Shot of old building.
NARRATOR:
Europe's historic landscapes are covered with tiny clues about ways of life that have long since disappeared.
Shot of person digging in an archaeological site.
NARRATOR:
Finding these ancient clues is a major challenge. But when we do uncover something, each piece of evidence has its own stories to tell and helps build up an ever more accurate picture of what it was like to live hundreds or even thousands of years ago.
Shot of man and woman inspecting metallic object. No-one will ever be totally sure what medieval Europe was like. But if you put all the clues together, you begin to get a feel of how it might have been.
Man and woman continue to inspect metallic object.
Man places object in plastic crate.
MAN:
Ah, good day. Croeso. Welcome to our village.
On-screen text reads 'Cosmeston - 1352 AD'.
MAN:
Though I must confess you do find us upon hard times. God has been angry, it seems, and has caused many thousands of our countrymen to be struck down with a great pestilence. But, praise be to God, and to my lucky charm, he has seen fit to spare me. Five and ten, fifteen years now...
MAN 2:
Caradoc!
CARADOC:
Ah, how now, Master Reeve?
REEVE:
Come hither now!
CARADOC:
Good day, Master Reeve, I was just upon my way to see you.
REEVE:
Don't 'good day' me.
CARADOC:
Indeed. Indeed.
Shot of Caradoc approaching Reeve.
NARRATOR:
Every medieval village had a strict social hierarchy, known as the feudal system. At the top of the pile was the lord. He owned and ruled the entire village. But as he often lived elsewhere, he'd employ a bailiff and a reeve to act as his managers. The reeve was usually elected by the other villagers. He was a freeman - in other words, someone who'd earned the right not to have to work for the lord of the manor. The rest of the people in the village were peasants like Caradoc, sometimes called 'serfs' or 'villeins'. They not only had to work for the lord of the manor, but would have to ask permission to marry, or even leave the village.
Shot of Caradoc approaching a rooster.
NARRATOR:
Each villein in the village had to do about three days' work per week for the lord of the manor. But this would vary according to the seasons and the lord's mood. During harvest time and other busy periods, they'd have to work all the time.
Shot of Caradoc grasping, then dropping a rooster.
Shot of man feeding two large pigs.
NARRATOR:
A few of the luckier serfs would be given special responsibilities. The swineherd was in charge of the lord's pigs and was one of the few serfs who might be paid for his work. Like the other villeins, in return for doing the lord of the manor's dirty work and making sure his table was always full of food, his family would be allowed to farm strips of land to grow a little bit of food for themselves. The land around the village was usually divided into three fields. These fields were subdivided into strips called 'furlongs'.
Shot of a map of the fields. Each family would farm a number of different strips to make sure they had a share of good and bad land. This pattern of land use has left an imprint which can still be seen in many parts of Europe today.
Shot of village from above.
Shot of woman hoeing garden.
NARRATOR:
With many of the men having to work for the lord of the manor, farming the family land was mainly left to the women. Each family had to grow enough food to feed themselves all year round. Potatoes and carrots were yet to arrive in Europe, so the main vegetable crops were turnips, parsnips and beans.
Shot of woman watering garden.
NARRATOR:
Most families would also grow fruit, like apples, pears, blackberries and raspberries. But the majority of their land would be given over to wheat and barley, used to make their staple foods - bread and ale. Without machines to help them, life on the land was hard and everything from fetching water to cutting corn had to be done by hand. Some tools did exist, but they were extremely basic. With only a blunt wooden spade, digging over even a small plot of land meant hours of back-breaking work.
Shot of man digging with a spade.
NARRATOR:
The most important tool in the village was the plough, but only the lord of the manor and the wealthiest peasants would be lucky enough to own one. It was pulled by an ox but, like the other tools, was mostly made of wood and needed constant maintenance. Looking after the lord's plough was considered an important task. The ploughwright would often be paid a small salary as well as getting other fringe benefits, like oil to clean his shoes.
Shot of man cleaning his shoes.
(Geese honk)
NARRATOR:
In addition to growing crops, most families would also have a few animals. Chickens and geese were kept for their eggs and were allowed to wander freely around the village. Sheep and goats grazed on the common land next to the village and were used to provide wool and milk.
Shot of sheep grazing.
NARRATOR:
With scrawny animals, few tools and endless back-breaking work, it's hardly surprising that medieval farmers could only produce about one-fifth of what a farmer cultivates today on the same amount of land. And food shortages were extremely common.
Shot of woman carrying two buckets across her shoulders.
(Sheep bleats)
NARRATOR:
Each family would also have to give the Church one-tenth of everything they produced. This was known as a 'tithe' and was an extremely unpopular tax. In many villages, the tithe barns used to store the tax can still be seen today.