This is a typical peasant family eating dinner in their one room shack. There are a lot of them living in a dirty house eating a simple soup. |
Living ConditionsThe typical life of a Renaissance man is hard, but livable. It is not nearly as bad as Medieval living, as farmers live in one room shacks rather than crowded apartments made from fecal matter and dead bodies. Wealthy merchants take shelter in large houses, although neither wealthy nor poor have running water or working lights, so everyone is in the same boat with darkness and stink.
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Food |
When it comes to meals, there is much variation between rich and poor. If you are a peasant, which most people are, you will eat soup made of leftover food such as carrots or eggs. You will also eat gruel, which is oats or wheat cooked in water. However, if you are a noble or wealthy merchant, you will feast upon soups with exotic spices, and large beef, stag, or pig roasts. At parties, the food becomes even fancier, consisting of large birds, mutton, chicken, pheasant, venison, rabbit, turkey, ham, and fruit. To drink, everyone has ale or wine, as the water is too unclean to drink.
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Clothes and School |
Clothes were used as a status symbol. The wealthy dressed up in fine silk and fur, while the poor usually just had one or two leather outfits. School was rare, and generally for the wealthy. If you were one of the lucky few to go to school, you would be tutored or attend a college. You could either go to a traditional Latin school if you planned to go to a university, but if you wanted to pursue a trade, you would take up an apprenticeship with someone who had already mastered the trade.
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