Are You Working Harder Than a Medieval Peasant?
Does the following quote about working life in the 16th century bare any resemblance to your typical working day?
The labouring man will take his rest long in the morning; a good piece of the day is spent afore he come at his work; then he must have his breakfast, though he have not earned it at his accustomed hour, or else there is grudging and murmuring; when the clock smiteth, he will cast down his burden in the midway, and whatsoever he is in hand with, he will leave it as it is, though many times it is marred afore he come again; he may not lose his meat, what danger soever the work is in. At noon he must have his sleeping time, then his bever in the afternoon, which spendeth a great part of the day; and when his hour cometh at night, at the first stroke of the clock he casteth down his tools, leaveth his work, in what need or case soever the work standeth.
- James Pilkington, Bishop of Durham, ca. 1570
(Extract cited on MIT CSAIL)
You may have read or heard in the media recently that Professor James E. Thorold Rogers has discovered that the average working day of a medieval peasant was no more than 8 hours. We tend to assume that working life was considerably harder for the medieval peasant than it is for us today but this research has revealed that this is not the case. In medieval times peasants worked according to the season and the amount of daylight available. This meant that the summer working day was long and the winter working day was relatively short. However, regardless of the season, medieval workers adhered to taking regular lunch breaks and mid-morning and afternoon breaks.
How does this contrast with your working week? How many times a week do you eat lunch away from your desk?
We assume that our working lives are easier but the development of technology which allows us to work anywhere and at any time may actually increase our workload if we allow it to.
The boundaries between work and home are also blurring as more of us work from home and there is an unspoken expectation that tasks not completed at work will be completed at home. We probably all need to reflect upon the impact technology and flexible working has on our quality of life and our work-life balance.
Consider working more like a medieval peasant! They could teach us a lot about how create a good work-life balance and deal with stress better.
Tags: deal with stress, medieval working life, Quality of Life, stress management, work-life balance
Share