Peasants of 1650 in France had many mysteries in their lives.
The most bewildering mysteries came from the ranks of the nobility and the royal class. Noble intrigues were more than court gossip and conspiracies. Peasant heard the rumors and saw them as mysteries of power. They spilled over into peasant life in very real ways.
The chapter I’m now writing for my historical novel tells the story from the peasant’s side.
Why did the nobles go to war with each other? Why did warring factions descend upon the village and plunder what little peasants have? Why did their taxes go up for no discernible reason?
While the upper class created their own dramas, peasants also had everyday mysteries to deal with.
Storms, droughts, and disease baffled them and were frequently attributed to God’s will, so prayer was thought to be a powerful antidote.
Many farming people studied the stars, the phases of the moon, tides, and animal behavior and tried to grasp those mysteries to use the information in their daily lives. Were these our early scientists?
Lack of fertility, madness, twins, and sudden death were looked at with suspicion. While dreams might be clues to the unknown.
These gaps in knowledge were filled in with religion, folk wisdom, and superstition as ordinary people tried to give a reason to unusual events and mysteries. We may laugh at them now, but making sense of mysteries allows one to live with them.
Jeanne Meeks ~ Fiction Author 
The painting was from 1630.
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