The peasants ate dark bread and beans and drank
water from springs. Milk and cheese were a luxury for them. Those
who could not afford bread instead ate oat cakes made of pounded
beans and bran, cheese, and cabbage. They also had leeks, onions,
and peas as vegetables. Some farmers could afford to have a wooden
four-posted bedstead, hens, geese, pigs, a couple of cows, a
couple of sheep, or two plow oxen. July was the month when the
divide between rich and poor became most apparent. The rich could
survive on the contents of their barns, but the poor tried to
survive by grinding up the coarsest of wheat bran and shrivelled
peans and beans to make some sort of bread. Grain and bread prices
soared during July. Farming still occupied the vast majority of
the population. Town inhabitants and university students went into
the fields to help with the harvest in the summer. Parliament was
suspended during the harvest.
Town people had more wealth than country people. Most townspeople
slept in nightgowns and nightcaps in beds with mattresses,
blankets, linen sheets, and pillows. Beds were made every morning.
Bathing was by sponging hot water from a basin over the body,
sometimes with herbs in it, rinsing with a splash of warm water,
and drying off with a towel. Tubs used only for baths came into
use. There were drapery rugs hung around beds, hand-held mirrors
of glass, and salt cellars.
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