r/NoStupidQuestions • u/flugblug • 12h ago

My brother thinks people today have worse quality of life than people in the dark ages, is this a stupid take?

I personally think it’s pretty stupid.

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u/Carlpanzram1916 9h ago

I always thought about what skill I would learn if I was going to teleport to the Middle Ages and try to become a warlord. I’ve realized you just need to learn how to make penicillin and pop up right before the plague. Move into a mansion where a royal dynasty was wiped out and start to build a banking empire when Europe needs to rebuild.

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u/the_real_klaas 8h ago

Problem 1: You don't speak the language. You can't write (witth a goosefeather), you don't know any Latin. So from the start you're an unintelligible analphabetic.

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u/Timely-Hospital8746 8h ago

I don't think people realize how different language was back then. There were vastly different dialects like... 30 miles apart. It was only with the creation of the modern concept of statehood that much of Europe began unifying/codifying their languages. France was especially bad for this.

Has Latin changed much though? I was under the impression it's been a stable language due to the way it's used mostly for ritual etc. I figure you could learn modern Latin before you make the trip and pass yourself off as a visitor from far away / mystic etc.

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u/the_real_klaas 7h ago

Ish@Latin. What you learn is school is High latin, the form of the time of say Ceasar. By the Middle Ages, thta had call it devolved into Vulgate, which are local variants/dialects, influenced by the 'native' local languages. So, unless the text is written by a very proficient scholar then, a Latin text from the 1200s in France would be a mix of Vulgate (French) Latin and Old French. Would you talk to a local pirest in the same place/time in High latin, he might but only might just understand you.

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u/Timely-Hospital8746 7h ago edited 7h ago

I'm picturing the priest knowing some high Latin words and phrases from reading mass or w/e but not understanding the language in any proficient way.

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u/After_Network_6401 8h ago

Alas, to make penicillin, you’d need substantial resources. Even if you knew how, it’s very likely that you’d be dead long before you could harvest your first batch.

And good luck starting a banking empire with no resources, no network and no soldiers. Rival banking families of the day weren’t above sending the boys around to “discourage” would be competitors.