Meet the Middle Ages
BackChildren and young people
The children in the country had a lot of time to play and to run about. Medieval miracle stories tell us that"children play like children do". From the age of one and a half, the children could walk. Before that, they were always near their parents. Infant mortality was high, so the parents looked after their children very carefully. As the children grew, they wanted to explore their surroundings, and then they might crawl or run away. Miracle stories tell us about accidents happening to young children. They got lost in the woods, put things in their mouths or cut themselves on a sharp knives. They could fall into the water when they were playing on a bridge. The same accidents happened to them that happen to children nowadays. The stories tell us about the love parents felt for their children and how they suffered when the children were harmed. By praying to God and to the saints, the child could recover. There is not much evidence of parents beating their children. St Birgitta writes that she might threaten to spank her children, but she never did hit them. When they had been good, she rewarded them with an apple.
The children had a lot of free time up to the age of ten. They had time for games, for playing with each other, for running and laughing. From the age of ten, the children began to enter the adult world. Boys helped their fathers in the woods, chopping wood, making and bringing in the hay. They helped with charcoal-burning and fishing. Girls learned to milk and to take care of the animals, and were taught how to spin and weave. They also helped with the cooking and the beer-brewing. In a couple of years, they were taught the work which all adults were expected to do. From the age of 12, children were considered to be grown up and were given more responsibility. Peasant boys and girls normally married when they were 17-20 years old.
In an open field, the sports ground, people of all ages met to compete and to play games. The boys wanted to impress the girls and show them who was the strongest, fastest and most agile.
Read more about children and young people under "Town Life. Weekdays and Holidays" and "Society. Life and Death". If you want to read haunting miracle stories about children, then go to "Society. Tales and Pictures".