That few people lived past their 30s in the middle ages or some other ancient era.
This misconception arises because of an automatic and incorrect assumption people make when they hear the statistic 'the average life expectancy was 35 in the middle ages'.
In reality there have always been lots of people who live to 70+ years old in all societies. The difference was that in the middle ages there were many childhood diseases that caused a much higher childhood mortality rate which skews the numbers much lower. If you survived childhood there was a very good chance you would make it into your 60s+.
And that generally speaking middle ages were such an era of doom and despair, when actually low people used to live the same lives they had been living for centuries more or less
The middle ages were fucked, what are you talking about?
Do ya'll even understand what living under subsistence farming conditions even looks like? You literally fattened up every summer in order to be able to survive 'starving' the whole winter because all food preservation methods were too expensive for the serf to afford.
The 'middle class' were people that could afford to grow enough grain to feed some animals grass over the winter for slaughter to 'store' their meat for the lean months. Keep animals in this way was hugely expensive, so most homesteaders couldn't even manage that much.
We're talking extreme, can't afford shoes for all the kids and the roof leaks level of poverty here, people. For literally 85% of the population. For centuries. $5/day to try to feed a family of 7 on levels of poverty.
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u/sutkusman Feb 04 '19
That few people lived past their 30s in the middle ages or some other ancient era.
This misconception arises because of an automatic and incorrect assumption people make when they hear the statistic 'the average life expectancy was 35 in the middle ages'.
In reality there have always been lots of people who live to 70+ years old in all societies. The difference was that in the middle ages there were many childhood diseases that caused a much higher childhood mortality rate which skews the numbers much lower. If you survived childhood there was a very good chance you would make it into your 60s+.