Focus on Everyday Life

The Lifestyle of the European Peasants

The lifestyle of the peasants in Europe was simple. Their cottages had wood frames surrounded by
sticks, with the spaces between them filled with straw
and rubble and then plastered over with clay. Roofs
were simply thatched. The houses of poorer peasants
consisted of a single room. Others, however, had at
least two rooms - a main room for cooking, eating,
and other activities and another room for sleeping.
There was little privacy in a medieval household. A
hearth in the main room was used for heating and
cooking. However, because there were few or no
windows and no chimney, the smoke created by fires
in the hearth went out through the cracks in the walls
or, more likely, through the thatched roof.
Though simple, a peasant daily diet was
adequate when food was available. The basic staple of the peasant diet, and of the medieval diet in
general, was bread. Women made the dough for the bread. The loaves were usually made in
community ovens, which were owned by the lord of the manor. Peasant bread was highly nutritious
because it contained not only wheat and rye but also barley, millet, and oats. These ingredients gave
the bread its dark appearance and very heavy, hard texture. Numerous vegetables from the household
gardens; cheese from cow’s or goat’s milk; nuts and berries from woodlands; and fruits, such as
apples, pears, and cherries added to the peasants' diet. Chicken provided eggs and sometimes meat.
Peasants usually ate meat and only on the great feast days, such as Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost.
Grains were important not only for bread but also for making ale. In the northern European
countries, ale was the most common drink of the poor. If records are accurate enormous quantities of
ale were consumed. A monastery in the12th century records a daily allotment to the monks of three
gallon a day. Peasants in the field probably consumed even more. This high consumption of alcohol
might help to explain the large number of the accidental deaths recorded in medieval court records.

1. How were the peasants' homes constructed? Do they sound comfortable to you? Compare the
construction to that of your home today.

The peasants’ homes were constructed by wood frames surrounded by sticks, with the spaces
between them filled with straw and rubble and then plastered over with clay. Roofs were
simply thatched. They do not sound comfortable to me. My house is made of brick and wood.

2. Why were the grains so important?

Grains were so important because the basic staple of the peasant diet, and of the medieval
diet in general, was bread. Peasant bread was highly nutritious because it contained not only
wheat and rye but also barley, millet, and oats. These ingredients gave the bread its dark
appearance and very heavy, hard texture.
3. Compare your diet with that of medieval peasants.

I eat a lot of white flour and carbs, while peasants eat more fiber riched foods.