Louis Charles, Count of Beaujolais

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.

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.

What people wore

Footwear for laborers

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

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

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.