What Medieval Peasants Really Ate

You've seen the image a hundred times: a starving peasant in the mud, eating gray gruel. But the bones and the records tell a very different story. In this video: what medieval English peasants actually ate, how the Great Famine and the Black Death changed their diet, why Parliament passed a law in 1363 to limit how often servants could eat meat, and how the myth of the eternally hungry peasant was born. 0:00 Intro 0:06 The bones of a lost village 1:20 Life on the edge around 1300 2:42 The Great Famine 3:32 The Black Death and the unexpected feast 4:25 The law that came for your plate 5:01 Who invented the myth 6:27 What the bones really say 7:54 One field, two hundred years apart 8:59 Why the myth survives 9:47 What this means for you Sources: – Mays et al. (2017), Wharram Percy burnt and mutilated remains, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports – Christopher Dyer, "Changes in diet in the late Middle Ages: the case of harvest workers," Agricultural History Review (1988) – Statute Concerning Diet and Apparel, 1363 #history #medievalhistory #middleages