A Day in the Life of a Medieval Woman in England

“Medieval” has come to mean backward, uninformed, and brutal, particularly when looking at the lives of women. This does not reflect the reality of the time but is an interpretation of a later age that sought to create a divide between the enlightened Classical world and their own Renaissance era. While a Medieval woman certainly did not have the personal power of a woman of the 21st century, she was not without agency, and even a peasant woman could wield some authority in her family and community.

The average peasant woman was a wife and mother, responsible for keeping the household fed, clothed, and healthy. What this meant for any given day was dictated by the calendar: during planting and harvesting, she would be found working alongside her husband and the rest of the people who worked for their manor lord; all through the growing months, she tended her kitchen garden, growing fruits and vegetables that could be enjoyed fresh or preserved for the long winter. Herbs were also found in the garden, which could soothe the inevitable headaches, colds, or stomach troubles of the family.

During the cold of the winter, days could be spent productively weaving and sewing or making candles. She might also do piecework for a little extra money or to fulfill obligations to the manor. No matter the season, there was always the regular round of preparing food, caring for children and family, and tending to livestock. But it was not all drudgery, that calendar also dictated days of rest, festivals, and holidays.

Around the Peasant’s House 

The building would have been warmed by either a hearth fire in the middle or a fireplace along one wall with a chimney. Near that fire would be a cupboard with cooking implements, a ceramic pot with a lid that could be placed directly into the fire, some long-handled spoons and forks, a spit for cooking a piece of meat over the fire, and a treasured copper or bronze pot.

These tools were used to make a hearty porridge in the morning, served in wooden bowls accompanied by a glazed pottery cup filled with small beer, a slightly fermented drink brewed from grain. In season, some fresh fruit or vegetables rounded out the meal, out of season fruit preserves and pickled veggies did the same. For the evening meal, the same pot might hold a stew or soup, heavy on vegetables with a little meat for flavor.

At butchering time, a fresh piece of meat would be skewered to roast over the fire, while the rest of the animal was salted or smoked to preserve it for the winter. Whatever the central portion of the meal, bread was always on the table. Fresh bread with butter, of course, but also stale bread serving as a type of plate, called a trencher.

The bread was baked in a community oven, using flour produced at the community grain mill, with a small portion going to the manor lord as payment for the use of both. Meals were eaten with a knife and spoon, and one’s hands. The fork was not yet part of tableware, though it was used in cooking.

Before eating, the family would wash their hands in a basin or bucket, possibly with some homemade soap, another of women’s wintertime crafts. It is often said that people in Europe during the Middle Ages did not bathe — this is simply untrue. Though they did not bathe as often as people in the modern day (few, if any, people in history did), they were far from dirty.

A complete bath as we think of it, in a tub with heated water and soap, might only happen a few times a year at most, but hands and faces were washed daily and a wet rag was used to clean the rest of the body as needed. For those near a pond or stream, a dip after a long day in the fields was enough to take off the sweat and grime of such work.

Laundry was also done on a fairly regular basis, though mainly for undergarments; outerwear was spot-cleaned as needed but rarely fully washed. A fresh chemise or undertunic went a long way to helping one feel clean.

For those who had livestock, the “barn” might be attached to the house, separated by a wall that did not quite reach the ceiling. The warmth of the animals’ bodies helped to keep the house warm in the winter and allowed them to be cared for without going outside. It also made it more difficult for anyone to steal the livestock.

Almost all peasant families kept some chickens for both eggs and meat. Eggs were an easy way to supplement one’s income and could even be used to pay some of the dues owed to the landlord. A cat was a welcome addition to the family, keeping rodents out of the store cupboard and a dog was also appreciated for protection and (for those who had it) helping to herd livestock.

Peasant women did a lot of the same work as men: planting, harvesting, caring for livestock, and general maintenance of the house and farm. The labor done by medieval peasants was not as strictly defined by gender as it was among the upper classes. Even so, women were disproportionately responsible for home and hearth in addition to whatever other work was required of them.

The multigenerational nature of one’s community (if not one’s own household) was incredibly important. A mother, spinster sister (a “spinster” in medieval times being a woman who spins for a living, something associated with single women past marriageable age), or older daughters could provide childcare on the days a woman’s labor was needed in the fields. Even without blood bonds, women friends could trade this work for each other as they fulfilled these obligations.

Once peasant children were old enough, they were also involved in farmwork. While schooling was certainly valued, most peasants did not get any type of formal schooling. It was, in short, unnecessary. Generally, children learned what they needed to know for adulthood by working alongside their parents. Boys generally took up their father’s occupation, whether farming or a skilled trade. Girls learned household management and childcare at their mother’s skirts and were often tasked with adult responsibilities at a very young age.

Reading was not usually an element in this education, but basic numeracy and ciphering were, though informally. If parents had the means, they might send their sons to school in a nearby town or monastery. There was no reason for them to send a daughter to school.

Both boys and girls could be sent into domestic service, usually at the behest of the manor lord for either his home or another’s. They might also be apprenticed to learn a trade, again this was usually at the lord’s behest or (minimally) with his permission.

The eldest son, by virtue of his position, inherited any property the father held. Girls could not inherit if they married (any property would go to her husband or sons), but if they did not marry, they could inherit in their own name. Adolescents who expressed a calling to the Church were usually assisted in fulfilling this vow unless they were needed to fulfill a role within the family.

Married Life 

Girls could expect to marry in their late teens but were technically marriageable as soon as they began menstruating. The choice of spouse was one arena where peasants could be said to have had it better than the upper classes, as they could choose a love match. In fact, peasant couples were often not formally married.

In this era, the purpose of marriage was to have a formal contract between two families for the exchange of property and the assurance of the legitimacy of heirs; people without property do not need to make formal arrangements regarding its distribution. This did not mean, however, that their children were not legitimate, these informal marriages were recognized by the community, and that was really all that mattered.

A medieval wife (whether a peasant on a farm or a queen in a castle) might birth ten or more children, though it was unlikely that all would survive to adulthood. In an era before antibiotics and other elements of modern medicine, even a simple injury or illness could be fatal. A woman took her own life into her hands, every time she went to the childbed.

Afterward, the baby was kept at the breast until age two or so, helping (though not guaranteeing) to space out births. It was not at all unusual for a woman to still be having children when her eldest had already married and started having their own.

The most important thing to remember when looking at the lives of people throughout history is that we have not truly changed. A woman in medieval England wanted the same basic things a modern one does: a roof over her head, enough food to eat and clothes to wear, happiness for themselves and their families, and for their children to do just a little better than they did.