Weekly Writing Prompt 4: Middle Ages? Fascinating? I don't think so...
Prompt: I used to think... Now I think....
I used to think the middle ages in Europe was a fascinating period in time; there were lords and ladies, and chivalrious knights, and epic battles between rival kingdoms. It was a result of wishful thinking from being subjected to excessive hollywood films. Now I think the middle ages was a terrible period in time, and that I should have never hoped to have lived in that age. The middle ages was far darker than it seems, since it is often sugar-coated in movies. Lives were horrible for people in the middle ages, especially peasants and serfs. The fact that a majority of the population consisted of lower-class peasants [and serfs], meant that if I were to be born in that time period, I would have most likely been a peasant as well. Serfs had very little rights and freedom; they might as well have been slaves. The black death, or the bubonic plague, also appeared during the middle ages, and wiped out over fifty percent of the European population. Not only did it kill people, but if someone was infected, he or she had to suffer painfully from the symptoms before their inevitable death, and it was excruciating. Towns were also prevalent during the middle ages, and often times, these town were in horrid, filthy and unsanitary condition, with a crowded population, and were filled with rats. The water source was also contaminated with all sorts of impurties, since it was directly collected from the stream, and was unfiltered. This resulted in the townspeople becoming ill often, and eventually causing their early deaths. Also, during the period, a lot of people were under the unfluence of the Catholic Church, which meant they didn't care much for their lives, and instead, looked forward to their death- most of the time. I would definitely not want to be constantly dependant on religion and god, and would instead focus more on my life right now, and attempt to solve my own problems rationally with "problem-solving" instead of praying for it to just go away. Also, judging by the actions of those who lived during the middle ages, they seem below average-inteligence, and seemed to be horrible human beings (the nobles) since they subjected people into serfdom, so the middle ages does not seem appealing anymore. In reality, the middle ages was a terrible time to be alive in, and I would never again wish to have lived during that time period.