Saturday, May 14, 2011

The forgotten children of medieval London

Teenagers today may think they have it tough but adolescents in medieval London had a much harder life.

In the early 1500s young migrant workers flocked into the capital in their thousands, often seeking apprenticeships. However, records show that many did not live to become adults. There was a dramatic rise in the mortality rates of 10 to 14-year-olds at this time, but their history has been largely ignored.

Dr Mary Lewis, from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading, has just been awarded £230,000 Leverhulme funding to investigate the, until now, forgotten group of adolescents.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net