If somebody from the 15th Century was stood in front of you, wearing jeans and a top, do you think you’d be able to tell they were from a different era?!

[Parrotanne]

I’m bored! I know that people are said to have become taller as the centuries pass but I wondered if there would be any other discernible differences. Differences that would be obvious just by looking - the 15th C speech would most likely be a bit of a clue!

So if, for instance, 15th C person was stood in front of you at the bus stop, dressed in Boden/Primark/Next/Any High Street Shop would you realise something was a bit different?!

Tudors would take their own knife and spoon to meals - spoons would generally be made of bone, horn or wood (metal spoons were only for the wealthy).

This poor 15th serf. S/hé (hé I’m guessing as all she’s will be on childbearing duties if not dead in childbirth) may have been having a similar muse around the 4am gruel bowl. He would report back that he could tell we were 20th century for all the obvious reasons but also for showing incredible interest in his teeth !

Oops. Ffs. 21st century.

[quote DiscoLightsOnAFridayNight]This is an interesting watch!

[/quote] That is brilliant

@MareofBeasttown

Brilliant topic. The hairstyles would be a giveaway. Also they would likely smell a bit:) And have terrible teeth.

I think they might have good teeth. It was Tudor times when sugar became more available and teeth started rotting. I don't think medieval people suffered that much. slate.com/human-interest/2015/04/dental-hygiene-did-people-in-the-middle-ages-have-bad-teeth.html

I know this thread is about how people looked but one point about the lower class people of that time is that while they were uneducated as we understand it they would have been had impressive life skills and often their trades were highly skilled. Look at some of the beautiful things they made that have survived. Of course these were the property of the wealthy or the church but often made by the working classes.

Didn't live as long so would likely be 30 and thought of as elderly. Maybe it's just the style in which portraits were painted and the make up and fashions back then but in paintings people always seemed to have a certain 14th century look about their faces! Hard to explain really but very pinched looking, pale and wan, very small and thin...

@SeigneurLapindeGrantham

No I wouldn't. People are just humans whatever century they were born into. Although I'm thinking about the caveman character in Ghosts, is it Robin? I'd notice him but probably deduce he's going to a fancy dress party in character!

Haha, yes. Don't think he's called Robin though, that's one of the others.

This thread just got better and better. So many fascinating links. I loved the one with historical figures dressed in a modern way. Alexander I looks exactly like someone from a boy band:) Anne Boleyn is so much more attractive without the unflattering hood. Elizabeth is very alternative rock.

I take back my guess about the teeth.

I think if people survived the hazards of infancy, childhood, disease, accident, childbirth and conflict they were likely to have a lifespan not far removed from our own, so 30 would not have been seen as elderly. Lucky perhaps.

@MareofBeasttown

Brilliant topic. The hairstyles would be a giveaway. Also they would likely smell a bit:) And have terrible teeth.

Not necessarily true. People may not have had access to hot running water from tap but they actually washed often, made and used soap and in the absence of sugar had pretty good teeth, more wear from grit in bread but little caries. Teeth were cleaned with rags or chewsticks.

If you survived childhood (and for women, childbirth) then chances of living to an old age were pretty reasonable.

Teeth wouid depend on sugar (and alcohol) consumption.

Complexion likely to be bad - smallpox scars

The 15th century time traveller would find everything very expensive though I’m not sure what currency was used then or when pounds, shillings and pence came into usage.

Re no painkillers, according to google ‘Opium was used in the UK (and the rest of Europe) in medicines from the 1550s’ so no pain relief for this time traveller though I suppose there was alcohol.

@Andante57

The 15th century time traveller would find everything very expensive though I’m not sure what currency was used then or when pounds, shillings and pence came into usage.

Re no painkillers, according to google ‘Opium was used in the UK (and the rest of Europe) in medicines from the 1550s’ so no pain relief for this time traveller though I suppose there was alcohol.

I think the groat was their lowest coin. Would buy you a tankard of small beer to have with your brekkie.

FadoFado - that’s interesting. Yes I’ve heard of groats.

A bit off-topic, but while we’re on general historical factoids, I read somewhere that the ancient Egyptians thought that both men and women menstruated as most of the population suffered terrible UTIs. Something to do with their diet, but I can’t remember what.

For the person asking about short-sight before, it seems glasses have been around for a very long time, although I don’t suppose many would have had access to them in 15th century England:

allabouteyes.com/see-past-fascinating-history-eyeglasses/

Also if you arranged to meet your 15th century time traveller, they might not be on time. I have read that they didn’t have the concept of units of time smaller than 15 minutes (as they would be as relevant to them as nanoseconds are to us today).

If you follow any Thames mudlarkers on Twitter they often uncover medieval shoes. The anaerobic river mud preserves them pretty well. Fascinating to imagine whose feet once wore them.

@Egghead68

Also if you arranged to meet your 15th century time traveller, they might not be on time. I have read that they didn’t have the concept of units of time smaller than 15 minutes (as they would be as relevant to them as nanoseconds are to us today).

Never thought of that but it makes perfect sense.

Opium poppies grew wild in the Fens and there was certainly a problem in the 19th century. If they were indigenous then I expect they were used for pain relief long before that (malaria was epidemic there and it was a treatment).
www.researchgate.net/profile/Virginia-Berridge/publication/22802588_Fenland_Opium_Eating_in_the_Nineteenth_Century/links/60241ef6a6fdcc37a819ed70/Fenland-Opium-Eating-in-the-Nineteenth-Century.pdf

Suspect they wouldn't immediately tell you they were gluten free, lactose free, vegan or sodding airitarian which would mark them out as MOST suspect in the village I live in...

@FadoFado

Apparently the rotten teeth thing is a bit of a myth as sugar was pretty rare up until the 19thc. Until then they'd have mostly eaten veg and a little meat and porridgey things.

Maybe if they were one of those women who wore deathly pale mercury makeup to hide pox scars and went in for a trendy high hairline, two inches back from their actual hairline. That might be noticeable!

Was just going to say this! It was post-18thc that the trade in sugar really took off; and for most average people, they’d have eaten very little refined sugar before the end of the 19thc./early 20thc. In the fifteenth century diet would have been healthier than you think, though less varied. England was a wealthy country and there was less poverty than you’d imagine, too. Also, people were a lot cleaner than you imagine and changed under-linens more than you’d think! It wasn’t all like an episode of Horrible Histories

As an aside I used to care for the wife of the man who created catweazel. She was absolutely lovely.

@theworldsbiggestcrocodile

As an aside I used to care for the wife of the man who created catweazel. She was absolutely lovely.

I was terrified of Catweazel!