Were the Middle Ages a time in which every person knew his/her place? Were they the Age of Faith? Were peasants conservatives, and city dwellers prone to adopt innovation? Were women powerless and had to wait patiently for modernity to gain agency? Were families extended, individual nearly non-existent? These are some of the questions to be dealt with in this introductory lecture into medieval social history, focusing on Western Europe between the eleventh and the fifteenth century.