Angélique Herminie de La Brousse de Verteillac

What people wore

Commoners often went barefoot and wore secondhand

Ordinary rural people in France often went barefoot during the warmer seasons and relied heavily on secondhand clothing, as buying new outfits was exceptional.

Getting around

Dangerous conditions on poorly maintained roads

Travelers in carriages sometimes had to pay local peasants to walk alongside and support the carriage to prevent it from tipping over on flooded or muddy roads. In severe weather, travelers were occasionally forced to wait for days in miserable inns until conditions improved.

At the table

Typical Peasant Diet in Rural France

Ordinary rural diets consisted of rye or oat bread, vegetable soups, and dairy, while meat was rarely eaten except for occasional pork.

Music

Popular dances included minuet and contredanse

The minuet and the contredanse were the two most popular dances, with the latter being a favorite figure dance involving four couples. People frequently organized and enjoyed balls in the provinces during this period.

Daily life

Simple peasant housing

Most peasant homes were single-room structures built of mud with thatched roofs, lacking ceilings and window glass.

What it cost

The high cost of footwear

Heavy taxes on leather made shoes very expensive, often forcing poor peasants to own only one pair for their entire lives or rely on wooden shoes. A pair of wooden shoes cost 9 sous 6 deniers in the countryside in 1790.