Medieval Life

The way people were taught and raised in the medieval times depended on their social background. Houses were different from a lord to a laborer. Their material good such as clothing, drink, and food depended on their social stature as well. The duties of the medieval person were different at some points, and varied greatly. However, a dominant force in the medieval times was the church. It played a large part in their days. The lives of the medieval English were different from one class to the next.

The way people were taught and raised in the medieval times depended on what social background they came from. Even from infancy people lived differently. All medieval babies were breast-fed for the first two or three years, but while most women nursed their own children the babies of privileged families were often given to a wet nurse. Like today people used their wealth and their social standing to set themselves apart from the lower levels of society. Children enjoyed playing mostly during the day; however they had to learn just like anyone else. For most children their only formal education was their religious instruction. They learned writing relatively early in aristocratic families. Some children might have even been taught letters as early as three, four, or five. Near the age of seven children started learning the tricks of their trade. The sons of ordinary commoners might be set to fishing, herding or caring for the larger livestock, while the sons of the privileged classes might be sent to male tutor or teachers. Not everyone in the medieval times got a formal education it wasn't a very widespread privilege. The poorest children were unlikely to receive any at all, except for those who were marked for a career in the church: such boys might be sent to a religious school, with the costs paid for by some type of scholarship. For the next seven years, a boy would go into apprenticeship. Coming of age was different depending on what social class you belong to. The age of twenty-on was most likely to be significant for a male aristocrat, since his family might have the means to set him up in some sort of independent position. Those of the lower classes were not so lucky. A youth who had been apprenticed under a guilds system would remain under tutelage until the end of his apprenticeship, at which point he might be set up as an independent master, if he could afford it, or he would become a journeyman and sell his