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Okay, living in the medieval times was no picnic, but they did have loads of leisure time. I read how craftsmen would only work for a few weeks when they had run out of money, and when they had earned enough, they would go back to a leisurely life. No fifty to sixty hours plus a week for them. No looking out of the window and dreaming of getting home, or doing something far more interesting, or having plenty of time to be with friends and family, or just going fishing.With all the machinary, computers, and automation, we are still working harder than ever. Life for the medieval peasant was certainly no picnic. His life was shadowed by fear of famine, disease and bursts of warfare. His diet and personal hygiene left much to be desired. But despite his reputation as a miserable wretch, you
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Okay, living in the medieval times was no picnic, but they did have loads of leisure time.Okay, living in the medieval times was no picnic, but they did have loads of leisure time. I read how craftsmen would only work for a few weeks when they had run out of money, and when they had earned enough, they would go back to a leisurely life. No fifty to sixty hours plus a week for them. No looking out of the window and dreaming of getting home, or doing something far more interesting, or having plenty of time to be with friends and family, or just going fishing.With all the machinary, computers, and automation, we are still working harder than ever. Life for the medieval peasant was certainly no picnic. His life was shadowed by fear of famine, disease and bursts of warfare. His diet and personal hygiene left much to be desired. But despite his reputation as a miserable wretch, you
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I read how craftsmen would only work for a few weeks when they had run out of money, and when they had earned enough, they would go back to a leisurely life. No fifty to sixty hours plus a week for them. No looking out of the window and dreaming of getting home, or doing something far more interesting, or having plenty of time to be with friends and family, or just going fishing.
With all the machinary, computers, and automation, we are still working harder than ever.
Life for the medieval peasant was certainly no picnic. His life was shadowed by fear of famine, disease and bursts of warfare. His diet and personal hygiene left much to be desired.
But despite his reputation as a miserable wretch, you might envy him one thing: his vacations.
Plowing and harvesting were backbreaking toil, but the peasant enjoyed anywhere from eight weeks to half the year off.
The Church, mindful of how to keep a population from rebelling, enforced frequent mandatory holidays. Weddings, wakes, and births might mean a week off quaffing ale to celebrate, and when wandering jugglers or sporting events came to town, the peasant expected time off for entertainment. There were labor-free Sundays, and when the plowing and harvesting seasons were over, the peasant got time to rest, too.
In fact, economist Juliet Shor found that during periods of particularly high wages, such as 14th-century England, peasants might put in no more than 150 days a year. As for the modern American worker? After a year on the job, she gets an average of eight vacation days annually.
Business InsiderLin Parramore - The average American worker takes less vacation time than a medieval peasant