facts burst presents 13 unbelievable
things you didn't know about the
medieval era number 13 the bubonic
plague caused by the bacillus your Sina
pestis was brought to Europe by merchant
ships in 1347 the Black Death became the
worst pandemic the world has ever seen
spread by air + rat and flea bites a
healthy person could go to sleep at
night and be found dead in the morning
the disease caused fever starvation
extreme pain and mysterious black boils
that oozed pus and blood hence its name
an estimated 75 to 200 million people
died before the pandemic ended in the 13
50s
number 12 chastity belts were worn by
wives when their husbands went to the
Crusades often for years the belts
assured a wife's faithfulness and
protected her from rape by predatory men
at home made of metal with padded
linings requiring frequent change they
were impractical for long term where
such wear would cause abrasive injuries
urinary infection sepsis and death some
historians now believe this is a myth
because there is no credible evidence
the belts existed during the Crusades
the first evidence of their existence is
during the Renaissance number 11
many pieces of medieval literature were
written by anonymous this is because
manuscripts were often retellings of the
stories created by others notably of
respected classical authors and church
figures authors rewrote stories they had
read or heard instead of creating their
own the names of individual writers were
less important in those cases number 10
food in medieval times was an important
marker of one's social hierarchy and
there was a correlation between the ones
work and food the laboring classes food
was coarser than the elites laborers
only requiring coarse food
rye bread held a low social value and so
was eaten by the poor Green shortages
were common with food scarce so they
made rye bread from a fungus that
contained all dry unfortunately it was
poisonous and could cause death
the Burdine medieval cities were small
and crowded the main street might be
cobbled but roads were bare dirt and
frequently muddy chamber pots emptied
out the windows animal dung and rotten
food was thrown into the roads heavy
rain flushed away refuse but light rains
only made roads worse and streets teamed
with rats London daily produced 50 tons
of excrement number 8 probably you
didn't know the height of Footwear
fashion for the aristocracy in medieval
times was long toed shoes called poo
lanes - gosh - the French these pointed
toe shoes were stuffed with hair wool or
moss and could be half again a foots
actual length tradition says the style
began with the shoes of cow Hulk of
Anjou who had some kind of foot
deformity but was more probably inspired
by Middle Eastern shoes seen during the
Crusades number 7
bulls and oxen of medieval times were
about the size of calves today cows
doubled as work animals pulling carts
and plows and barely produced enough
milk for their calves horses - or
smaller goats sheep cattle horses pigs
hens and ducks were turned loose to
forage for their own food much of the
year grain shortages starved the animals
as well as the people number 6 the
Middle Ages common people wore their
hair short
the
heads of surfs were shaved as a sign of
servitude people of rank wore their hair
long and flowing Knights were sons of
noble families and so they also wore
their hair long the notable exceptions
to this custom were the Knights Templar
male courtiers of william ii were
accused of being sodomites due to their
long hair so the templars cut their hair
short and kept it that way on pain of
punishment number 5 medieval monks
practiced tonsure shaving the tops of
their heads barbers were required
so each monastery hired or had to train
one these barbers trimmed hair plus
performed ritual bleeding's and minor
surgeries like extracting teeth they
often lived in castles with noble
families as well it was common for
barber surgeons to treat injured
soldiers with their sharp blades even
doing amputations physicians considered
surgery as being beneath them the
red-and-white barber pole today
represents the bandages and blood of
that ancient role number four medieval
archery was one of the era's best
weapons archers were often the deciding
factor in winning a battle for this
reason they were awarded special
privileges Henry the first enacted laws
protecting archers who accidentally
killed someone during practice from
criminal charges long bows were
incredibly difficult to master because
of the force needed to penetrate armor
so he required all able-bodied men to
use their leisure to practice and learn
archery this ensured his supply of
archers ready for war number three
football games called mob football
played in the Middle Ages were between
neighboring towns with few rules and
unlimited players any method of moving
the ball was allowed short of
manslaughter or murder these matches
were often chaotic causing injuries even
death and property damage
the second concerned the game was
distracting his soldiers from practicing
their archery skills and acted ay1314
law banning it
he was the first but not the only game
to do so in France King Philippe the
fifth banned ball games in 1331 Edward
the fourth upheld the ban with the
archery law in 1363 requiring all
able-bodied to practice archery for two
hours every Sunday number two
medieval society considered torture and
acceptable means of interrogations
punishment and execution the type of
torture used depended on the social
status gender and crime of the victim
one brutal fact about medieval era
torture was its intent to inflict as
much agony as possible while keeping the
victim alive as long as possible
one method was saw torture the person
was sawed in half either vertically or
horizontally usually with a crosscut saw
coffin torture placed the victim in a
metal coffin cage that was hung up on
public display inviting abuse by angry
citizens other methods were the iron
chair pair of anguish and the breaking
wheel number one animals in the Middle
Ages were accused prosecuted and
punished for their crimes which ranged
from criminal damage to murder tried in
both secular and church courts the
practice continued until the 18th
century the usual criminals were farm
animals or pests like weevils and rats
in church courts the animal was provided
with a lawyer just like a person in one
case piglets and their South were tried
for murdering a child the piglets were
acquitted but the sow was found guilty
convictions typically led to execution
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