MEDIEVAL PEASANTS HAD IT BETTER

Apr 17, 2022 9:20 AM

ridiculousbudget

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136866

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1937

Dislikes

82

Link to tweet:

https://twitter.com/aziedee/status/1515333667849080835?s=21&t=01tgC6B1GB_qbwJ59AqbXg

So that must make us modern day peasants

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Well that definitely needs a source

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

They worked 150 days a year FOR THE LANDLORD. They still had their own households to maintain, which was backbreaking, unending work.

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Ooo and she gives citations in the post too, what a legend!

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Also if you've ever gone into work or left work in the dark you've worked a longer day than a medieval peasant.

4 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Very misleading concept. They had to do a lot of work to stay alive other than their employment, and their workday was sunup to sundown.

4 years ago | Likes 26 Dislikes 2

The "work" I'm doing in my chair in th air-conditioning with coffee and donuts probably doesn't compare to plowing fields

4 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Yeah, you don't even have to be a historian to recognize this as a huge pile of bullshit.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

well then I quit

4 years ago | Likes 33 Dislikes 2

Your resignation is not accepted, please return to the assembly line Worker 22376

4 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 1

The problem is it's literally illegal in the US to be poor. Which then costs money.

4 years ago | Likes 30 Dislikes 8

And illegal to be homeless when capitalism is not preempted from rendering you homeless

4 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 1

Being unable to work during the winter is not the same as having vacation days....

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The reason for this is many peasants didn't work between harvest and planting next year (maybe 5 months), not due to feast days.

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

This also doesn't count non-field work (gardening, weaving, crafts), but this work was necessary and happened all year.

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Medieval peasants probably started working when they were 8 and were lucky to make it past 20.

4 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 8

no the median lifespan you hear about includes a shitload of deaths before 1 or 2. once you made it past infancy you usually lived till ~60

4 years ago | Likes 21 Dislikes 3

Also alot of proffesion back then dident have constant materiel to work with or werent always in season.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

There's a difference in how much you have to work if you want to buy a candle vs if you want to buy a TV.

4 years ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 9

Not if you’re after the Sony Candletron with 1 million candlepower

4 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

"candlepower" also called a Candela.

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I think that if I went to a big building with all my farming mates and we listened to a fellow spew on in gibberish for an hour and then...

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

...drink a few ales, chat about the community and go home, I'd prefer it to a modern religious church.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Peasants revolt 2.0 surely due soon

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

They didn't live with consumerism, It's wasn't feasible for them to work as much as us because they had so much other shit to do to

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Oh yes, the old days… When dying old meant 45.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Peasants didn’t get to retire, they just died.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

most holy days meant extra prays & tithe,by the poor.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Nah, for many villages it involved festivals, where young people from different settlements could mingle and hook up. was vital to 1/?

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

prevent incest 2(2

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

"we've never worked so much". Naaah. Remember the labour movement from 100yrs ago?

4 years ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

Quick search: avg work time now is 40, 19th century the average was 60.

4 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

*laughs in 62*

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

Laughs in *average*

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Average work time *per job* now is 40. Makes no sense to compare averages though. Class divides are too large.

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

They always have been. Many serfs weren't that we'll off

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

And there's a bunch of jobs that don't get the day off on holidays - not now, not back then.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

That is a fucking terrible analogy that ignores so much it's not even funny.

4 years ago | Likes 374 Dislikes 31

Fucking casuals.

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

It's also got no source. This seems a ridiculous number, so some evidence that it isn't composed of N2, O2, and CO2 would be helpful.

4 years ago | Likes 27 Dislikes 1

Like how the majority were farmers so those "on" days were backbreaking harvest time and the "off" days were for starvation in winter.

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Seriously. The church didn’t give two shits about peoples happiness

4 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Also, 150 days is roughly April until late October... that's a full harvest cycle, I'd wager another 120 days were spent suffering winter

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Work culture is one of the worst things to happen this happen to society.

4 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 2

I blame the Puritans.

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Those who love their work disagree

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 8

I love what I do but I also have my own life. I don't want to be working all the time, that's nuts.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

There are many things I love doing. I can't imagine any one of them I would love being forced to do 40+ hours a week.

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I do. I used to stay 2hrs late at work every day for free at one of my previous jobs because I simply loved it. Different people.

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

You couldn't think of something else you might enjoy doing?

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

My hobbies were very much aligned with the job. I would get home and do the same shit :D. But to be fair, I'm bad with people/relationships

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

See, nothing would stop those people from working if the culture was different, but while we glorify the grind the opposite it true.

4 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

It could, actually, there's limits on working hours in many European countries. Sucks to be the one forced to do it, either way.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Consider Van Gogh, who basically never sold a painting in his lifetime. How many more have we missed out on because they had to work?

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

A little more sense, or a bit less generous family, and humanity would never have had Vincent, and we’d all be immeasurable poorer for it.

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

I couldn't care less about painters, but I get your point. It's hard to do what you want, something meaningful when you work and are tired

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I mean, yeah I get where this post is coming from, but I definitely enjoy a lot more luxuries than they had. Internet for example.

4 years ago | Likes 575 Dislikes 22

And fruit

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Modern dentistry and anesthetics.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Not dying in child birth (as often) is definitely a perk

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Now, now, if they wanted the internets back then they just needed to work a little harder to get it. Lazy. Selfish. Ungodly. Unclean.

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I would trade the internet for 200 days off a year. But I still want my toilet.

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I'd trade internet, but keep processing power and modern computing. Makes calculation/design a lot easier--but fuck social media/adverts.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Wait. You ENJOY the internet??

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

But why not both?

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Toilet

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

But, what if we had internet AND free time?

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Not having to spend all those holidays IN church is another.

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

plane+cars+internet+nukes = agreed labor exploitation?

4 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 2

AC and refrigeration.

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Gatorade so you don't die from dehydration when you get the shits.

4 years ago | Likes 62 Dislikes 2

It has superior potassium

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Massively increased food options, including fruit, meat and spices. Indoor plumbing, AC and heating, quality clothing, traveling, etc.

4 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

Just not having to spend 3 hours a day milling your own wheat is nice (the daily grind)

4 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

They had the 'net. if they didn't work hard enough, they ended up suspended in one as an example to others.

4 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Which could easily be made free.

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Flush toilets, food delivery, spices, drive in movies...

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Do you have a house?

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I’ll take clean water and a refrigerator over internet as my choice thank you very much.

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I quite enjoyed the luxury of not becoming disfigured or dying

4 years ago | Likes 46 Dislikes 0

good thing we have proper medical care here.

4 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Unless you live in the US and have a medium to low income.

4 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Shh, don't say that out loud. You'll make the Americans jealous.

4 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

Also not dying at the ripe old age of 35.

4 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 5

If you survived childhood (a big if) you'd probably make it to old age.

4 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

isn't that number skewed by child and infant mortality

4 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

Yes. Actual mortality for surviving to adulthood still tended to lead to old age.

4 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Just odds of making it to old age were brutally low thanks to violence, disease and lack of OSHA requirements. ;)

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Fresh water rather than dysentry is a luxury?

4 years ago | Likes 25 Dislikes 0

I mean Nestle seems to think so...

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Multiple kings died of the shits. Multiple. So clean water wasn't /even/ a luxury. It was just a gamble on if your next sip ended you.

4 years ago | Likes 21 Dislikes 0

Bring me beer!

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I'd be fucked, I only drink water

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

A life in holy orders awaits

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Let's be real. Not even the rich people had that back then

4 years ago | Likes 187 Dislikes 2

Yes they did. They were called 'advisors.'

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Nah, they just ate and fucked. I feel bad for em really...

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

well they where compensating the lack of microwave oven with servants or slaves who cooked and clean and did whatever for em

4 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

If you have medieval royalty a soda it would explode their minds. They’d probably think it was a divine gift from god

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Invent time machine, go back in time, give them soda, become a god or a messenger of god and live the best life in the old times.

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Bullshit, the king would have had it. It was just expensive.

4 years ago | Likes 37 Dislikes 1

The king and a couple of porn producers, noone else

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Alluring wenches await in manor near you...

4 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

The peasants would have serfcoin and pencetorrent to do what they needed though...

4 years ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

Painful as it is, ppl have never worked so much in human history as now and we're even less happy. It's all about the new "stuff" we "need"

4 years ago | Likes 134 Dislikes 32

I work in an industry to help people store all the stuff they've accumulated. The happiness they get is from realizing they can buy more

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

... a home?

4 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

We have more free time than ever due to all the automated functions in our lives from home appliances to motorized travel 2/2

4 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 3

We work less now than at any point in history.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Yeah, like next month's rent.

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Please provide a source for this since it seems ridiculous to believe that

4 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Peasents didn't just spend all their day fullfilling their hobbies and innermost desires. They had all sorts of constant work all life.

4 years ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 2

I’m not saying the system is fair, but this isn’t true. During the industrial revolution people would work 70+ hours a week

4 years ago | Likes 22 Dislikes 1

That shit only started with the industrial revolution.

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

People are doing that now.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

This is not true at all. The main reason society has been able to develop advanced technology and advanced learning is because 1/2

4 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 3

Like penicillin, insulin, flavors that would make an emporer blush, books, light bulbs, indoor plumbing, germ theory, chocolate, retirement?

4 years ago | Likes 23 Dislikes 9

What's the point of retirement if we stop valuing working ourselves into the ground and start enjoying life in the moment?

4 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Well, yes, but all that could still be available without all our surplus value being siphoned to billionaires.

4 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 1

All of that could be achieved and ensured with less work for every human on the planet thanks to current levels of automation. It's just

4 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 1

that the fruits of said labor (automation and human) goes mostly into the pockets of the ultra wealthy.

4 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 1

Not true. Child labor was a thing. Retirement wasn't a thing

4 years ago | Likes 45 Dislikes 6

The good old days, where old people just fucked off and died. Would at least improve congress a lot.

4 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 2

Retirement still isn’t a thing for the majority of people. Hell, I’m better of than a lot of people and need to work to 70 for my employer-

4 years ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 2

Well back then you wouldn't live that long

4 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Funded healthcare cause my wife won’t be eligible for Medicare until that. And that’s assuming republicans don’t push the age on Medicare

4 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

And I’ll probably have a massive heart attack a day after retiring anyway and won’t live to enjoy it.

4 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0