Abstract
This document explores the various stages of life in the Middle Ages, including childhood, education, youth, adulthood, and old age, highlighting their social, religious, and cultural significance.
Extract
[...] Finally, life is also divided according to activities. Adult daily life is also rhythmized by agricultural cycles or military necessities. The condition of adult women varies according to their status: wife, widow, or nun, each responds to precise expectations dictated by their gender and social rank. Old Age Old age, defined from sixty years, is an ambivalent phase of medieval life. On the one hand, it is revered through the respect of experience and wisdom, and old age is rare due to physical and social fragilities. [...]
[...] Childhood, Education, and Youth Childhood in the Middle Ages was a well-structured stage of life by the family, society, and religious beliefs. Without a doubt, childhood was only an anticipation of what was to come and was organized in respect of social rank and sex. For example, children of the family had to be registered in the family community as soon as possible. This context means that the education of childhood was inseparable from family and religious relationships. Furthermore, for example, moral values of Christianity were imposed from the earliest age. [...]
[...] In a society of order, this vital stage is replaced by the position of each person in relation to the three orders, or the three states: those who pray (oratores), those who fight (bellatores), and those who work (laboratores). Marriage is a major step to enter this peak of life. It is a reunion above all for reasons of transmission of the heritage, it also contracts the descent. In medieval Europe, marriage is organized by families or even the community. Christian morality also governs family life, where the father embodies authority while the mother is responsible for moral and religious education. [...]
[...] Furthermore, public opinion allowed the old to hold authority. Older men were involved in village and family decisions as ancestors. The 'art of being a grandfather' reflects these trends. Nevertheless, the category of the old was ambivalent in public opinion, between respect and rejection, abandonment and support, which is particularly valid for older women, who were characterized negatively. Philippe de Navarre suggests that the sixties should retire from the army because they 'had done enough'. Old age could be considered as the time of salvation and inner work in preparation for death. [...]
[...] In general terms, medieval childhood is only family responsibility combined with preparation for entry into society. Let us move on to education and youth, which are important moments of social and spiritual formation, dependent on social rank and religious beliefs. According to social rank and family position, young people acquire a specific baggage in terms of knowledge, intellectual, and religious. From a young age, children enter into a ritual, either as an atelier or formation. Children of noble and wealthy families become clerks or administrators after spending their youth in monasteries or cathedral schools. [...]
