Few Years For My Husband example essay topic

Daily life for us peasants is generally pretty hard. Being a women makes it even harder. I get up at the crack of dawn every morning, fix my husband breakfast, then get started on my daily chores. There's the vegetable garden to tend, clothes to wash, bread to bake for tomorrow, cloth to weave, house cleaning, and children to take care of. Let me tell you about my life as a medieval peasant woman. I work long hours every day, rain or shine, just to be sure my family has enough to eat.

My only "off day" is on Sundays or on the frequent saints' days. On those days I try to go to either a nearby fair or market. Most of us are farmers, although a few of us are millers, blacksmiths, and tavern owners. I work the land that has been leased to my husband. On occasion I have feasts with my family and friends on holidays, and celebrate births and marriages. On the Sabbath day I rest and attend church.

Being a Christian, I make church an important part of my life. Church is also a big part of my children and husband's life. I live in a cold, damp, and dark little two room hut where sometimes it was warmer and light outside than in my home. My family's home is made of mud plastered branches and straw, the roof made is made of thatch. For security purposes we had very small windows with wooden shutters that were closed at night. The only furniture in our home was a few three legged stools, a trestle table, a couple beds on the floor with straw under them.

The floor was made of packed earth and sometimes covered with sweet smelling rushes to keep things clean. In the center of the floor was a stone hearth for cooking and heating the house in the winter. There was no chimney, simply a hole in the roof directly above the fireplace through which the smoke could escape. However, the smoke often did not. The village I live in contains about 60 families living in the same kind of rough hut I live in. During my daily activities, I spun wool into threads for garments.

Even though my clothes were made of wool, they were very rough. My clothes consisted of a long dress, an undergarment, and stockings. I only owned two pairs of clothes which were rarely washed, although my undergarments were washed regularly. I didn't own and deodorant so wood smoke, which was always in my presence, acted as my deodorant. My children clothes were just like adults' only smaller. We all wore wooden clogs or shoes made of thick cloth or leather.

During cold weather, I wore a sheepskin or woolen cloak, a woolen hat, and woolen mittens. I should tell you that my marriage to my husband was arranged. When we got married I was 16 and my husband was 26. The ceremony was held at my parents house with a few friends and family as witnesses. It took a few years for my husband and I to grow to love each other. In my time beating your wife was completely legal as long as the man doesn't kill or cripple the woman.

I'm sure you " re thinking that there were a lot of divorces because of this fact, actually there weren't. My husband is allowed to divorce me, but I can not divorce him even if he commits adultery. My husband has complete control over all my belongings and I am considered his legal property. No matter what the issue he has the final say in everything. Being a peasant leaves me with few choices on food. My diet consisted mainly of porridge, cheese, black bread, beans, corn, lettuce, tomatoes, peas, radishes, and carrots, stew, and some meat.

Meat was a rare delicacy, since we could usually only afford to eat what we grew ourselves. I, of course, made butter and cheese from the milk of our cows. In the fall, however, we slaughtered most of our animals for their meat. Even though we ate well enough off the crops we grew, if it became too dry of rainy to harvest a good crop, we had a very good chance of starving to death. Now that I have taken you through my life as a peasant, I hope that you have learned to appreciate what you have, because, let's face it, you could be in my position!