▲ | ljf 4 days ago | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Yes https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/medieval-peasant-only-work... | |||||||||||||||||||||||
▲ | 11 hours ago | parent | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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▲ | dot1x 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Ehm... definitely NOT! > Ultimately, we found that the claim that medieval peasants worked around 150 days a year is still largely accepted as a valid estimate by academic economic historians, at least in England for a period starting around 1350 and lasting between a few decades and more than a century, depending on the methodology used to study the data. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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▲ | antisthenes 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
I think the origin of the trope is that the peasants sat around doing nothing during winter, when there was nothing to plant or harvest. It's probably true that there was less work in the winter (although you still had all your maintenance tasks, e.g. repairs and preparing firewood), but this was compensated by much more intense labor in the spring and summer. Overall, though, it makes no sense to say medieval peasants worked less than people do now, it's likely very comparable, and the variations would depend on the quality of your soil/irrigation and how much you were going to get taxed. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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▲ | adastra22 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Wtf? Ok I guess so. I would have never guessed. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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▲ | verisimi 4 days ago | parent | prev [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
It is really great that Snopes was around in medieval times and can confirm or deny! /S The thing is, no one knows what medieval peasants were doing, cos we weren't there. We have this or that piece of evidence, but evidence can be misinterpreted. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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