An Ordinary Day In: The Life of a Medieval Peasant Woman

By Lindsay Townsend

A medieval woman had to be many things, depending on her social position. A noble woman could be responsible for running and managing a castle, great house or estate and also be involved in actively pursuing her family's or husband's aims, including warfare. A woman in a town would need to oversee her house and also continue her own business, or that of her husband's if she was a widow. A peasant woman would need to be skilled in herb-lore and folk-medicines, also a cook, laundress, spinner, harvester, child-minder, store keeper, brewer (or brewster, the female of brewer) and more! So the day in the life of any medieval woman was likely to be busy.

I'm looking at the day in the life of Mary, a peasant woman who lived in the 1300s before the Black Death. Mary is a housewife who is married to Adam and they live with their three children on a small holding in medieval Oxfordshire.

Mary's day begins at first night whatever the season. In summer this might be as early as 4 am. In winter her simple wattle and daub timber-framed home would be shared with the family's few animals, for extra warmth and to protect the beasts from wolves and other predators. Today in July Mary rises early from her sacking and straw bed. She dresses in a plain dress of wool, usually russet in colour, and then helps the children to dress before providing them and Adam with a breakfast of ale and bread or cold pottage. While Adam and the two older children leave to help with cutting and turning their lord's hay harvest, Mary is busy at home. She will help with the harvest later but she has other tasks first, beginning with washing the clothes.

She and her youngest daughter take the woollen and linen clothes down to the small river to pummel with small paddles and rinse in the clear stream. They spread the wet things on bushes to dry and Mary then tends her few chickens and geese. She and her daughter work for a while in her kitchen garden, weeding and gathering herbs and vegetables. Both are glad of a drink of ale, bartered from the village ale-wife, when they take a break.

It is July, hay-making time, back-breaking and tedious. July is also the hungry month, when wheat and other grain stores are low. Mary is always hungry in July and when she has time she grinds up the bits of wheat and old peas and beans on her small saddle query to make a kind of flour she can turn into bread and bake on her hearth under an upturned pot. She grinds in secret, with her youngest daughter keeping watch by the cottage door, because the miller would complain to her lord that she is not getting her wheat ground by him and paying a fee for the 'privilege'.

Some days Mary makes rush lights, or collects berries and wild fruits from the surrounding countryside, or helps her husband Adam tend their own or their lord's field strips. Some days are a holy day--a holiday--when the family go to church to celebrate special saints' days and festivals. Today, although her back is hurting--many skeletons from medieval times show people plagued by rheumatism and stress injuries brought on by the sheer hard work--Mary goes to join Adam and her two older children, labouring to bring in the hay harvest. She takes with her a lunch of bread and cheese for her family--the cheese is a soft one, made by her from the milk of their cow, and needs to be eaten quickly. She also gathers a few wild strawberries.

Reaching the hay fields of their lord, Mary finds the other workers resting and taking a midday meal. The reeve has brought some ale for all the hay makers and more bread. Adam and her children eat quietly. Her youngest child asks what is for supper and Mary has to admit it will be cold pottage again--she has no time to prepare anything else. Later, Adam draws her aside and whispers he has bartered another day's hay-making with the reeve for a fat rabbit, taken from the lord's warren. With onions from their garden they will eat well tonight, God willing.

With a lighter heart Mary works in the hay field for the rest of the day, gathering and turning the long grass and flowers the men have cut with scythes. The summer evening and dusk is long in coming but then she, Adam and the children wander off to their cottage with the prospect of supper and bed.

I show the impact of the Black Death on the lives of peasants like Mary in my forthcoming novel, TO TOUCH THE KNIGHT. For details of this and my other medieval historical romances, please visit my website.

Lindsay Townsend writes historical romance set in medieval England and the ancient Mediterranean. Her latest is A KNIGHT'S ENCHANTMENT, available now. She lives in Yorkshire with her husband.

An Ordinary Day In: The Life of A Roman Businessman

By Michelle Styles

During the waning years of the Roman Republic, the day began at dawn for the successful Roman businessman. Given that lighting was not very good, most people rose with the dawn. Also, because of the traffic congestion in ancient Rome (gridlock is not a modern problem), carts were banned during daylight hours, this meant sleep was difficult in any case. In Roman calculations, the first hour started when day broke, not when you hit midnight. The 12th hour ended when the sun went down. Night time was then divided into 12.

After rising, the businessman dressed and had a simple and quick breakfast. The round of client visits was the first thing he attended to. Everyone in Rome was a client of someone else. Think the Mafia. Think networking as a way of life. You had to pay your respects, ask for favours and support your patron when called upon. The patron for his part was honour bound to offer food, to come to his assistance and to make him gifts often of money. Clients were received depending on status.

After attending to the clients and paying his own calls, if necessary, the businessman saw to his work The markets of Rome teemed with good from all over the known world. Things had to be bought and sold, warehouses tended to, goods manufactured and the various enterprises financed. All roads really did lead to Rome and it was a metropolis teeming with possibility. However they did not work all hours and it has been estimated most Roman workers were finished sometime around the sixth or seventh hour.

The remaining hours in the day were filled up with shows or spectacles if they happened to be on. Or if not, there was strolling, exercise and bathing in one of the public baths. To get the experience of a Roman bath, you need to visit a Turkish bath or modern day spa. It was not a quick in and out but a chance to network and gossip. Playing games such as 12 Lines (backgammon), latrunculi (a type of chess) , draughts and other games involving dice. If you visit the Forum in Rome, on the steps of the old court, you can see various game boards scratched in the marble. Out of consideration for Roman matrons, brothels were supposed to be closed until the ninth hour!

After bathing, the businessman generally either had guests around or went to someone else’s house. This was the main (if not the only) meal of the day. Cooking by the end of the Republic was an all consuming craze with people vying for the most extravagant meals they could give. So much so that in 169 BC, the serving of dormice was banned and later under Sulla, laws were passed in favour of cheap homely fare. Given how Sulla dined, there is more than a faint air hypocrisy about the laws. After dining, there was often some form of entertainment before the businessman retired to bed.

Michelle Styles's latest Roman story, "The Perfect Concubine", has just been released as a Harlequin Historical Undone. One commenter (from the US or Canada) will get a free download from e-harlequin. The lucky winner will be announced on Sunday 6 February. A simple hello will enter you.

Also this month on Harlequin Historical Undone, Elaine Golden has her debut release, An Imprudent Lady featuring a mid-30's heroine.

Michelle Styles writes historical romance set in a wide variety of periods including Roman, Viking, Regency and Victorian. You can learn more about Michelle's books on her website.