As I do my family
research, I’m always questioning how life was in the time of my ancestors. How did they live? What did they do everyday? How religion
affected their lives? Those are questions that are constantly popping in my
mind, especially when I am reading and translating birth, marriage, and death records.
I think for a
better understanding of my family and how we get to where we are now, we also need a
better understand of all the social aspects and history of the country they
belong.
My research took me
back to the beginning of the 1600’s on my mother’s side. I’m an
avid history reader, and I’m always trying to go deeper on what I find in my investigations, and try to bring to life what I read on the books and documents that I come across.
I found a documentary
from BBC on Youtube in three episodes, written and presented by the English historian Helen Ruth Castor. They enlightened so much the concept of religion for the society of that time, and how it ruled their lives back to the pre renaissance time. Although
the documentaries represent the life in the 1400’s England, while it was still a Catholic kingdom at the time, I noticed several aspects of the Portuguese culture on the births,
marriages and death covered by the series.
The three episodes below are
online on Youtube. A new window will open for viewing them. I hope you will enjoy as much as I did.
MEDIEVAL LIVES - BBC
A Good Birth
https://youtu.be/k4mx8BBF44M
A Good Marriage
A Good Death
https://youtu.be/W_XkzZ-9gKU
