Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Winter in a peasant village, painted by the Limbourg brothers and published in the medieval illuminated manuscript 'Très Riches ...

Many mainstream economic historians do believe the average number of working days for peasant laborers in England hovered around, and even sometimes below, 150 days per year for certain stretches of ...

Life for the medieval peasant was certainly no picnic. His life was shadowed by fear of famine, disease and bursts of warfare. His diet and personal hygiene left much to be desired. But despite his ...

This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday. Sign up for it here. In the foreword to ...

Medieval peasants worked only around 150 days per year, a result of the church scheduling frequent holidays to keep the labor force happy. Rating: Mixture (About this rating?) What's True: Many ...

In medieval England, peasants on some estates were entitled to a range of sick, annual and bereavement leave that could rival those of many workers in the UK today. By comparison – as our new paper ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Celebrations for medieval peasants were frequent and centered around religious holidays, and the longest and most festive of these ...

Many mainstream economic historians do believe the average number of working days for peasant laborers in England hovered around, and even sometimes below, 150 days per year for certain stretches of ...

Winter in a peasant village, painted by the Limbourg brothers and published in the medieval illuminated manuscript ‘Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.’ Pierce Archive LLC/Buyenlarge via Getty Images ...

When people think of the European Middle Ages, it often brings to mind grinding poverty, superstition and darkness. But the reality of the 1,000-year period from 500 to 1500 was much more complex.