From the Hoax:
- And that's the truth... (and whoever said that history
was boring)
The Facts (pretty much!):
According to About Urban Legends Guide David Emery, one sign that you're looking at an urban legend is when it is told "as if true," but doesn't offer any supporting evidence. Add a series of farfetched premises and punchlines, and you can be fairly sure you've got a hoax in your in-box.
If you've read this far, you know that the "truth" about life in the 1500s is far more complex and fascinating, and far less ridiculous, than the joke suggests. The world was a very different place back then, but people -- foolish and sensible, filthy and clean, cruel and kind -- were in some ways quite like we are today. What did it take to survive and thrive in a world without electricity, hot and cold running water, air travel, computers, contact lenses or deodorant?
To find out, check out some of the books below. Each offers abundant information about the "truth" of life in the Middle Ages, and I'm sure you won't find the facts "boring."
Sources and Suggested Reading
The links below will lead you to a site where you can compare prices across the web.
Medieval Life
Daily Life in the
Middle Ages
by Frances & Joseph Gies
This is the large, hardcover edition, heavily illustrated in full
color, which includes three volumes that you can also buy separately
in portable paperback:
The Middle Ages
by Morris Bishop
The Ties that Bound:
Peasant Families in Medieval England
by Barbara Hanawalt
Medieval
Prostitution
by Jacques Rossiaud; translated by Lydia G. Cochrane
Food and Eating in
Medieval Europe
edited by Martha Carlin and Joel T. Rosenthal
Pleasures and Pastimes
in Medieval England
by Compton Reeves
Etymological Dictionaries
Barnhart Concise
Dictionary of Etymology
edited by Robert K. Barnhart
A Comprehensive
Etymological Dictionary of the English Language
by Ernest Klein
Dictionary of Word
Origins
by John Ayto
The Merriam-Webster New
Book of Word Histories
by the Merriam-Webster Staff
Brewer's Dictionary of
Phrase & Fable
by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer
Return to Introduction.
