LIFE OF A SERF PART 2

HEALTH AND SICKNESS

Medieval Medicine

• Medieval people knew very little about medicine• Was based on folklore and superstition, not

science• Did not understand about dirt and germs• Serfs swam but did not bathe• Bodies were crawling with lice and fleas• If a serf broke a bone they were lucky if it healed

straight• Cuts would get infected

Cures

• Often did more harm than good• Leeches were used to suck out a patients

blood• A hot plaster of honey and pigeon’s dung was

a recommended treatment for bad kidneys• Lemon balm was seen as a magic elixir that

could cure serious illness• Feverfew was used for headaches and

childbirth

Doctors

• There were no real doctors• Operations were often carried out by “barber

surgeons”, men whose main job was as a barber

• Patients were knocked out by a big dose of wine, juice from opium poppies, or other strong drugs

Plague• Every now and then a serious disease, like

typhoid, would sweep through a village, killing many people

• The worst plague came in 1348, the Black Death, or Bubonic Plague

• Almost half the people in Europe were killed• People felt pains in their chest and black lumps

would form on their bodies• They died in three days• The village of Sladen was completely wiped out

by this plague

A SERF’S HOUSE

• A serf’s cottage usually had two rooms, one for people, the other for animals

• What the cottage was made of depended on where the serf lived. In the north of England the houses were made of stone. In the south, they were made of mud and sticks

• The mud huts were of “wattle and daub” construction, meaning they were made of woven strips of wood covered with a mixture of dung, straw, and clay

• The houses were VERY small. On average about 5m square

• They were so small that in 1426, a man named William Found ran away from his manor carrying his house on his back

• There was a stone hearth in the centre of the cottage with no chimney

• It was used for warmth and cooking• Because it had no chimney the rooms would

have been very smoky and dark• There was also a layer of soot on the walls

about 3cm thick

SERFS AT WORK

• A serf was not free to do what he wanted• Always had to farm his lord’s land before his

own• Had to grind his grain in the lord’s mill• The lord of the manor’s farm was called the

demesne and a serf had to work there 2 – 3 days a week

• A bailiff (employee of the lord) made sure the serfs did their work properly

• All who were old enough had to work• Women made ale and bread, and looked after

the chickens, goats and cows• Children watched over the sheep and pigs on

the common and and tried to catch fish and birds to eat, there was no school

• Everyone helped in the fields at harvest time• Men cut the grain, women and children tied it

in bundles called sheaves• This was long hard work that lasted while

there was daylight to work by

• In winter, life was very different• There was little work to do in the fields• The poor could not afford candles• People had to stay indoors, huddled around

their fires, with their livestock to keep warm from sunset to sunrise

• In northern England some nights last up to 16 hours

THE SUMMER MONTHS

March and April

• Field were ploughed and planted as soon as the ground was soft enough

May

• Inspection of beehives• Honey provided sweetness• Sugar was a luxury of the rich

June

• Hay was cut and dried in good weather• This would be feed for the animals over the

winter

July

• Harvesting wheat• Everyone joined in the harvest• If the harvest failed people would starve

August

• Threshing of the wheat using flails• This separated the grains from the husks• The grains were then taken to the mill to be

crushed into flour• The flour was then taken to the bake house to

be made into bread

WHAT SERFS WORE

Men

• Men wore a long woolly shirt, called a kirtle, which came down to their knees

• Underneath they might have a linen shirt• In the winter they wrapped scarves around

their heads• Probably had a leather jacket for winter

Women

• Women wore long gowns which came down to the ground

• Underneath they might wear a shirt• All women covered their heads with hoods• They might have a pretty belt to go with their

best gown

Both

• Clothes were not washed often• There were no undergarments• They slept in their dirty kirtles and gowns• They wore wool stockings also

Shoes

• Made of leather and wood• In 1350, they cost 6 pence a pair, this was very

expensive• A shepherd earned ten pence a month• When a serf needed money he would sell

some wool or food or send his wife or children off to work

Plain Clothes• Clothes were homemade• Women spent much time spinning wool into

thread to make into clothes• Sheepskin cloaks were worn in winter to keep

out cold and rain• Outer clothes were never washed but shirts

made of linen were washed regularly• Wooden pattens were worn over leather boots in

muddy conditions• People’s clothes smelled of smoke so they didn’t

really smell bad