Thanks to movies, books, and the odd high-budget TV show, most of us have a pretty vivid mental image of life in the Middle Ages. What do you imagine? For some of us the image might be romantic and charming: full of princes and princesses who are both good-looking and good-hearted. For others, it might look a lot more like Game of Thrones: mostly vast, bloody battles, and extrajudicial killings.
But one details that's missing from most of our medieval fantasies is just how strange the commonly-held beliefs of the time could be. From murky science, to truly repugnant moral judgements, the people who lived through the so-called Dark Ages seemed to have done their very best to live up to the name. Some of their habits and superstitions would make a cave man seem forward-thinking.
So after watching this video, here's hoping you find yourself just a tad bit more thankful for life in the 21st century. Granted, things are pretty far from perfect for most of us... but you have to admit: it could be a whole lot worse.
