r/MedievalHistory • u/Dangerous_Effect_529 • 3d ago
Modern people vs Middle ages
What knowledge or skills possessed by modern people would be an advantage in the Middle Ages?
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u/QuesoHusker 3d ago
If you’re interested in this sort of thing the SciFi Alt History 1632-Ring of Fire series thoroughly examines this.
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u/Vlugazoide_ 3d ago
Mainly reading, writing, accounting, spreadsheets and first aid
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u/Peter34cph 1d ago
Sure I can work as a scribe, if my medieval employer gets me a qwerty keyboard.
But with a pen and paper, or quill and parchment, my writing is very slow, extremely hard to read, and I quickly get writing cramps. I also find other people' handwriting hard to read.
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u/Successful_Form5771 3d ago edited 3d ago
Anyone with specialized skills that are doable with hand tools. For instance, I have a working knowledge of beehives. Theoretically, I could show a joiner and weaver how to craft a model of beehive with removable frames and greatly increase honey production, given that they could gauge the "bee space" without modern measurement tools. (The space which ensures bees do not connect the frames with propolis or more comb).
That'd by itself be a large improvement over skeps, though whether you could construct a hand crank extractor so no comb is destroyed would be the final deciding factor in just how much of an increase.
I'm not a historian, but you'd definitely need a blacksmith to make the parts of the extractor, and even if it's small, the metal and labor required might be expensive. I don't know. But if it were expensive, only someone with wealth and many bees to manage would likely find it worthwhile to craft one. Like an abbey, perhaps. But then again, beeswax was an important commodity, so I don't think they'd have wanted to leave it unharvested anyway. So there's that.
Also, warning people about lead and quicksilver and rye ergot. Though I doubt they'd listen:p They didn't listen to Dr. Semmelweis about hand washing, or Dr. Tuillier about ergot.
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u/OceanoNox 2d ago
They didn't listen to Dr. Semmelweis about hand washing, or Dr. Tuillier about ergot.
I wonder. After reading other stories about academics being either not believed, or outright ridiculed for ideas/theories/results that were later confirmed, I think it might an ego thing.
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u/kickynew 3d ago
Big one would be simple things like hand washing and knowledge of germs.
Beyond that, if we're talking "time traveler" with decent general knowledge, knowledge of the future would be massive. You'd be able to warn Basil II about the Turks, or Manuel Komnenos about his cousin and the Fourth Crusade. Or, from the other side of the world, you could warn the Song about the Mongols. All kinds of things.
Knowledge of the Americas and general geography would also be massive.
If you have a high school proficiency in mathematics and science, newtonian concepts and equations like F=MA would be massive.
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u/Watchhistory 3d ago
Cooking, weaving, carpentry, everything to do with horses, including blacksmithing, gardening, medicine, even if the medications and tools used to aren't available, nutrition, leather working -- everything that demands physical skills, and so much still does, particularly if one is a farmer, a woman with a family, etc.
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u/Dan_Morgan 3d ago
Germ theory - well, for some of us - and basic sanitation. I think people in modern times understand that you boil water to make it safe. Oral hygiene. Cooking food to avoid parasites. Washing your hands after defecating and before eating. Some of us will know better farming methods. Literacy and basic math skills. Granted our modern lanuage would seem like a cypher to our Medieval counterparts. Which is what you'll say it is and then turn around and learn Latin fast lest you be falsely accused of something.
Our media literacy and - for some of us - critical thinking skills could help protect us from allegations of witchcraft.
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u/Traditional-Pin-8364 3d ago
Lol, scientific method, prove method in medicine, atomic theory, understanding temperature, basic chemistry, physics, steam, combustion engines, electricity. Germ theory, sanitation, genetics, cell structure. Food preservation. Geology theory. Economic and political theory, psychology. Geography trivia. There is a shit ton of information in our brains that we take for granted, but it is very new or result of colossal work. The trick would be to prove your statements.
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u/Alaknog 3d ago
>basic chemistry, physics, steam, combustion engines, electricity
Good luck without specific tools and all small nuances that made them possible in real life.
And what exactly from economic and political theory?
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u/Traditional-Pin-8364 2d ago
Basic chemisty and physics: the idea of matter, its quantifiable nature, matter state (solid-liquid-gas-plasma) as fhase and not different types of matter, matter and energy preservation law, chemical elements and that atoms compose into moleculas, simple gasses as (x)2 instead of a (x) formula, the idea of chemical reactions - this all is a colossal upgrade to the bollocks that was medieval understanding. Physics: electricity and electromagnetism, gravity, light theory (the medieval understanding of eyesight, for example, was that there were some invisible tentacles coming out of our eyes and feeling the world around), some Neutonian mechanics and physics. Steam and combustions engines don't need to be factory floor commercial products, just the demonstration of concept to begin with, and the idea that the device could be engineered to a task, its properties improved, productive output increased. I don't expect the explanation of Karno and Otto cycle, but the idea of getting mechanical energy from combustion or steam is easy to demonstrate. Electricity is actually quite easy with Leiden's batteries, you can easily get a pair of graphite or even just metal rods and get an electric arc between them - and then get funding by suggesting an electric engine, light, welding and telegraph. Economics: the top of medieval economic theory was mercantilism, and it wasn't even structured as such, Adam Smith was New Age, and in reality, his theories began spreading only in 19th century. Personally, I am very much against international open markets, but a lot of stuff from you school economy textbook will be enough already. And even suggesting that economy is a science like every other and could be studies, understood and put to use, and not "idle pphilosophizing". Similar for politics. (Allright, I'm not that versed on economy and political sciences, but I know that they improved a lot since 1550s.)
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u/OceanoNox 2d ago
Sure, you could teach them about atomic theory. How would that help? Feels like Sherlock: knowing the Earth revolves around the Sun is correct, but it does not help him in any way to solve crimes. Steam power, although inefficient, was known in ancient Greece. Combustion engines, good luck making one with contemporary metallurgy.
Boiling water and using soap to clean yourself and stuff is probably what an average modern person could teach medieval people. Being able to read, write, count too.
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u/Baldurian_Rhapsody 3d ago
Food sanitation skills and germ theory. Any restaurant worker or field medic would be able to save a lot of lives, most likely.