Childhood in Scotland in the Middle Ages facts for kids
Imagine growing up in Scotland hundreds of years ago, during the time known as the Middle Ages (from the end of Roman rule until the Renaissance in the 1500s). Childhood then was very different from today.
Sadly, many children in Medieval Scotland did not live to be adults. Illnesses were common, and accidents could greatly affect a child's life. However, children still found ways to play, learn, and help their families.
By the 1400s, some wealthy families used wet nurses to feed their babies. In the Highlands, clan leaders often sent their children to be raised by other chiefs, a practice called fosterage. This helped create strong friendships and alliances between families.
Children enjoyed imaginative play and formal games like football, golf, and archery. Education was also important, with schools developing from monasteries and churches. Later, Scotland even got its own universities! Most children, however, learned skills at home or by working as apprentices.
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Growing Up: Birth and Early Years
Life for children in Medieval Scotland was often very hard. Many babies and young children did not survive. Because people believed that unbaptized children would not go to heaven, babies were often baptized very quickly, sometimes even by midwives. This ceremony also connected the child to godparents, creating a wider family network.
Studies of old burial sites show just how common childhood deaths were. For example, in one Aberdeen burial site, more than half of those buried were under six years old. Many children suffered from diseases that left marks on their bones and teeth. These problems were especially common in children up to about age four.
This might have happened because babies lost their mother's protective antibodies after they stopped breastfeeding. As children started crawling and walking, they also faced more accidents and infections. Iron deficiency, a lack of iron in the body, was also common, often because mothers themselves didn't get enough minerals. Common childhood illnesses included measles, diphtheria, and whooping-cough.
Fun and Games: How Children Played
Children in Medieval Scotland definitely knew how to have fun! From about age three, they started playing imaginative games. We know this from an old poem called "Rait's Raving," written by a gentleman in the 1400s.
The poem describes children building houses with sticks, using sticks and reeds as pretend swords and spears, and even making a "white horse of a wand" – like an early hobby horse. Girls would make dolls from scraps of cloth and flowers. Children also played with small millstones, which might have been toys, and found game counters and toy swords.
More formal games were popular too. Children played with tables, cards, and dice. Sports included football, golf, and archery. There were also different bowling games, like "laing bowlis" and "skittles." A game similar to tennis, called "caich," was played by bouncing a ball against a smooth wall, often a church wall. Wealthy children might have learned to hunt and practice hawking (hunting with birds).
Learning and Schools
In early Medieval Scotland, most people learned by listening and speaking, not by reading and writing. Bards were important figures who acted as poets, musicians, and historians. They passed down stories and knowledge in Scottish Gaelic from one generation to the next, often training in special bardic schools.
When Christianity came to Scotland, Latin became an important language for scholars and writing. Monasteries became centers of learning, often running schools and teaching a small group of educated people who could read and write.
Later, new types of schools appeared, like song schools and grammar schools. These were usually connected to churches and were found in growing towns. By the end of the Middle Ages, most main towns had grammar schools. There were also "petty schools" in rural areas, offering basic education. Some monasteries, like Kinloss Abbey, also opened their doors to more students.
These schools grew quickly from the late 1300s and were mostly for boys. However, by the late 1400s, Edinburgh also had schools for girls, sometimes called "sewing schools," likely taught by women or nuns. Wealthy families might also hire private tutors.
The importance of education grew so much that the Education Act 1496 was passed. This law said that all sons of important landowners should go to grammar school to learn "perfect Latin." This helped more people become literate, especially wealthy men.
Before the 1400s, Scottish boys who wanted to go to university had to travel to England or other countries in Europe. Many Scottish scholars even became teachers in European universities.
This changed when Scotland founded its own universities: the University of St Andrews in 1413, the University of Glasgow in 1451, and the University of Aberdeen in 1495. At first, these universities mainly trained people for the church. But over time, more non-religious students attended, and they began to take on important roles in government and law.
Teenage Years and Work
Most children in Medieval Scotland, even in towns, did not go to school. Instead, they learned practical skills. In families of craftsmen, children would help with simpler tasks. As they got older, they might become apprentices (learning a trade from a master) or journeymen (skilled workers who traveled to find work).
In rural areas, many young people, both boys and girls, probably left home to work as servants on farms or in houses. By the late Middle Ages, it was common for young people in the Lowlands to work for others for a period of their lives. They often married later, usually in their mid-20s, because they needed time to save money and gather resources to start their own household.
See also
- Childhood in early modern Scotland
- Childhood in medieval England
- Childhood in the Viking Age
