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Masks of Shame in the Middle Ages: You Know What They Are?

At that time, wearing this mask of shame was a punitive measure for minor offenses.  

This punishment imposed on the guilty was intended to offend, humiliate and dishonor them in full view.  

Also called masks of infamy, these are different and are real caricatures of crimes.

 Note, for example, a hanging tongue for someone who has spread false rumors, oversized ears for an indiscreet or overly curious individual.  

Convicts must show up in markets and crowded places to endure the shame.

 Fortunately, they had the advantage of protecting them to a certain extent from rubbish and other things that one took pleasure in throwing in their faces ...  

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Not everyone would die young. 

Life in the Middle Ages is often seen as short because, for example, of the conditions in which people lived.

However, if we tend to say that people at that time would die at 35, we must remember that this is a simple average.

Infant mortality was quite high, yes, but if a man was still alive at age 21, he had a good chance of living to be over 50. 

We often perceive the life of peasants as trying because we imagine them working a lot.

Still, they had plenty of rest. Sunday was a day without work; it was even systematic. 

All this is without counting Christmas, Easter and all those religious festivals which made them rest during the Holy Days.

In fact, for about a third of the year they were at rest.

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Women were not submissive in a home.  

We often have this image of the passive medieval woman who was content only to take care of the children and cook.

However, this was not the case during the Middle Ages. During this time, you should know that Europe was essentially agricultural.

In the end, that's what put family members on an equal footing. Everyone was in charge of working in the fields because famine was constantly threatening.

Therefore, since women had the same responsibilities as men, they were equal.

They were therefore real workers!  In town, it was the same in the shops and taverns. If a man ran a tavern or whatever, his daughters would help him run the property.

They were even likely to take over the business from their fathers. It was not uncommon to see a female patron of a tavern.

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Knights were not honorable fighters rescuing damsels in distress. 

Certainly, the knights went to war to fight and defend their kings. 

But when it wasn't war, what were these "valiant horsemen" doing?

 Being young and having nothing else to let off steam, they were busy in a somewhat ... violent way. 

Indeed, around the 11th century, the local lords quarreled among themselves.

Result: there were landings in neighboring villages where the knights came to massacre poor innocent people. 

In reality, knights were expected to defend the weak.

But this was interpreted to protect women and children, not the peasants. 

This is why the knights at that time allowed themselves such violence against the villagers despite their status as defenders. Not very classy.

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When we think of the Middle Ages, we often imagine a foul smell and dirty people. Well no !

 In fact, baths were even taken! It was even a tradition. 

At the time, villages did not have washing facilities in every household. 

It was in fact a common bath that was organized in the cities. Everyone bathed together after a hard day's work.

 And for the lucky ones who had enough to bathe at home, imagine that they even offered a bath to their guests!

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Universities were created in the Middle Ages!

The term "universitas" appears in the West to designate the group formed by teachers and their students.

The oldest universities were created more or less simultaneously, around 1200, in sites already active at the end of the 12th century: Bologna, Paris, Oxford, Montpellier.

These four institutions remained until the end of the Middle Ages and well after, the most prestigious Western universities.

Medieval universities, organized into faculties from their foundation, generally have five faculties. 

The Faculty of Arts has the largest number of students: it teaches the seven liberal arts (grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, music) which constitute the common basis of any university course.

When students have obtained the Master of Arts, they have the option of moving on to the Faculties of Medicine, Canon Law, Civil Law or Theology.

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