I’ve just got back from living as a medieval person, AMA

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

First time in my life I’ve ever done anything worthy of an AMA!

What did you do if one of you got a headache or sick? Were you able to take modern medicine?

Fabulous AMA! Thank you for doing this!

What about eyesight? Were people allowed to keep their glasses? I'd be stuffed from the start otherwise!

I have been a reenactor for years but never had the chance to do full immersion or winter before. I liked a Facebook post about it in early January and said something like ‘oh I am so jealous!’ and the organiser said ‘send me your cv!’

Tbh I think maybe the only thing I really missed from the modern world was my husband. But I think if we had done it for longer there might have been more things.

I had a hand (literally) in the wattle and daub in one of those houses in 1973 which was not long after it started I think. I'd love to go back and see it now.

North Cray. It’s the one in the village bit, with red timbers. Big central hall, end rooms upstairs and downstairs.

Having temporarily lived somewhere with no water or electricity - I found it does get dull, fetching and purifying water every day, just like any chore, and I doubt that would have been any different in mediaeval England.

I thought this was going to be a thread about reincarnation!

Very cool!

-what happened about toothpaste?
-period protection?
-did you bathe?
-did you eat any sugar?
-what was the bread like?
-where did you sleep?

Sorry! I’m curious!

Food and clothes were as authentic as we could make them- no secret modern thermals underneath. Nothing is ever 100% perfect of course because old varieties of fruit and veg don’t always exist, but we did our best.

I’d LOVE to do something like this. Sounds amazing!

Hoe did you wash? Do you feel people communicated differently? Was there a point to it eg historic research?

How did you wash? Did you clean your teeth?
What were the provisions for menstruating women?

What an experience you must have had 👍

Re washing, the museum made showers available but I don’t know of anyone using them. You can keep pretty clean with a daily wash with a bowlful of warm water and we weren’t exactly sweaty in this weather. There was no way I would have wanted to wash my hair and have to sit around with wet hair.

For me the best bit was the lovely gentle light in the evening, with just fire and candles/lanterns. I hate harsh modern LED lighting and it was so nice to have a break from it.

What was the worst thing you had to do? And the best?

We had modern toilets available but we also had piss pots for the night.
It turns out when everyone else is doing it too you really don’t care about using the piss pot in a bedroom with other people in it!

Have you got lice? Otherwise it's not authentic!

So interesting! I'd love to do something like this. What was it like being a servant? I recall from a similar Edwardian reenactment (can't remember the details!) that people got a bit too much into their roleplaying and the servants became quite fed up with their 'Lord and Lady'. Did any similar dynamics happen?

That sounds amazing! I wish I knew it was happening, I would have visited as the museum is local to me. It's the sort of thing I think I'd like to do, but I'm not sure if I really would! I definitely wouldn't be able to go on a pisspot in front of other people, that is an actual nightmare I have often (not pisspots, but exposed toilets in my dreams)

Did you have to brush your teeth with a stick and some home made paste of herbs?

Did you feel any healthier as a medieval person? How did it affect your sleep? Did you loose any weight?

As a result of your experience will you make any changes to your modern life?

That was the whole point and the reason why we were so excited about it 😂
To see how medieval people managed in the winter, what it is like to live in houses with no glass in the windows (turns out an oiled linen fenestral makes a lot of difference to the temperature, more than you would think), how does the clothing function in bad weather, how does it affect your body clock. There would be a learning experience to doing it at any time of year but so much more in January.
Also we got lots of visitors because people couldn’t believe we were mad enough to really do it!

I saw this on the news and thought it looked great. I am relatively local to there.

What did you do for recreation, if you even had time for any?

How interesting!

Has the experience put you off? Would you do it again? For longer?

How do you think it would be doing this for a long period of time, say 6 months?

That was the interesting bit- we assumed we would be eating more because of the cold but instead we seem to have gone into semi hibernation with the short days and ended up only wanting 2 meals a day.
We were all ready for bed by about 7.30 but managed to stay up till about 9. Then despite the cold, we found it easy to get up at first light, much easier than I usually find it. I think there’s a lot to be said for going with your natural body clock and I am thinking about whether I can adapt my modern life to it some more by maybe dimming the lights in the evening and going to bed earlier.