| The place of Medieval
men in society was not dictated so much by gender, or
even by which nation they lived in during Medieval times.
The main factor that decided where a man’s (or usually
for that matter, a woman’s) place in society was
wealth, because wealth dictated your position on the social
hierarchy. It is from a position of wealth, or lack of
it, that dictated a man’s place in Medieval society.
For the common peasant, life
during Medieval times was hard, brutal, and usually
short. The common man had a strong, steadfast belief
in God, in the basic virtues of Christianity (as much
as he could understand it since scripture was read in
Latin), but yet the Devil seemed to be hiding in every
alley and behind every tree to force evil, and droughts
were not sad pictures on a television screen, but life
threatening situations. A man would need to work the
land, pay any taxes or homage necessary to the noble
that ruled over the area, and fulfill any other responsibilities
demanded of him.
In times of conflict, this meant
that the common peasant had to trade in a pitchfork
for a shield and sword to go fight in a battle he might
know nothing about. Often times large numbers of peasants
perished fighting other peasants because two lords were
ticked off at one another. If the peasant was unlikely,
he didn’t get to trade in his pitchfork, and he
would use that as his weapon. Taking a vow into monastic
life was one way to insure a little more security than
might otherwise be available, but like with all things,
it came with a price.
 Drought and famines were common
endurances for all, and there was the constant fear
of plague. At its height in Europe, the bubonic plague,
aptly named “Black Death,” killed one in three
Europeans, and in some places, such as England, killed
over half of the entire population. The dirty, unclean
conditions of cities and streets made the entire disease
situation even worse. The attitude of the master also
could be a major factor in determining the comfort level
of life. Harsh masters could make death a welcome respite,
while kinder ones at least left a ray of hope for the
common men, even if most of it was still based on a
promised afterlife after death.
Conquest, assuming the common
man survived, often meant forced labor. This meant working
for cruel masters and breaking the body for a project
that offered no food, no shelter, and no benefit to
his own family. Often times the man needed both his
wife and kids to work, as well. Life expectancy was
short; often little more than thirty some odd years.
Even so, they continued to work, to try their best to
provide and protect, and in that sense, aren’t
that much different than many blue collar men today,
except that then the life was so much harder, and the
stakes so much higher.
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