What York's medieval past can teach us about online division and protest. By Fiona McCulloch of York Citizens Advice
AS we get ready for Halloween, or Samhain, the medieval tradition of souling offers a surprising lens through which to view modern protest, online hostility and the growing divisions created by digital life.
In the medieval period, especially between 1300 and 1500, York was at the very peak of power and wealth, One medieval custom, which York residents would have embraced with enthusiasm, souling, raises a question that feels remarkably contemporary, what happens when the established order is challenged, and what holds a community together when people begin to turn against one another?
For York, a city whose streets still bear the imprint of the Middle Ages, this is more than a historical curiosity. It is an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between power, protest and belonging in modern society.
Associated with All Souls’ Day on 2 November, souling involved people, including children and poorer members of the community, going from house to house offering prayers for the dead in exchange for soul cakes or other gifts. Customs varied by region and over time, but the practice connected remembrance, charity and the belief that the living could help the souls of the departed.
Beneath this exchange lay a recognisable social relationship. Those with resources could give; those in need could ask; and religious belief offered a shared framework through which the transaction made sense. It was a world structured by hierarchy, obligation and community ties.
Medieval festivities could also temporarily invert the normal social order. Traditions associated with misrule, carnival and the Feast of Fools allowed authority to be mocked, conventions to be overturned and ordinary people to imagine a world turned upside down. Such occasions did not necessarily dismantle established power. Sometimes they offered a temporary release that helped existing structures survive.
Nevertheless, they recognised something enduring about human society, people need ways to express frustration when they feel powerless.
That tension is visible today in France, where student demonstrations have highlighted anger over underfunded schools, staff shortages, deteriorating facilities and inequalities in access to higher education. France has an embedded tradition of "people power" which makes such demonstrations more accepted.
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However, these events should not be reduced to a simple story of rebellious young people challenging authority, an embedded tradition in France. They raise more difficult questions about whose voices are heard, who gets to determine the rules and whether institutions respond to grievances with dialogue or force.
The inversion of hierarchy is particularly striking when young people, usually expected to obey teachers, parents and public authorities, become the ones demanding that those in power justify themselves.
There is a parallel with medieval misrule, although modern protests have different causes, consequences and political contexts. In both cases, established authority is challenged by people who believe the usual arrangements no longer serve them.
The crucial distinction is whether disruption opens a path towards meaningful change or becomes an end in itself.
The internet has created another arena in which hierarchies can be overturned. A single post can expose powerful institutions, bring neglected injustices to public attention or allow an ordinary citizen to challenge someone with considerable influence.
But the same tools can turn criticism into humiliation, and disagreement into a relentless contest to shame, threaten or silence others, a social media "pile on".
Online trolling resembles a distorted form of medieval village gossip. In a small community, reputation could be damaged through rumour, public ridicule and exclusion. Today, algorithms can magnify those dynamics across millions of screens, rewarding outrage and steering users towards material likely to provoke a reaction.
We may have more connections than ever, yet increasingly inhabit separate information worlds. Algorithms can repeatedly show us the opinions we already favour, the people we already distrust and the grievances most likely to keep us engaged. Liane Moriarty wrote a great line for Madeline Mackenzie in Big Little Lies "“They say it's good to let your grudges go, but I don't know, I'm quite fond of my grudge. I tend it like a little pet.” Social media does this with major amplification!
The result can feel like a return to a medieval village mindset: small, competing groups with their own loyalties, their own version of events and little trust in outsiders. The difference is that our villages are no longer defined by geography. They are assembled by software.
This is not to suggest that medieval communities were uniformly isolated, or that every algorithm deliberately divides us. Rather, it is a warning that technology can reinforce the same human tendencies towards tribal loyalty, suspicion and exclusion that have existed for centuries.
How can Citizens Advice help with this? One answer begins not with grand political gestures but with practical solidarity.
When people face mounting bills, insecure housing, workplace disputes, benefit problems or debt, frustration can become a sense that society has abandoned them. Material hardship does not automatically produce hostility, but unresolved problems and powerlessness can leave people more vulnerable to anger, isolation and divisive narratives.
Citizens Advice offers a practical alternative, helping people understand their rights, navigate complicated systems and find a route through problems that might otherwise feel overwhelming.
In York, Citizens Advice York provides support with issues including debt, benefits, housing, employment and consumer rights, alongside specialist and community outreach services. Its advice can help people regain a sense of agency and understand the options available to them.
Citizens Advice York is a small independent charity providing support and advice to York residents. Find out more at: citizensadviceyork.org.uk