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!

Look online for groups in your area, and also visit events and if you like the look of them and they are doing the kind of things you are interested in, talk to them.
Most groups are keen to have new members and if they won’t they will still be able to suggest a more suitable one.

Definitely not.
Food intolerances can also be worked around, for instance if you can’t eat wheat there are different types of flour.
A serious allergy might be tricky for communal cooking but there are also reenactment events where people cook separately on a campsite.

I have a question! Would you reccomend joining a medieval re-enactment for weight loss? 🤣 It sounds an ideal way to keep away from processed food for a bit!

Monks are in the vanguard of clock ownership for this reason!
They also had candle clocks.

Were food intolerances common in those times ?

I know teeth were much better kept as there was little sugar in the diet.

Thank you for this - absolutely fascinating! I watch Tales from the Green Valley every year, I love that programme.

I am lucky enough to live in a medieval house and am fascinated by how the original occupants lived, although I am definitely a come to see you doing it immersively rather than doing it myself!

This is the closest thing to time travel I can think of.

I suspect that people with serious food intolerances just wouldn't live very long, they would fail to thrive as children. Even in the 60s I remember children that were just 'sickly' for no apparent reasons maybe they had unknown intolerances or allergies.

Thanks, OP, that's fascinating! I know kweik is an old technique, but I've never tried it myself. If you do it again, you might have some success with my parsnip stout! 😀

Oh that’s so interesting!
One of the family was a silkwoman but none of the men focused on trades for this event.

You don’t need facilities to wash, just a little bit of (preferably warm) water!

Fascinating, OP! Thanks for the thread.

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel thank you! Though a bit disappointed you didn't have a few saucy tales! I'd imagine it might be pretty fun! X

Yes, I knew some people who were doing it and I had a lot of experience and lots of skills on my cv because I am one of those people who is constantly learning new crafts.

I actually didn’t know how to brew until a few weeks ago, the organiser messaged me and said, ‘can you brew?’ and I was like ‘no but keen to learn!’
I put myself through a medieval brewing crash course, made 3 batches in a fortnight and read half a dozen books, some academic papers and a few blogs.
I have wanted to for ages because when I play a Tudor gentlewoman I ought really to understand all the household skills of the time- Tudor women were much more hands on in running a house than Victorian ones and it always felt like a gap in my skillset!

You wouldn’t wear a bra under a kirtle, the kirtle is a supportive laced garment so no need and the shape would look all wrong. Plus not having to wear a bra is one of the bonuses of playing history, a properly fitted kirtle is far more comfortable.
Also no need for knickers.

No glasses. The rule was basically nothing modern in the house.

We had modern toilets so used loo roll.
I thought I would massively miss reading but didn’t. I was imagining myself smuggling my kindle in (no one would have seen under my 5 blankets!) but wasn’t even a bit tempted.

That’s amazing, what an experience.
I wonder what the same place is like now.

Was it a one off or will it happen again next year? I need to keep an eye on what the museum are doing. I follow them on Facebook but Facebook are excellent at showing me posts after the events have happened. 🙄

Yes, exactly.
I feel like what I have learned from this experience is ‘life is fine as long as you’re comfortably off and able bodied.’ Ummmmm, no shit Sherlock?!
But then it must be non obvious to some people because people are surprised it was ok.

Where did you learn to spin?

Were there rushes on the floor and rushlights for the servants lighting? If so, where were they sourced from seeing as most of the marshes have been drained in the intervening 600 years.

Slightly off topic, but I now feel the need to go to this place and don't live close. What is the Chichester premier inn like? Or other cheap places to stay.

Oh definitely a small world. Think I might be able to guess who you are as I saw that FB post where Ian told you to send a CV! Fellow reenactor here!

What do you think of the social life that medieval people had? Our modern life with so many tiny households, many of which contain just one or two persons, and where people spend so many evenings alone in front of a screen, sounds completely the opposite to medieval life where you were never alone!

Is there anything you learned during your medieval experience that you’ll use as a Tudor? Did it clarify anything that you hadn’t appreciated about the later period?

How amazing! My DH and I are moving to a smallholding this coming May and I've been dying to find some more information out about some of the things you've been mentioning so please bear with me!

• What would very young children (between 0-5) be wearing? Would it just be some shift with warm layers on top? Or would you be differentiating by gender from now? We're looking for something we can just roll and hem and basically unpick as children grow as we don't want to be continuously remaking clothes, and I can't imagine people in the 1400's would have either - a wonderful re-enactor mentioned clothes that grow with children and I haven't been able to get the thought out of my head since, but nor have I been able to find out anything online!
• Do you know if there was much fermenting of vegetables going on in that time?
• You mentioned you did some spinning - was this on a drop spindle or did you use wheels (and if so, was it 'the great' wheel or did you use more modern ones?)
• Did you wash the fleece from it's raw state and then did you card/comb it? If so, would you be able to describe the process you used? I've been trying to find some info on how people washed fleece, say, before detergents but it seems to be so limited!
• If you did any weaving, were you using floor looms or vertical warp-weighted looms?
• With the kirtles, about how large was the circumference of the hem? And did the shift match that circumference? If not, did the shift restrict any movement and do you know why hems on kirtles would be made so much larger if you're just being capped by the hem of the shift anyway? Is it just for warmth?
• What were shoes like and what did they consist of? Were the poorer class even wearing shoes at all?
• You mentioned a bit about what you slept on - was the upper 'layer' basically like a futon stuffed with wool? And was the under straw layer loose or also enclosed in some ticking? Did you air the mattresses every day?

Apologies for all the questions! Would be helpful if you could detail how you actually go about finding these things as every time I go online to find something out it seems to take days of research before I can get a satisfactory answer!