I've often wondered what life was a hundred or even a thousand years ago. What was their daily life like? What did they do if they got sick? By most accounts, if they got a sudden illness, they died. Medicine was based on superstition and barbaric practices back in those days. The Middle Ages or the Dark Ages was best known for the Bubonic Plague that wiped out about 25% of the population in Europe. Life was anything but routine as people scratched out an existence in small farming communities. There was mining of coal, tin and lead. But, most people made their living farming. By most historical accounts, the 16th century saw the rise of the West as Spain and Portugal explored the seas. But, by most standards of today, life was exceedingly harsh back in the 16th century. Let's take a look of a few examples of what life was like during this time in history.
Most people married in June because they took their yearly bath in May (imagine that). Some smelled pretty good in June. However, they were starting to stink, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence, the custom of carrying a bouquet when getting married. I had often wondered why brides had the bouquets.
The floors of homes were dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt; hence the saying, "dirt poor."
Some things never change. In 1506, a riot in Lisbon, Portugal caused the deaths of over 2000 Jews.
Most homes had a big kettle always over a fire. Few could afford to eat meat. Most people ate vegetables, eat the stew for dinner and leave the leftovers in the pot. Then the next day they would start over. Food stayed in these pots for days, weeks even. There had to be a lot of food poisoning back in the 16th century.
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
People during this time were also quite small due to a poor diet.
if you were going traveling and wanted to stay at an Inn they usually provided the bed, but not the board to eat off of.