Was the Medieval Age really romantic?

Question

I personally don't think so. . . it was an amazing age, and I'd love to go back there. But it wasn't romantic, it was mostly full of war and torture. I'd visit for a couple of weeks though as long as I wouldn't get killed :-)

Answer 1

Who on Earth has ever defined the Medieval era as romantic?

Fairy tales? Fairy tales were expressions and methods of control. They weren't meant, by and large, to reflect the real world. There was no Excalibur with which to defend Camelot.

Answer 2

It was romantic. If you like disease, famine, death, and all things that go bump in the night.

It was a time of wars. It was a time that no technology grew. It was a time that much information was lost. It was an ugly peroid in the world.

I would love to go and see it too, but.. I think Itlay around 1600 would be the best place to go. Or Lodon, June 1215. When the barons took over Lodon from the King.  

Answer 3

No, there was little chance of romance, because marriages were arranged.

(That's why Romeo and Juliet, set in the Middle Ages in the 12th century, was a tale of  'forbidden love' - Juliet was supposed to marry someone else chosen by her dad, instead of Romeo.)

Romantic love - the idea that strong emotion would be the most important reason for choosing a life partner - is a relatively new concept in human history.  It is still pretty rare world-wide, if you consider that in most of the world - imagine what happens in the Middle East, India, and China for this - most couples are still matched by the parents.  

Answer 4

If you're speaking of Medieval Europe, then you should know it was the a**hole of the world during that time period. Almost no political, social, economical, or technological advancement occurred during the Medieval era. That's why the word 'medieval' is used to describe something archaic and stale. It was a period of strife and violence in which progress essentially stood still.

Maybe it was romantic for the very upper class, but for the vast majority of people (99 percent, almost), life was about manual labor from age 10-30 (when you died!) Marriage and childbirth happened very early on (women could expect to marry around age 15...), to counteract early mortality.

So I'd say we're quite blessed to live in this day and age, eh?

Answer 5

During the Romantic Era (second half of the 18th Century), people tended to look back on the Middle Ages as a romantic time. They saw it as a time before Industrialism, when people lived in tight knit villages, grew their own food, made their own goods, had guilds to protect their jobs, lived in harmony with nature, and had senses of honor and chivalry. This vision, however, is very simplistic. First, most of the technology that made modern industrialism possible have their roots in the Medieval Age, when the lack of labor caused by the fall of the Roman Empire required people to find labor saving methods to get things done. And the harmony with nature thing is ridiculous. Medieval people polluted horribly. And tight knot village life was just as much a curse as a blessing: yeah, everyone knew each other, but I'd hate to live it the same place my whole life. And yeah, peasants had job security, but they also weren't allowed to ever leave their backbreaking job.

For two different perspectives on this issue, I would recommend "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," by Mark Twain, and "A Dream of John Ball," by William Morris. The books were written almost simultaneously, but Mark Twain portrayed the Middle Ages as backwards, dark, superstitious and violent, while Morris portrayed the time as happy and prosperous.

Personally, I doubt the Medieval Age was either utopia or h**l. Recent scholarship show that it wasn't as backwards as some people think, and there was progress and new ideas, but it also wasn't the happiest time to live. As with all periods, there was good and bad. I certainly would visit too if I could, but it would be a short, and very careful, visit.

Answer 6

If you think that never, ever bathing is romantic. Okay. How about the man of your dreams zooming in for the kiss and:

a) he had a bath 3 months ago - he fell into a pond

b) has 6 teeth left - one fell out yesterday

c) he can't get rid of his lice

that's romantic

Answer 7

I don't believe that medieval times were romantic, particularly if you were a woman. As a member of the "lesser", or "weaker" s*x, you were considered property of your father, until you were married, then you were the property of your husband. As property, your master had the right to treat you however he desired.  

Answer 8

Yes, there was war and torture, but that was nothing unusual in history.  There was plenty of war and torture in the centuries proceeding and following the medieval era.  

There were other things in the medieval period besides war and toture.  There was glorious architecture, the wonderful cathedrals that are still the glory of Europe.  wonderful music was composed, that is still sung in our churches.  There were wonderful books written, surviving manuscripts that are works of art.  Learning flourished in th emonasteries, and many monks and nuns were notable scholars.  And there were scientific discoveries in the medieval period, for instance, spectacles, the compass and the mechanical clock were all invented in this period.  And it was the period when the use of the mill became widespread, the mill is one of the first great labour saving devices.  In socieites which do not have mills, women generally spend hours a day grinding corn by hand, an exhausting and back-breaking process.

The majority of the people in medieval times were peasant farmers, and standards of living for most of them were not too bad compared to the centuries that followed.  The early modern period, the 16th-17th centuries, saw a drastic decline in standards of living for the poor.

The medieval year revolved around th echurch calendar, which included many saints' days that were holidays.  christmas lasted for 13 days, from Christmas Day through to Epiphany (6th January).  The medieval guilds performed plays based on stories from the bibles and the lives of the saints that familiarised people with their religion and brought it alive for them.  And people of all stations in life loved to go on pilgrimages (see chaucher's Canterbury Tales).

Medieval life did contain horrors, but it contained much that was exciting and vibrant and colourful as well.

And it is not true (as a comment above suggests) that people always got married at 15.  Although upper-class teenagers sometimes married in their teens (though both parties had to consent, the church was opposed to forced marriage), the majority of the common people didn't marry until they were in their mid-twenties.  and most people chose their own marriage partners rather than having them chosen for them, the idea that there is something new about people selecting their own mates is a myth.  

And although the infant mortality rate was high, there was nothing unusual about that either, the infant mortality rate remained high untilt he 20th century and the invention of immunisations etc.  And people who survived infancy had a good chance of living to middle age or beyond.

Another myth I see quoted above is that bathing was uncommon in medieval times.  This is not true, actually people were quite keen on bathing then.  There are lots of pictures of people bathing in medieval art, and some buildings, like palaces and monasteries for instance, had indoor plubming and bathrooms.  And public bath houses were popular places for medieval people to visit.  It was actually during the early modern period that bathing fell out of fashion, and didn't really catch on again until the 19th century.

Answer 9

I suppose you could say that some people were involved in romanace, however this was also... never really the case.

In Medieval Europe, children married at around 14 years old, and girls were even giving birth to children at around the age of 16. We must remember that in Medieval Europe, everything was controlled by feudalism, so the peasants had very little freedom. People would marry upon class (eg.- a peasant man would never marry a baron's daughter, he would marry a peasant woman from his manor). Peasants lived on manors (agricultural villages) and never really left them, so there wasn't much choice for 'romantic outside influences.' The peasant was bound to the land, and when he had children, he would teach his child the works of the fields before he died (the life expectancy for a peasant was 35 years). That child would then follow in his father's footsteps... he would marry at 13-14, bear a child, and work the fields untill his death. His wife and/or daughter would serve the home, cooking and sewing.

There was so little freedom and romance for a peasant. The reason I'm using a peasant as an example is because Medieval Europe was literally all peasants. They had to marry to help continue the manor's agricultural production, and they never married because of love.

Anyway, enough on peasants! Even in the monarchies, there was very little room for 'true love' and romance in general. Royals in Medieval Europe married based on arranged marriages, so even there... there was never really romance. After studying Medieval Europe, I would say the most romance revolved around the barons, lords and knights. They had the most freedom, after all. The lord controlled the manor (and incidentally, approved of a peasant's marriage). The baron or baroness owned a castle. The knights were able at fighting, and were often a 'hot topic' amongst women at jousting tournaments, etc. Anyway, all in all, there was very little romance in Medieval Europe. Sure, there were definitely times when people fell in love, but most mariages were based upon class, unfortunately. It didn't matter if the peasant and the princess loved eachother... it could never happen.

Romance really came alive in Europe... after the the Middle Ages. I'm of course talking about the Renaissance, which began after the Peasant's Revolt (where the peasant's rebelled against those of the upper class, and won more rights). People questioned the Church's views, art and medicine was better looked at, and a whole new life came about in Europe. People became... curious! So romance was more accepted, of course.

Hope this helped!

-Tim :]