The Medieval epoch wasn't exactly glamourous. I am no historian but I bet the Wars of the Roses was full of miseries and bad fortunes for every side.
Like most eras, Western Europe in the medieval period went through periods of greater peace and all out war. But what most people mean when they say "medieval" is actually the early Renaissance (1200-1400), and during that time, especially the 14th century, life was pretty much a hell for everybody. The Roman Catholic Church had spread its influence into every land and forced conversions were constant. Religious dissension was put down with horrific brutality (usually, it has to be said, not by the RCC, but by the governments). Structural and social experimentation, much more common than we previously thought in the true medieval period, was quashed by largescale nationalist regimes. Class boundaries firmed up. Rebellions were common. The Black Plague made its first incursions. Income distribution was skewed more and more to the upper classes.
Despite the vast wealth available to the rich and powerful, luxuries were virtually non-existent. Even the concept of using controlled, vented fireplaces lay hundreds of years in the future: heat was constantly lacking. Glass was a luxury--windows were small and covered by paper, when possible. The most basic notions of sanitation simply didn't exist. Fleas, lice and parasites were common everywhere, though in better households, wives were instructed how to fold clothes and blankets tightly to literally strangle some vermin. Fuel was hard to come by, and the sun determined the hours of work and sleep for nearly everyone. Despite films to the contrary, most people did not use torches or oil lamps after dark. They went to bed.
Foods were basic, and often surprisingly diverse, but there was only one spice unless you were wealthy, at this time: honey. (Later on, the middle classes would acquire a taste for pepper, salt, etc.) People drank at table from a common cup passed around to all. Forks were introduced sometime during the 14th century among the upper classes, while something resembling a spoon had existed for some time. Otherwise, you ate with your hands.
There were few books, and hardly any literacy. Scientific knowledge in general and medical knowledge in particular received a slight boost from the absorption of texts in the hands of the Ottoman Empire, but it was mostly knowledge gained a priori, without experience, and suffered from being theoretically unsound (like the concept of life resulting from spontaneous generation, or the extraordinary idea some Churchmen had that women were the result of imperfections in the fetus). Slavery became far more common, with most slaves being imported from Eastern Europe (the term Slav is linguistically cognate). For women, things were still worse than for men.
The patriarchalism of the Roman Catholic Church meant an abrogation of whatever rights existed locally, so that all of a woman's goods passed to the control of her husband. Matrilineal inheritances were banished. Sex was forbidden on two out of every three days in any given year, due to sacred holidays, and only one position was authorized by the ubiqitous RCC, which felt that sex was simply for the propagation of the species, and to work off extra tension.
Yeah, it was pretty nasty. And during the 14th century, it was the equivalent of living in an African nation torn by rebellion and outside interference, today. You never knew where your next meal would come from, or who would be invading your lands, claiming them in the name of some leader, and requisitioning your private property (with reimbursement in some distant future). Not for nothing, the biggest hit tune of the period was one entitled, "Ah, These Men of War!"
