Found in 1 comment on Hacker News
exratione · 2013-09-01 · Original thread
Those commenting here who haven't done so already should go read A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. It's a great primer on what life was actually like back then, and what is and isn't known about the details.

http://www.amazon.com/Distant-Mirror-Calamitous-14th-Century...

The discussion on enclosures and factories seems like a red herring, as that whole mess took off too late in the timeline to be considered Medieval. At the point at which enclosures were happening in a widespread way in (for example) the UK, the economy was transitioned into a state of fairly steady growth in wealth and life expectancy over the long term that would, via compound gains, form the foundation of the Industrial Revolution.

Fresh book recommendations delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday.