I’m much bigger, but no fighter. And my tolerance for pain will be so low compared to what he’s used to I’ll probably startle him the first time I cry out.
I’m a good long-distance runner though. I’d run around in circles while trying to explain what an iPhone is, and how I’ll cut him in on the deal.
I lose against most people in a fight. SO if I were to engage in a fight against him then I would lose a lot.
Same height, 50 pounds heavier and 29 years older.
And he’s so dead it’s not even funny. I’ll strangle him with his own tunic. 136 pounds? I’m being attacked by a high school freshman FFS.
Just have to make sure to keep the little bastard from biting me with his rotten teeth or scratching me with his pig shit crusted nails.
I weigh 80 pounds more and lift weights. No contest.
But even disregarding size, I’d think almost all modern people would be vastly better nourished than that sickly, fatigued and half starving peasant. A knight might be a different story, but I think you guys are selling your modern bodies short if you think you’d lose to a medieval gruel fed peasant.
One thing in the peasants favor is that he’s attacking to kill and you’re defending having (usually) never killed anyone. While you’re wrestling with him, he’s digging his fingers into your eyes.
Trip him & then sit on him.
I am 6’1" and 200 lbs. I learned a long time ago that you don’t judge fighters in a street brawl according to their size. Size is only a minor advantage. General scrappiness and the ability to withstand a punch combined with blatant insanity are much better predictors of success for most amateur fights. That said, I grew up with a younger brother who was very large for his age (he later became a combat Marine) and we physically fought every day from the time he could walk until I moved out to go to college. I always say that we only got into one fight, it started when he was little and still hasn’t ended. It was like an extended Girl Scout fighting scene from the movie Airplane!. We beat the ever living shit out of each other using whatever was available including every dirty fighting technique we could come up with.
All of those fights taught me some wrestling and grappling moves that no person has ever been able to beat even for money. I can get any amateur in a headlock and slam their forehead onto the ground in 5 seconds or less even if I tell them what is coming beforehand. People laugh when I tell them that but many have tried and all have failed so far. I could do that very easily with a malnourished medieval piss-ant. The problem is what to do after that. I don’t have the instinct or the will just just kill or truly hurt someone once I have them in a vulnerable position. They may take it a little more seriously and wear me down or trick me into letting them go.
When I was in my mid-20s-early 30s, had military hand-to-hand fresh in my mind, was doing judo, lifting weights, biking and hiking a lot, I’d say I could take him easily. He’d have just a couple of pounds and a couple of inches on me, and I’d have way better lung power for a sustained fight. He might work all day in the fields, but it’s not aerobic, and unless it’s summer, he probably had borderline scurvy and on top of that is missing some teeth. If I’m fighting for my life, I will be biting. Also, I can crotch-kick him, and if he crotch-kicks me, he won’t get the same result.
However, we are talking about the present, 47-year-old me, who has a some arthritis in one ankle, and back trouble from pregnancy that never quite went away, even after physical therapy, no, I’d lose. I don’t work out at all, or bike or hike much anymore, because I don’t have time. I do hike a little with my son, because he enjoys it, but he’s not old enough for really challenging trails, and I have the bad ankle (I’ve had surgery on it).
I got his measurements from the book A World Lit Only By Fire, his BMI is within healthy perimeters although one of its flaws is that it overestimates fat - and out peasant isn’t going to carry much fat on him from his diet of grain pottages and vegetables.
Shagnasty has a good point that he comes from a world that far more brutal and cruel than ours, brawling in the local tavern and with phenomenal tolerance for physical discomfort from hours upon hours of toiling on his lord’s land, so I think he’d take a lot more punishment than we would.
I do like the idea of shouting modern ideas at him to try and flummox him.
I’d beat his ass. I’m 40, 5’9" and a not-that-fat 200 pounds. While I’m no black belt in karate or anything, I was a three year letterman in wrestling in high school.
I picture the fight going: I don’t bother trying to box with the man. I clinch and trip, bullying him with my much greater strength. I then sit on his chest and pummel him until he goes unconscious.
If I can pick my clothes, I’m wearing jeans and a hoodie.
I seriously doubt that a 14th century peasant would have even the slightest clue of what a roundhouse kick to the head would look like. I’m pretty sure this fight would be over in 10 seconds.
I love this thread.
Hilariously even though I said I earlier I would beat his ass…if he caught just now getting off work, I’d be dead. That’s what happens when you’re 50. You start the day feeling 25 and end it feeling 60.
Yeah, poor guy would have to die. Years in the military, over a decade of martial arts, and I fight really dirty.
Least interesting Quantum Leap episode ever.
Even in contests of minimal importance, I tend to be pretty persistent, the peasant is about my size, it might be a lengthy struggle, but I know of the unexpected soft spots that would slow him down a lot. So, I would probably defeat him in the end.
After that, though, finding my glasses in the muck – hopefully intact – would be of great importance. If I had to try to get by without them, I would kind of be screwed.
Anyone who is well nourished and exercises in a modern way that builds strength and has any hand to hand fighting experience will have significant strength, size, and technique going against this guy.
The one thing is, anyone who has never been in an actual fight will almost certainly lose to the peasant unless they get really lucky. A huge part of being in a fight is being able to get hit in the face and keep going, it’s disorienting for someone to be hit in the face for the first time. It’s against most people’s instincts to keep going through the pain and not curl up. Some few people naturally react to violence with more violence, but people who have no fighting experience by default typically don’t.
Most likely this peasant has been bare knuckle brawling since he was weaned off the teat, and while his drunken brawling won’t make him the equivalent of a healthy, larger, modern fit person trained in fighting, I’d take him over a modern day guy who has never thrown a fist in anger or been hit by one thrown in anger.
The age of agriculture actually lead to a lot of health deterioration for those in the lower classes because in most places where this happened it meant exposure to far less protein in their diet. People often point to the lower heights in agricultural Europe during the middle ages to argue that “all people” used to be shorter than us, and while we are at probably the “tallest” era in human history the era being compared to was most likely the shortest.
Height was depressed in Europe for a long time in the peasant class. The average height in the 9th and 11th centuries was 5’8" for males, not too far below the average height for Americans today (5’10"), and decreased over the next 800 years to less than 5 1/2 feet for adult males. It’s likely that the average height for a noble/knight was probably even higher in the 9th/11th centuries and the common belief that a “normal” 6’ guy would be a giant back the is almost certainly untrue.
I think a fight against a “typical” Cro-Magnon man would be far more interesting. We’d have a height advantage and size advantage, but those guys were basically strong, fast, had endurance, good tactical knowledge. Basically the whole package, due to limited specialization they could basically do it all, or they wouldn’t be adult Cro-Magnons.
I was in great shape when I was 21, and I still would lose. He probably walks and runs 10 to 20 miles a day, often while carrying heavy loads. He’s endured the extremes of weather, had to run from enemies and predators long distances, and done heavy digging, chopping wood, dragging heavy loads, and many other strenuous activities, for most of life. He is going to bite, gouge, claw, head butt, and do whatever he can to win and probably has experience doing that. My own physical experiences wouldn’t compare. I’d have an edge in size (6 ft. 215 lbs. at that age), and a little knowledge and experience of modern hand to hand fighting techniques, but unless I could take him out early he’d win in the end. I could make it tough for him, but as an odds maker for that fight I’d give him the advantage in toughness and physical conditioning.
I think as a young adult I would have done well. I grew up doing hard labor and started fighting older guys at a very young age. The group I ran with spent hours each week sparring, wrestling and training to fight and we fought often. I don’t think peaseants fought that often but did work hard and were proably pretty tough.
I’m a 6’4" #370 professional bouncer doorman/security guard in my mid 40’s. I’ve had “classroom training” and “practical experience” in several martial arts. I’ve lost count of the number of fights I’ve been in over the years.
Even though I’m not in good health these days, in any sort of hand-to-hand combat the peasant is getting his neck broken or being strangled to death in short order.
Sorry about that.