How Medieval Peasants Survived The Coldest Winter Nights | History for Sleep

Hey guys! We're now on Spotify 🎧 Join us here: https://open.spotify.com/show/1iLKLmP... Fall asleep in an English village on the coldest nights of January 1306, in Elton on the river Nene, a manor of Ramsey Abbey. Its 1279 survey counted 113 households and 1,872 acres of open field, where a family's holding was 24 acres of scattered strips. A plough ox cost about 11 shillings, and was stalled for 25 weeks of winter on 3½ sheaves of oats a week. Village ale sold at 3 gallons for a penny, and the brewster who sold it before the ale-tasters came could be fined by her own neighbours. So how did a family with one fire and no glass in its windows come through a sixteen-hour winter night? Subscribe to the channel: @oldhistorynights In this video, we talk about how medieval peasants lived through the coldest winter nights, including threshing in the lord's barn, the abbot's manor yard and its mills, the turf stack by every door and the common right to cut peat, by hook or by crook and the wood the lord forbade, Walter of Henley's oxen and their 25 weeks in the stall, sheep housed from Martinmas to Easter, hens and a cow's winter milk, the cruck-framed house and why it was no hovel, pottage, maslin bread and the lord's mill, supper at the trestle board and what a day's work bought, the neighbour's ale and the Assize of Bread and Ale, the manor court, the tithing and the hue and cry, the twelve days of Christmas and the villein's Christmas feast, spinning by firelight, straw pallets and a log for a pillow, the fire cover, and the first and second sleep. 🔔 Subscribe so the next long winter night in the old world finds you whenever you need it. 💬 Tell us in the comments where you're listening from, and which part of a medieval peasant's winter night you'd find hardest. 📢 Share this with anyone who loves medieval history or needs a gentle way to drift off, on Facebook, Reddit or in the family group chat. You're the reason these quiet nights keep coming. Chapters: 00:00 Opening 15:32 A street of two ends at dusk 35:04 The oxen in their stall 55:40 Through the door into the hall 1:16:30 Next door, where the ale is fresh 1:38:10 Spinning by the firelight 1:53:13 The last look at the oxen 2:14:49 The first sleep 2:36:35 The second sleep Sources: History of Wharram Percy Deserted Medieval Village (English Heritage) https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/v... History of Hound Tor Deserted Medieval Village (English Heritage) https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/v... Medieval Building from Hangleton (Weald & Downland Living Museum) https://www.wealddown.co.uk/buildings... Elton, Victoria County History of Huntingdonshire, vol. 3 (British History Online) https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch... Life on the English Manor, H. S. Bennett (Internet Archive) https://archive.org/stream/lifeonthee... Walter of Henley's Husbandry, ed. Elizabeth Lamond (Internet Archive) https://archive.org/details/walterofh... Description of England, William Harrison (Project Gutenberg) https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/... DISCLAIMER: This video is based on real historical events and figures, drawn from the sources listed above alongside primary archives, biographies, court records, period press, and leading historical scholarship. While every video is heavily researched, occasional minor inaccuracies in dates, quotes, or specific details may occur — historical sources sometimes disagree, and interpretation is sometimes required where the historical record is silent. Any errors are unintentional. #OldHistoryNights #HistoryForSleep #SleepHistory #BedtimeHistory #MedievalHistory #MedievalEngland #MiddleAges #MedievalPeasants #PeasantLife #MedievalVillage #Elton #Huntingdonshire #RamseyAbbey #WalterOfHenley #WinterNights #EnglishHistory #SocialHistory #History #FallAsleepFast