Life in the High Middle Ages In this detail from a magnificent gold mosaic in the ceiling of the Basilica of Saint Clement in Rome, made in the twelfth century, a woman feeds her chickens. Scenes from everyday life often feature in the margins of paintings, mosaics, and books, and provide information about the lives of ordinary people that is unavailable elsewhere.
(Detail from the mosaic The Triumph of the Cross, Basilica of St. Clement, Rome, Italy/De Agostini Picture Library/Gianni Dagli Orti/Bridgeman Images)