Was medieval life better? You might think of the Middle Ages as an era of ignorance, strife and disease. A new nostalgia for medieval lifestyles is turning these stereotypes on their head.
The right to nap and 120 days work a year
Work hard play hard: Many people today work longer hours than medieval peasants, experts think. Glossary
Middle Ages - The Middle Ages was the period in European history that came between ancient and modern times. It lasted from about 500 to about 1500.
Unappetising - Something that does not look or smell nice and does not make you want to have it.
Black Death - A bacterial infection that killed as much as 60% of the population of Europe and 33% of the Middle Eastern population.
Smallpox - A disease estimated to have killed 300 million people in the 20th Century.
Leprosy - A chronic bacterial disease. Once known pejoratively as lepers, sufferers were historically forced to live in colonies, isolated from others.
Utopian - Impossibly perfect. The term comes from an ancient Greek phrase meaning "no-place" invented by Henry VIII's chancellor, Sir Thomas More, in 1516, as the name of an imaginary, ideal island.
Agrarian - Using the land for farming.
Burnout - When someone becomes physically and emotionally exhausted after working hard for a long time.
Claustrophobic - An extreme fear of confined spaces.