It is too bad there are no citations. The flat earth myth is interesting, but it could have been explained better that many knew the earth was spherical even in ancient times.The thatched roof section was also interesting.  I read some website that mentions how difficult and intricate they are to make.I do think people were probably smelly back then though.

Perhaps people that lived in a city could bathe daily.  They would have to walk through the ordure and mess of the channel in the middle of the streets to get there though.  Medieval society was different in many ways from today, smell was just one of them.  Don't forget that deodorant is a modern invention as well.  The list is interesting but I doubt some of their facts.  The death penalty was used for more crimes than they quote, and it was a more violent time than now despite it being true that people could live their lives without experiencing personal violence, many people do that today as well.An interesting list, and notable for some of the things they omitted.  The violence of medieval warfare for one, the monotony of a peasants diet is not mentioned except for peripherally, imagine eating the same dish for 6 days out of 7.

They drank more alcohol because alcohol killed the bacteria that cause dysentery although they did not know this.  They just knew that you did not get diarrhea from beer but you did get it from plain water.  That explains the predilections fro wine and beer in medieval society, even going back to ancient times.  In fact the stream and lakes were in general filthier then than they are now.  There was no such thing as water treatment plants until about 100-125 years ago and waste was pumped directly into rivers and standing bodies of water.  I read a piece written by a Londoner in the 15th century where he claims that at certain times of the year the Thames was so full of garbage that it was almost possible to walk across the river.  There is a reason that butcher shops and tanners were always next to streams, so they could dump the offal from their trade directly into the river.  These districts are still in the same locations today although they cant follow the old practices anymore.Peasant diets were also largely restricted to what was in season or what was stored. Did you know for instance, that apples will last for months in the basement?  I did not know this until I met my wife, her parents do it and so do we since we are back in Germany.  That is one reason why there are so many apple dishes.  Sauerkraut is a way of preserving cabbage.  Salt pork has to be soaked for a day before eating to get the salt out of it.  They still have slaughtering parties in Germany when a family gets ready to slaughter their hogs and they throw a party to eat all the parts that cant be preserved.  I find it hard to believe that the medieval diet, especially for peasants, was enjoyable.  Sustaining yes, enjoyable no.  It kept you alive and that is about it.Medieval towns were not pleasant places to live, and the countryside was not much better.

For the commoner, life in the Middle Ages was probably better than life for the commoner in previous ages

It is weel to remember that there were frequent bread riots in Rome when grain was not delivered on time and the mob would begin to starve.  Medieval Europe may not have been a pleasant place but you are probably correct in that there were other times in history in which life was even more unpleasant.To get a good idea of what it was like to live in medieval Europe it is onyl necessary to take trip to the central African country of your choice.  Conditions in Africa today are only marginally better than they were in Europe 500 years ago.  Death was a constant in those days.  Childhood mortality was through the roof, I read somewhere that on avaergae in medieval Europe only 25% of children lived to adulthood.Life in the middle ages was not the carefree life painted in this list by any means.