If children survived to age seven, their recognized life began, more or less as miniature adults. Childhood was already over. The childishness noticeable in medieval behaviour, with its marked inability to restrain any kind of impulse, may have been simply due to the fact that so large a proportion of active society was actually very young in years. About half the population, it has been estimated, was under twenty-one, and about one third under fourteen.
Barbara Tuchman - A Distant Mirror, The Calamitous 14th Century
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graydon2
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Date: 2019-04-22 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-23 11:16 am (UTC)I read it as part of a college course, and I remember the professor remarking that the bad decision-making that characterized medieval history wasn't only because the various kings and dukes were teenagers younger than us college students, but were often also alcoholics who experienced regular concussions due to being hit on the head as part of knightly training.
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Date: 2019-04-23 05:59 pm (UTC)She's digging to find references, but it will take some time.
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Date: 2019-04-23 06:16 pm (UTC)