Forget everything you’ve seen on TV. Medieval archers preferred to have their quiver hanging from their belts. It was way easier to grab an arrow. They also favored being barefoot as their toes gave them added grip when positioning for a shot.

Knights were not noble, honorable, and pleasant men. They were bred and trained for combat and that’s all they knew. A lust for power and wealth saw these warriors commonly abuse their skills. Medieval knights were romanticized thanks to literature.

A suit of steel plate armor weighed between 15-25 kilograms. That’s far less than a modern firefighter’s equipment and comparable to a modern soldier’s gear. Nor were they rare. 60-70% of French armies during the 15th century fought on foot wearing full armor, including the English engaged in the War of the Roses.

This human-sized box containing an array of interior spikes seals a victim inside where the spikes pierce the individual in non-vital places leading to a slow, agonizing death. But it’s history is uncertain. The rack, public beheadings and the like weren’t commonplace either. It was usually the hangman’s noose that prisoners faced.

Monsters and other mythological creatures may dominate modern day depictions of medieval times but inhabitants of the era were mostly concerned about criminals and threats of war. At most, a map would depict a certain region as dangerous.

People back then weren’t uneducated savages nor was cutlery reserved for the royal family. Spoons are among the oldest utensils discovered. Archaeological evidence from as early as 1000 BCE in Ancient Egypt have shown ivory, wood, and slate spoons, whilst spoons made from bronze and silver were discovered in the territories of the Greek and Roman Empires.

Flails utilize a spiked head attached to the handle by a chain, allowing the user to strike around an opponent’s shield or sword parry. The problem is they seemed so impractical, modern historians claim they were made by later generations. The flail was ineffective and only in Game Of Thrones did they seem deadly.

Burning of women at the stake for the alleged crime of witchcraft was not widespread. Even the Catholic Church was opposed to it. And even when a woman was accused of being a witch, she would merely hang.

The two religions had periods of peace, with Christian kings hiring Muslims and vice versa. Trading was common even during times of battle, with both Islam and Christianity coexisting all throughout the period.

January 1, 1000 was the date of the apocalypse back then. The anticipation of the return of Jesus Christ had people abandoning their jobs, getting rid of their possessions, and journeying to the Holy Lands for the fateful day. Except all of this was debatable. People back then lived to survive, using common sense rather than blind obedience to the church.

Many myths and legends surrounded the fabled Vikings. But the use of human skulls as cups from which Vikings allegedly drank from have no supporting evidence. It was more like the horns of goats and cattle.

Communities in the Middle Ages went to great lengths and paid enormous costs to ensure there was access to clean drinking water. The infrequent inclusion of water as a subject in historic texts had historians believe that people were forced to drink wine or beer.

The use of cavalry during the Middle Ages has been grossly exaggerated as knights were never the backbone of armies. They were far too expensive to field in great numbers, and the armies of the European Middle Age were predominantly comprised of foot soldiers.

The Vikings beat him to it by approximately 500 years. Historical opinion is conclusive that Norse Vikings reached the Americas by the late-10th century. Christopher was beaten by half a millenia.

A common misconception was that people died young back in the Middle Ages. The truth is that most of the people back then could live to their 50’s and 60’s. It’s just that everyday illnesses today were terminal to our ancestors.

The Nordic peoples are often depicted as wearing horned helmets. But there is no evidence that Vikings did ever wear such attire. Vikings rarely wore helmets, with just one Viking helmet ever discovered. It is believed they commonly wore helmets made from iron or leather as they weighed less.

The way a person would smell could either make or break them in society. Public saunas and bathhouses were common during the Middle Ages, with London brothels requiring patrons to bathe prior to entering. People in the Middle Ages were not unhygienic.

Chastity belts were a means to induce sexual abstinence among women. They were actually a way of satirizing the obsession of the day with purity and virginity. Except people took the design too seriously.

Greek scientists in as early as the 6th century BCE already knew the shape of our planet. This was common knowledge in the Middle Ages. Even the Church taught that the Earth was round.

Jews migrated throughout Europe and North Africa after being expelled from Spain. Migrants from Central Asia entered Eastern Europe, forming communities in modern-day Russia, Ukraine, and the Caucuses. Racial slavery did not exist, and whilst tensions and discrimination existed, communities were able to get along peacefully.