Meet the Middle Ages

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Meet the Middle Ages in Handbörd
Find your own Middle Ages
Places to visit in Handbörd
Experience the Middle Ages
Most people were peasants
How do we know so much about the Middle Ages?

Meet the Middle Ages in Handbörd
What was it like to be one of Israel Birgersson ´s tenant farmers in 1350? What was life at the farm like? How did one make one ´s living? How were relations with Sir Israel and his bailiff? What happened as Sir Israel gathered his troops to go to Novgorod on a "crusade" ? Did men from Handbörd join him? The plague struck at this time. What was life at Grönskog like when Sir Israel came to stay? Compare with the lives of a convent- or tenant farmer.

In Fagerhult, it would be exiting to follow the life of a tenant farmer under Sir Johan Hemmingsson Lejonansikte. What was life at the farm like? How often did one go to the manor to pay taxes or perhaps to do labour? What was life like at the manor? What was every-day life like for valets, housekeepers, maids and servants? What was it like when royalty and noblemen were entertained in the hall at the manor? What was it like in 1350? Imagine the last banquet before the Black Death struck.

Imagine your own life in the Middle Ages. Choose an event, find facts and write your own medieval story. Re-create medieval life at a historical site near your school or home.

 

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Find your own Middle Ages
There are many historical sites in Handbörd, but they are not always easy to find. In some places, though, there are still visible remnants from the Middle Ages. Make an imaginary trip to these sites, perhaps relatives of yours lived there long ago! Medieval farmland still exist in many places, but it can be quite difficult to spot.

Visit your church to find out if parts of it are medieval.

 

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Places to visit in Handbörd:

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Experience the Middle Ages
Re-create medieval life at a farm, manor or castle. Sites from the Middle Ages can be found in many places. Try old crafts and prepare a medieval meal. Kalmar County Museum can offer you suggestions and give you practical advice on how to arrange a medieval experience. The museum has many years ´ experience of historical-educational events.

 

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Most people were peasants.
Nearly all people were peasants in the Middle Ages. However, none of the medieval farms have survived. New land has been cleared and new houses have been built where the farms once lay. Medieval farmland can still be found here and there. Even though the farm-houses are gone, perhaps you can imagine what it would be like to be a farmer ´s son or daughter in the 14th century.

"The cottage is decorated – it is Christmas time. There is straw on the floor, and beautiful hangings on the walls. There are soft cushions on all the benches. It is still dark outside and soon you will take the short walk to church, to attend early morning mass. All the members of the family have had their Christmas bath and you are all wearing newly laundered clothes. Father has seen to the cattle. You put on a warm woollen jerkin and step outside. It has been snowing and it is very cold.

Inside the stone church it is chilly, but at least you are out of the wind. Candles are lit everywhere inside the church. The bell rings and now the prayers are being said. The priest says mass in Latin. Slowly, you walk around and pause in front of a small altar. You gaze into the flame of the wax-light and think about all the nice food you will be served today when you get back to the farm. For weeks now, there has been a fast and you haven ´t had any meat, but today there will be sausages, boiled meat and roasts. In the pantry there is butter, apples, freshly baked bread and nuts. You come to with a start – the congregation is singing and you feel extremely happy. Christmas is here! What happens next? How do you spend Christmas at a farm? What does the lovely food taste like after weeks of fasting?"

 

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How do we know so much about the middle Ages?
To learn about what it was like in other times one has to read old books and manuscripts. One must also do archaeological excavations or digs.

This means that one digs the earth in places where people have lived or been. One might find foundations of houses or churches, pieces of pottery, parts of a boat or remains of a meal. These objects will be cleaned carefully and a drawing will be made of it and of the place where it was found.

If, for example, one is digging a site where once a fortified manor lay, one might find combs, a leather shoe, cups and a die. Then one knows that the people who lived there combed their hair, wore shoes, drank and played games.

Most medieval houses were wooden, so by now most of them have disappeared. Not many houses were built of brick and stone, but some of these still exist.

Objects and buildings keep for different lengths of time, depending on where they are left. If a wooden bowl is left in a place where air or maybe animals come into contact with it, it may be destroyed rather quickly. If, however, the bowl has fallen into a well or lake, it might keep for hundreds and hundreds of years The preservation of an object also depends on what kind of material the it is made of. A woollen dress will disappear much faster than a nail made of iron.

The things we find from the Middle Ages are of course just a tiny part of all the things that existed at the time. The objects that we do find are those which are not so easily destroyed. The archaeologist who is digging must be thinking: Why do I find this object here? What other things might have been here before they disappeared? The work of an archaeologist is a bit like that of a detective.

There are many ways to find out how old something is. 
From the Middle Ages we have manuscripts – for example law-books, letters, annuals ( like the "Tänkebok") and the Revelations of St. Birgitta. When one reads medieval manuscripts one can learn what people thought on different matters. There are even history books written in the Middle Ages!

 

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