As someone who grew up in the middle ages, I find this video highly accurate and liberating.

@HughJass-jv2lt

Жыл бұрын

🤣🤣

@casso_4974

Жыл бұрын

These newer generations don’t understand the struggles we had

@archerseo

Жыл бұрын

Finally someone who gets it! On my many pillagings of villages I met many nice and mostly normal people. Good times.

@tailsntales1265

Жыл бұрын

@@archerseo yeah! And now all they do is spend their time laughing at those dang memes

@CodTheBoyz

Жыл бұрын

You from Bosnia?

I love this Ted Ed animation. It’s like the *Red Bull Gives you Wings* commercial 😂

@smallspace7

Жыл бұрын

Thank you that's why they seem familiar

@thenaiam

Жыл бұрын

I was thinking the same thing!

@Rihtainshtain

10 ай бұрын

😂👍

@fallenkingdom-zd8xh

9 ай бұрын

Ted Ed gives you knowledgeeeeee.

@MickThalisapaidshill

11 күн бұрын

Earth is flat. See Eric Dubay.

The animator deserves a raise. If history lessons were shown like this, I would probably get much better marks.

@user-10021

Жыл бұрын

It really reminds me of the redbull ads :D

@MrsJudithWright

Жыл бұрын

Script also great.

@littledudefromacrossthestr5755

Жыл бұрын

@@user-10021 now that u mention it lol

@littledudefromacrossthestr5755

Жыл бұрын

@@user-10021 now that u mention it lol

@augustinesim1672

Жыл бұрын

marks? Do you mean grades?

Only thing that is missing is that the original origine of the title 'Dark Age' referred primarily to its lack of direct written sources. It was a dark age just because it was hard to figure out what actually happened in it, in particular when compared to the ruins of the classical era that exist even to this day.

@yakb.7690

Жыл бұрын

medieval ruins are everywhere in europe. In some cities there is houses that date back nearly that far. There is also lots and lots of documents that survived.

@Lordblow1

Жыл бұрын

@@yakb.7690 Yes though to people from the renaissance era those were often relatively recently built. At least to my knowledge the majority medieval structures and text that have survived are from the late or high medieval periods over the early medieval. To those of the times I was referring to those text and structures might seem too recent to them to be part of the dark ages they describe.

@yakb.7690

Жыл бұрын

@@Lordblow1 there is lots of fortresses and structures from the early middle ages all over europe too. In fact a lot of castles were just extensions of earlier fortifications so the ones we see today are both early and late middle ages. The high middles ages/renaissance saw the introduction of the printing press which drastically increased the amount of text material outhere and generally the further back you go the less material we have. Its not suprising you find more from 1500 than 500. The dark ages thing was mostly due to a shift in culture- "we now see ourselves as enlightened and declare the past as dark ages" thats always been the case. People in the 19th century though they were the most civilised ever but for todays people its a dark period without hygiene and safety standards

@Lordblow1

Жыл бұрын

@@yakb.7690 fair enough

@knightshade2654

Жыл бұрын

If I recall correctly, the dark ages only lasted from the sixth century through the ninth or tenth century, which began the Viking invasions.

Imagine if our modern records get lost and future historians rescue some fragments to understand our era. Imagine those fragments random posts in social media and satire pages.

@dinohall2595

Жыл бұрын

This speculation is a running joke in the comments on The Onion lol.

@orangebeagle3068

Жыл бұрын

They would probably say that a major controversy of our era was also the shape of the Earth.

@writwits5826

Жыл бұрын

the entire world was suspicious as red people with giant knives and giant mouths filled with teeth were AMONG US, unfairly categorised as "impostors" and thrown into space!

@micahbush5397

Жыл бұрын

They would probably be struck with the sheer amount of time people wasted taking selfies and posting pictures of their meals. It's sort of like how, for some ancient languages, the overwhelming majority of what we have to work with are receipts that don't tell us much.

@senny-

Жыл бұрын

@@writwits5826 Records show that ancient people refer to this as "the imposter is sus", which was most likely an encantation ritual.

Wait, Dark Souls isn't true?

@altadasaiaditya4398

Жыл бұрын

Always has been

@alomaralsulaiman6501

Жыл бұрын

I wouldn't be surprised if this is an actual comment.

@thesharinganknight9859

Жыл бұрын

2k likes inbound

@washada

Жыл бұрын

You don’t get i-frames when you roll?

@seermayton-el3488

Жыл бұрын

Of course not! Elden Ring is the true one!

Most important to remember: This covers an over 1000 year period. Think about how our world changed over the last 50 years. Things like gruesome torture, bad hygiene or superstition might have existed at certain places at certain times in the Middle Ages but it wasn't always the norm.

@histori6259

11 ай бұрын

And Europe is a massive land mass that was less connected then than it is today! You cannot expect an Englishman in the 900s to act like a Greek in 1200s!

@gimpytheimp

10 ай бұрын

Well from the dawn of humanity up to the automobile, the most common way for your average person to get around was by foot or horse. That's a long time for no change. Even the idea that Europe was more ethnically diverse is questionable because of that. It would be a very special occasion for someone coming from thousands of miles away to spend a month or so travelling.

@truesosense7722

5 ай бұрын

@@gimpytheimp until the invention and the popularization of steam powered trains in the 19th century*

@frequentlycynical642

3 ай бұрын

Also huge differences in lifestyles between the upper classes and the serfs. Huge.

@tonyatthebeach

3 ай бұрын

Bad hygiene isn't exclusive to the middle ages...believe me!

As a historian there‘s a simple fact I always refer to when talking about any time in history: people were the same as we are today. Their world and thinking may have been completely different but they certainly wanted to eat good food, be clean and smell good, make a living without too much effort and simply have a nice time. Teenagers probably snuck away an met in secret just as they do today, grown ups cared for their loved ones, had worries and were annoyed about their coworkers/neighbors, etc. while old people were just as wise an stubborn as they are today. I simply don‘t get why people always think that their medieval ancestors were some kind of savages. They survived in a time with many wars, no modern medicine or mechanical help. Honestly, people today are in no way better or smarter, maybe even less capable than the people in the middle ages. Can you make a fire with a flintstone or grow your own food? Glad I found this great video :)

@sp00k48

15 күн бұрын

I am just curious, could you elaborate further on “as a historian”?

@heynicolettox

9 күн бұрын

This!

I read the book City of Lights. It was the chronicles of a Jewish merchant from Italy headed to China in the 1200's. He carefully details sophisticated accounting and business practices, along with the goods and city policies of each stop he made. When he described the city of lights in China he may as well have been describing New York City. It showed very rich cultures both in Europe and abroad.

@civilengineer3349

Жыл бұрын

Whose the author? I want to read it

@lorenzosaracino9912

Жыл бұрын

@@civilengineer3349 same

@Gregory_Swan

Жыл бұрын

@@civilengineer3349 Jacob of Ancona

@Gregory_Swan

Жыл бұрын

@@lorenzosaracino9912 Jacob of Ancona

@lorenzosaracino9912

Жыл бұрын

@@Gregory_Swan thank you kind man

THANK YOU! Many channels have tried to explain the misconceptions, but this may be the largest I have seen, with the ability to teach this to a wide audience. Medieval people knew the Earth was round, we knew even in the Antiquity, this knowledge wasn't lost, just some believers had the wrong idea. Medieval people loved to bathe, it was a cherished and enjoyable event, this was common for both rich and poor (although fancier in the former). Medieval people were just as smart as we are now, they just *knew less* .

@SilverPh3nix

Жыл бұрын

You misspelled medieval all 3 times

@catdogmousecheese

Жыл бұрын

You really should read this book, "Barbarians to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered". I had to read it for my history class in high school and it's all about how the "dark ages" weren't as dark as people believe them to be.

@Blaqjaqshellaq

Жыл бұрын

"Prima nocte" is also something of a myth. (It was more a pagan thing...)

@its_dey_mate

Жыл бұрын

@@SilverPh3nix Damn that's tough lol.

@joshsaundh4851

Жыл бұрын

@@Blaqjaqshellaq 😷😷

I really love how Ted-Ed uses Animation. I love it.

@LOL_MANN

Жыл бұрын

How would you otherwise show it lol

@525Lines

Жыл бұрын

Cartoons and knowledge. I love it.

@victor-oh

Жыл бұрын

This one feels like it could give you wings

@joshsaundh4851

Жыл бұрын

@@525Lines hey what should I do because my dad brought drugs today and I am scared that my dad might do something bad to my family

@joshsaundh4851

Жыл бұрын

@@victor-oh hey can you please help me my dad brought drugs today and I am scared because I do not know what will happen if my dad takes the drugs my dad might do something bad to my family

Overall, solid. the one thing i take issue with here is the "knights played minimal roles in medieval warfare". They were a numerical minority compared to other types of soldiers yes, but they were the military commanders, the most professional experienced and well equipped soldiers, often impacted battles during key decisive moments with heavy cavalry charges, often provided the logistics, were sometimes the Reason for a war(feuds, rebellions, needed money, etc) and depending on the era/setting could make up larger or smaller percentages of the present military forces. Also the knightly charge was something that Most medieval armies struggled against. If you didnt have disciplined pikemen who could hold their ground, or well trained archers/crossbowmen, (or something like Hussite war wagons) then your only real hope was to throw your own knights at them and hope for the best

@RealUlrichLeland

Жыл бұрын

Knights and the nobility were also much more likely to go on distant expensive campaigns like the crusades compared to ordinary foot soldiers.

@skipumpthajizzgod

Жыл бұрын

Lmao this is directly before the narrator calls stories about knights saving princesses “romanticized visions of a white Christian Europe” they aren’t trying to be intellectually honest here

@sirdrchefwangiii1841

10 ай бұрын

Was it solid other than the torture was anyone really talking about any of these?

@joeytheredkangaroo9393

10 ай бұрын

@@skipumpthajizzgod You think knights are not romanticized ?

@Half_Finis

7 ай бұрын

​@@skipumpthajizzgodyea I reacted strongly to that aswell, I'll accept Anatolia being not white Christian but they generalized too much

Part of the issue with the "Middle Ages" is that it assumes that Rome "fell"; in reality, the Roman Empire in the east remained strong and held on for about another thousand years, while the western empire frayed and deteriorated over a long period into a patchwork of Germanic kingdoms that, in theory, owed fealty to the Roman Empire, but were autonomous in practice. Then too, Europeans imagined the Holy Roman Emperors to be the successors of Augustus rather than a distinct set of rulers, despite the cultural, political, and geographic differences between the Classical empire and the medieval confederation.

@guifdcanalli

Жыл бұрын

ironically the entirety of the middle ages are defined by rome the middle ages started with the fall of western rome while it ended with the fall of eastern rome

@Person-ef4xj

Жыл бұрын

As I understand it the ancient romans considered anyone who wasn't greek or roman to be a barbarian, while the modern idea of barbarian is someone who is primitive and uncivilized. I wonder if this could also have anything to do with the idea of the west becoming more primitive. I could imagine people mistaking the Germanic Kingdoms being called "barbarians" as in neither greek nor roman for "barbarians" as in primitive.

@julianfejzo4829

Жыл бұрын

​​@@guifdcanalli Well in many places the end of the middle ages is defined by the discovery of the Americas by Columbus rather than the fall of East Rome, some even by the start of the Protestant Reformation

@joshsaundh4851

Жыл бұрын

@@Person-ef4xj hey what should I do please I need your help my dad brought drugs today and I do not know if my dad takes the drugs I do not know what my dad will do to my family and I am scared 😟

@pustota7254

Жыл бұрын

@@joshsaundh4851 what this has to do with anything

While there is a lot of truth here, one should be careful not to overcorrect for past misconceptions. For example, the statement at 3:57 that "knights played minimal roles in medieval warfare." Heavy cavalry in the Early and High Middle Ages ruled the battlefield, but they lost importance in the Late Middle Ages.

@civilengineer3349

Жыл бұрын

I would go as far as saying that heavy cavalry played a great role in the Late Middle Ages. For example, in the Battle of Patay where heavy cavalry beat foot men and the Battle of Agincourt, whereat footmen beat heavy cavalry. Heavy cavalry played a big role in the Reconquista. The Turks had great cavalry, which Vlad the Impaler of Wallachia copied and used against his former Turkish masters in a night raid of their camp. Then there was the Wars of the Cimbrian League in Italia whereat every side had pikemen, axmen, bowmen, and most of all; Knights

Can't imagine how people would think of how society is like now by those who live in the distant future. Generational divide is always causing myths of how the previous generation is better than the new one.

@Cellardoor_

Жыл бұрын

A lot of people still have a medieval mindset and medieval beliefs lol. Not hard to imagine when they're still here.

@jeffreygao3956

Жыл бұрын

Hence, I don’t believe a word of paranoia.

@Mansory811

Жыл бұрын

@@Cellardoor_ whats so bad about having some part of a mindset of the medieval? you just saw yourself that medievil was described much more negative as it actually was. Whats so bad about wanting chivalry and purity ?

@EzraB123

Жыл бұрын

It's interesting to think that people 1,000 years from now will have videos, films, social media profiles, etc. All from this period. Which will no doubt contribute to a much greater, more intimate understanding of the past. "Internet history" might even become a new academic discipline. Logging and researching the tech footprint of past humans, pop culture, language, etc.

@WilliamParkerer

Жыл бұрын

They will have much less myths about history for sure. Everything is being recorded nowadays. This comment section, for example, will go down in historical archives. Hello future generations!

Also so many depictions without colour, as if they had no access to dyes or paint. Medieval Europeans also enjoyed colour, of course they tried to include flourishes, accents, and flowers in their lives.

@micahbush5397

Жыл бұрын

Wait, so color wasn't invented in the early 20th century? But we have video evidence!

@breakerdawn8429

Жыл бұрын

Yes don't forget knights in shining armour were also very colorful and usually made up of colours of tye crest of the Lord they're serving. Distinct colours also helps commanders to manage the troops easily during warfare without confusing it with the enemies.

@micahbush5397

Жыл бұрын

@@breakerdawn8429 Not to mention that for most of the Middle Ages, the chief armor was chainmail, which is not particularly shiny.

@civilengineer3349

Жыл бұрын

Chain maille is shiny if polished

@user-sf4io3tp8l

Ай бұрын

tabards were used over chain mail often@@micahbush5397

The late Terry Jones of Monty Python made several interesting documentaries on this period. I always remember the point he made that if they were so backwards, how did they build such marvellous cathedrals?

@adrianblake8876

Жыл бұрын

In the modern age, with our highly sophisticated technology, it took more than a century to build one cathedral...

@elligilberg1564

Жыл бұрын

I love those documentaries!

@ZemplinTemplar

Жыл бұрын

Medieval Lives was a great documentary series. I urge everyone to watch it with an open mind and carefully.

@sommmeguy

11 ай бұрын

I miss Jones. Such a creative and interesting guy. I loved his medieval documentaries.

I disagree with your assertion that knights played no part in Medieval warfare. Romanticized in later years for sure, but heavy cavalry charges were quite important in battles.

@VagueCastle649

Жыл бұрын

As every pole would tell you. Heavy cavalry was very important.

@perfectstorm8204

12 күн бұрын

Would you need to be a knight to be considered part of heavy cavalry?

whoever they got to animate that cloak of invisibility absolutly nailed it

What I like about this channel is how they explain things in around 5 minutes. Neither too long, nor too short, but just enough to provide important informations. Also, the animations never disappoint.

Thank You Ted Ed for your entertaining informational Videos It not only makes me knowledgeable but WISE too

I have never in my life heard it said that medieval folks habitually ate rotten meat. Which stands to reason, given that rotten meat makes people sick and they would've instantly learned not to eat it.

@adrianblake8876

Жыл бұрын

The way I heard it is that certain cultures spice their food because spices kill bacteria, and, well, there's no other alternative without refrigeration. Then again, it describes modern cuisine, and the spicy foods come from southeast asia, not europe...

@bennytea7215

3 ай бұрын

​@@adrianblake8876 I heard it was to disguise the salty taste of meat, given it was often salted for preservation

Man idk how some people can’t find history interesting

@justsomeguywitharedmoustac8677

Жыл бұрын

History is. Studying it is not.

@tau9956

Жыл бұрын

Yes that is what I meant. Studying it can get really boring

@micahbush5397

Жыл бұрын

Because it's often been reduced to lists of names and dates, rather than a study of how people actually lived.

@DellConagher1

Жыл бұрын

​@@tau9956 so you understand it now right?

Wow… absolutely stunning video. Amazing work!

Fascinating topic. Misinformation is timeless. All the more reason to value TED Ed and their great lessons.

@bellezavudd

Жыл бұрын

" Misinformation is timeless " A quote to mark the last 100, no 2000, or no probably 10,000 years. Thankfully we do have SOME real infomation to counterbalance.

@mrnice1976

Жыл бұрын

.... unless it spreads misinformation of its own.

@nanaten3

5 ай бұрын

Misinformation is timeless, yes, this video may as well be misinformation

Wow, videos so short rarely do this extremely fascinating period of history enough justice, but yours exceeded any expectations Great job!

@Rpd4716

8 ай бұрын

This is the real problem that's lacking with the middle ages. People don't make enough justice towards it and don't understand what it's all about. Even the thought that it deserves a lot of it is impossible to find from anywhere. It's just taken as something meaningless and somewhat ordinary and nothing else, and that's not right.

Getting better contents all the time...love this Ted Ed

The animation on this blew me away. Amazing job. That dragon at the end!! :D

About time! Great video. It's actually ridiculous how people think everyone was basically a caveman until all of the sudden, a handful of brilliant minds invented today's world. Obviously that's not possible. The brilliant minds that changed the world after the Renaissance are the result of centuries improvements in logical thinking, math and methods to investigate and learn. Of course, the invention of the printer changed everything, but without books to print that would've been meaningless.

Should've said how the church founded most of the science and universities

@joshd3502

Жыл бұрын

You have to wonder why such an important fact was left out

As human we came so far and this journey still on, that's the beauty ❤️🙏

@coinderoux

Жыл бұрын

No way im also a human

@lucaswarehernandez7139

Жыл бұрын

I am a tree 🌳

@3minuteRead

Жыл бұрын

@@lucaswarehernandez7139 haha yes, i saw your pfp indeed you are wise wisdom tree :)

Also on the note that the 1 000 year period cannot be summarised into one coherent era that remained the same but rather changed over the hundred years, the same goes for all the different countries. There was not one coherent medieval country, but still Spain has their own history, completely different from German history during those times and saying they were all same medieval nations is like saying all of north america is the same.

Omg this is awesome! Not only is it super fascinating I have a 50 point medieval project coming up this week! Love this, thank you!

@buddy3635

Жыл бұрын

Good luck!

I love the animation style. There's barely any detailed human face depicted, they're just a bunch of abstract blobs, but it feels alive and not lacking any emotions at all. Very interesting!

Very informative and the animation, especially, was excellent.

Thanks, I've been interested in this topic since I read "Le Moyen âge, une imposture" (The Middle Ages, a fraud) by Jacques Heers, a French historian. I was already learning about many myths of the Middle Ages that people use to say, but I understood much better how it all came about thanks to that book.

@Zul_Qarnain

Жыл бұрын

The name is SUS

@VictorLopez-qb7qr

Жыл бұрын

@@Zul_Qarnain why?

@Zul_Qarnain

Жыл бұрын

@@VictorLopez-qb7qr imposture

3:50 "isolated white christian societies" so all of europe?

@RuthvenMurgatroyd

3 ай бұрын

They weren't isolated and trade from diverse places existed but they were 99+% White and Christianity was the rule with some Jews (arguably not white but by this time probably decently mixed) and pagans.

Only thing I found somewhat inaccurate was that “Knights played a minimal role in medieval warfare”. The concept of kingdoms having a corps of elite cavalry made up of the nobility dates back to Ancient Egypt. Knights were commanders and shock cavalry; compared to navy SEALs today. Trained from birth to be the best possible warrior they can be, and often the tide of the battle, if not entire campaigns rested on the effectiveness of an army’s Knights. Yes, armies were mostly made up of peasant militia and men-at arms, but those armies were often funded, trained, equipped and led by the Knights they fought alongside.

This video is so mythologically entertaining and informative

the animation of the invisibility cloak is stellar :0 how can someone be able to create such beauty

Great video, but I'm not sure about the claim that knights played a minimal role. Heavy cavalry-which consisted of knights-was an important aspect of medieval warfare.

The only mistake is that knight didn't play a "minimal role" in warfare, but all in all great video, maybe it will change some people's minds

- With a diet relatively poor in refined sugar they had fewer problems with cavities than we do. - While not having any rights on paper, women could live a much more independent life than the Renaissance or Counter-Reformation - Their relationship with religion wasn't all doom-and-gloom-we are born to die as people think. Death was a part of life, and most people didn't spend their life atoning their sins to enter paradise. The concept of *purgatory* was born medieval times. If you can understand Italian look for any of Alessandro Barbero's lessons on medieval history, it's an eye opener and a lot of fun!

@Ikajo

Жыл бұрын

I think a lot of people also misunderstand the idea of purgatory. It was the idea of a place where you are purged of your sins. It wasn't the end of the journey. Most of what is depicted about purgatory comes directly from Greek and Roman mythology anyway. Just with an end date instead of eternal damnation.

one of my favorite ted-ed animation styles!

Knights actually had a huge role in medieval warfare as cavalry.

The animation is excellent👍🏻

Europeans in the Middle Ages knew about spices grown in modern-day Indonesia, Sri Lanka and southern India--that's why they bought them. They knew about bathing customs from the Middle East--that's why they had bathhouses all over where they bathed with fragrant soaps. And they built incredibly sophisticated structures that inspire awe even today--Gothic cathedrals with giant stained windows. In no way were Europeans in the Middle Ages "barbaric." They knew what they were doing.

This should be written in school textbooks. There is such a misconception about it. Good work!

“isolated white christian societies”… yeah because that’s the culture the european medieval period belonged to.

Torturing people takes a lot of time and energy. If you going to do it, it has to be for a good reason. I would contend that knights did play a major role in warfare. Heavy Calvary were the name of the game for a long time in that period. Sure they weren’t the brunt of an attack but having charges of power heavily armored horseman played an enormous role on the battlefield. This was basically true until the battle of Agincourt where Heavily armored knights were finally proven to have lost their effectiveness.

2:50 when the ax-weilding executioner is legally obligated to just tickle a prisoner, but otherwise leave him a alone.

It’s crazy that 1,000 years of history is just lumped together. Imagine the period 1,500-2,500 being lumped together under an umbrella term in the future.

I think some of the myths comes from the very real misery caused by horrendous epidemics but actually the worst ones striked in between the middle ages and the Renaissance due to the booming commerce and exploration so even that is misleading

Most of this is true, but medieval law was absolutely cruel to criminals. They were treated like animals, and there was many sadistic forms of execution like the breaking wheel or the oubliette

@toddsypolt4911

Жыл бұрын

The breaking wheel existed in only a portion of Europe, and the only reported uses were on absolutely heinous criminals. The oubliette didn't exist during the middle ages and was invented later.

@t.b.cont.

Жыл бұрын

@@toddsypolt4911 every portion of Europe had their own way of executing. None of it was pretty. Flaying, hanging, boiling, drawing and quartering, gibbeting, burning, etc. it was all quite brutal, some more sadistic than others. For serious crimes like treason sometimes criminals were dismembered and their parts displayed to the public for extended periods. And so far I’ve just talked about punishment dealt by the state. Often the common person would also get to take part in dealing punishments too, as was the case with pillaries. While not necessarily intended as a form of execution, there is many documented cases of peasantry becoming violent by throwing much more dangerous objects than intended, like bricks and stones. There’s also the fact that outlaws by definition were outside the protections of the law. They were treated as animals, and could be legally hunted as such for a bounty. I was wrong about the oubliette, but in medieval times to be a criminal or an outlaw was to be less than human

Thank you for this video. I hate when people make up myths or misconceptions about different eras. But I hope you do one about the Victorian era!

As allways, amazing!

I find this video introduces myths of its own. Is this how history is taught today? On TED, seriously? I think there are many half truths here. The fall of the Western Roman empire brought with it a technological regression which included the loss of what had previously been common knowledge. Yes, many written records and the Latin language were preserved by the Catholic Church, but it became elitary knowledge (including the skill to read and write) and confined to church representatives and their associates. Even the Byzantines/Eastern Romans switched to the use of Greek, so that Latin was only preserved in the church. That is where a lot of the continuation of records comes from. City infrastructures did not match the technological sophistication of Roman cities. Life must have deteriorated somewhat. One of the liberating moments was Luther's translation of the holy scripture from Latin into German which brought it out of that elitary sphere and into the minds of the common folk. That was in the 16th century. Around the same time Copernicus formulated the heliocentric model (again). Yes, it had been formulated independently centuries before in the classical age, but the fact that Copernicus' work was celebrated as groundbreaking and he faced some discrimination for it by doubters is already an indication that it was not common knowledge just prior. Finally, yes ideas flowed, especially from south to north, as the most advanced civilizations that championed science were Arab Muslim (for example Al Andalus - today's Spain) and Byzantine. Much of today's Algebra taught came from scholars of that age who spoke Arabic. But constant war with them (cultural, religious, resource driven) was also a reality. The Spanish call the period between the 8th and the 15th centuries the "reconquista" (reconquest), a time during which they were constantly at war with Al Andalus in an effort to push them out. That was literally their main theme. They succeeded after 800 years. On the other side of Europe, Christian kingdoms united to stop the Ottoman advance on Vienna. That speaks less to a free exchange and more to a "not in my backyard" mentality. Even political, religious and and cultural enemies will trade and exchange ideas in between battles. Even though they were the shock troops of the time, knights were mounted nobility, not soldiers in the traditional sense, and they had a code of conduct to abide by which is where the "chivalry" concept comes from. Yes, it's romanticized in some children's stories, but that's beside the point. There were some important knight battles where I was born that shaped the history of the region with repercussions until this age and day. The above is how history is taught in middle/high school in Europe, my personal experience attending school in 4 different European countries while growing up. Yes, in direct comparison every country teaches history with a twist towards making themselves look good and justified in their actions (except of the Germans where the main theme is "we messed up and now have to live with it", but they still marked half of Poland as "Germany under Polish administration" on the map used in class), so some things I take with a grain of salt, but we always thought we were capable of owning our own history. America is taking it to a whole different level and is now invading European cultural space trying to reshape it. What's happening, America? Ideological demagogy taking over?

4:27 I like how the dragon farts while taking off.

Spectacular animation, useful information

In response to the debauchery of Roman baths, the early Christian church frequently discouraged cleanliness. “To those that are well, and especially to the young,” Saint Benedict in the sixth century commanded, “bathing shall seldom be permitted.” It was considered a sin.

@HiEyGurl

5 ай бұрын

Ikr, the Holy Roman Catholic Church Outlawed Bathing for 500 years and it wasn't a sin, it was just because Greeks Had Bathhouses and things along that line and they didn't want anything associated with that.

Once again the animation is 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼

Similar to "dark matter", the "dark ages" refers to the lack of information about the era.

Can you guys have Stephanie Honchell Smith do more segments? Her voice is perfection.

The real case is those writers generalize "peasant life in the medieval era" as medieval life, and ted ed generalize "aristocratic life in the medieval era" as medieval life Both are wrong if taken to the extreme

@gradientO

Жыл бұрын

Best comment here. We need to be aware of those biases

@micahbush5397

Жыл бұрын

Even peasants weren't as barbaric as most people imagine. Most would have probably bathed weekly, for instance.

@lucareichelt7338

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, no way the average peasant was allowed into a bathhouse other than the local river

@cernunnos8344

Жыл бұрын

​@@micahbush5397 actually you could bath everyday very easily, public baths were a huge part of life in the middle ages

@micahbush5397

Жыл бұрын

@@cernunnos8344 If you lived in or near a town, sure. If you lived in a more rural setting and had to draw and heat your own water, then you'd probably stick to a weekly bath and daily washbasin.

coincidentally the literacy rates ive seen just so happen to be roughly the size of the nobility and clergy which to me at least that most of these figures refer to literacy in latin and not the vernacular as I simply don't see how merchants could get by without being able to keep records.

@Rixizu

Жыл бұрын

Correct. It wouldn't be unusual for at least one person in a household to know how to read and write. Because writing is a useful skill. And poetry writing was a popular pastime.

Dear Ted, I live in a city 2300 years old, in Italy, and I can assure legal punishments for crimes during the middle ages was something beyond your strongest imagination. Absolute horror.

@24601st

Жыл бұрын

you were there 2000 years ago? that's crazy

@remilenoir1271

Жыл бұрын

And somehow, living somewhere gives you the knowledge of what life in that place was like 800 years ago ? The ancient Romans had corporal punishments beyond anything a medieval man could imagine. They also practiced genocide and destruction routinely on a scale simply unbelievable for medieval people. Brutality is not the prerogative of medieval times. Far from it. Compared to the brutality of later periods which saw the wars of religion, the thirty years war, the napoleonic wars and the two World Wars, the medieval age would seem pretty tame.

@CortoMalteaser

Жыл бұрын

@@remilenoir1271 most of the brutality in the Middle Ages happened during times of war and especially during the crusades once the Catholic Church was able to reconcile Christian doctrine with warfare. During the period using corpses during a siege as psychological warfare, having no quarter, and executing captives in front of the enemy was standard recourse for warfare. The crusades however contained a number of documented acts which were unquestionably far more brutal than was par for the course. To conclude, while the Middle Ages were not pure “savagery” and were certainly far from it, the troops of the Middle Ages were just as capable of war crimes at a large scale as we are today, in fact the siege of jerusalem isn’t too far off the brutality of what happened in Nanjing.

@monkpato

Жыл бұрын

Dear Carlo, there were horrible tortures but they were developed during the Renaissance.

@gregorcutt1199

Жыл бұрын

You think modern governments are more merciful than medieval ones? Even for traitors, being hung drawn and quartered is fast compared to the methodical, weeks- or years-long tortures that modern bureaucratic states are capable of.

THANK YOU !

Now, this is the video I was waiting for.

They had me until the "idealized white Christian society" and "knights played minimal roles in medieval warfare" either they made a mistake or are being intentionally dishonest. I don't think it should be much of a surprise to anyone that the overwhelming majority of people in Europe during the middle ages, were people we would consider "white" which is a term I often see people use with much spite and venom in their tone, and Christians. Also, to say Knights played a minimal role in medieval warfare is absolutely ridiculous. They often served as commanders and were the most well equipped, trained, and experienced on the field, and they played key roles that would decide battles, the charge of an army's knights could make or break a battle. There being less knights than foot soldiers doesn't mean they played a minimal role by any means. Do better, it was genuinely good until you said those lies

this video actually covered wayyy more that 6 myths

the animation is absolutely brilliant

Great video!

Course it was a British book. I think that’s just what the British ate lol

This is a good video which busts a bunch of myths but whats with the random claim that "knights didn't play a large role in medieval warfare" in the middle? Thats very untrue a huge claim to just drop in without evidence.

@anonymous666951

Жыл бұрын

@@ssmithphd Because the Third Estate populace (peasants and freemen) had nothing better to do than wage holy wars or plunder neighboring kingdoms? You're downplaying the role of knights in conducting and instigating warfare under feudal society. You might as well argue that the Joints Chiefs of Staff aren't heavily involved in warfare because they don't get blood on their uniforms.

@anonymous666951

Жыл бұрын

@@ssmithphd Actually you did. Medieval "fighting" involved raising armies and directing soldiers on the field of battle. Those activities are not playing a "minimal role in medieval warfare" as the video states about knights.

Great animation with delicious sense of humor.

Medieval food may not have had the spices we take for granted today, but the food wasn't bland. They had herbs like marjoram, dill, fennell, and rosemary; seeds like sesame and carroway; plus garlic and members of the onion family.

This animation feel like those red bull animations that they do/ did.

There is an armory museum in Worcester, Massachusetts called the Higgins Armory. If I recall correctly it is the largest collection of medieval armor in the western hemisphere. There was a small display of metal chastity belts...mayby a dozen? So they did exist. Anyway, if you're into medieval armor I highly recommend.visiting it. Its worth the trip.

@59spadesofalife52

10 ай бұрын

Begs the question how do we even know what is actually from the middle ages and not fabricated or misunderstood? The chasity belts specifically are a tough one to understand

@shannon890

8 ай бұрын

@@59spadesofalife52 carbon dating

@dylanenriguehuntington2908

6 ай бұрын

@@shannon890 carbon dating is deeply innacurate, like literally can be off by thousands of years, they prolly could analyze the age thu other methods however

@Candlemancer

3 ай бұрын

The only people that make this claim are creationists​@@dylanenriguehuntington2908

I love this kind of animations.

As a guy who loves history, especially the Middle Ages, I absolutely love this video. Too many people today have the wrong ideas about the Middle Ages and it is annoying sometimes. While the Middle Ages were not perfect, it was not as dark, backwards, and superstitious as a lot of people think of it 😊

@thunderbird1921

Жыл бұрын

Exactly! A ton of science and medicine was actually developed despite Europe getting hit by diseases and ripping itself apart at times with wars. They were VERY forward-facing in a number of ways.

@lucaswarehernandez7139

Жыл бұрын

Okay, but the part about knights was wrong. They played a crucial role in medieval warfare.

Except for the fact that knights DID play a large part in medieval warfare, this is probably reasonably accurate. But knights did not go on quests or silly things like that. But they did form the backbone of feudalism and feudal armies.

Wonderful animations!

Just a thought.. I grew up in the 50s when cigarette ( and cigar and pipe) smoking was extremely popular. Both parnts smoked (pack a day) and so did the parents of many friends. Chances are our houses , clothes, furniture reeked of smoke...but we never noticed. Now days I can smell it immediately when I go into a place where its done or get close to a person who does. Did my sense of smell change or did the fact that smoke permeated most places then and now doesn't change my perception? I can see people saying 100 years from now 'yeah there was smoking but not enough that it was oderiferous.' It was, we were all just used to it. I dont smell cologne or perfume anywhere like i remember. Is it because people just dont care or are we showering and/ or bathing a lot more? I didnt live 1000 years ago so while i can read writings of those who did , how should I value their observations on comparing smells or comparing personal habits. Now if some monk went off in solitude bathed every day , changed and washed his clothes often , used a privy and fully cleaned afterwards and then a year later went into a local village without communal baths and wrote down - gee everything and one always smells so fresh' , well I'd like to read that attestation too. I find it interesting what humans will put up with if unaware of alternatives.

I'm glad this video didn't pretend med Europe was full of "POC" here but I still think you should have made it clear they were incredibly rare and Europeans travelled to non white societies too so it went both ways.

The animations are nice, but the ideas here are arbitrary, for exemple Knights were a strong part in warfare, so much as there were many knightly orders. Some exist to this day.

Ted-ed deserve more subs. They educate us for free!

@perugaray8346

Жыл бұрын

@@TEDed3 I'm sorry but I don't use telegram 😓

Would rather watch Metatron talk about this topic, though this video was way more accurate than I had expected it to be.

@LoveFactorySweatShop

11 ай бұрын

Don't listen to anyonr who wears a costume 40 hrs/week.

I'm waiting for the RedBull can to show up.

Imagine you made a joke, and several centuries later, people believed you were serious

My wife is a professor of art history specializing in the medieval period. She insists the medieval period started before the fall of Rome, whereas I insist that it started in 476 when Rome fell. We argue about this a lot. Ok, I'm being silly, but I sometimes tease her by saying it started in 476.

Excellent video

I don't think chastity belts would work with locks that big...

I am saving this one!

The 2018 video game “Kingdom Come: Deliverance” did a great job of accurately portraying life in early 15th century Europe.

This makes sense. There’s no way the Enlightenment could’ve just happened out of nowhere, so the Middle Ages were a low key time of progress that led to that

@watching7721

Жыл бұрын

I'd say the Renaissance led more to the enlightenment

That invisibility cloak animation is 👏👏

My favourite ted ed animator 😍😍

I was never really given this info, especially in such a clear interesting manner! Thank you, I really enjoyed it. 😊

Those myths are especially untrue for the most civilized part of Europe at that time: The Byzantine Empire, the flourishing eastern half of the former Roman Empire, with a functioning bureaucracy, a ton of laws, bathhouses, aqueducts and sewage systems.

@Ikajo

Жыл бұрын

They also tend to focus on England and France, rather than Europe as a whole. For example, the Nordic countries entered the Medieval era much later than more southern countries. And the shift is considered to be connected to when those countries became Christian. Obviously, that is an oversimplification that doesn't take into account the social structures already present at the time. Sweden even spent a while ruling over most of north-west Europe. Until a king fell off his horse and died. Bonus fact: Sweden and Denmark hold the record for most wars fought between two countries in history. Some within a very short time period.

Even medieval people with literally zero education and access to any technology and electricity knew better than Flat-Earthers nowadays with all the information in the world LOL

@Isaaac165

Жыл бұрын

Agreed bro.

@shzarmai

3 ай бұрын

exactly