Our insight into everyday living in the Middle Ages is spotty at best. One of the most-cited books is Barbara Ehrenreich's Witches, Midwives and Nurses which is about as nonsensical as your average Heroditus. Judith Bennett has done a lot more fact-based research and, lo and behold, peasants! They're just like us! I had a conversation with Dr. Bennett about the Ehrenreich book (and its veracity) and she turned me on to Monica Green. It will not surprise you to learn that our insights into the "Age of Faith" are selective and biased: ...or that Montpelier had a sawmill? That's a sketch by Villard de Honnecourt, who had been dead for 200 years by the time the Montpelier census was complete. Some link I can no longer find stated there we know of 1400 sawmills in medieval Europe.Few “ressaires” appear in fiscal documents, suggesting that the carpenters could have done the job themselves, or that pitsawyers identified themselves as carpenters.
