winter

it's a snowy winter night you're inside

your cozy house and watching a

historical movie that takes place during

the Middle Ages as you take another sip

of your hot chocolate you can't help but

wonder how the people survived the

winter back then at that exact moment

your TV screen suddenly turns into a

portal and pulls you inside oh

you open your eyes to find yourself

within the world of the movie you were

just watching a man approaches you and

says welcome to my medieval village I am

Bartholomew and I called you here to

give you an answer to your question

first of all let me tell you that

conditions became extremely harsh when

the cold arrives and not just for the

northern countries Mainland Europe takes

its share of the brutal weather too so

winter is kind of a slowing down time

for all of us you see we usually

associate winter with old age and

poverty because of all the changes that

occur in nature during this time for

example we can't really grow any crops

when snow covers all our land and by the

early 14th century things started to get

even worse because we started seeing the

first signs of what you may know as the

little Ice Age cold temperatures peaked

weather anomalies and extreme events

such as sudden floods or hail storms

started to occur which added to our

Agony take the winter of 1359 for

instance across Central Italy the snow

Rose to extraordinary Heights people had

to throw the snow into the streets to

lighten up their roofs and because of

that some towns were completely blocked

their inhabitants were trapped in their

homes for several days another example

of this is the winter of 1389. the

snowfall was so great in the Luzan

region of France that many people's

farmsteads and houses were destroyed

Bartholomew notices that you start

shivering ah you were not prepared for

this journey back to Medieval Winters I

see let's walk to my home and find you

some warmer clothes as you can see I'm

already wearing a cloak a scarf and

mittens which are all made out of wool I

also have boots that are made out of

leather from a deer still all these are

not really enough to stay warm when one

is outside that's why we usually layer

other clothes underneath them all to

keep the warmth trapped by the way the

wool can get heavy and itchy sometimes

so beneath our Woolen outer clothing we

wear linen undergarments too the linen

acts as a barrier between the wool and

the skin therefore making things a bit

more comfortable for us it is also

easier to wash linen clothes and they

dry way faster than Woolen ones

the wealthier ones can line their winter

clothing with fur and US regular

peasants sometimes use rabbit and lamb

for the same purpose it's not as

glamorous but still effective we can

also hunt some wild animals and birds

with the permission of the Lord yet

again the sumptuary laws in other words

consumption laws are very clear on who

can wear what according to their social

standing take the 1363 English Sanctuary

law for example it states that the wives

and Daughters of crafts people and

land-owning peasants were only allowed

to wear lamb rabbit cat and fox furs

you notice a weird-looking hinged metal

sphere in Bartholomew's pocket and ask

him what that is

ah it's a hand warmer he says as he

gives it to you if we are going to be

outdoors for a long time we bring one of

these with us otherwise one's fingers

can get numb you know now take a closer

look at it and you'll see that it has

tiny holes on its surface this helps the

heat to escape so that we can warm our

hands without burning them once we fill

it with hot coal

that's kind of heavy you say and think

about how lucky you are to be living in

modern times with just one click from

the comfort of your home you can order

Hot Hands instant hand warmers from

Amazon and no coal is necessary you can

even put those inside your shoes to warm

your toes since they're pocket-sized

unlike this metal orb

and Bartholomew arrive at his house you

realize that he does not take any of his

outer garments off

we keep everything on during the coldest

months because the indoor heating isn't

always great he says as you can see the

fireplace stands here at the center of

our homes and right above it there is a

ventilation hole rather than a chimney

which causes us to lose so much of the

heat yet again we don't usually sleep in

our outside clothes instead we put

bricks and stones in the fire wrap them

in Fabric and take them to our beds to

warm the sheets wearing our night caps

all night long also helps and when we're

not sleeping we usually try to stay

close to the fireplace as much as

possible

you sure appreciate that hot water

bottle of yours more now right and you

didn't even need to cover it with a

cloth like these folks have to do it

already came with a knit cover for your

convenience and the best part is it's

much softer than a brick and can be

heated in the microwave within seconds

how rude of me I forgot to offer you

something to eat Bartholomew says I know

I already told you winter means

Stillness for us but we still need to

put in some work to not starve there's a

lot of preparation to be done in advance

to survive these medieval Winters,

first of all we start Gathering wood for

the fire from as early as spring and

through the summer then there's the food

we harvest in the fall we have to

preserve that in a special way so all

will last over the winter months the

same thing goes for meat too the methods

we use include pickling drying and

brining in terms of grains cereals and

pulses we dry them out and store them in

ceramic or clay pots we later use them

for making potted stews and soups in

addition to vegetables basically

everything we can find goes into the pot

the most common foods we eat in our

everyday lives include onions peas beans

lentils and herbs such as parsley we

still have to include protein in our

diet though and we do that by eating

cheese eggs fatty bacon or salted pork

in terms of fresh fruits and berries

they are hard to find during winter time

so we preserve the ones we already

picked by the air drying method too

you think to yourself if only these

people had a food dryer at home their

lives would be so much easier they could

use it for all the foods Bartholomew

just mentioned from fruits to meat then

again there's no electricity here

I wouldn't want you to think Winters are

so Grim long and boring after everything

I've told you we still do plenty of

activities to keep ourselves entertained

Bartholomew says but what it's not like

they can binge watch their favorite TV

shows

we play in the snow a lot adults and

children all together you can see plenty

of peasants ice skating on the frozen

lakes to be able to do that we used to

use pieces of polished wood or horse

Shin bones but now we have iron skates

too I need to mention though here in

Western Europe ice skating is not as

common as in Scandinavia that is because

they are more accustomed to snow and

cold temperatures

sledding is another fun activity we do

then there are indoor games such as

chess backgammon and other dice games

wool spinning and telling stories are

also common ways to spend some nice time

with our family not surprisingly Nobles

have more opportunities in the

entertainment area too for example boar

hunting is very common amongst the elite

at that moment a portal appears at the

door Bartholomew says guess it's time

for you to head back traveler fare thee

will.