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!

I saw this on South Today!

None of us wanted to leave. I would absolutely do it for longer. It would allow you to really get into projects that take time, like spinning enough wool for a whole piece of cloth, or preserving food. 6 months would be really challenging but imagine how much you would learn. You could really get into the rhythm of life and feel the change of the seasons.

You are basically described how quickly you lost the 20th century programming you had to be a wage slave. It's quite phenomenal. Obviously it doesn't suit everyones agenda. But highly illustrative.

I love this and plan to try and do some history reenactment things myself when time allows. How would I get started?

No one did, but we talked about it.
Given how busy and crowded the household is during the day, we thought it did make sense that since the night time is the only time when it’s quiet, you might want to wake up and make use of the time if you have things to do for which you need quiet or privacy.
On the other hand, if you want to do anything for which you need candles, you will have had to keep a light burning all night to light it from because it’s really not that simple kindling a light with a flint and steel, or even waking up the fire, so I wonder how much it’s a rich people/monastery thing because they can afford the candles.

Oh yes I appreciate that only OP mentioned lots of game, deer and rabbits but said there wasn’t a lot of veg.
So not really an emphasis on poor man’s pottage which would be veggie.
Hence wondering if there were any veggie people there and whether being a veggie would make trying out a similar experience difficult, or in fact impossible.

That's such an interesting insight.

Really interesting thread. Thank you.

The 1900 island one looked grim as fuck. I think some of the families in these were really put through the mill, having to manage hard work on limited food. Our little thing was a picnic in comparison tbh.
None of us wanted to leave but I definitely would with most of these!

Re monasteries and waking at night: Thé monks had to get up in the night, because the two of the regular services were sung during the night. I believe that the Precentor or Master of Ceremonies rang the awakening bell, and the choir monks came from the Dorter where they slept, into the Choir . If you were old, infirm or sick you were excused the night services. Presumably they had some way of marking the time so they knew what the hours were…..must look into this!

When you’re all basically hobbyists the line between jobs and fun activities is very blurred!
Apart from the cooking and baking, things people did included weaving silk braids, woodwork, rope making, wood turning, woodcut carving, sprang, tanning the skin from the deer, candle and rushlight making, account keeping, and probably lots of other things I have forgotten.

Most of the time the fire behaved pretty well and then you occasionally get a face full of smoke if you spill some water onto the fire.
I did notice by the end that when I blew my nose it came out black. I suspect over a long time it would be very bad for you indeed.

We were eating off wood. The posh people had pewter trenchers for their bread but not to use as it gets scratched.

I would like to be more peasanty tbh. The next challenge. But it would be about farming, not just living in a house, so it would be harder to find a site.

I'm very interested in this! Being wintertime, was your focus more on the home and keeping warm etc? Winter (with short days and fewer agricultural tasks) being quieter. We grow a decent proportion of our own food, so winter is a bit of a break compared to the rest of the year (particularly late summer/early autumn). We do more "projects" rather than gardening (although we still have winter crops). Did any members of the household have trade work, or were you all household focussed?

About 20 years ago we sold our house to some recreationists who were going to rip the modern bits out and live like Victorians (house was attractive to them as we were relatively low on mod-cons and still had an outside toilet). There were several recreationist houses in our area and once I was aware of them I noticed residents out and about in Victorian dress. Unfortunately we moved out of the area, or I would have loved to have found out more about the group.

Yes, apart from having to check it once a day for messages from dh.
It was in a different building. I didn’t miss it at all.

Yes but we used piss pots at night.

Probably, but the woodsmoke will have covered up the worst of it.
None of the visitors complained.

Yes, see below. Caffeine, phone and bedtime.

Also, it all happened really fast- when I started 2025 I had no idea I was going to be doing this, which is pretty much a lifelong dream come true, and I’m over 50 and sometimes it feels like when you get to my age there aren’t many surprises left, so it has left me feeling quite excited and energised by life 🙂

Have a look online for groups in your general area.
The other thing I would normally suggest is to look up Kentwell Hall as they are currently recruiting for Tudors and they are a great way to begin reenactment, but I know they have had a lot of interest this year so might not be able to take everyone.
Also visit events and talk to people. With a few exceptions most groups are keen to attract new blood and will tell you how to get involved.

See earlier answer!

Apologies if you've already answered this and I've missed it, but what were the washing facilities like? Were you able to wash every day?

This thread is what AMA was.made for, really interesting, thank you.

So the year we were doing was 1461, which is just pre Caxton, so no printed books and very few books in general. I definitely couldn’t read. Two people in the household could, one was the household clerk who was keeping accounts and the other was the bailiff who was also a lay clerk and had a prayer book from which he would read most of the divine offices, which brings us on to your other question.
Yes we should have gone to church. On Candlemas we would ideally have processed to church at sunset with our lighted candles which would have been amazing but unfortunately we didn’t have a handy church and it was the last day so it was finished and we had to go home!
It was really interesting having the offices read; it punctuated the day and could provide almost a moment of calm and meditation in the bustle of work, which was mentally very healthy.
One visitor was confused though and asked if we were a religious group!

I slept in pretty much everything I had: smock, wool smock, kirtle which I loosened the laces of, and gown. Plus cloth hose and hood.

I went outside to get some sunshine when there was any, to do smelly jobs like gutting fish, and to see things properly in the daylight, eg if I was washing up after dinner it was too dark indoors to see into the cauldron and see if it was clean!

Yes and yes because it would be more of a challenge.

I think you’re right re twigs and teeth but I would need to check. I have some 16th century tooth paste recipes but not sure about earlier.

Sugar plums aren’t actually plums, they’re dried fruit rolled into that approximate shape and size.
Afaik jams aren’t a thing until later because they use a lot of sugar. We had fruit that was preserved by drying, either like apple rings or else as fruit leather, where you sieve it and dry it on a tray then cut it in pieces to eat. Nice with porridge.
We also had pickled vegetables such as cucumber, in big jars.