At
the fair might be fish, honey, spices, salt, garlic, oil, furs,
silks, canvas, soap, pans, pots, grindstones, coal, nails, tar,
iron, shovels, brushes, pails, horses, and pack-saddles. Early
apothecaries might sell potions there. Men and women looking for
other employment might attend to indicate their availability.
Under Edward I, villages were required to mount watches to protect
life and property and were called upon to provide one man for the
army and to pay his wages.
People told time by counting the number of rings of the church
bell, which rang on the hour. Every Sunday, the villagers went to
church, which was typically the most elaborate and centrally
located building in the village. The parishioners elected
churchwardens, who might be women. This religion brought comfort
and hope of going to heaven after judgment by God at death if sin
was avoided. On festival days, Bible stories, legends, and lives
of saints were read or performed as miracle dramas. They learned
to avoid the devil, who was influential in lonely places like
forests and high mountains. At death, the corpse was washed,
shrouded, and put into a rectangular coffin with a cross on its
lid. Priests sang prayers amid burning incense for the deliverance
of the soul to God while interring the coffin into the ground. Men
who did not make a will risked the danger of an intestate and
unconfessed death.
Pages:
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358