Welcome ladies and villeins to another medieval life-sim devlog! This week we will be looking at the homes/cottages/hovels of medieval peasants and how we're portraying the medieval peasant's home in Under The Yoke.
We have a new video for you this week just so you can see what we've got in store for you:
In History
Medieval peasant houses were typically small, one-story structures made of local materials such as wattle and daub (a mixture of mud and straw or other plant fibres). The roofs were typically thatched with straw or reeds.
These houses were often dark and cramped, with a central living area and a separate kitchen. The floor was usually dirt or packed earth. Furnishings were minimal, consisting of a few simple wooden or straw-filled mattresses, a table and chairs, and a few pots and pans. Peasants typically kept a few animals, such as pigs or chickens, in a small outbuilding or in a corner of the main living area.
Cottage industry, a term you may have heard of, derives from the industry performed in peasant's cottages wherein primary goods, such as wool, could be transformed into secondary goods such as linen or a tunic.
Next to the cottage you would find the croft (the adjoining plot) and toft (the land the house was built on), where the medieval garden would be found. Medieval peasant gardens were an important part of daily life and provided a source of food, medicine, and other necessities. These gardens were typically small, often no larger than a few hundred square feet. They were usually divided into several sections, each dedicated to a specific type of crop or use.
One section was typically used to grow vegetables, such as cabbage, onions, and carrots. Another section was often used to grow herbs, which were used for cooking, medicine, and other purposes. Some gardens also had a small orchard, with trees bearing fruit such as apples and pears.
Medieval peasant gardens were often tended by the entire family, with each member assigned specific tasks such as planting, weeding, and harvesting. These gardens were usually surrounded by a low fence or hedge to keep out animals and to protect the crops from the wind.
In Under The Yoke
The house and garden in Under The Yoke has thus far been displayed little in our pre-launch materials but it actually constitutes a major part of the game. While the over world map acts as a source of primary goods, such as wood and fish and grain, the cottage and garden is a way for player's to create more valuable goods, either for trade or for use.
You may have seen in our video the furniture placed down inside the cottage, in that particular instance we have a woodworking bench and a larder, the bench can be used to process wooden goods with tools into more valuable items, such as a flute or a bow, while the larder can be used to process grain into alcohol or salt meat or pickle vegetables.
These pieces of furniture are expensive to produce, requiring nails, planks and other relevant goods but can be the source of your families rise out of serfdom. Of course, you are limited by the amount of space you have so expanding your house may become necessary. This too carries costs, not only in the wood, nails and hay required to build but in the raised taxes ( Heushire).
The garden too is both a source for food and revenue, from vats for tanning leather and dying clothes, henhouses for keeping chickens, a garden for your herbs or a skep for bee keeping.
I don't want to go on and spoilt it, but I hope this gives you an inkling of what's in store and if you're feeling a yearning for more, you can subscribe to these blog posts and receive them every other week.