history

In Italian, the word storia means both story and history, which I think is interesting. As someone with a background in both studying history and writing stories, I often read something about the past and wonder about the story behind it.

Most recently, I came across this article on Medievalists.net and was immediately filled with questions. The article talks about how nine of the fifteen peasant girls became servants, but what of the other six? I assume they went into careers like comb-maker and thread-maker, but did they all? Could one of them have become the arbalester? It seems unlikely, but what of the person who did? Who knew that arbalesters even went through an apprenticeship? What happened to those kids?

The past is such a rich field, with all of human experience to draw on, and it’s hard to look into it and not wonder, “What happened to them? What was it like?”