MovieChat Forums > The Pillars of the Earth (2010) Discussion > Were medieval people simpletons?

Were medieval people simpletons?

posted 10 years ago by thegreatgazoo-1
9 replies | jump to latest

I'm using 1120AD as my starting point.

Formal education=none, for the most part

Even if they were formally educated what quality was the school? I don't think Oxford or Cambridge were founded yet, but if they were teaching people about the four humors that determined health was hardly useful. The double entry accounting system hadn't appeared yet either so I wonder what use an economics degree would have been.

I know the answer from some of you will be, look around, they had commerce and building and a closely knitted society.

My response is even a blind squirrel finds the occasional nut. And I believe most of their elaborate building was done empirically. Build a monster cathedral and hope it stands up.

I have this image that most people of that era were savages or morons. The savages would be the Lords and Barons and the morons were everyone cowtowing to these insipid savages.

I bet the average person in this medieval time frame spent most of their day doing mindless field work for their Lord only to come home to a boiled cabbage or two. They had few external sources of information to broaden their minds, no libraries, internets, TV , newspapers.

Ergo, they must have been easily led and persuaded simpletons.

[–] Jack_rabbit 10 years ago

DO you think anything has changed since then?

[–] thegreatgazoo-1 10 years ago

Sadly I don't think much has changed.

Modern people may be educated but education doesn't mean intelligence. People are still easily led and for the most part still doing the bidding of their masters.

Ipods have replaced a boiled cabbage or two as the reward for toiling the day away.

[–] danzig138-668-939218 10 years ago

. . . You're not nearly as edgy and cool as you think you are. Hopefully, you'll grow out of this phase after you graduate junior high.

[–] gjordan77 10 years ago

Neither are you. Or Danzig for that matter. Hopefully you grow out of this condescending *beep* when you graduate highschool... Or should I replace when with if?

[–] pol-edra 10 years ago

You have formed a biased opinion based on nothing, and even acknowledge that said opinion is nothing but prejudice - after all, it is an "image" that "you have", and the sum of your analysis is the result of what you "bet"... and yet in your eyes, they're the simpletons? How cute.

"Occasionally I'm callous and strange."

[–] thegreatgazoo-1 10 years ago

How do you know my opinion is based on nothing? Perhaps I've read everything the library had plus what I found online to form my opinion? You're the idiot for assuming how my opinion was formed. And the other tool, well, your mummy is calling you up the cellar as it's time for your dinner,

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] kr-write2 10 years ago

The wealthy were highly educated and spoke several languages, studied greek texts, etc.

Master builders had quite a bit of knowledge like Tom, spent years learning their trade.

I think Alfred and his Ma demonstrated some of the more superstitious and close-mindedness of common uneducated folk, but then he was ready to try a stone vaulted ceiling. Of course it resulted in disaster but his experimentation showed a wish to break through and accomplish something new.

The church did foster a lot of ignorance and superstition that kept people down.

I think there was kindness and meanness both. I think there was opportunities to learn and grow if you really wanted to. Like if you wanted to learn how to read you could get someone to teach you, or devote yourself to the church and get an education. There was an interest in justice.

People who wanted a secure home and family stayed in places like Kingsbridge and helped build up the community and were willing to fight to keep it. People who wanted a less moral life gravitated to London or attached themselves to the highborn who were like the Hamleighs.

I'm not sure you really wanted an answer but I thought the book and the movie did a good job of showing both opportunity and the hardships of the time. Aliena could have just given up and got married but she built up a successful business twice.., The constant warring took its toll and the movie showed that.

They weren't too far out of the dark ages then but cathedral building was a big catalyst for helping people change their minds about what humans were capable of and getting people interested in art and other subjects.

[–] kr-write2 10 years ago

This is interesting:

http://www.cracked.com/article_20615_5-ridiculous-myths-you-probably-believe-about-dark-ages.html