Everyday life and customs of medieval Rus'. How people lived in the Middle Ages Life and life

Job Description

I wanted to take a closer look at life in those times. How did people live? What was their morality? What were you guided by in life? What daily worries occupied their minds? How much do the interests of people of the present and those of that time contrast? Just like now there were big cities and squares, but a lot has changed since then: if earlier in the square one could hear
the creaking of wheels, the clatter of hooves, the knock of wooden shoes, the cries of peddlers, the roar and ringing of craft workshops, but now this has been replaced by the frantic pace of city streets and industrial factories. How have people changed?

1.Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………3
2. Brightness and poignancy of life…………………………………………………….4
3. Chivalry……………………………………………………………………..7
4. The significance of the cathedral in a medieval city…………………………………10
5.City dweller and time………………………………………………………..14
6.Crime of the Middle Ages……………………………………………..16
7. The role of the church………………………………………………………………………………..17
7.1 The role of the church in education…………………………………………….18
8. Conclusion………………………………………………………………..19
List of references………………………………………………………..20

As soon as we talk about medieval knights or about chivalry in general, the same, essentially the same image immediately passes before our mental gaze: the image of valiant and noble warriors in bright shining armor. Here is their cavalcade trotting out of the castle gates under bright banners pleasing the eye with the freshness of their colors. Here they are - some with a spear at the ready, some with a sparkling sword in hand - rushing into battle to defend the right of the undeservedly offended, to protect the widow and the orphan...

However, as soon as you look closely at this beautiful image, it begins to blur, fragment, losing its original unambiguity. Historical reality was probably much more complex before the stereotypical image of a knight, the same one that served Cervantes as a model for his immortal, cruel and at the same time touching caricature, took shape in the public consciousness.

To begin with, the word “knight” itself has more than one meaning. Initially, it obviously indicates a warrior-horseman (this is obvious for a Frenchman, a Spaniard, an Italian, a German, but, for example, not for an Englishman. - F.N.). But chivalry is far from just cavalry. Very early on, this term was attached to a warrior of very respectable social status, but it still became a noble title much later. Chivalry, in fact, is associated with nobility, but, be that as it may, these categories are not at all synonymous. Finally, the knight is the bearer of special ethics, various aspects of which appear in different eras with varying degrees of intensity. Knightly morality presupposes: honest fulfillment of all obligations associated with military service - vassal or feudal, devotion to the Church and the king, as well as to one’s patron, lord or beautiful lady; greatness of soul; sense of honor; humility mixed with pride. From such and such elements taken in different times in different proportions and under different names, an ideal emerges - an ideal offered to the knight by the main characters on the medieval stage: first of all, the Church, which has an almost complete monopoly on culture and which, with all the means of medieval “mass information” available to it, persistently disseminates its own ideology; then, by the secular aristocracy, which is connected with knighthood by blood ties, which little by little acquires its social self-awareness and, in opposition to church influence, brings to the fore its own unique ways of feeling, acting and thinking.

It was the interaction of these two poles, church and aristocratic, that gave soldier, which was originally the knight, professional deontology, social dignity and a multifaceted ideal. It was this that gave birth to chivalry as such, gradually, over the centuries, hewing and polishing it - until Bayard emerged from the ranks of the latter, “a knight without fear and reproach” - both in life and on the pages of historical works XV-XVIII centuries. The image sculpted by Epinal enchants us, but this enchanting and, like a mask, frozen face hides behind itself, as if behind a thick curtain, the changing historical reality. The purpose of the proposed book is to restore the history of chivalry, marking the main stages of its development with milestones.

Chivalry, first of all, is a profession. The profession of those selected warriors who serve their sovereign (king) or their lord (seignor). The special methods of combat of this heavy cavalry quite soon transform it - due to the high cost of weapons and the training required to wield them - into an aristocratic elite. Military service is increasingly concentrated in the hands of this social class, which ultimately begins to look upon it as its exclusive privilege.

This one has military service- its own ethics. Ethics going back to two sources. The first of them is the old military morality, requiring obedience to the lord, courage, and combat skill. The second is the old royal ideology, which called not only for the fulfillment of a purely military duty, but also, in addition, imposed obligations of a slightly different kind on knighthood - such as, for example, the defense of the country and its inhabitants, patronage of the weak, widows and orphans . The Church continued educating the military elite in the same spirit in the feudal era itself, when the decline of royal power revealed the power of the owners of castles and their armed servants.

However, the mentality of chivalry was determined not only by this ideal instilled by the Church. Literature, which was more secular in nature, expressed the aspirations of the knights themselves and gave them a model of behavior based on the example of their heroes. This model is probably still in to a greater extent, rather than the mentioned factors, contributed to the development of a purely knightly ideology based on values that were valued primarily by the knights themselves and which were defended and strengthened precisely by the knights, by no one else. This ideology is not without greatness, but it also has its flaws. To recognize them does not at all mean to reject the knightly ideal, which, perhaps, continues to live in the depths of our souls.

Notes:

Translator's Notes

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republican Note lane

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vigilante squad Friends Note lane

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ordo"(plural ordines ex ordine- in order, one by one. - Note lane

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12 Binary - binomial. - Note lane

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14 Pataria (it. pataria Note lane

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Hue, Hugues hhhu Hue Note lane

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17 Perceval or Parzival Note lane

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Bretagne ancient Note lane

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courtoisie Note lane

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Arnold V.

Barber R.

Barbero A.

Bumke Joachim. Jackson W.T.H. et E. New York, 1982.

Cardini F.

Chênerie M. L.

Cohen G.

Contamine P.

Coss P.R.

Duby G.

Flori J.

Gautier L. La Chevalerie. Paris, 1884.

Jackson W. T. N.

Keen M. Chivalry. London, 1984.

Parisse M.

Reuter H. G.

Ritter J.P.

Stanesco M.

Winter J. M., van.

Literature in Russian

Barber M.

Barg M. A.

Bessmertny Yu. L.

Bitsilli P. M.

Blok M.

Boytsov M. A.

Bordonov Zh.

Budanova V. P.

Volkova Z. N.

Gurevich A. Ya.

Duby J.

Egorov D. Ya.

Zaborov M. A. Crusades. M., 1956.

Zaborov M. A.

Ivanov K.

Cardini F.

Kartashov A.V. Ecumenical councils. M., 1998.

Kolesnitsky N. F.

Conrad N.K. West and East. M., 1966.

Contamin F.

Korsunsky A. R., Gunther R.

Le Goff J.

Levandovsky A. P.

Laurent T.

Lyublinskaya A. D.

Meletinsky E. M.

Melik-Gaykazova N. N.

Mikhailov A. D.

Moulin L.

Matthews J. Tradition of the Grail. M., 1997.

Pastoureau M.

Ponyon E.

Rua J. History of chivalry. M, 1996.

Wallace-Hedryll J.M.

Flory J.

Fustel de Coulanges.

Illustrations

Translator's Notes

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1 Deontology is a branch of ethics that examines the problems of duty and what is due. - Note lane

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2 Estates, first of all, are not “established” by an imperial edict; the latter is capable, at most, of legalizing an actually existing estate, “prescribing” its rights and obligations. But in this case there was no need for this kind of legislative activity: the horsemen were still The early republican period, that is, several centuries before Augustus (63 BC - 14 AD), was constituted as the second, after the senatorial, estate, with clearly defined rights and responsibilities.

It is true that the equestrian class took off sharply under Augustus, occupying the highest and most profitable positions in the hastily cobbled together imperial administration. - Note lane

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3 This statement is too categorical and needs clarification. Cavalry in republican Rome was both a traditional and even more honorable branch of the military, since it was formed from the patrician nobility, that is, that faction of it that formed the class of “horses”. Later, the “riders” moved away from military service the further they went, making a career in the field of civil administration or plunging headlong into wholesale trade, usury and tax farming. Their place in the army was gradually taken by turmas (squadrons) recruited from the barbarians, but even at the Battle of Pharsalus (48 BC), on this “last day of the Republic”, the cavalry of Gnaeus Pompey was mostly composed of Roman aristocrats . With such a social composition, there was no way she could become (see the next paragraph) an object of neglect. - Note lane

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4 As the reader probably remembers, the epithet “faithful” was applied, if not exclusively, then primarily to those who surrounded their leader in a tight ring in battle. This is a synonym vigilante, that is, by definition, an aristocrat. By the way, in Rus', as in the West, squad there is a community held together by bonds of loyalty to the prince; This - Friends princes with whom he loves to feast and go into battle. In Rus', the squad was divided into senior (boyars) and “young” (grid, “youths”). Senior warriors came to serve the prince at the head of their own squads, which required considerable expenses for their maintenance. Now we come to the concept of “loyalties” that needed to be created. “Verny,” this Western equivalent of the Russian boyar, also brought his squad to the service of the Frankish king, but he did this, one must think, less disinterestedly than his Russian brother. Such “loyalty” in the West, earlier than in Rus', found expression in a certain size of land allotment. This is the meaning of this term. - Note lane

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5 The last assumption finds indirect confirmation in the memoirs of Russian participants in the Caucasian War of the 19th century. Shamil's murids (sometimes) and Kabardian princes (quite often) went to battle in chain mail made by Dagestan craftsmen. Such chain mail made its owner invulnerable in a battle with checkers and a Cossack pike; it could only be shot through, and even then only at close range. It fit in the palm of your hand. - Note lane

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6 The list of battles given by J. Flory can hardly serve as a sufficient substantiation of the thesis he puts forward.

In the Battle of Lechfeld, the light, that is, not at all knightly, Hungarian cavalry suffered a heavy defeat, encountering not only solid infantry, but also mounted knightly militia collected from most of the Holy Roman Empire, including the Czech Republic. This defeat obviously has nothing to do with the issue being raised. At Hastings and at Crecy, the knightly cavalry was forced to attack the infantry (at Crecy, by the way, the infantry consisted of dismounted English knights mixed with archers), so to speak, “from the bottom up,” climbing a steep slope and thereby losing its main “trump card”, the power of the ram blow. At Courtrai, the cavalry attack of the French knights foundered, as it was conducted through a meadow, which turned out to be a swamp. The Flemish infantry owed their victory not to their own stamina (the horsemen did not reach it), but to the lack of cavalry reconnaissance among the French. At Agincourt, the French cavalry vanguard, being cut off from its main forces, attacked the English army deployed in battle formation, and this army was numerically superior to the entire French one, and not just its vanguard.

The list of victories of united infantry over knightly cavalry can be replenished with two more: the battle of Legnano (1176) and on the ice of Lake Peipsi (1242). Between them they had two common features. Both near Milan and on the border with Russia, the German knights, having exhausted their first blow, no longer resumed the classic cavalry attack “with a running start”, as they were drawn into a grueling sword fight with the infantry at Legnano, storming on foot the Milanese camp surrounded by a ditch, and at Crow Stone, having no place to turn around and reorganize for a new attack. Second general feature two battles - a cavalry attack on the flank of the Teutons who had upset their ranks. At Legnano, it was inflicted, moreover, “from a running start”, which was absolutely necessary for gaining the proper power, by the Milanese knights, who managed to rebuild after the initial defeat. The Battle of Lake Peipus was also completed by the attack of the princely squad, saved for the decisive hour on wooded bank under the canopy of spreading spruce branches.

All this is true. However, the above exceptions confirm the general rule: throughout the Middle Ages, it was the knightly cavalry that remained the “queen” on the battlefields. An analysis of each of the cases when she failed to maintain her royal dignity in clashes with infantry shows quite clearly: she was entrusted with the solution of insoluble combat tasks - such as galloping through a swamp “like dry land” or taking off without losing initial speed to the top steep hill, like a bird. - Note lane

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7 Jugglers - traveling comedians, singers and musicians in medieval France (X-XIII centuries). They performed knightly epic poems (gestures) in recitative or chant and were therefore welcome guests both in the knight’s castle and at the prince’s court. Not a single holiday in high society was complete without them. - Note lane

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8 Above is a prose translation of the rhymed text. - Note lane

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9 Interdict - a temporary prohibition (without excommunication) of the pope or bishop to perform divine services and religious ceremonies (baptism of newborns, church weddings, funeral services for the deceased, etc.) in the punished territory. - Note lane

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10 “Schism” (lit., “schism”), which finally divided the Universal Church into the Western (Catholic) and Eastern (Orthodox) in 1054, was the result of both the centuries-old separatist policy of the Roman Church and the clearly provocative actions of the papacy directly in the year of the schism . Nevertheless, the West has always placed responsibility for the “schism” on Constantinople and attached the slanderous label of “schismatics” to the Orthodox. It is very characteristic of the current Western mentality that even such an objective researcher as Jean Flory, at the first meeting with the odious term, did not consider it necessary to put it in quotation marks. - Note lane

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11 In classical Latin the word “ ordo"(plural ordines) had the following basic meanings: 1) row; 2) military row, formation, rank; 3) class, rank, social system; 4) order; ex ordine- in order, one by one. - Note lane

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12 Binary - binomial. - Note lane

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13 We are talking, of course, about the “Consolation of Philosophy” by the last Roman philosopher and political figure Anicius Manlius Boethius (480–524). Boethius, author of treatises on logic, mathematics and theology and court adviser to the Ostrogothic king Theodoric in Ravenna, was accused of treasonous relations with byzantine emperor, sentenced to death and imprisoned until execution.

Expecting execution every day, he wrote his last work, the title of which quite clearly reveals its content. The significance of “The Consolation of Philosophy” went far beyond the personal tragic fate its author: the medieval intellectual elite of the West saw in the book a testament and greeting from Ancient Rome to the new world that replaced it. The manuscript taken by the jailers from the place of execution was carefully copied, copied in dozens of copies, and read in the original language wherever a group of learned monks could gather. Then they began to translate. - Note lane

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14 Pataria (it. pataria, from the name of the junk market in Milan) is a popular movement in Milan and a number of neighboring cities against the clergy and city nobility for church (Clunian) reform in the second half of the 11th century. It was suppressed, but still played an important role in the success of the Cluny reform and in the formation of city-republics in northern Italy. - Note lane

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15 Russian reading of such French names as Hue, Hugues and others like them, in the English way, risks greatly surprising the reader, who, of course, knows that the French “ash” ( h), as opposed to the English "eh" ( h), in no way like the Russian “ha” is pronounced. But the trouble is that in Russian phonetics and in the Russian alphabet there are no sounds and letters that would be able to convey, even with a very large “tolerance,” the French letter combination “ hu", and the fact that in a literary text there is no possibility of resorting to signs of international phonetic transcription. English name Hue Pronounced in Russian as “Hugh” quite correctly, but the exact same spelling in French is not pronounced at all. The author of “Les Misérables” and “Notre Dame de Paris” was “christened” in Russian in the 19th century as “Hugo,” and it was terrible: not a single Frenchman would ever recognize his famous writer under this Russified name. Of two or more evils, I have chosen, as it seems to me, the least. - Note lane

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16 Reitars - here: German cavalry mercenaries who took an active part in Religious wars in France of the 16th century. They were distinguished, even from other mercenaries, by their unbridled cruelty and unquenchable greed. - Note lane

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17 Perceval or Parzival - literary character, better known to the Russian public under his second, German name thanks mainly to Wagner’s opera. Wagner was inspired, as we know, by the poetic novel of the same name (c. 1198–1210) by Wolfram von Eschenbach, who creatively rethought the novel by Chrétien de Troyes, which was then widely read by Western chivalry. - Note lane

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18 Bretons are the indigenous inhabitants of Brittany, which is now part of France, but which is at the same time much older than France. It was called "Brittany" while it was still part of Celtic Gaul, that is, when nothing had yet been heard of the Franks who would give their name to France. It is no coincidence that in modern French “Brittany” and “Britain” are denoted by the same word Bretagne: the Brittany peninsula, apparently, became a springboard for the Celtic colonization of the British Isles; in any case, a single ethnic massif stretched from Gaul through Brittany to the British Isles for many centuries (at least half a millennium). In this sense ancient the British (before the landing of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who arrived from the shores of Schleswig and Jutland), perhaps it is permissible to designate them as “Bretons”. The same term applied to the remnants of the Celtic population in England in the 12th century is hardly acceptable, and the current British, who are considered such after the union of England with Scotland at the beginning of the 17th century, cannot be called “Bretons”. - Note lane

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19 It is impossible to convey in Russian the meaning of the term “courtiness” or “courtesy” in one word, so I have to turn, firstly, to the transcription and, secondly, to the explanation of the authoritative “New French-Russian Dictionary” by V. G. Gaka and K. A. Ganshina: courtoisie- courtesy, courtesy, politeness, gallantry. - Note lane

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20 Below are only works covering the problem of chivalry as a whole. The reader will find literature on specific issues in the notes to this book.

Arnold V. German Knighthood, 1050–1300. Oxford, 1985.

Barber R. The Knight and Chivalry. Woodbridge, 1995.

Barbero A. L "Aristocrazia nella società francese del medioevo. Bologna, 1987.

Bumke Joachim. The Concept of Knighthood in the Middle Ages, trad. Jackson W.T.H. et E. New York, 1982.

Cardini F. Alle radici délia cavalleria medievale. Firenze, 1982.

Chênerie M. L. Le Chevalier errant dans les romans arthuriens en vers des XII e et XIII e siècles. Geneve, 1986.

Chickering H. et Seiler Th. H. The study of chivalry. Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1988.

Cohen G. Histoire de la chevalerie en France au Moyen Age. Paris, 1949.

Contamine P. La Noblesse au royaume de France, de Philippe le Bel à Louis XII. Paris, 1997.

Coss P.R. The Knight in Medieval England 1000–1400. Stroud, 1993.

Duby G. Les Trois Ordres ou l "imaginaire du feodalisme. Paris, 1978.

Duby G. Guillaume le Maréchal ou le meilleur chevalier du monde. Paris, 1984.

Flori J. L "Idéologie du glaive. Préhistoire de la chevalerie. Genève, 1983.

Flori J. L "Essor de la chevalerie, XI e -XII e siècle. Genève, 1986.

Flori J. La Chevalerie en France au Moyen Age. Paris, 1995.

Flori J. Croisade et chevalerie. Louvain-La Neuve, 1998.

Gautier L. La Chevalerie. Paris, 1884.

Jackson W. T. N. Chivalry in XIIth century Germany. Cambridge, 1994.

Keen M. Chivalry. London, 1984.

Parisse M. Noblesse et chevalerie en Lorraine médiévale. Nancy, 1982.

Reuter H. G. Die Lehre vom Ritterstand. Köln, 1975 (2 ed.).

Ritter J.P. Ministerialité et chevalerie. Lausanne, 1955.

Stanesco M. Jeux d'errance du chevalier médiéval. Leiden, 1988.

Winter J. M., van. Rittertum, Ideal und Wirklichkeit. Bussum, 1969.

Literature in Russian

Barber M. Templar process. M., 1998.

Barg M. A. Research on the history of English feudalism in the 11th–13th centuries. M., 1962.

Bessmertny Yu. L. Life and death in the Middle Ages. M., 1991.

Bitsilli P. M. Elements of medieval culture. St. Petersburg, 1995.

Blok M. Feudal society // Blok M. Apology of history or the craft of a historian. M., 1986.

Theology in the culture of the Middle Ages. Kyiv, 1992.

Boytsov M. A. German Emperor of the 14th century: tools for exercising power // Power and political culture in medieval Europe. M., 1992.

Bordonov Zh. Daily life of the Templars in the 13th century. M., 2004.

Brunel-Lobrichon J., Duhamel-Amado K. Daily life during the times of the troubadours of the 12th–13th centuries. M., 2003.

Budanova V. P. The barbaric world of the era of the Great Migration. M., 2000.

The relationship between social relations and ideology in medieval Europe. M., 1983.

Power and political culture in medieval Europe. M., 1992. Part 1.

Volkova Z. N. Epic of France. History and language of French epic tales. M., 1984.

Gurevich A. Ya. Culture and society of medieval Europe through the eyes of contemporaries. M., 1989.

Gurevich A. Ya. The medieval world: the culture of the silent majority. M., 1990.

Duby J. Europe in the Middle Ages. Smolensk, 1994.

Egorov D. Ya. Crusades. M., 1914–1915. T. 1–2.

Zaborov M. A. Crusades. M., 1956.

Zaborov M. A. Crusaders in the East. M., 1980.

Ivanov K. The many faces of the Middle Ages. M., 1996.

History of Europe. M., 1992. T. 2.

Cardini F. The origins of medieval knighthood. M., 1987.

Kartashov A.V. Ecumenical councils. M., 1998.

Kolesnitsky N. F. Feudal state V–XV centuries. M., 1967.

Conrad N.K. West and East. M., 1966.

Contamin F. War in the Middle Ages. St. Petersburg, 2001.

Korsunsky A. R., Gunther R. Decline and death of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of the German kingdoms (until the middle of the 6th century). M., 1984.

Le Goff J. The medieval world of the imaginary. M., 2001.

Le Goff J. Civilization of the medieval West. M., 1992.

Levandovsky A. P. Charlemagne: through the empire to Europe. M., 1995.

Laurent T. Carolingian heritage of the 9th–10th centuries. M., 1993.

Lyublinskaya A. D. The structure of class representation in medieval France // Questions of history. 1972. No. 1.

Meletinsky E. M. Medieval novel. Origin and classical forms. M., 1983.

Melik-Gaykazova N. N. French chroniclers of the 14th century as historians of their time. M., 1970.

Mikhailov A. D. French chivalric novel. M., 1970.

Moulin L. Daily life of medieval monks in Western Europe. X–XV centuries. M., 2002.

Matthews J. Tradition of the Grail. M., 1997.

Communities and people medieval world. M.; Saratov, 1992.

Experience of the millennium. The Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Life, customs, ideals. M., 1996.

Pavlenko V. G., Nikolaev R. V. European chivalry. Kemerovo, 1998.

Pastoureau M. Daily life in France and England during the time of the Knights of the Round Table. M., 2001.

Ponyon E. Daily life in Europe in the year 1000. M., 1999.

Rua J. History of chivalry. M, 1996.

Wallace-Hedryll J.M. Barbarian West. Early Middle Ages 400–1000. St. Petersburg, 2002.

Flory J. Ideology of the sword. Background of chivalry. St. Petersburg, 1999.

Fustel de Coulanges. History of the social system of ancient France. M, 1901–1916. T. 1–6.

Elite and ethnic group of the Middle Ages. M, 1995.

Illustrations

Translator's Notes

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1 Deontology is a branch of ethics that examines the problems of duty and what is due. - Note lane

It seems logical to organize the study of the daily life of our ancestors in accordance with the main milestones of the human life cycle. The cycle of human life is eternal in the sense in which it is predetermined by nature. A person is born, grows up, gets married, gives birth to children and dies. And it is quite natural that he would like to properly celebrate the main milestones of this cycle. In these days of urbanized and mechanized civilization, rituals related to each stage of the life cycle are reduced to a minimum. This was not how things were in ancient times, especially in the era of the clan organization of society, when the main milestones in the life of an individual were considered part of the life of the clan. According to G.V. Vernadsky, the ancient Slavs, like other tribes, celebrated milestones in their life cycle with complex rituals reflected in folklore. Immediately after the adoption of Christianity, the Church appropriated the organization of some ancient rites and introduced its own new rituals, such as the rite of baptism and the celebration of name days in honor of the patron saint of each man or woman.

Based on this, several areas of the daily life of a resident of Medieval Rus' and the events accompanying them, such as love, weddings, funerals, meals, festivals and entertainment, were identified for analysis. We also found it interesting to explore the attitude of our ancestors towards alcohol and women.

Wedding

Wedding customs in the era of paganism were observed among different tribes. Among the Radmichi, Vyatichi and Northerners, the groom had to kidnap the bride. Other tribes considered it normal to pay a ransom to the family for it. This custom probably developed from ransom payments for kidnappings. Eventually, outright payment was replaced by a gift to the bride from the groom or her parents (veno). Among the Polans, there was a custom that required that the parents or their representatives bring the bride to the groom's house, and her dowry should be delivered the next morning. Traces of all these ancient rituals can be clearly seen in Russian folklore, especially in wedding rituals of even later times.

After the conversion of Rus' to Christianity, the engagement and wedding were sanctioned by the Church. However, at first only the prince and the boyars cared about the church blessing. The bulk of the population, especially in rural areas, were content with the recognition of marriage by the respective clans and communities. Cases of evasion of church weddings by ordinary people were frequent until the 15th century.

According to Byzantine legislation (Eclogue and Prokeiron), in accordance with the customs of the peoples of the south, the lowest age requirements for future married couples were established. The 8th century Eclogue allows men to marry at age fifteen and women at age thirteen. In Prokeiron of the 9th century, these requirements are even lower: fourteen years for the groom and twelve for the bride. It is known that Eclogue and Prokeiron existed in Slavic translation and the legality of both manuals was recognized by Russian “jurists”. In medieval Rus', even the Sami did not always comply with Prokeiron's low age requirements, especially in princely families, where marriages were most often concluded for diplomatic reasons. There is at least one known case when a prince's son married at the age of eleven, and Vsevolod III gave his daughter Verkhuslava as a wife to Prince Rostislav when she was only eight years old. As the bride's parents saw her off, "they both cried because their beloved daughter was so young."

In medieval moralizing sources there are two points of view on marriage. The bottom of them is the attitude towards marriage as a sacrament, a sacred rite, expressed in the Izbornik of 1076. “Woe to the fornicator, for he defiles the clothes of the groom: let him be expelled from the kingdom of marriage with shame,” instructs Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem.

Jesus, the son of Sirach, writes: “Give your daughter in marriage and you will do a great thing, but only give her to a wise husband.”

We see that, in the opinion of these church fathers, marriage, marriage, is called a “kingdom,” a “great thing,” but with reservations. The groom’s clothes are sacred, but only a worthy person can enter the “kingdom of marriage”. Marriage can become a “great thing” only if a “wise man” marries.

The sage Menander, on the contrary, sees only evil in marriage: “Marriage brings great bitterness to everyone,” “When you decide to get married, ask your neighbor who is already married,” “Don’t get married, and nothing bad will ever happen to you.”

“Domostroi” indicates that prudent parents began to prepare well in advance, from the birth of their daughter, to marry her off with a good dowry: “If someone gives birth to a daughter, a prudent father<…>from all profits he saves for his daughter<…>: either the animal is raised for her with the offspring, or from her share, whatever God sends there, she buys linens and canvases, and pieces of fabric, and trims, and a shirt - and all these years they put her in a special chest or in a box and a dress and headdress , and monista, and church utensils, and tin and copper and wooden dishes, always adding a little, every year...”

According to Sylvester, who is credited with the authorship of Domostroi, this approach allowed him to gradually collect a good dowry without “at a loss,” “and everything, God willing, will be complete.” In the event of the death of a girl, it was customary to remember “her dowry, the magpie to her liking, and alms are distributed.”

“Domostroy” describes in detail the wedding ceremony itself, or, as they called it then, the “wedding ceremony.”

The wedding procedure was preceded by an agreement: the groom and his father or older brother came to his father-in-law’s yard, the guests were served “the best wines in cups”, then “after the blessing with the cross they will speak and write contractual notes and a separate letter, agreeing on how much for the contract and what dowry,” after which, “having secured everything with a signature, everyone takes a cup of honey, congratulates each other and exchanges letters.” Thus, the conspiracy was an ordinary transaction.

Then gifts were presented: the father-in-law gave the son-in-law “the first blessing ~ an image, a cup or ladle, velvet, damask, forty sables.” After which they went to the bride’s mother’s half, where “the mother-in-law asks the groom’s father about his health and kisses him and the groom through a scarf, and the same with everyone.”

The princely rite is more complex; among commoners the ritual was simpler. For example, in “Domostroy” it is noted that with the princely rank “the bride should not be here; it is customary for ordinary people to have the bride here.” After which they set the table, “everyone feasts with pleasure, but large table- does not happen."

The next day, the groom’s mother comes to see the bride, “here they present her with damask and sables, and she will give the bride a ring.”

The wedding day was set, the guests were “signed up,” the groom chose their roles: the appointed father and mother, the invited boyars and noblewomen, the thousand and the poezzhans, groomsmen, matchmakers.

On the day of the wedding itself, a friend and his retinue arrived in gold, followed by a bed "in a sleigh with a front end, and in the summer - with the head of the sleigh, covered with a blanket. And in the sleigh there were two gray horses, and near the sleigh there were boyar servants in an elegant dress, on the sleigh The elder bed servant will stand in gold, holding the holy image." A matchmaker rode behind the bed, her outfit was prescribed by custom: “a yellow summer coat, a red fur coat, and also a scarf and a beaver mantle. And if it’s winter, then in a fur hat.”

Just from this episode alone it is clear that the wedding ceremony was strictly regulated by tradition; all other episodes of this ritual (preparing the bed, the arrival of the groom, the wedding, “resting” and “knowing”, etc.) were also strictly played out in accordance with the canon.

Thus, a wedding was an important event in the life of a medieval person, and the attitude towards this event, judging by moralizing sources, was ambiguous. On the one hand, the sacrament of marriage was exalted, on the other, the imperfection of human relationships was reflected in an ironic-negative attitude towards marriage (an example of this is the statements of the “wise Menander”). In fact, we are talking about two types of marriages: a happy and an unhappy marriage. It is generally accepted that a happy marriage is a marriage of love. In this regard, it seems interesting to consider how the issue of love is reflected in moralizing sources.

Love (in the modern sense) is love between a man and a woman; “The basis of marriage, judging by moralizing sources, did not exist in the minds of medieval authors. Indeed, marriages were not made out of love, but at the will of the parents. Therefore, in the case of fortunate circumstances, for example, if you came across a “good” wife, the sages advise to value and take care of this gift, otherwise - humble yourself and be on guard: “Do not leave your wife who is wise and kind: her virtue is more valuable than gold”; “if you have a wife you like, do not drive her away; if she hates you, do not trust her.” However, the word “love” is practically not used in these contexts (based on the results of the analysis of the texts of the sources, only two such cases were found). During the “wedding ceremony,” the father-in-law punishes his son-in-law: “By the destinies of God, my daughter accepted the crown with you (name) and you should be honored. and love her in a legal marriage, as the fathers and fathers of our fathers lived." Noteworthy is the use of the subjunctive mood (“you should favor her and love her”). One of Menander’s aphorisms says: “The great bond of love is the birth of a child.”

In other cases, love between a man and a woman is interpreted as evil, a destructive temptation. Jesus, son of Sirach, warns: “Do not look at the virgin, otherwise you will be seduced by her charms.” “Avoid carnal and voluptuous deeds...” advises Saint Basil. “It is better to abhor voluptuous thoughts,” Hesychius echoes him.

In “The Tale of Akira the Wise,” an instruction is given to his son: “... do not be seduced by the beauty of a woman and do not covet her with your heart: if you give all your wealth to her, then you will not receive any benefit from her, you will only sin more before God.”

The word “love” on the pages of moralizing sources of medieval Rus' is mainly used in the contexts of love for God, Gospel quotes, love for parents, love of others: “... the merciful Lord loves the righteous”; “I remembered the words of the Gospel: “Love your enemies...,” “Love firmly those who gave birth to you”; "Democritus. Wish to be loved during your lifetime, and not feared: for whom everyone fears, he himself fears everyone."

At the same time, the positive, ennobling role of love is recognized: “He who loves much is little angry,” said Menander.

So, love in moralizing sources is interpreted in a positive sense in the context of love for one’s neighbor and for the Lord. Love for a woman, according to the analyzed sources, is perceived by the consciousness of a medieval person as a sin, danger, temptation of unrighteousness.

Most likely, this interpretation of this concept is due to genre originality sources (instructions, moralizing prose).

Funeral

No less significant a ritual than a wedding in the life of medieval society was funeral rite. The details of the descriptions of these rituals reveal the attitude of our ancestors towards death.

Funeral rites in pagan times included funeral feasts held at the burial site. A high hill (mound) was built over the grave of a prince or some outstanding warrior and professional mourners were hired to mourn his death. They continued to perform their duties at Christian funerals, although the form of crying changed according to Christian concepts. Christian funeral rites, like other church services, were, of course, borrowed from Byzantium. John of Damascus is the author of the Orthodox requiem ("funeral" service), and the Slavic translation is worthy of the original. Christian cemeteries were created near churches. The bodies of prominent princes were placed in sarcophagi and placed in the cathedrals of the princely capital.

Our ancestors perceived death as one of the inevitable links in the chain of births: “Do not strive to have fun in this world: for all the joys of this world end in crying. And that crying itself is also vain: today they cry, and tomorrow they feast.”

You must always remember about death: “Let death and exile, and troubles, and all visible misfortunes stand before your eyes at all days and hours.”

Death ends a person’s earthly life, but for Christians, earthly life is only a preparation for the afterlife. Therefore, special respect is given to death: “Child, if there is grief in someone’s home, then, leaving them in trouble, do not go to a feast with others, but first visit those who are grieving, and then go to feast and remember that you too destined for death." The “Righteous Standard” regulates the norms of behavior at funerals: “Do not weep loudly, but grieve with dignity, do not indulge in grief, but do sorrowful deeds.”

However, in the minds of medieval authors of moralizing literature there is always the idea that the death or loss of a loved one is not the worst thing that can happen. Much worse is spiritual death: “Weep not over the dead, but over the unreasonable: for this one has a common path for all, but this one has his own will”; "Cry over the dead - he has lost the light, but cry over the fool - he has left his mind."

The existence of the soul in that future life must be ensured by prayers. To ensure the continuation of his prayers, a rich man usually bequeathed part of his property to the monastery. If for some reason he was unable to do this, then his relatives should have taken care of it. Then the Christian name of the deceased will be included in the synodik - a list of names remembered in prayers at every service or, at least, on certain days established by the church for commemorating the dead. The princely family usually kept its own synodikon in the monastery, whose donors were traditionally the princes of this family.

So, death in the minds of medieval authors of moralizing literature is the inevitable end of human life, one must be prepared for it, but always remember it, but for Christians death is the boundary of the transition to another, afterlife. Therefore, the grief of the funeral rite must be “worthy,” and spiritual death is much worse than physical death.

Nutrition

By analyzing the statements of medieval sages about food, we can, firstly, draw a conclusion about the attitude of our ancestors to this issue, and secondly, find out what specific products they consumed and what dishes they prepared from them.

First of all, we can conclude that moderation and healthy minimalism are preached in the popular consciousness: “Many foods cause illness, and satiety will lead to sadness; many have died from gluttony - those who remember this will prolong their lives.”

On the other hand, the attitude towards food is reverent, food is a gift, a blessing sent from above and not for everyone: “When you sit at a rich table, remember the one who eats dry bread and cannot bring water when he is ill.” “And eating and drinking with gratitude will be sweet.”

The fact that the food was prepared at home and was varied is evidenced by the following entries in Domostroy: “And meat and fish food, and all kinds of pies and pancakes, various porridges and jelly, bake and cook any dishes - the housewife herself could do everything.” so that she can teach the servants what she knows." The process of cooking and the consumption of food was carefully monitored by the owners themselves. Every morning it is recommended that “husband and wife consult about the household,” plan “when and what food and drink to prepare for guests and for themselves,” count the necessary products, after which “send to the cook what needs to be cooked, and to the baker, and for other preparations, send the goods as well."

“Domostroy” also describes in great detail which products to consume on which days of the year, depending on the church calendar, and provides many recipes for preparing dishes and drinks.

Reading this document, one can only admire the zeal and thrift of the Russian owners and be amazed at the wealth, abundance and variety of the Russian table.

Bread and meat were the two main foodstuffs in the diet of Russian princes Kievan Rus. In the south of Rus', bread was baked from wheat flour; in the north, rye bread was more common.

The most common types of meat were beef, pork and lamb, as well as geese, chickens, ducks and pigeons. They also consumed meat from wild animals and birds. Most often in "Domostroy" hare and swans are mentioned, as well as cranes, herons, ducks, black grouse, hazel grouse, etc.

The church encouraged the consumption of fish. Wednesdays and Fridays were declared fast days and, in addition, three fasts were established, including Lent. Of course, fish was already in the diet of Russian people before the Epiphany of Vladimir, and caviar too. "Domostroy" mentions white fish, sterlet, sturgeon, beluga, pike, char, herring, bream, minnows, crucian carp and other types of fish.

Lenten food included all dishes made from cereals with hemp oil, “and flour, and bakes all kinds of pies and pancakes and juicy dishes, and makes rolls, and various porridges, and pea noodles, and strained peas, and stews, and kundumtsy, both boiled and sweet porridges and dishes - pies with pancakes and with mushrooms, and with saffron milk caps, and with milk mushrooms, and with poppy seeds, and with porridge, and with turnips, and with cabbage, or nuts in sugar or butter pies with whatever God sent.

Among the legumes, the Russians grew and actively consumed beans and peas. They also actively consumed vegetables (this word meant all fruits and fruits). "Domostroy" lists radishes, watermelons, several varieties of apples, berries (blueberries, raspberries, currants, strawberries, lingonberries).

Meat was boiled or roasted on a spit, vegetables were eaten boiled or raw. Corned beef and stew are also mentioned in the sources. Supplies were stored "in the cellar, on the glacier and in the barn." The main type of preservation was pickles, salted “in barrels, and in tubs, and in measuring cups, and in vats, and in buckets”

They made jam from the berries, made fruit drinks, and also prepared levashi (butter pies) and marshmallows.

The author of Domostroy devotes several chapters to describing how to properly “saturate all kinds of honey,” prepare and store alcoholic beverages. Traditionally, during the era of Kievan Rus, alcohol was not distilled. Three types of drinks were consumed. Kvass, a non-alcoholic or slightly intoxicating drink, was made from rye bread. It was something reminiscent of beer. Vernadsky points out that it was probably a traditional drink of the Slavs, since it is mentioned in the records of the journey of the Byzantine envoy to the Hun leader Attila in the early fifth century, along with honey. Honey was extremely popular in Kievan Rus. It was brewed and drunk by both laymen and monks. According to the chronicle, Prince Vladimir the Red Sun ordered three hundred cauldrons of honey on the occasion of the opening of the church in Vasilevo. In 1146, Prince Izyaslav II discovered five hundred barrels of honey and eighty barrels of wine in the cellars of his rival Svyatoslav 73 . Several types of honey were known: sweet, dry, with pepper, and so on.

Thus, the analysis of moralizing sources allows us to identify such trends in nutrition. On the one hand, moderation is recommended, a reminder that after a fruitful year a hungry one may come. On the other hand, by studying, for example, Domostroy, one can draw conclusions about the diversity and richness of Russian cuisine, due to the natural resources of the Russian lands. Compared to modern times, Russian cuisine has not changed much. The basic set of products remained the same, but their variety was significantly reduced.

Holidays and entertainment

Daily life was often interrupted by holidays and other social events. The ancient holidays of pagan times were gradually replaced by church holidays,” writes V.G. Vernadsky, “in the way these holidays were celebrated, pagan customs were still noticeable for a long time, despite all the objections of the clergy. Each major church holiday, such as Christmas, Easter, Trinity and the Transfiguration of the Lord, was celebrated not only with special church services, but also with public meetings, songs, dances and special treats. On such occasions, the prince usually opened the doors of his palace to the city people and organized magnificent feasts, at which the guests were entertained by musicians and buffoons. In addition to the princely feasts, more specific meetings of various communities and brotherhoods were organized, whose members usually belonged to the same social or professional group. Such brotherhoods played an important role in the social life of large cities, especially Novgorod and Pskov"" 74 .

On holidays in Rus' it was customary to organize feasts. It was believed in good form have strong drinks and prepare food for the holidays ahead of time: "... whoever lives with supplies like this, the savvy housewife always has everything in stock, you are never ashamed in front of a guest, but you have to arrange a feast - buy some and you need a little, you see: God gave - everything and houses in abundance" 7 .

Moral sources contain a number of maxims on the topic of behavior at feasts. First of all, the authors call for moderation and modesty: “If you are not hungry, do not overeat, otherwise you will be branded a glutton”; “be able to keep your belly from gluttony”; “Debauchery arises in satiety, but never in hunger.”

Some of the moralizing statements are devoted to how one should behave at a feast: “At a feast, do not criticize your neighbor and do not interfere with his joy”; “... at the feast, do not philosophize recklessly, be like someone who knows but is silent”; “When you are invited to a feast, do not sit in the place of honor; suddenly, from among those invited, someone will be more respectful than you, and the owner will come up to you and say: “Give him your seat!” - and then you will have to move to the last place with shame.” .

After the introduction of Christianity in Rus', the concept of “holiday” first of all acquired the meaning of “church holiday”. In “The Tale of Akira the Wise” it is said: “On a holiday, do not pass by the church.”

From the same point of view, the church regulates aspects of the sexual life of parishioners. Thus, according to Domostroy, husband and wife were forbidden to cohabit on Saturdays and Sundays, and those who did this were not allowed to go to church.

So, we see that much attention was paid to holidays in moralizing literature. They prepared for them in advance, but modest, respectful behavior and moderation in food were encouraged at the feast. The same principle of moderation prevails in moralizing statements “about hops.”

Among similar works condemning drunkenness, “The Tale of Cyril, the Slovenian Philosopher” is widely distributed in ancient Russian manuscript collections. It warns readers against a harmful addiction to drunken drinking, depicts the misfortunes that threaten a drunkard - impoverishment, deprivation of a place in the social hierarchy, loss of health, excommunication. The Lay combines a grotesque address to the reader by Khmel himself with a traditional sermon against drunkenness.

This is how the drunkard is described in this work: “Need and poverty sit in his home, and illnesses lie on his shoulders, sadness and sorrow ring like hunger in his thighs, poverty has built a nest in his wallet, evil laziness has become attached to him, like a dear wife , and sleep is like a father, and groaning is like beloved children"; “His legs hurt from drunkenness, his hands tremble, the vision of his eyes fades”; “Drunkenness destroys the beauty of the face”; drunkenness “plunges good and equal people, and craftsmen into slavery”, “brothers quarrel with brother, and separate a husband from his wife.”

Other moralizing sources also condemn drunkenness, calling for moderation. In “The Wisdom of the Wise Menander” it is noted that “wine, drunk in abundance, instructs little”; "Drinking too much wine also leads to talkativeness."

The monument “The Bee” contains the following historical anecdote attributed to Diogenes: “This one was given a lot of wine at a feast, and he took it and spilled it. When the others began to reprimand him why he was ruining the wine, he answered: “If only the wine had not come from me.” died, I would have died from wine."

Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, advises: “Drink honey little by little, and the less, the better: you won’t stumble”; “You need to refrain from drinking, because sobering up is followed by groans and repentance.”

Jesus, son of Sirach, warns: “A drunken worker will not become rich”; "Wine and women will corrupt even the wise..." Saint Basil echoes him: “Wine and women seduce even the wise...”; “Avoid drunkenness and the sorrows of this life, do not speak deceitfully, never talk about anyone behind their back.”

“When they invite you to a feast, do not drink yourself to the point of terrible intoxication...”, priest Sylvester, the author of “Domostroy,” instructs his son.

Particularly terrible, according to the authors of moralizing prose, is the effect of hops on a woman: This is what Hops says: “If my wife, no matter what she is, gets drunk with me, I will make her mad, and she will be worse than all people.

And I will stir up bodily lusts in her, and she will be a laughing stock among people, and she will be excommunicated from God and from the Church of God, so that it would be better for her not to have been born." no good in the world."

So, an analysis of the texts of moralizing prose shows that traditionally in Rus' drunkenness was condemned, a drunk person was strictly condemned by the authors of the texts, and, consequently, by society as a whole.

The role and place of women in medieval society

Many statements in moralizing texts are dedicated to women. Initially, a woman, according to the Christian tradition, is perceived as a source of danger, sinful temptation, and death: “Wine and women will corrupt even the wise, but he who attaches himself to harlots will become even more impudent.”

A woman is the enemy of the human race, therefore the sages warn: “Do not reveal your soul to a woman, for she will destroy your firmness”; “But most of all, a person should refrain from talking with women...”; “Because of women, many people get into trouble”; “Beware of the kiss of a beautiful woman like the poison of a snake.”

Whole separate treatises appear on “good” and “evil” wives. In one of them, dating back to the 15th century, an evil wife is likened to the “eye of the devil”, this is “the marketplace of hell, the queen of defilements, the commander of untruths, the arrow of Satan, striking the hearts of many.”

Among the texts with which ancient Russian scribes supplemented their writings “about evil wives,” noteworthy are the peculiar “worldly parables” - small plot narratives (about a husband crying about an evil wife; about selling children from an evil wife; about an old woman looking in the mirror ; about a man who married a rich widow; about a husband who pretended to be sick; about a husband who flogged his first wife and asked for another; about a husband who was invited to a spectacle of monkey games, etc.). They all condemn a woman as a source of voluptuousness and misfortune for a man.

Women are full of “feminine cunning”, frivolous: “Women’s thoughts are unstable, like a temple without a roof”, deceitful: “You rarely learn the truth from a woman”; initially prone to vice and deception: “Girls do bad things without blushing, while others are ashamed, but secretly do worse.”

The original depravity of a woman is in her beauty, and an ugly wife is also perceived as torture. Thus, one of the jokes in “The Bee,” attributed to Solon, reads: “This one, asked by someone if he advised getting married, said, “No! If you take an ugly one, you will suffer, if you take a beautiful one, others will want to admire her.”

“It is better to live in the desert with a lion and a snake than with a lying and talkative wife,” says Solomon.

Seeing the arguing women, Diogenes says: “Look! The snake is asking the viper for poison!”

“Domostroy” regulates a woman’s behavior: she must be a good housewife, take care of the house, be able to cook and take care of her husband, receive guests, please everyone and not cause any complaints. The wife even goes to church “in consultation with her husband.” Here is how the norms of a woman’s behavior in a public place are described - at a church service: “In church, she should not talk to anyone, stand silently, listen to the singing with attention and the reading of Holy Scripture, without looking back, not lean against a wall or a pillar , and do not stand with a staff, do not shift from foot to foot; stand with your hands crossed on your chest, unwaveringly and firmly, with your bodily eyes lowered, and with your heart’s eyes to God; leave the church before the end of the service, and come at the very beginning."

The image of a woman in the moralizing literature of medieval Rus' is mainly associated with an “evil” wife. Only a few isolated statements show that wives can be good. Let's turn to "Domostroi": "If God gives someone a good wife, it is worth more than a valuable stone. It would be a sin to lose such a wife, even with greater benefit: she will establish a prosperous life for her husband."

The beauty of the “evil” wife is contrasted with the modesty and intelligence of the “good” one. Thus, the Wise Menander is credited with the saying: “It is not the beauty of every woman that is gold, but intelligence and silence.”

One cannot but agree with V. G. Vernadsky, who noted that the medieval Church, although imbued with biblical concepts, humiliated a woman at the very threshold of the life cycle: “For physiological reasons, the mother was considered unclean for forty days after the birth of the child and she was not allowed to enter the church during this period. She was not allowed to attend the baptism of her child."

The same humiliation sounds in the moralizing sayings of the ancient sages and church fathers. A woman is required to be modest, obedient and submissive; she must clearly understand her place in the male world and not go beyond the accepted behavioral stereotype.

Thus, analysis of the texts of medieval moralizing literature gives us the opportunity to recreate the features of the worldview of a medieval person.

The main events in the daily life of a medieval person are weddings, festivities, everyday life, funeral rites, as well as prevailing value and moral norms, love, attitudes towards women, and drunkenness. Of course, it should be taken into account that moralizing sources were aimed at the ruling stratum of society, therefore, for example, such an important aspect of peasant life as labor was practically not considered in them. To more completely recreate the picture of Russian life at that time, it seems necessary to analyze other historical sources.

Date of publication: 07/07/2013

The Middle Ages begin with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and end around the 15th - 17th centuries. The Middle Ages are characterized by two opposing stereotypes. Some believe that this is a time of noble knights and romantic stories. Others believe that this is a time of disease, dirt and immorality...

Story

The term “Middle Ages” was first introduced in 1453 by the Italian humanist Flavio Biondo. Before this, the term "dark ages" was used, which at the moment denotes a narrower period of time during the Middle Ages (VI-VIII centuries). This term was introduced into circulation by a professor at the University of Galle, Christopher Cellarius (Keller). This person also shared world history on antiquity, the Middle Ages and modern times.
It is worth making a reservation, saying that this article will focus specifically on the European Middle Ages.

For of this period characterized by a feudal system of land tenure, when there was a feudal landowner and a peasant half dependent on him. Also characteristic:
- a hierarchical system of relations between feudal lords, which consisted in the personal dependence of some feudal lords (vassals) on others (lords);
- key role churches, both in religion and in politics (inquisitions, ecclesiastical courts);
- ideals of chivalry;
- blossoming medieval architecture- Gothic (in art as well).

In the period from the X to the XII centuries. population increases European countries, which leads to changes in social, political and other spheres of life. Since the XII - XIII centuries. There has been a sharp rise in technology development in Europe. More inventions were made in a century than in the previous thousand years. During the Middle Ages, cities developed and became richer, and culture actively developed.

With the exception of Eastern Europe, which was invaded by the Mongols. Many states in this region were plundered and enslaved.

Life and everyday life

People of the Middle Ages were highly dependent on weather conditions. So, for example, the great famine (1315 - 1317), which occurred due to unusually cold and rainy years that destroyed the harvest. And also plague epidemics. It was the climatic conditions that largely determined the way of life and type of activity of medieval man.

During the early Middle Ages, a very large part of Europe was covered with forests. Therefore, the peasant economy, in addition to agriculture, was largely oriented towards forest resources. Herds of cattle were driven into the forest to graze. IN oak forests pigs gained fat by eating acorns, thanks to which the peasant received a guaranteed supply of meat food for the winter. The forest served as a source of firewood for heating and, thanks to it, charcoal was made. He introduced variety into the food of medieval man, because... All kinds of berries and mushrooms grew in it, and one could hunt strange game in it. The forest was the source of the only sweetness of that time - honey from wild bees. Resinous substances could be collected from the trees to make torches. Thanks to hunting, it was possible not only to feed themselves, but also to dress up; the skins of animals were used for sewing clothes and for other household purposes. In the forest, in the clearings, it was possible to collect medicinal plants, the only medicines of that time. Tree bark was used to mend animal skins, and the ashes of burnt bushes were used to bleach fabrics.

As well as climatic conditions, the landscape determined the main occupation of people: cattle breeding predominated in the mountainous regions, and agriculture in the plains.

All the troubles of medieval man (disease, bloody wars, famine) led to the fact that the average life expectancy was 22 - 32 years. Only a few lived to the age of 70.

The lifestyle of a medieval person depended largely on his place of residence, but at the same time, the people of that time were quite mobile, and, one might say, were constantly on the move. At first these were echoes of the great migration of peoples. Subsequently, other reasons pushed people on the road. Peasants moved along the roads of Europe, individually and in groups, looking for better life; “knights” - in search of exploits and beautiful ladies; monks - moving from monastery to monastery; pilgrims and all kinds of beggars and vagabonds.

Only over time, when the peasants acquired certain property, and the feudal lords acquired large lands, then cities began to grow and at that time (approximately the 14th century) Europeans became “homebodies.”

If we talk about housing, about the houses in which medieval people lived, then most buildings did not have separate rooms. People slept, ate and cooked in the same room. Only over time did wealthy townspeople begin to separate the bedroom from the kitchens and dining rooms.

Peasant houses were built of wood, and in some places preference was given to stone. The roofs were thatched or made of reeds. There was very little furniture. Mainly chests for storing clothes and tables. They slept on benches or beds. The bed was a hayloft or a mattress stuffed with straw.

Houses were heated by hearths or fireplaces. Stoves appeared only at the beginning of the 14th century, when they were borrowed from the northern peoples and Slavs. The houses were illuminated with tallow candles and oil lamps. Only rich people could purchase expensive wax candles.

Food

Most Europeans ate very modestly. They usually ate twice a day: morning and evening. Everyday food was rye bread, porridge, legumes, turnips, cabbage, grain soup with garlic or onions. They consumed little meat. Moreover, during the year there were 166 days of fasting, when eating meat dishes was prohibited. There was much more fish in the diet. The only sweets were honey. Sugar came to Europe from the East in the 13th century. and was very expensive.
In medieval Europe they drank a lot: in the south - wine, in the north - beer. Instead of tea, they brewed herbs.

The dishes of most Europeans are bowls, mugs, etc. were very simple, made of clay or tin. Products made of silver or gold were used only by the nobility. There were no forks; people ate at the table with spoons. Pieces of meat were cut with a knife and eaten with their hands. The peasants ate food from the same bowl as a family. At feasts, the nobility shared one bowl and a wine cup. The dice were thrown under the table, and hands were wiped with a tablecloth.

Cloth

As for clothing, it was largely unified. Unlike antiquity, the church considered glorifying the beauty of the human body sinful and insisted that it be covered with clothing. Only by the 12th century. The first signs of fashion began to appear.

Changing clothing styles reflected the public preferences of the time. It was mainly representatives of the wealthy classes who had the opportunity to follow fashion.
The peasant usually wore a linen shirt and trousers that reached his knees or even his ankles. The outer clothing was a cloak, fastened at the shoulders with a clasp (fibula). In winter, they wore either a roughly combed sheepskin coat or a warm cape made of thick fabric or fur. Clothes reflected a person's place in society. The attire of the wealthy was dominated by bright colors, cotton and silk fabrics. The poor were content with dark clothes made of coarse homespun linen. Shoes for men and women were leather pointed shoes without hard soles. Headdresses originated in the 13th century. and have changed continuously since then. Familiar gloves acquired importance during the Middle Ages. Shaking hands in them was considered an insult, and throwing a glove to someone was a sign of contempt and a challenge to a duel.

The nobility loved to add various decorations to their clothes. Men and women wore rings, bracelets, belts, and chains. Very often these things were unique jewelry. For the poor, all this was unattainable. Wealthy women spent significant amounts of money on cosmetics and perfumes, which were brought by merchants from eastern countries.

Stereotypes

As a rule, certain ideas about something are rooted in the public consciousness. And ideas about the Middle Ages are no exception. First of all, this concerns chivalry. Sometimes there is an opinion that the knights were uneducated, stupid louts. But was this really the case? This statement is too categorical. As in any community, representatives of the same class could be completely different people. For example, Charlemagne built schools and knew several languages. Richard the Lionheart, considered a typical representative of chivalry, wrote poetry in two languages. Karl the Bold, whom literature likes to describe as a kind of macho boor, knew Latin very well and loved to read ancient authors. Francis I patronized Benvenuto Cellini and Leonardo da Vinci. The polygamist Henry VIII spoke four languages, played the lute and loved the theater. Is it worth continuing the list? These were all sovereigns, models for their subjects. They were oriented towards them, they were imitated, and those who could knock an enemy off his horse and write an ode to the Beautiful Lady enjoyed respect.

Regarding the same ladies, or wives. There is an opinion that women are treated as property. And again, it all depends on what kind of husband he was. For example, Lord Etienne II de Blois was married to a certain Adele of Normandy, daughter of William the Conqueror. Etienne, as was customary for a Christian then, went on crusades, while his wife remained at home. It would seem that there is nothing special in all this, but Etienne’s letters to Adele have survived to this day. Tender, passionate, yearning. This is evidence and an indicator of how a medieval knight could treat his own wife. One can also recall Edward I, who was destroyed by the death of his beloved wife. Or, for example, Louis XII, who after the wedding turned from the first libertine of France into a faithful husband.

When talking about the cleanliness and level of pollution of medieval cities, people also often go too far. To the point that they claim that human waste in London was poured into the Thames, as a result of which it was a continuous stream of sewage. Firstly, the Thames is not the smallest river, and secondly, in medieval London the number of inhabitants was about 50 thousand. So they simply could not have polluted the river in this way.

The hygiene of medieval man was not as terrible as we imagine. They love to cite the example of Princess Isabella of Castile, who vowed not to change her underwear until victory was won. And poor Isabella kept her word for three years. But this act of hers caused a great resonance in Europe, and a new color was even invented in her honor. But if you look at the statistics of soap production in the Middle Ages, you can understand that the statement that people have not washed for years is far from the truth. Otherwise, why would such a quantity of soap be needed?

In the Middle Ages there was no such need for frequent washing as in the modern world - environment It wasn’t as catastrophically polluted as it is now... There was no industry, food was free of chemicals. Therefore, water and salts were released with human sweat, and not all those chemicals that are abundant in the body of a modern person.

Another stereotype that has become entrenched in the public consciousness is that everyone stank horribly. Russian ambassadors to the French court complained in letters that the French “stinked terribly.” From which it was concluded that the French did not wash, they stank and tried to drown out the smell with perfume. They actually used perfume. But this is explained by the fact that in Russia it was not customary to smother oneself heavily, while the French simply doused themselves with perfume. Therefore, for a Russian person, a Frenchman who reeked heavily of perfume was “stinking like a wild beast.”

In conclusion, we can say that the real Middle Ages were very different from fairy world chivalric novels. But at the same time, some facts are largely distorted and exaggerated. I think the truth is, as always, somewhere in the middle. Just as always, people were different and they lived differently. Some things, compared to modern ones, really seem wild, but all this happened centuries ago, when morals were different and the level of development of that society could not afford more. Someday, for future historians, we will find ourselves in the role of “medieval man.”

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Artist E. Blair-Leighton

What was invented in the Middle Ages and what is still used today:
Soap;
Whitening masks.
Francois Villon
"The Ballad of the Lords of Old Time"
Tell me where they are, in what country
Thais and Flora's sweet shadows?
And where is the end in fire
Is the Holy Virgin the daughter of Lorreni?
Where is the nymph Echo, whose spring tune
Sometimes the river was disturbed by a quiet bank,
Whose beauty was the most perfect?

Where are Bertha and Alice - where are they?
My languid songs are about them.
Where is the lady who cried in silence,
Why did Buridan drown in the Seine?
Oh where are they, like light foam?
Where is Eloise, because of which eyelids
Did Pierre graduate under the schema of renunciation?
But where is it - where is last year’s snow?
Will I see Queen Blanche in my dreams?
In songs equal to the former siren,
What sang on the sea wave,
What land is she in - what captivity?
Artist E. Blair-Leighton
I’ll also ask about sweet Elena.
O maiden of maidens, who stopped their blossoming?
And where are they, the mistress of visions?
But where is it - where is last year’s snow?

Famous beauties of the Middle Ages
Fair Rosamund- Beautiful Rosamund Clifford, beloved English king Henry II. Fearing the jealousy of his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, the king took Rosamund to a secluded castle and visited her there. But the queen found a way to poison her husband's mistress. As punishment, Henry excommunicated his wife from the marital bed and sent her into exile, and Eleanor turned her sons against him, which led to long-term civil strife in the country.
Artist J.Waterhouse

Queen Joan of Navarre- wife of the French king Philip the Fair. She was famous for her beautiful figure, as well as her exorbitant lust.

To satisfy lust, she lured men to the Nel Tower, and to maintain secrecy, after pleasure, she killed her lovers and threw their bodies into the Seine.
Queen Isabella of France She-Wolf- daughter of the French king Philip the Fair, wife of the English king Edward II. She was famous for her golden hair, dazzling white skin, intelligence, education and ability to maintain external equanimity.

She received her nickname when she rebelled against her husband and brutally killed him in order to elevate her son to the throne, who became the English King Edward III and, at the instigation of his mother, laid claim to the French throne, as a result of which the Hundred Years War began.
Agnès Sorel- the beloved of the French king Charles VII, became famous for the angelic perfection of her face and the magnificent shape of her breasts, to demonstrate which she brought into fashion a bold neckline, depicted in many paintings of that time.
Artist Jean_Fouquet

Agnes was reproached for excessive abuse of luxury: she collected jewelry and incense, loved oriental silk and Russian furs (even then they were popular in Europe). Its sybaritism looked especially outrageous against the backdrop of general poverty: the country was tormented by a hundred years of war, peasant riots and civil strife. But Agnes loved the king sincerely. Being nine months pregnant, she learned that an assassination attempt was being prepared on Charles VII, and went to warn him. The carriages at that time were springless, Agnes was greatly shaken, she went into labor, but she endured the torment and continued to drive the horses - in order to save her beloved.
Artist J.Waterhouse

Agnès Sorel literally died from childbirth in the arms of Charles VII, but managed to warn him about the impending assassination attempt.