September 1, 2009
History 242 Lecture 1
Purpose of lectures – roadmap of Europe in this time period
“old regime Europe”
1. Biological regime (subsistence economy) (easy to tip to death with bad crop)
2. Social/political regime
4 major social groups
1. Royalty/nobility
2. University Education Professions (dr, theology, legal)
3. Artisans/Merchants
4. Peasants (largest group)
Questions on Mid term – will deal with these levels (need to be able to use the terminology)
Life as a peasant
- Housing: 1 room homes where ppl slept together, in the winter with animals
- Go to bed with the sun, woke up with it as well
oSleep schedule different from modern western society
oWake up for one hour during the night, 1stsleep, 1 lively hour, 2nd sleep
- High carb diet of energy (think of what you get from a garden plot and foraging)
oLots of alcoholic drinks of beer/wine depending on the area due to bad
water
oHousewives made the beer at home
oBeer was only 2nd to bread in calories
o3 L of beer per person per day
oSome people in central Europe and Germany ate beer soup for breakfast
Beer heated, butter, cold beer to cool down
Mix 2 eggs in, put with beer, whisk, add pieces of wheat bread
(white bread=too fancy)
oThen came coffee and ppl missed beer soup for breakfast
- Sense of time/organization of work and time
oNot many clocks
oTime was done by task orientating
E.g. it takes as long as to boil an egg
oWorking patterns were irregular
Worked a lot, then really relaxed (binge/purge)
- Working
