Families+Facts+6-10


 * In poor families children had to help support the family and often began working full days be age seven. (Renaissance Vol. 4)


 * The average man stood a few inches over five feet and weighed about 135 pounds. (Thompson)


 * Clothing served as a kind of uniform, designating status. Lepers were required to wear gray coats and red hats. (Thompson)


 * Life expectancy was brief; half the people in Europe died, usually from disease, before reaching their thirtieth birthday. (Renaissance Vol. 4)


 * Nobles and patricians were acutely aware of their ancestors and constructed genealogies that were sometimes partly fictional, in which, for example, the founder of a lineage was a legendary hero of antiquity.( Grendler)