Modern life is often viewed as easier than life in the Middle Ages, but some comparisons reveal surprising similarities and differences. Medieval peasants faced hunger, disease, hard labor, and short ...

Winter in a peasant village, painted by the Limbourg brothers and published in the medieval illuminated manuscript ‘Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.’ Pierce Archive LLC/Buyenlarge via Getty Images ...

When people think of the European Middle Ages, it often brings to mind grinding poverty, superstition and darkness. But the reality of the 1,000-year period from 500 to 1500 was much more complex.

Life as a medieval peasant wasn’t all hard work and survival – they found ways to have fun too. In this video, we explore how peasants in the Middle Ages spent their free time, from village festivals ...

Many mainstream economic historians do believe the average number of working days for peasant laborers in England hovered around, and even sometimes below, 150 days per year for certain stretches of ...

When people think of the European Middle Ages, it often brings to mind grinding poverty, superstition and darkness. But the reality of the 1,000-year period from 500 to 1500 was much more complex.

Many mainstream economic historians do believe the average number of working days for peasant laborers in England hovered around, and even sometimes below, 150 days per year for certain stretches of ...