Daily Life in the Middle Ages. Worse than you imagine...
Irish History Podcast
Fin Dwyer
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2024
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How difficult was life in the Middle Ages? This is something archaeologists and historians have debated for decades. In recent years, new techniques, including genetic analysis, have given us new insights into the lives of our distant ancestors in the Medieval Era. Their findings are unsettling. Life in the Middle Ages was far more difficult than we imagine.
My guest in this episode is Prof. Eileen Murphy from Queen's University Belfast. Eileen has recently published groundbreaking research on daily life in early medieval Ireland, based on her analysis of human remains excavated in Co. Roscommon. In this podcast, she answers all your questions on what life was like.
Eileen shares her discoveries on how people survived in a hard and difficult world. It's not for the faint of heart.
This episode is not suitable for children.
Our interview is based on the book "The Forgotten Cemetery: Excavations at Ranelagh, Co. Roscommon," available for free at https://www.tii.ie/technical-services/archaeology/publications/tii-heritage/.
Eileen is the deputy head of the School of Built & Natural Heritage at Queen's University Belfast: https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/NBE/.
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Transcript
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| 0:30.0 | What was life in the Roman army really like? What were the risks and rewards? |
| 0:36.0 | What did it take to survive? In this five-star exhibition, described by the Guardian as a wildly enjoyable blockbuster. |
| 0:45.8 | Experience Rome's war machine through the people who knew it best. |
| 0:49.8 | The Soldiers who Served in it. Book now for Legion, life in the Roman Army, at the British Museum until the 23rd of June, |
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| 1:00.0 | When you think of daily life in the Middle Ages, what's the first thing that comes to mind? |
| 1:09.0 | Maybe it's the shockingly low life expectancy. |
| 1:12.0 | Perhaps it's the violence low life expectancy. |
| 1:12.8 | Perhaps it's the violence, the rampant disease, |
| 1:16.0 | or the lack of hygiene. |
| 1:17.9 | I think we all share stereotypes that |
| 1:20.3 | conjure up a world where people struggled to survive. |
| 1:24.7 | In this podcast Professor Eileen Murphy from Queens University Belfast shares groundbreaking |
| 1:31.2 | new insights into life in the Middle Ages based on analysis of hundreds |
| 1:36.0 | of bodies excavated from a medieval cemetery in Ranla County, Roscommon. |
| 1:41.3 | She'll answer any questions you might have about what life in the Middle Ages was like, but I would say prepare to be surprised. |
| 1:50.0 | I'm pretty sure no matter how difficult you thought medieval life was, you'll still be shocked by Eileen's findings. |
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