What do you know, Peasant?

 The article that I read was about the false perception that modern people have about life during medieval times. Due to the constant romanticization of medieval life in modern-day media, there has been an interesting desire by certain internet groups to return to the medieval way of life. Most believe that these were the “simpler days” when people worked much less and celebrated holidays more. A study done by a medieval economic historian at UC Davis found that the average English peasant worked 150 days a year in comparison to the average modern worker who works 250 days a year. With this information, it becomes clear why people want to return to these so-called “simpler times”. However, many scholars agree that medieval life is being oversimplified,  upon reevaluation, it was estimated that medieval peasants actually worked 300 days a year.  This is because actions such as milking the cows and tending the fields were daily tasks for the working class of this time rather than the working labor it is considered today. So in reality, every day is a workday. We also cannot dismiss the lack of modern convenience. The medieval ages didn’t have air conditioning and running water, as well as modern medicine. All of these made it much more difficult than people want to believe. So, whilst we want to dream of times from the far past when things were simpler, we must actually evaluate how simple they were, because oftentimes it's much more work than we want it to be.