shadow posted:They came up with carpet death but never thought of hanging? Not a lot of trees on the steppes
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Jul 1, 2013 17:29
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Alekanderu posted:Shields were in common use up until the adoption of plate armor, at which point they began to see less use since the armor itself offered enough protection. Shields are still in common use.
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Nov 7, 2013 23:25
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 00:10 |
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Alekanderu posted:That is true, of course, but not for military purposes. They are indeed used for military purposes but in that context attached to weapons instead of held in the hand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_shield
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Nov 7, 2013 23:40
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