Louis Marie Felicité de Bourbon

What people wore

Footwear for laborers

Respectable working-class men wore shoes and felt hats, but laborers sometimes wore wooden clogs for heavy work.

Daily life

Elementary education for children

Elementary schooling for children typically focused on basic literacy, including reading, writing, and the catechism. In many rural parishes, schools were nonexistent, and when classes were held, they were often taught by the local priest or his vicar.

Work

Long hours and mixed payments

A daily working day lasted from 10 to 13 hours, with agricultural work often paid in a mix of money and goods, such as wooden shoes or cloth.

Music

Instruments for common dance and festivals

At festivals and fairs, ordinary people danced to the music of fiddles and the pipe and tabor, also known as the pipe and drum.

At the table

Bread as the Daily Staple

Adult men were expected to consume between 4 and 5 livres of bread daily, making it the essential staple of their diet.

Getting around

Rapid descent by ramasse sled

When crossing the snowy Mount Cenis pass in the Alps, travelers could descend into Lanslebourg in just 15 minutes using a specialized sled called a ramasse.

What it cost

Cost of bread and meat

Bread was the essential staple, though its price fluctuated wildly; by the 1770s, it cost between 4 and 5 sols in the heart of the kingdom. Meat was expensive, with beef, mutton, or veal often costing 9 to 15 sols per pound.