Everyone in a pre-industrial household worked for the family’s survival. In this fourteenth century image, cheese is being made. The woman warms the milk in a large pot on the outdoor fire. The man holds a molded cheese, and the seated boy eats the curds or whey. On the table are simple tools, a bowl, the cheese mold, a knife, and a large spoon.
Image from Tacuinum Sanitatis (Health Handbook) fourteenth century text. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Image featured in Investigating Family, Food, and Housing Themes in Social Studies by Cynthia Resor
This picture would be a great tool to teach students about the households in the fourteenth century. You could teach the students about the daily lives of people in the Middle Ages and compare to today.
This may be an interesting image to use when teaching about food in the past. Karen Cushman’s novels about girls in the Middle Ages – The Midwife’s Apprentice, Catherine, Called Birdy, and Matilda Bone – reference medieval foods. This would be a great primary source image to use with those books.
This image would be useful when talking about either industrialization or ways of life in the 14th century. The image would be helpful also showing the family dynamic of the 14th century.