What If You Lived in the Middle Ages?
We asked young Getty visitors, “What would you have liked or not liked about life back then?”
Body Content
The Getty Center exhibition Play and Pastimes in the Middle Ages explores the importance of entertainment in medieval society.
People who lived during the Middle Ages enjoyed a range of pastimes, like board games and jousting. Of course, they also faced challenges we may not even think about today. But do you think you would have liked living in the Middle Ages? What do you imagine would have been difficult, or fun, about daily life in this period?
We asked young visitors at the Center to share their thoughts on what life would be like in the Middle Ages. Here’s what they said:
Kaia Henderson, 12
Kaia Henderson
I’m really into mythology, so I would probably enjoy looking at different myths or something like that. I’m not sure if there would have been a way to read books during that age, though. I wouldn’t have liked all the weaponry and pain in that era. Torture was a big part of it, and I don’t really like that type of thing.
Faith Phillips, 18
Faith Phillips plays checkers, one of several games and activities visitors can try in the gallery.
I think I would’ve liked living in a simpler time. Just the fact there’s no social media, there’s no technology. It would be such a different space, where small things don’t matter as much, or where going outside is the highlight of your day. I don’t know. It just seems like that would be such a nicer way to live sometimes. I guess a downside could be that the lack of technology would make you feel kind of stuck. You couldn’t really travel very far, or you’d have to take a horse and a carriage to get two miles away from your house. That seems kind of depressing to me, to be totally honest. If I had to stay in one little village my whole life, that’s kind of scary. So I guess that would be what I’d hate the most.
Helena Rudensky, 16
Helena Rudensky admires a manuscript that shows Alexander the Great judging a sporting contest.
Looking at everything here, I really like the elegance, and I really like the care with everything. People spent their entire lives making this one manuscript, and that’s someone’s complete dedication—spending a day making sure the gold leaf around the “B” is perfect. That’s really nice, the idea that something is worth your whole life to make. What I wouldn’t have liked? The Black Plague. I saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail when I was very young with my grandfather, since that’s his favorite humor. And it looked kind of miserable. I think if you were everyone but the very top, it was pretty bleak.
