How Feast Days Were Celebrated in the Middle Ages

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Life expectancy rose from what 35 years of age to 50 ?

Scholasticism thrived in monasteries, but it was limited to clerics

The average person couldn’t read and of course the 1500’s saw the Inquisition when even St Teresa of Avila had to appear before. There were no public schools for children. Only the elite had access to education.

Also, all translations of Scripture other than classical Latin, was outlawed by the Church in Spain. St Teresa couldn’t read Latin so couldn’t read the Bible. Also, many spiritual classics were also banned.

Of course all the other issues, like if you got a cut, it could kill you, being antibiotics weren’t even a consideration being they had no idea about bacteria and viral infections.

Of course the other issue was that most of the countries were under the rule of monarchy’s who were mostly brutal. The penalty for stealing a ship was disembowelment.

So, it sounds like you need to get yourself updated on what life in the Middle Ages was actually about.

We have it very easy in comparison and we also have access to more spiritual works than the average Catholic in those days ever had.
 
The Dark Ages were from the fall of the Roman Empire (simply put, around 476 AD) until the time of Charlemagne (around 800 AD). Then came the Middle Ages.
 
The " Dark Ages " is a historical [periodization] traditionally referring to the [Middle Ages] that asserts that a demographic, cultural, and economic deterioration occurred in Western Europe following the [decline of the Roman Empire

As the accomplishments of the era came to be better understood in the 18th and 20th centuries, scholars began restricting the “Dark Ages” appellation to the [Early Middle Ages]The majority of modern scholars avoid the term altogether due to its negative connotations, finding it misleading and inaccurate.

There was an overlap in what we call the Middle Ages and the Dark Ages, which are the Early Middle Ages.

Jim
 
Yeah. I just get irritated when the entirety of the Middle Ages is referred to as the Dark Ages, especially when it was the Church who kept the world from going into complete darkness and barbarism during the Medieval period. Universities and hospitals came into existence in Europe during this time, and monasteries preserved knowledge by copying scrolls and books.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Life expectancy rose from what 35 years of age to 50
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A common mistake. Life expectation wasn’t that low, don’t get trapped by infant mortality rates that count into that. The average human would have had good chances to reach the 60s after surviving childhood.
 
Well, the priest is a Dominican priest so very likely influenced by the Dominican tradition. 😅 From what I’ve been told, the one who knows Latin the best in the country.
 
The average life expectancy for a male child born in the UK between 1276 and 1300 was 31.3 years . In 1998, it is 76. However, by the time the 13th-Century boy had reached 20 he could hope to live to 45, and if he made it to 30 he had a good chance of making it into his fifties.Dec 27, 1998

Jim
 
Please re-read my post. Infant death is included in those stats, so, please give me your source.
 
It’s still life expectancy over all

Also, deaths were primarily counted for the wealthy, not the poor

But what’s your point ?

Are you trying to convince us that life was better in the Middle Ages ?

JIm
 
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Well, it´s a huge difference if people in adult age have to prepare for a death with 30 or can think of 30 other years, isn´t it?
The counting is often also possible via funeral masses, recorded baptism and archaeological evidence.
My point is that the so calles medieval “dark ages” aren´t that dark and the average human who reached the adult age died not with 30. It´s stereotype thinking of this era. When you think of england, the 17th century was worse, as house constructions lacked - compared with medieval buildings - often proper smoke outlets and people who didn´t died as children became sick of lung problems. Result : early death.
 
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Read it again

The average life expectancy for a male child born in the UK between 1276 and 1300 was 31.3 years . In 1998, it is 76. However, by the time the 13th-Century boy had reached 20 he could hope to live to 45, and if he made it to 30 he had a good chance of making it into his fifties.Dec 27, 1998

If a boy reached age 20, he could hope to life to 45, if he made it to 30, to his fifties. WOW!

That’s if he had good nutrition, didn’t get a disease which many can be cured in today’s world, or have to fight in one the many senseless wars his nobleman ordered him to fight for.

Life was very hard in the Middle Ages. Religion served the purpose of giving people a sense of certitude. Capital Punishment, even for heretics was the norm, and witnessed by the cheering public.

Heck, in the Middle Ages, they believed in witchcraft and other superstitions curses which had power.

There were also many more Holy Days of Obligation as the Church sought to raise money for their coffers.

There was corruption in the Church where Bishops lived in the palaces of the Kings while their congregations lived on the edge.

Today’s world surpasses life of the Middle Ages by a very long shot.

Jim
 
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JimR-OCDS said:
There were also many more Holy Days of Obligation as the Church sought to raise money for their coffers.
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Holy Days weren’t a financial cow for the Church at all in the Middle Ages. They actually reduced productivity as the people did not work on those days back in the day.

There was a church tax in most places, it wasn’t like they relied as much on the collection baskets.
 
Actually the Holy Days of Obligation were often used as a method for Bishops to raise money. People still had to go to work, even on Holy Days, except for Sunday, Christmas and Easter.

In the 17th Century, Pope Urban VIII had to limit the Holy Days of Obligation to 36 because the Bishops were out of control in various parts of Europe.

Today we have just 10.

Jim
 
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JimR-OCDS said:
People still had to go to work, even on Holy Days, except for Sunday, Christmas and Easter.
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That was not the impression I got when reading history about the 14th Century in France and western Europe.

One of the beefs, from what I have read about the peasants after the Black Death, was that their earnings were limited due to 100-120 days off.
 
Black Death caused a different hardship than Holy Days of Obligations which Bishops were allowed to set for their own people.

Just like in states with Blue Laws, the merchants make adjustments to cover the cost of being closed on Sundays and Holidays.

However, most people in the Middle Ages, were of the peasant class, which included working for land owners as farmers, usually noblemen and servants in other capacities.

They were still required to make a set offering on Holy Days of Obligation.

Jim
 
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