It's no secret that Medieval times were hell on Earth, but were there any perks to today's times, in everyday life?
Well, it's actually a common misconception that Medieval times were "hell on Earth". In reality, though Europe did have a small slump you saw the rise of the Islamic world who encouraged advances in science, architecture, and other areas. You only have to look as far as Spain to see positive changes during the Medieval era where Muslim conquerors introduced many new plants to the area, revitalized learning on the peninsula and revitalized what was a waning economy. A good documentary on Spain during the Medieval Period can be found [here] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM8HnvuKbAo). Other parts of Europe also had advances during this time such as Britain which by most accounts flourished under Anglo-Saxon rule which can be seen by the [wealth generated in these areas] (http://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/sep/27/anglo-saxon-treasure-hoard-staffordshire).
During this period you also had some great European farming advances including an improved plow and the theory of crop-rotation which allowed large areas of France and Germany to become much more productive and allowed the population to increase as people had more food.
One thing that always strikes me about the middle ages is how relatively easy it was to travel. Borders existed, but border restrictions rarely did. Banditry could be a problem, but when you consider the careers of Ibn Battuta or Marco Polo, banditry could certainly be overcome.
In the Islamic world in particular there was no concept of serfdom or feudal obligations so peasants could, and did, move from place to place with a great deal of freedom. But the travels of the two figures that I just mentioned were both extraordinary and would probably be impossible to replicate for most travelers today given the extraordinary border restrictions, visa requirements, and number of countries that refuse to recognize one another and/or deny entry to citizens of a given country.
So, let's go with the Hagia Sophia. It is an architectural marvel, and was the largest cathedral for only about a millennia. It served as a cathedral as well as a mosque in its time, and it is now a museum. Yes. Now. Something that was built during "hell on earth" is still standing. And it is beautiful.
That's not mentioning philosophy, theology, literature, poetry, art, music, and a thousand other things that existed at the time. But even if we toss all of that out the window, the existence of the Hagia Sophia alone would be enough for me to marvel at the Middle Ages. Just imagine visiting the Hagia Sophia as part of your day--what more of a perk could you want?
I've written about this before. But a case can be made in specifically Early Medieval Europe that in the aftermath of the breakdown of the strong Roman state, landlord power and taxation/wealth extraction were at its lowest while peasant autonomy was at its highest level. This is significant in that while you might've been a "dirt farmer" both before and after the collapse of state authority in your region, but at least afterward, you would not be forced to handover half of your produce to some higher authority. And likely, you would be able to choose to work less hard.
Now this comes at the cost of the benefits you might've had access to with a strong state, like say disaster relief, or public security from foreign invaders, but those benefits could be argued to predominantly affect the upper strata. As there's no guarantees that disaster relief will actually be redirected your way, or that public security from foreign invaders wouldn't prevent the private predations of tax collectors.
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