A DIFFERENT PARENTING STYLE: What Medieval Europe Did With Its Teenagers. “Today, there’s often a perception that Asian children are given a hard time by their parents. But a few hundred years ago northern Europe took a particularly harsh line, sending children away to live and work in someone else’s home. Not surprisingly, the children didn’t always like it.” Even as late as the Napoleonic Wars, children were Midshipmen on warships. Plus: “There was a sense that your parents can teach you certain things, but you can learn other things and different things and more things if you get experience of being trained by someone else.”

As I’ve noted elsewhere, the modern teenager is a recent construct.

And, of course: “In London, the different guilds divided into tribes and engaged in violent disputes. In 1339, fishmongers were involved in a series of major street battles with goldsmiths. But ironically, the apprentices with the worst reputation for violence belonged to the legal profession.”