Europe's medieval era, known as the Middle Ages, lasted from about 500 to 1500. Back then, the average life expectancy was about half what it is in the developed world now. However, a widely reported British study conducted by Lloydspharmacy, an English pharmacy chain, into the medieval diet concluded that in some ways, medieval working people led healthier lives than many of their counterparts today. In those days, there were some very unpleasant ways to die, but succumbing to heart disease, diabetes and obesity-related conditions probably weren't among them.
Rank Bodies, Filthy Streets
To dispose of garbage and the contents of bedpans, residents of medieval towns and cities customarily threw everything from their windows onto narrow streets for the nourishment of pigs, dogs and rats. Very little sunlight or fresh air made its way into living quarters. Taking a tub bath was considered a necessary evil once a year, with all family members using the same increasingly murky bathwater according to status -- with babies last. Lice and fleas infested the bodies of people and animals and the interiors of homes, especially in straw-stuffed mattresses and thatched roofs. Well water for drinking was often contaminated and people ate food with unwashed hands.
Low Life Expectancies
On average, people died around the age of 35 in medieval times, and 40 was considered a ripe old age. Many women died during or shortly after childbirth; the mortality rate for infants and small children was also very high. Periodically, famines and epidemics further culled the population, the most notorious being the Black Death, a plague that killed about a quarter of Europe's population from 1347 to 1351. Although the disease originated with rat fleas, it was also spread by coughing and sneezing. More people succumbed in the overcrowded cities and towns than in rural areas.
Dining Below the Salt
Noble families and the peasants and servants who worked for them typically dined on different levels of the same hall. Displayed on the elevated tables of the wealthy was salt, a status symbol enclosed in ornate saltcellars that the humble folk "beneath the salt" could only dream of tasting. Hygiene notwithstanding, the 2007 Lloydspharmacy study concluded that the diets of commoners were probably healthier than those of their overlords. Daily rations included two loaves of bread, 8 oz. of meat or fish and plenty of fruit and vegetables, all washed down with a few pints of weak ale -- altogether, a well-balanced diet that the American Heart Association might recommend today. About 12 hours of hard physical labor daily would have burned off many of the 3,500 to 4,000 calories.
The Diets of the Upper Crust
When a loaf of bread was taken out of the oven, people with the highest status were given the choicest part -- the upper crust. According to "Middle Ages Food and Diet," the upper crust of medieval society regarded most vegetables, especially root vegetables, as poor people's food. Any fruit they ate was usually preserved or baked into pies. Their diets, heavy in animal fats, were deficient in fiber and vitamin C, an imbalance that contributed to such health problems as rotting teeth, skin diseases, scurvy and rickets. During the Crusades, which began in 1096 and lasted for almost 200 years, many Middle Eastern spices also became popular with the gentry.
References
- "BBC News"; Medieval Diets Far More Healthy; Dec. 18, 2007
- "The Telegraph"; Britons Healthier in Medieval Times; Dec. 18, 2007
- Britain Express: The Black Death in England 1348-50
- Middle Ages Food and Diet: Interesting Facts and Information About Medieval Food
- "Merriam-Webster Dictionary": Middle Ages Definition
- Medieval Times History: Life in Medieval Cites and Towns
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