3. Peasant men wore rough tunics, and stockings or leggings, or they
wore woolen jackets with woolen pants and knickers. Sometimes
their outfits were completed with a cotton shirt. Many Peasants
could not afford hats and shoes but they some wore shoes and hats
made of cloth.
From left to right:
Beggar,
Low Peasant,
Mild
Peasant,
High
Peasant.
4. Peasant women wore a scarf or
veil around their head to keep
them warm along with other
accessories such as a bodice
and stockings. They wore an
apron to cover their dress for
style and also to keep their
underclothes clean while they
were working. The clothing
material that they used for the
dress was often rough and
itchy, and caused irritations and
rashes.
5. Peasants had a fairly simple
diet mainly consisting of
bread, porridge, stew,
vegetables, and some meats.
If a peasant lived near a
body of water of some sort,
he may have caught fish to
supplement his diet.
Peasants ate mostly what
they could grow.
6. Peasants mainly grew barley, beans, rye, and wheat.
Each peasant family also had a vegetable garden
near their home that consisted of onions, peas,
beans, radishes, carrots, and other vegetables.
Peasants harvested acorns and other nuts and
berries from nearby forests. Peasant women made
butter and cheese from the milk of cows and in the
fall, they slaughtered most of the animals for their
meat. If a famine occurred or a flood, the family could
have a good chance of starving to death.
