For what it’s worth, the reconstructed houses at Bärnau – Tachow and the medieval house plots in old Glurns / Glorenza are the same general order of size as the rural English houses in Christopher Dyer’s book. At Bärnau they have to keep the three villages a size which they can maintain, but they care about getting things right.
And yes, there are differences between societies, but I think its important to get the general order of magnitude in mind first. Rimini in 1461 was not the kind of place where people burned down old wooden buildings to salvage the iron in the nails, but I don’t think it was the kind of place where a typical kitchen had a set of six big knives which got used once or twice a year either.
From my point of view, Andrea di Clemente was in no way poor. He had a trade and a wife and a stock of goods and a cash reserve (including gold ducats of Venice!) He had several outfits of dyed clothing, including some broadcloth. I am sure he ate meat regularly and was not terribly cold in winter. A really poor working man would be someone like a day labourer helping to pack and move goods or dig ditches and hoping to be chosen out of the crowd of other desperate people.
