this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2024
411 points (97.0% liked)

memes

8685 readers
2051 users here now

Community rules

1. Be civilNo trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour

2. No politicsThis is non-politics community. For political memes please go to !politicalmemes@lemmy.world

3. No recent repostsCheck for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month

4. No botsNo bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins

5. No Spam/AdsNo advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live.

Sister communities

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
all 11 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Justas@sh.itjust.works 37 points 6 months ago (2 children)

In most cases they weren't that bad, the population wasn't high enough for it to get too dirty and most people had plenty of living space. Only in later era do cities become dirty and extremely overpopulated. The exception would be sieges, but in them all people would suffer to some extent.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

And then there's Edinburgh

[–] reversebananimals@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Can you share more? Perhaps a link or two? I visited there recently and would like to learn more about the history.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 15 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Look up the tunnels, and the world's end .

Regarding the first, homelessness was illegal, and you could be in a lot of trouble (including execution) for being out after curfew. People lived in catacombs and tunnels to avoid detection, and if they were half as bad as described, it was a hellish life.

The second, if I recall correctly, there was a tax to enter the city. Even for "citizens" going out for the day or whatever

So if you were desperately poor, you couldn't even hunt for work outside the city without commiting to stay away until you could pay to reenter. So there became a trap where people were too poor to leave, too poor to get a legal residence, and had to find somewhere the guards wouldn't hassle them.

I'm sure some of this is a bit different, but if it's even close, it's a brutal trap to be stuck in

[–] reversebananimals@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Interesting - I'll definitely look all this up. Thank you for setting up some fun YouTube/Wikipedia rabbit holes for me!

[–] Akasazh@feddit.nl 7 points 6 months ago

That's because the idea of the middle ages attend from the imagination of people in the nineteenth century. This is when people started theorizing about history.

Cities in the nineteenth century were absolutely filthy, because of industrialization and were busting at the seams.

Now they learned about this 'dark ages' when people were backwards and uneducated. For sure conditions were worse and more filthy collar to our current enlightened society, no?

[–] JizzmasterD@lemmy.ca 17 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I never thought this homemade costume would be relevant again…

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 months ago

Oh man, reminds me of the Disney creepy stories!

https://creepypasta.org/s/599/abandoned-by-disney/

[–] matti@sopuli.xyz 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

So disappointing, not a Stanley Cup in sight in the real thing!

[–] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

It's a picture of medieval Toronto.