Gabriela Angélica de Bourbon

What people wore

Clothing for feast days vs daily life

Common villagers typically wore the same basic garments daily, while the more prosperous members of the community had specific outfits reserved for Sundays and feast days.

Daily life

Child labor starting at age six

Many children began working as laborers at age six, often enduring 12-hour days without rest. While some children were apprentices in trades like blacksmithing or coopering, others worked in family farms.

Work

Cobbler gossip and regulated daily wages

Parisian cobblers were known as the neighborhood gazetteers who gossiped and shared news from their small, crowded street-corner shops. Regulations from 1567 set daily wages at ten sous tournois for laborers and five sous for unskilled manual workers.

Music

Peasants danced to pipe and tabor

French peasants frequently danced on Sundays to the sound of the pipe and tabor as a form of relaxation after working all week.

At the table

Drinking wine instead of dangerous water

Drinking water was often considered unhealthy, so ordinary people preferred to drink diluted wine or piquette, a low-quality drink made from grape pomace.

Getting around

Primary modes of travel were simple

Ordinary people primarily traveled by foot, on horseback, or via water, as roads were frequently unpaved and turned into mud during rain.

What it cost

Medical treatment cost versus cutlery price

A medical enema in the 17th century cost 15 sous, which was the same price as a gross of small whistle knives.