I'm Wondering How People Endured the Winters During Medieval Times

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

It's snowing today in the mountains and it's raining with sleet in the valleys of Utah. People are running off the road and sliding everywhere, so I am sitting still to wait out the storm. I hear it will be today and tomorrow before it clears out of Utah. Spring is having a hard time making its debut, I guess.

All this snow and stormy weather makes me think about folks in the middle ages. I wonder how they made it through extreme weather such as blizzards, tornadoes, and heavy rain storms with damaging winds. My thoughts turn especially to those who lived primitively.

First of all, I think about how their homes were constructed. Wooden shacks and cottages would have been more vulnerable to wind damage and large hail. Folks didn't have the luxury of glass windows, solar panels, and gas or electric furnaces for heat or electricity for light. So they had to be prepared to make ways to keep warm and to have light. They must have had some kind of emergency plans.

People who lived in castles were much more protected from wind, hail, and rain and snow. It's sort of coincidental that I just wrote about survival in the middle ages, because I searched google hoping to find some interesting tidbits of information for my readers when I found a book with the same title. It's only fitting that I plug it for them right here.

Just click the photo to order and tell them that Ren Faire Reese sent ye. The book is written by Fiona Macdonald and sells for the modest price of $7.95 in paperback. It's only available in the United States right now. The book is only 48 pages but the sellers state it is worth every penny because of the effort to utilize all its space in sharing common household customs in the middle ages. I'm going to order this book and read it. Afterwards, I can give a book review on an updated post. Remind me, will you?

If you have any information about the middle ages that you would like to share with us, please comment or email renfairereese@gmail.com and ask to be a guest writer here. I'll send you an invitation so you write your own story.

Books on the Middle Ages, Medieval Times and the Renaissance would be a welcome addition to this blog. If you can suggest one, leave a comment or email me if you think the book deserves a full review.

I'll be back before you can miss me.
Ren Faire Reese