Living In The Medieval World Trivia Quiz

Answer: Onions

You would eat lots of onions to 'quicken the eyes'. Onions, when eaten in abundance, were supposed to perk up the appetite for meats, cause restful sleep, and cure constipation, too. Mustard was widely grown, as well as (in the words of the children's song my daughter used to love) 'oats, peas, beans, and barley grow'. Wheat was also widely grown by medieval farmers.

Answer: False

Actually, pregnancy usually preceded most village marriages, so to stone one woman would be like 'the pot calling the kettle black' so to speak.

Answer: Ale

The average person in medieval times drank 5 to 6 pints of ale (made from unhopped barley) a day. Finer ale was served to the wealthy. Fine quality ale was sent with Thomas Becket as a gift to France in 1158. The average villager never tasted wine. It was also a drink for manor or castle dwellers. Cider and perry (fermented pear juice) was also drunk, but the number one beverage was ale. Even the smallest households brewed ale for drinking.

Answer: Late 14th Century

Beer was first introduced from Flanders in the late 14th Century. In the early 15th Century, Flemish brewers sold beer in London. Beer drinking did not catch on outside the city until much later.

Answer: Village women seized the men for ransom.

Then on Hock Tuesday, the village women seized and held for ransom the men. In London in 1409, a ban on such activity was issued stating, 'No person in the city of London...shall take hold of or constrain any person of whatsoever estate or condition. The blessing of the First Fruits happened at Lammas. (Please see my Medieval Castle Life Two quiz if you are interested in the Medieval Calendar).

Answer: Roads were too muddy to get there.

The roads were so muddy and bad that several members of Parliament could not get there on time.

Answer: Medieval term for a bandit who waylaid travellers

A pillager was a bandit who waylaid travellers. Most pillagers were wary of those (called pilgrims) who were on pilgrimages to holy shrines such as Rome and Canterbury, fearing the wrath of the Church.

Answer: False

Most large forests, or chases, belonged to the King. Even the highest nobles had to receive permission from the King to hunt, how game could be hunted, the manner it was hunted, etc. The same went for cutting timber. Even when the chases were totally controlled by a lord, game was a large part of the castle's meat supply. Woodwardens patrolled the forests.

A lord could grant wood or rights to snare rabbits, etc. to villagers, but poaching was a serious crime. Even the clergy was not exempt from punishment. Most villagers raised a hog to slaughter.

Sheep were too valuable for their milk and wool to eat. So were cows, and chickens were prized for the occasional egg.

Answer: True

Football was supposedly quite brutal then. I really did not want to call this game 'soccer', but since it is called that in the United States, and so as not to cause confusion, this is the football I am talking about--not the kind played by the Green Bay Packers, etc.

Answer: Sheep

Ewe's milk was the most highly prized for drinkng and cheesemaking. I hope you enjoyed this peek at living in the medieval world.