How would a medieval European react to the present?
Added 2024-03-03 03:45:28 +0000 UTCAs a followup to the videos I posted on YouTube about a modern person time traveling to medieval Europe, in this video I talk about a medieval European time traveling to the present.
This is not an advice video, for reasons I explain, but I do talk about what the medieval visitor would notice and find strange, and good, about modernity.
At one point in the video I mention that there are YouTube channels that are good for learning about medieval European clothing. Here are my recommendations:
• SnappyDragon https://www.youtube.com/@SnappyDragon
• Morgan Donner https://www.youtube.com/@MorganDonner
Comments
39:44 woah almost got a bit presumptuous about the quality of their soaps there lol. in all seriousness, I appreciate the mindfulness for even the smallest borderline pedantic details like this. speaks to the historical/academic integrity imo
Benjamin Asbury
2025-02-08 08:19:15 +0000 UTCdefinitely pumpkin spice latte lol
Sean Weisbrot
2024-11-08 10:54:33 +0000 UTCThey would love coffee and spices lol
Keaton
2024-11-03 15:52:04 +0000 UTCI’m new to Patreon and therefore late to the video, but another “person from past comes to present” movie is the Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. But, as if your other examples, the historical figures are also largely escorted in the present by the titular Bill S. Preston Esquire and Ted ‘Theodore’ Logan. With some brief exceptions. Edit: Oh crap just saw you review the trilogy in another video, don’t know how I overlooked it. Watching that one now too!
Warren Commission Test Skull
2024-10-24 01:14:55 +0000 UTCHi! I'm new here and I'm going through the old catalogue of Patreon videos :) I don't know if I just missed this from the video, or if you didn't mention it, but how about food? Wouldn't they find our modern food very shocking in some ways? The fact thay we cook with so many spices and sugars and oils and things like that? I love your videos.
Eduardo Sorribas Canela
2024-08-24 16:14:33 +0000 UTCThey might not necessarily notice that it's hotter. Today's London would be hotter on average both because of rising temperatures and because of the urban heat island, but that's averages. For a medieval person to notice, then the day they're visiting in 2024 would have to be as hot as one of the hottest days of, for example, 1224. But even though our days in total are hotter, not all of our summer days are necessarily as hot as the hottest days of a given medieval summer. (For example, I just looked at the London forecast and the highs are in the low 20s Celsius. That was probably not unusual for a summer day in the Middle Ages.) But if you talk about when a certain wildflower bloomed last spring, or when the first frost was last fall, that's something they will notice and pick up on. Or if there are plants that in the Middle Ages were thought of as typical of France or the Mediterranean and they see them growing in London today.
Premodernist
2024-08-17 22:21:46 +0000 UTCPerhaps a simple question, but would a medieval person find it shocking how hot it is outside in the modern world today? Say someone being pulled from medieval London to current day summer London. If so, just how unusual would it be for them?
Linas Jusevicius
2024-08-17 17:06:12 +0000 UTCTorchwood is great! Except Season 4, do not watch Season 4
Anschel Schaffer-Cohen
2024-07-30 02:16:15 +0000 UTCThat's cool, I need to check those out. It's weird that I'm a Doctor Who fan and have never seen Torchwood.
Premodernist
2024-07-30 02:12:45 +0000 UTCIf we're allowing much shorter time jumps (like Blast From The Past), there are a couple episodes of Torchwood that do this. "Out Of Time" features three ordinary people who are suddenly transported from 1953 to "the present" (circa 2005); "To the Last Man" has a WWI soldier who is put in some kind of suspended animation in 1918 and is woken up for one day every year.
Anschel Schaffer-Cohen
2024-07-27 18:54:53 +0000 UTCThe only ones I can think of offhand are the heavy plow and the blast furnace. The latter would only affect the daily life of a smith. There were probably a few others that I can't think of. But I would imagine that someone from Ancient Rome time traveling to medieval Europe would overall find the general technological ecology and standard of living pretty familiar.
Premodernist
2024-05-29 03:10:54 +0000 UTCAre there any significant technologies that medieval people had access to regularly or that significantly made their daily lives different from that of someone from the same socioeconomic class living in classical Greece or Rome for example? Or did they have less fundamentally?
Steven Martin Hendrickson
2024-05-23 04:36:22 +0000 UTCCame here to also mention this movie (I too have very hazy memories of it). Although I saw the 2001 remake, which I don't think was as well regarded. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Visiting_(film)
Funny_hat
2024-05-21 02:01:06 +0000 UTCNot anymore. It's pretty rare for Catholic priests to know Latin nowadays.
Premodernist
2024-05-17 18:37:59 +0000 UTCthe language thing is so interesting. maybe you could take the peasant to a monastery? priests kind of speak latin right?
nina bennardo
2024-05-16 04:48:12 +0000 UTCA lot of what you described what it was like back then reminds me of my time in the Peace Corps (2007-2009). I was in rural Panama. No roads, indoor plumbing, or electricity. Just subsistence farming. Poop in a latrine. That sort of thing. Everyone lived in shacks they made from trees they felled. I did too. Two years. Fun stuff. Lots of reading haha Barely anyone then had dumb phones even and they all have smart phones now. So it'd be such a different experience.
Kevin Love Hewitt
2024-05-09 18:51:45 +0000 UTCIt was remade in English with the same actors plus Christina Applegate, called Just Visiting.
D.S. Newman
2024-05-08 12:18:22 +0000 UTCI need to track down this movie.
Premodernist
2024-05-07 22:36:04 +0000 UTCThere was a '90s French comedy film about mediaeval knights time travelling to modern-day France called Les Visiteurs. I only saw it once as a child so my memory on it is pretty hazy.
Jazreel Darwin
2024-05-07 16:15:30 +0000 UTCI still need to see that! I hear it's good.
Premodernist
2024-04-05 01:01:30 +0000 UTCAn American Pickle about time travel to present
Abridged_4
2024-04-04 14:51:28 +0000 UTCI have heard that they did biphasic sleep. I haven't read about it anywhere, but it wouldn't surprise me. For most of the year the amount of darkness was more than the amount of time a person usually sleeps (e.g. 10 or 11 hours in the spring and fall), so it would make sense. Regarding curfew, I have read that, that towns had a curfew. I assume to prevent crime since there was no street lighting. That wouldn't affect most people, since most of the population lived in farming villages.
Premodernist
2024-03-25 00:01:49 +0000 UTCThat sounds great. I don't have an Instagram account so I can't see it, but if he's on another platform let me know.
Premodernist
2024-03-24 23:57:40 +0000 UTCFantastic. Thank you for making this! As I lay awake at 3:00 this morning, a couple thoughts about differences in night time. Did medieval cultures have two sleeps? I recall reading that until Victorian times, it was common/ordinary to sleep until midnight, wake for an hour or two, then go back to sleep until sunrise. Second, I think the medievals would be impressed by our freedom of movement at night. Am I not mistaken that medieval towns had a curfew—if you were out and about after dark, you might draw the suspicion of the town watch and find yourself (in addition to the people with whom you’re collectively responsible) in trouble. Thanks again!
Jborgzz
2024-03-23 08:45:50 +0000 UTCI was thinking of a clearly not crazy, drugged or given up on life person "acting" crazy, if that makes sence. A person who would probably seek shelter from the closest church, mosque, temple (depending on where/who/when etc). It is still alien to me that communities outside the "western world" would just leave a confused person to her/his own fate.
Dakapo
2024-03-23 01:13:03 +0000 UTCThere’s this hilarious guy on IG who makes videos pretending to be a medieval guy going on a twitch live stream, would be curious for a brief description on how accurate his character is? https://www.instagram.com/sklumper?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== doesn’t need to be a whole video, don’t wanna box you into the whole medieval Europe history thing (I love your broad geographical and temporal coverage!) but just wanted to share with you :)
Faraz Masroor
2024-03-19 01:47:50 +0000 UTCYes, I completely agree. Cultures after industrializing are more similar to each other than to their pre-industrial predecessors. A modern European would definitely find modern Japan or modern Thailand more familiar than medieval Europe.
Premodernist
2024-03-18 19:09:37 +0000 UTCstill a banger. Their first three albums are some of my favorite albums of all time
Erin O'Shea
2024-03-16 02:45:32 +0000 UTCI never saw Blast from the Past! I need to watch it.
Premodernist
2024-03-15 19:16:01 +0000 UTCHearing the word "isekai'd" (basically you are sent to/reborn in a different universe/world/time than the one you are originally from) in one of your videos was definitely not on my bingo card for today, hahaha. Love the content, love learning new things every time. Thank you always!!
pauum
2024-03-15 05:25:22 +0000 UTCI’d also say that all our contemporary cultures (except for maybe some small untouched tribes) are much more similar to each other in fundamental ways than any contemporary culture is to a medieval culture. The base line assumptions we all have today due to us living in a society of labor is vastly different from those a medieval person would have. This can be seen in that, for instance, a contemporary French novel is much more similar to a contemporary Japanese novel than it is to a work of medieval French literature.
Thomas Prieto
2024-03-15 01:36:32 +0000 UTCWouldn’t the biggest differences be bourgeois society, industrialization, and capitalism (the contradiction of bourgeois social relations and industrial forces of production)?
Thomas Prieto
2024-03-15 01:15:23 +0000 UTCOh man, I am now wondering if I need to go watch Encino Man for the first time in like 30 years... As for films about a visitor from another time who has no sponsor, there was a really weird one in 1999 called Blast From the Past, where Brendan Fraser (yep, Encino Man) emerges from a 50s nuclear bunker having to just make new friends by being his big, dumb, handsome self. Dunno if that's long enough a time gap to count... and if it is, then what about Kimmy Schmidt🤔
Erin O'Shea
2024-03-12 02:15:36 +0000 UTC14:48 I'm not even sure modern people know what to make of the US election right now. 😉
Gary Cohen
2024-03-11 21:50:30 +0000 UTCGood point. "Homeless" might not be the right term universally, though for the U.S. it probably would be. I'm thinking for example of the South American beggars I saw in Spain. I imagine a medieval time traveler would end up like that. But I don't know what services exist in other places in Europe, like Scandinavia for example.
Premodernist
2024-03-11 20:47:53 +0000 UTCIt feels really alien how you describe how a modern society would just let a person die or per-automatik be homeless. Either the time-traveler would be introduced a states social-safety net or just get help from the religous organisation that in their eyes are still the "same" as in their time. Assuming you are time-traveling to kinda the same place and/or culture you are traveling to. This is only from my own personal experience of Europe and the Middle East though.
Dakapo
2024-03-11 20:37:12 +0000 UTCThe limited educational value aside, this was great :)
humungousfungus
2024-03-11 19:22:31 +0000 UTCYes! I forgot about that.
Premodernist
2024-03-11 18:05:50 +0000 UTCFuturama would also be a fun reference point, as fictional as it is haha
Faraz Masroor
2024-03-08 17:18:11 +0000 UTCGood point. Modern fonts would be weird and would take a little while to adjust to. How long of an adjustment would depend on what manuscript hands the person was accustomed to in his/her time and place. Cursive would be very quite difficult I think. Lucky for the visitor, people aren't using cursive as much as they used to.
Premodernist
2024-03-08 01:59:01 +0000 UTCWould a medieval person even be able to recognize modern writing/fonts/typefaces? I guess they could read latin if it was in all caps?
Gregor
2024-03-06 09:55:39 +0000 UTCSubmission is automatic. As soon as you click on the option your vote is counted. You can rescind a vote by clicking on it again.
Premodernist
2024-03-06 03:44:40 +0000 UTCI'm ready to vote on April's movies but don't see how to submit. What am I missing?
Jerry
2024-03-06 01:28:35 +0000 UTCThanks! And thank you for the recommendation. I'm going to go hunt down The Visitors.
Premodernist
2024-03-06 00:15:22 +0000 UTCMan you are way too modest. This video is more educational than 95% of the stuff on Youtube. It's definitely Youtube worthy :) Also, on the topic of movies depicting people from the past suddenly thrown into present day I can recommend French comedy "The Visitors". Not accurate but sure fun to watch :D
Lukas Janecka
2024-03-05 20:13:37 +0000 UTCThat's what I meant -- what one does on the Internet. If you explained all that to a medieval person (what you wrote in your third paragraph), they wouldn't get it. They might understand the words but it wouldn't mean anything to them. It'd be like trying to explain stocks and bonds to a teenager. You can say all you want verbally, but since they don't have any lived experience to relate it to, it just sounds abstract and kind of meaningless, except for really basic concepts like "stocks are a kind of asset."
Premodernist
2024-03-04 21:57:52 +0000 UTCYou raise some interesting ideas. I'll have to think about it and maybe address them in a followup video. Good point about Arabic. A medieval person who knew Classical Arabic would be able to understand an abundance of text and videos on the Internet, much more than is available for Latin, because Modern Standard Arabic is pretty much the same language. They'd still have to contend with a lot of new terminology for things that didn't exist in the Middle Ages. The same could be said for Hebrew.
Premodernist
2024-03-04 21:55:02 +0000 UTCI’d be curious to know or ponder how their belief structures would be challenged coming to the modern world. Not only in terms of myths and religion, but even thoughts on agency, privacy, property, and access to knowledge. If they had access to a bridge language like latin, or even classical arabic, I imagine they could learn a lot about the modern world, and to your point, could be blown away by the visible, and invisible structures scaffolding society. Final thoughts, are any insights that a medieval time traveler have as an advantage in comparison to modern day counterparts? Any sort of lost knowledge or capabilities that would be very valuable in a modern context?
Techscw
2024-03-04 09:50:13 +0000 UTCDo you really need to explain what the Internet is in technical detail? I, myself wouldn't be able to explain what how the infrastructure, but for most people I don't think of the infrastructure of the Internet. I think of what the software allows me to do on end-user level. If you're ordering from Amazon do you care about their logistics or do you just care that they get the products to you in the promise time intact? I think about the Internet the same way as Amazon logistics. What does the Internet enable you to do? You could watch recordings some educational some for entertainment, read all manner of writings, you can play games, you can buy things. You can interact with people through various applications in various mediums you can write to them, show them what you look like with still or in motion, you can let them hear what you sound. Like, small children interface with the Internet I doubt they think of the infrastructure what makes it possible.
Lirisa
2024-03-04 03:40:19 +0000 UTCI have thought about doing that, but I'm reluctant since talking about the gender relations aspect might attract anti-Islamic comments.
Premodernist
2024-03-03 21:01:52 +0000 UTCSounds great! I'll have to check it out.
Premodernist
2024-03-03 20:58:38 +0000 UTCLittle known fact: U2's hit "Where The Streets Have No Name" is based on medieval Europe
Eric Stacey
2024-03-03 19:41:26 +0000 UTCI was gonna die if you talked about Iceman and didn't end up mentioning Encino Man, buuuuudddddyyyyyy! At the end of Monty Python + Holy Grail the 1970s cops show up and arrest everyone.
Eric Stacey
2024-03-03 12:31:45 +0000 UTCGreat video! Your original time travel video was my introduction to your content, I’m glad to see a part 3. I know you’re well-educated on Persian history, so have you ever considered making a similar style video about time traveling to the medieval Muslim world?
Jamison
2024-03-03 10:12:25 +0000 UTCMachiavelli & Thomas Aquinas: Oh! A united Italy!🤩
ty zj
2024-03-03 08:11:28 +0000 UTCI think Fate Stay Night and Fate Apocrypha talk about if King Arthur and Joan of Arc came to modern times.
ty zj
2024-03-03 07:57:44 +0000 UTCGreat video!
ty zj
2024-03-03 07:47:40 +0000 UTCScience fantasy book "The rise and fall of D.O.D.O." (Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland) is entirely about this element of sending people back to medieval Europe and bringing some people back and so on. It's quite a bit of challenge. At one point some Varangian guards end up running away and sacking a Walmart.
Arash Badie-Modiri
2024-03-03 05:38:37 +0000 UTCI’m a medieval peasant thrusted forward into the distant future thank you for the advice this is quite overwhelming 🙏
DP
2024-03-03 03:50:31 +0000 UTC
