Medieval Journal
January 10, 1000
I woke up today and just walked around the manor I live at which is in the city of Jamestown; instead of going to work. I look up the hill at the manor house and wondered what it would feel like to live there, even though I�ll never get a chance. Down the hill is the mill, the priests� house, and the church. As I was staring down at the wheat fields I wonder when they will be ready to harvest. Then I went to work and didn�t get home until after sundown.
January 14, 1000
Today was a harsh day, I worked from sunup to sundown and so did my husband and my 4 kids. It is now planting season, so my husband guides the ox-drawn plow, while I goaded the ox into motion with a pointed stick. We have heard of a new agricultural tool that would allow us to farm more harsh land so we can dig deeper and get to the better soil. It was the new steel plow, we have a friend that just got one and we are thinking of purchasing one also. They also have come out with a new harness for our horse, which would allow them to go faster.
January 16, 1000
Today we did not eat much at all. We had black bread, with some peas, and cabbage. We were hoping to have meat but we did not poach the wild game, because we would get punished. Since we live near the river, we sometimes have fish. After dinner we sat around a fire and talked about our day and where we wish we were, and after that, my husband, my four kids, some of the animals, and I went into our one room hut and slept until dawn.
January 17, 1000
Since we are European farmers, we work according to the seasons, I�m not sure if they do that anywhere else but it seems to be working fine for us. In spring and autumn, we plow and harvest. In the summer we hay. And at other times, we weed, repair fences, and perform chores. Since it is winter now hunger is common among us and our friends. At this time in the winter, there is no harvest, and our new crops haven�t ripened yet. Disease is popular right now and adults are not likely to live past 35, even though my husband and I are both older.
January 18, 1000
Since life is so dull, and harsh we don�t have that many opportunities to celebrate anything. Today was my daughters birthday though, births and marriages are a couple of the occasions that we celebrate. A couple weeks ago we had a week off from work because of Christmas and soon we will have another week off for Easter, the whole family is looking forward to it.
January 20, 1000
Today is a Christian holiday, I�m not sure which because I do not go to church, but I know we have the day off. There are dozens of other festivals during the Christian year. At those times we do not have to work and like today we often butcher an animal so that we can have a feast. There are all kinds of games going on, children playing, dancing, and all kinds of sports.
January 23, 1000
Even though the priest condemns the racy songs and rowdy behavior we gossiped and danced all day after the Sabbath. We attended church but a lot of our friends were not permitted to go.
January 27, 1000
Today we had to pay our lord because we used the local mill to grind grain. Since we do not have enough money to pay the lord, we used fruit, honey, eggs, and chickens to pay off the lord.
January 30, 1000
I�m sorry I have become inconsistent with my journal entries, but we have just received a new lord. The manor was granted to a new lord and now we work for him. We granted us food, housing, and land as did our last lord. Our new lord is nice and is very interested in education and universities. He has promised us that he will teach us something about the outside world and the world beyond Europe, since we have had no previous schooling and have no knowledge of the larger world we are all very excited.
January 32, 1000
Today our new lord tough us about his journeys and about trading ports and all of this stuff that we never knew happened. Our lord told us that since we owe him a lifetime of our labor, we had the right to farm several acres for ourselves, which our lord before did not tell us.