At least they didn’t believe the world was flat.
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00:00 [Music]
00:13 Has thou, I, been curious about medieval life?
00:18 Wouldst thou travel back in time, if thou couldst?
00:21 Doth thou regard thou wouldst enjoy it?
00:24 How long wouldst thou last?
00:27 This is WHAT IF, and hithers what would befall you,
00:31 if thou lived during the Middle Ages.
00:34 [Music]
00:37 Hear ye, hear ye!
00:39 The Middle Ages sucked!
00:44 After 200 years of peace and prosperity under Pax Romana,
00:48 the Roman Empire fell into crisis and decline.
00:51 Thus began the Middle Ages,
00:54 more commonly known as the Dark Ages.
00:57 Beginning towards the end of the 5th century,
00:59 and lasting until the start of the Renaissance in the 14th century.
01:05 This was a time when, unless you were a knight, nobleman, or the king himself,
01:10 life was brutal and scary.
01:13 Hygiene was poor, money was scarce,
01:17 diseases were rampant, and punishment was cruel.
01:23 Beds were not soft, and toilets didn't really exist.
01:28 But hey, at least you had the church,
01:30 and roughly eight weeks of holidays and festivals spread throughout the year.
01:35 The truth is, life back then was difficult, but people got through it.
01:40 They even managed to have a bit of fun while struggling to survive.
01:44 Compare how they lived to your life today,
01:47 and see if you'd ever be able to trade places.
01:51 Your typical day in a medieval town starts about 4 a.m.
01:55 The church bell tolls, announcing the first mass of the day.
01:59 But unless you're from a noble or royal house,
02:02 you won't be going to church this morning.
02:04 Instead, you'll be preparing your goods for sale at the market, which opens at 6.
02:10 And there you'll stand for the next nine hours,
02:12 hoping you'll make enough to buy a chicken for dinner,
02:15 instead of the same old cabbage and beans.
02:18 Of course, not everyone in the Middle Ages was a peddler.
02:21 The skill set in any given town could be quite diverse,
02:24 with blacksmiths, tailors, masons, winemakers,
02:29 and don't forget the tax collector.
02:33 At around 3 in the afternoon, most retail businesses start shutting down for the day.
02:38 And by 8 p.m., the city gates are closed, and the night watchman takes up his post.
02:43 Dinner at your house might not be very special,
02:45 but up at the castle, the king is having a feast.
02:48 All you can eat, all you can drink, and not a single dull moment.
02:54 The fun doesn't stop with dinner.
02:56 When the plates are cleared, the town's elite take to the dance floor, even the knights.
03:02 Don't feel left out.
03:03 The commoners will get to have their fun at tomorrow's festival.
03:07 But for now, rest up on that nice straw bed of yours.
03:12 One of the good things about the Middle Ages, they did a lot of partying.
03:16 It's estimated that in total,
03:18 roughly eight weeks of any given year were taken off for festivals or events.
03:23 While a lot of these festivals were tied to the church,
03:26 the town also hosted tournaments, which the church did not approve of.
03:31 That's probably because tournaments made a spectacle of violence.
03:35 "No!"
03:39 From jousting, to sword play,
03:41 to making prisoners duel to the death.
03:44 If you think that's cruel, it doesn't really get any better.
03:48 Most serious crimes were settled by a trial by ordeal.
03:52 For example, if you were accused of a crime,
03:55 you might be subjected to a trial by water.
03:58 Bound hand and foot, you'd be tossed into a body of water.
04:02 If you sank, you'd be found innocent.
04:04 Because if you floated,
04:06 it meant that you must have renounced baptism when entering the devil's service,
04:10 and were therefore prevented from entering the water.
04:14 While the physics of buoyancy wasn't exactly their strong suit,
04:18 science did exist in the Middle Ages.
04:21 For example, even in medieval times,
04:23 the well-educated were well aware that the world was round.
04:27 This period also saw the inventions of many items we still use today,
04:31 such as the mechanical clock and the printing press.
04:35 Too bad they didn't invent the toothbrush.
04:37 In fact, if you were wealthy, it was fashionable to have rotting teeth,
04:42 since it showed that you could afford sugar.
04:44 Obesity was also a sign of prosperity,
04:47 since it showed that you could afford meat and other luxury foods.
04:51 But if the nobles lived well, the peasants were in the best health.
04:55 Their well-balanced diet of bread and beans,
04:58 paired with full days of physical labor, kept them in great shape.
05:02 And as for their teeth, well,
05:04 they didn't have toothpaste back then,
05:06 so the common practice was to wash your mouth out with wine or vinegar after a meal.
05:11 Not very hygienic, but that's not what the Middle Ages were about.
05:15 You kept your hands and face clean to keep up appearances,
05:18 but aside from the rich, no one really had toilets or bathtubs like we do today.
05:23 This was a period of survival and salvation.
05:27 And whatever people did to get by usually worked,
05:30 at least until the 14th century.
05:33 The last century of the Medieval period truly put the dark in dark ages,
05:43 as it was marred by famine, conflict, and plague.
05:48 Also known as the Black Death,
05:50 the plague wiped out as much as 60% of Europe's population
05:54 in one of the most devastating pandemics in human history.
05:58 And it took roughly 200 years for the world population
06:01 to return to its previous level.
06:04 But over the next few centuries,
06:06 Europe underwent a renaissance,
06:08 a time when people pursued truth and accuracy
06:11 through skepticism and scrutinizing empirical evidence.
06:15 This period initiated a scientific revolution that continues to this day.
06:20 When you look back on it,
06:22 the Middle Ages played an influential role in the development of modern society.
06:27 But is it something we need to visit to see for ourselves?
06:30 Or can we just trust the history books?
06:33 I'd be willing to bet most of you would rather keep your interactions
06:36 with Medieval times to the restaurant chain
06:39 rather than having to rinse your mouth out with vinegar after a meal.
06:43 Do you think people might one day look back on our era
06:46 the same way we look back on theirs?
06:49 Well, that's a story for another WHAT IF.
06:54 [MUSIC]