History Main / MedievalMorons

* ''Series/{{Kaamelott}}'' is based almost entirely on this, with KingArthur as the OnlySaneMan due to his Roman upbringing. His knights are forever bickering about finding the Grail instead of actually looking for it, his father-in-law builds a catapult in the main courtyard and wants to knock down the gate so it can be taken outside, and then you have Guethenoc and Roparzh, two peasants with a mutual case of SitcomArchNemesis who don't mind setting fire to half the land or poisoning most of the livestock to get back at each other despite it meaning starvation for them and the rest of the country. Lancelot's betrayal isn't even due to kidnapping the queen [[spoiler:she leaves of her own accord, to Arthur's delight]], it's because the knights are as bad as the peasants so he sets up his own army. The fact that his soldiers are just as inept as Kaamelott's never seems to occur to him.

Compare: HumansAreMorons. Also compare TheDungAges, when the Middle Ages is ''filthy''. The two tropes usually go hand in hand, but sometimes you can have one without the other (and RealLife ''did''; TheDungAges is far more TruthInTelevision, as the contemporary sanitation was more often than not inadequate, to say the least). When writers forget one particular aspect that is accurate you get MedievalUniversalLiteracy.

* Read an old [[http://bestiary.ca/ Bestiary]] and you'll quickly see that they knew absolutely nothing about animals. Mythical creatures such as dragons and unicorns are listed, and real animals have a colorful list of fanciful facts that were fabricated and taken at face value by everyone else. Examples of things claimed by Bestiaries: [[http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast78.htm lion]] cubs are born dead and stay this way for three days, until a lion breathes on them and they come to life. If a [[http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast180.htm wolf]] sees you first you lose your voice. [[http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast77.htm Female elephants]] must give birth in water or a dragon will come and eat her baby. Hyenas can mate with lionesses to produce [[http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast160.htm leucrotas]], which among other weird attributes have horse heads and deer hind quarters. [[http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast257.htm Peacocks]] never fly because they are ashamed of their ugly feet. It goes on and on.
** This isn't unique to the Middle Ages either. Pliny the Elder's ''Natural History'' from the late Roman Empire has some very similar claims, including bizarre ones like saying no woman is left-handed.
** There is some debate on how seriously bestiaries were intended to be taken (at least by the time the medieval period rolled around. Other scientific manuscripts detailing far more correct observations about animals and plants have been found, but are not labeled as bestiaries. Bestiaries known were often owned by churches or the aristocracy, and were often used to illustrate morality tales. It's entirely possible that the majority of the Bestiaries were intended to be works of fantasy at the time they were written.

* In ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/TwoForTheDeathOfOne'', Superman gets dragged to the Middle Ages. Fourteenth century English villagers are depicted as superstitious dullards who mistake Superman with a demon and shout "Demons!" and "Witchcraft!" every time they see something slightly unusual.

** Evolving from monastic schools, higher education set foot in the Middle Ages through the university system, which focused on the studies of Liberal Artsm Theology, Law, and Medicine. The oldest operating university in existence is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_al-Qarawiyyin University of al-Qarawiyyin]] in Fez, Morocco since 859, and the oldest in Europe is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Bologna University of Bologna]] in Italy since 1088.

* Tropes like ValuesDissonance and SocietyMarchesOn show that many medieval people did not know in the slightest how to treat others with respect, love, and dignity, or if they did, they just didn't care enough to do so. To be fair, some people today are the same way, despite having even less of a excuse.

* In ''Literature/TheSwordOfTruth'' one of the morals is [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop "People are stupid"]] and boy does it show. From the first book, there's a crowd of people being moved to tears by Michael's impassioned speech about the evils of ''fire''. The Mud People, despite living for generations in a place where it rains all the time, have somehow never figured out how to make roofs that don't leak. And there's the group of peasants sent by Darken Rahl to attack Zedd in the belief he's a witch. First he tells them the term is warlock. Then he talks the angry mob into having a ''brainstorming session'' about all the terrible things warlocks can do until they get scared and give up.

* The effects of inbreeding weren't as well understood at the time, so it was more common. Peasants might live in small, isolated villages where it was just about impossible to find someone to marry who wasn't a cousin. [[RoyalInbreeding Nobles and royals]], on the other hand, would deliberately marry relatives with the idea of keeping power within the family or maintaining a "pure" bloodline.

* The origin of this trope comes from the [[DatedHistory now-discredited idea]] that the [[AristocratsAreEvil evil aristocrats]] took advantage of the chaos caused by the fall of Rome to subject more than 90% of the population to a cruel tyranny, and create a ScamReligion to prevent rebellions. So in the Enlightenment when this trope took hold, the medieval morons were interpreted as the ''[[UnbuiltTrope victims]]'' of a [[SocietyIsToBlame totalitarian society built on a lie]] that deserved to be replaced.

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-->'''Olaf:''' Stop! I am Olaf!
-->'''Villager:''' The troll is doing an Olaf impersonation!

* TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: The average inhabitant of the Imperium is this IN SPACE. They consider the Emperor to be a god and the government to be his priesthood, and mutation is the new "witchcraft", with mutant persecution widespread. What's more, the existence of the [[MachineWorship Mechanicus]] ensures that, while lasguns and starships are everywhere, nobody is actually qualified to build or repair them, and most believe that praying to them is what makes them work. This does vary a lot by depiction and planet, with the above description fitting the most flanderised versions or less advanced planets. The prayers and rites circulated by the Mechanicus are mostly actual, if ritualised instructions to maintain the equipment, and only the more prestigious tech is monopolized by the Priesthood of Mars. In a slightly lighter depiction, your typical Civilized World resident has an education on par with a modern first world country.

** Evolving from monastic schools, higher education set foot Middle Ages through the university system, which focused on the studies of Liberal Artsm Theology, Law, and Medicine. The oldest operating university in existence is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_al-Qarawiyyin University of al-Qarawiyyin]] in Fez, Morocco since 859, and the oldest in Europe is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Bologna University of Bologna]] in Italy since 1088.

** Evolving from monastic schools, higher education set foot Middle Ages through the university system, which focused on the studies of Liberal Artsm Theology, Law, and Medicine. The oldest operating university in existence is the [[University of al-Qarawiyyin University of al-Qarawiyyin]] in Fez, Morocco since 859, and the oldest in Europe is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Bologna University of Bologna]] in Italy since 1088.

Occasionally people living in [[OldShame another widely disliked time]] will get this depiction. [[TheWildWest Nineteenth-century frontier (as well as antebellum) America]], [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain nineteenth-century Britain]], [[RuleOfThree nineteenth-century]] [[UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia Russia]][[note]]The latter historically far more often than the former two[[/note]] and [[TheFifties the 1950s]] have long been favorite targets, and increasingly [[TheSeventies the 1970s]] and [[TheEighties '80s]] have been getting this too (when it comes to more contemporary issues such as homophobia).

[[caption-width-right:280:[[BurnTheWitch Because they're made of wood?]] ]]

-->'''King''': Put them in the iron maiden.
-->'''Bill and Ted''': Music/IronMaiden? [[TheNotSoHarmlessPunishment Excellent! *Air guitar*]]
-->'''King''': Execute them!
-->'''Bill and Ted''': Bogus.
* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' both showcased this ("We've found a witch; may we burn her?") and averted this:

** The Pythons were aware this wasn't really the case-Terry Jones is a medieval historian in fact, and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Jones%27_Medieval_Lives hosted a series]] later about it, which specifically pointed out that it's a more sophisticated, complex period than is thought by many.

Compare: HumansAreMorons. Also compare TheDungAges, when the Middle Ages is ''filthy''. The two tropes usually go hand in hand, but sometimes you can have one without the other (and RealLife ''did''; TheDungAges is far more TruthInTelevision, as the contemporary sanitation was more often than not inadequate, to say the least).

Compare: HumansAreMorons. Also compare TheDungAges, when the Middle Ages is ''filthy''. The two tropes usually go hand in hand, but sometimes you can have one without the other (and RealLife ''did''; TheDungAges is far more TruthInTelevision, as the contemporary sanitation was more often than not inadequate, to say the least). See MedievalUniversalLiteracy for when the writers forget that most people actually didn't know how to read historically.

Compare: HumansAreMorons. Also compare TheDungAges, when the Middle Ages is ''filthy''. The two tropes usually go hand in hand, but sometimes you can have one without the other (and RealLife ''did''; TheDungAges is far more TruthInTelevision, as the contemporary sanitation was more often than not inadequate, to say the least)

Compare: HumansAreMorons. Also compare TheDungAges, when the Middle Ages is ''filthy''. The two tropes usually go hand in hand, but sometimes you can have one without the other (and RealLife ''did''; TheDungAges is far more TruthInTelevision, as there really ''wasn't'' any sanitation.)

* The FlatWorld myth is a DeadUnicornTrope. No, medieval Europeans (at least the scholars) didn't think the Earth was flat. Europeans learned that the Earth was round during the time of AncientGreece and that knowledge was never lost. The idea that belief in a flat Earth was widespread during the Middle Ages appears to have been invented during the 19th century, for the purpose of giving a HistoricalHeroUpgrade to UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus and casting him as a proto-Enlightenment thinker who achieved glory by challenging medieval superstition. In reality, it was Columbus who made a huge error over the size of the Earth, claiming one could sail directly from Spain to India. His detractors (including clergy members) rightly said it was far larger and this couldn't be done. His fleet almost ran out of food and the sailors had gotten to the edge of mutiny when they ran into the Americas.

** There is some debate on how seriously bestiaries were intended to be taken. Other scientific manuscripts detailing far more correct observations about animals and plants have been found, but are not labeled as bestiaries.

-->-- '''Top Ten Horror Stories''' by Michael Cox [[note]] Explaining how easy it was to convince medieval peasants of werewolves and vampires prowling about. [[/note]]

Thus, {{time travel}}ers are advised to avoid TheMiddleAges[[note]]Or as we call it, TheDungAges[[/note]] at all costs, lest they be [[BurnTheWitch burned as witches]].

* TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: The average inhabitant of the Imperium is this IN SPACE. They consider the Emperor to be a god and the government to be his priesthood, and mutation is the new "witchcraft", with mutant persecution widespread. What's more, the existence of the [[MachineWorship Mechanicus]] ensures that, while lasguns and starships are everywhere, nobody is actually qualified to build or repair them, and most believe that praying to them is what makes them work. [[note]] This does vary a lot by depiction and planet, with the above description fitting the most flanderised versions or less advanced planets. The prayers and rites circulated by the Mechanicus are mostly actual, if ritualised instructions to maintain the equipment, and only the more prestigious tech is monopolized by the Priesthood of Mars. In a slightly lighter depiction, your typical Civilized World resident has an education on par with a modern first world country. [[/note]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad''. In one particular episode, they manage to quickly convince Copernicus to stop being a farmer and write about how the Earth moves around the sun. He promptly agrees and goes to research under the basis that "That sounds important!" only to be seen in the end of the episode running back to where the Squad had just gone, screaming, "Wait! I forgot to ask! WHAT IS THIS 'SUN'?!" [[note]] The "what is this 'sun'?" line likely was more poking fun at the area they showed him to be farming in, looking grey, bleak, and a few bits of brimstone away from Mordor. Probably closer to TheDungAges, though the first line would still be this trope. [[/note]]