Why Did We Choose the Fourteenth Century?

We, as a family have always been self-proclaimed "history fanatics."  Each of us has our favourite time period.  Most of us have worked at various renaissance faires; some of us are in the SCA, or the Society for Creative Anachronisms.  Oddly enough, none of us have cited the fourteenth century as our favourite historical time period.  We have interests in twelfth century crusades, sixteenth century German Landsknechts, the Napoleonic Era, etc.  The fourteenth century is so often seen as quintessentially "medieval."

As We Begin

This is the start of a new blog, the place where a modern family will document their journey back in time to fourteenth century England.  Our goal ultimately, is to spend the larger part of a year living as authentically as we can.  It is a science experiment, it is a social experiment, it will be a test of will.  With our world so far consumed by globalism, technology and "instant gratification" we want to take a second to look back on a period of time where work produced tangible products that directly facilitated survival.  This is an era where, with determination and research we should be able to bring back to life.  This is not to say that we do not appreciate what we have, but we believe that through this project, we may gain an even greater appreciation for what we have and be better able to distinguish between what we "want" and what we "need."  This project will also provide an in depth, hands-on style of learning that is not usually afforded in schools.  History has always been our passion and through this project we hope to gain a better understanding of the day-to-day events of fourteenth century life.