The Life of a Peasant Farmer From the Middle Ages

I am Paul, a peasant farmer from the middle ages. I have a wife and two sons. One child of mine is 10 and the other is 3. My life is very difficult. I have to work hard everyday so that I can get my family food and other things that are needed for us to survive. We barely have anything to do for entertainment and usually don’t even have the time to entertain ourselves.

A day basically starts when I wake up in the morning. I wake up and then I eat a loaf of bread and I drink some bear. Then, I get ready to go to the fields so that I can start farming. I wear some shoes and a loose gown made of rags that reaches my kneecap. My children wear shoes, shirts, and pants that my wife has sewed for them. My wife wears a loose gown as well and wears some shoes. My wife comes along with me after brewing the bear to take along with us. She also helps in farming and takes care of my younger child. My 10 year old son comes along with me so that he can work too. Once the whole family is there, we start our job.

I start ploughing the land so that my wife can carry on by planting. My 10 year old son helps me by starting to plough the other side. If me and my son finish early we help my wife. My other son is carried by my wife. It is really hard work, working while the sun’s rays fall upon your face and start making you feel tired and exhausted.

Once a certain period of time passes by, me and my family drink some bear to get more energy and we also sit down for a few minutes. We barely have any ways for entertaining ourselves. Entertainment is really not a part of our life, and is usually for people that have a higher status.

After, sitting for a few minutes we get up and leave to work more. We continue working until the sun sets. Then we go back home and we eat something like a cooked loaf of bread. I also drank some beer and then we would go to sleep.