Peasants Life In Medieval Times

Middle Ages DBQ Hard work, sweating, labor, torture, all this for a piece of land. Well, that’s how serfs and peasants lived in the Middle Ages in Europe. The middle ages was a time period back around 476 AD (OI). It was a time period back when knights and kings were a thing and where they had hardly any technology. The middle ages was a time period like in the movies when you see and old movie with kings and knights.

This was influenced by the manor system, “ The manor was the economic side of feudalism” (Doc 2). This meaning that your ranking in the feudalism was your job in the manor system. If you were a serf you worked, and farmed for the King, Knights,and Nobles and you had one day a week to farm to feed yourself and your family. If that isn't hard enough they also had to pay high rents to the lords for using his land to farm. The Knights and Nobles had to fight and serve the King for exchange of land,and they had to pay taxes. This showing that life in the Middle Ages was hard for many

Manorialism was an economic structure during the high middle ages that consisted of a lord and his vassals who served him and his wife. The serfs had more rights than slaves but they were tied to the land of their lord even when their land was captured by another lord. Unlike slaves, serfs could keep some of their crops and maintain their own family. Cottagers ranked below serfs and were only given cottage and a small plot of land to work on. At the top of the working class were freeholders. These peasants owned their own land and were not subjects of a lord. Peasants would work the fields together as a family regardless of sex or age, although mostly men worked with the heavy plows and women wove clothes during the least demanding seasons. The lands

In the Middle Ages your social status depended on your rank. The ranks were kings, nobles, knights, and then serfs.(Doc.1) Typically, the serfs did the most for everyone else, they provided food and services when demanded in exchange for protection and maybe something to eat.(Doc.1) Knights provided protection and military service for nobles in exchange for land. (Doc.1)

During the Middle Ages social class much different than modern day. In a feudal society “nobles were granted the use of land that legally belonged to the king,” (Doc. 1). The nobles, in return, would give the lord loyalty and military services (Doc. 1). As peasants or serfs worked for nobles and knights they received protection and a portion of the harvest to feed their families (Doc. 1).

All serfs were farmers. Serfs had poor shelter and lacked a diet. Most serfs lived in small homes made of stones, with roofs made of clay tiles or shingles. They had hard dirt floors and slept on straw mattresses that were on the floor. They had some furniture such as stools benches and a table (Cels 9). Peasants often ate bread and had pottage which was like a soup. Pottage was flavored with various types of vegetables. Since peasants weren't that wealthy, they rarely ate meat because it was expensive to buy and keep animals. Small amounts of chicken, pork and beef were considered treats (Cels 9). Serfs children often helped the parents around the house. Young children that were peasants normally played with toys such as dolls, carts, horses,whistles,

Imagine a world where people were forced to work the land for very little food and had to pay high taxes. This is what life was like for the peasants, or serfs, in Europe during the Middle Ages. From 500 to 1500 AD, life in Europe was organized into a categorized system. The Middle Ages lasted from 476 CE to the 14th Century(OI)

Peasants had a strong believe in the power of the church and also in the power of their lord. Peasants had to pay rent for his land to his lord; he had to pay 10 percent of what he had made from farming to the church which was called a tithe (Trueman). Peasants didn’t make much money already but they thought that paying their tithe would someday pay off in the end and that maybe they would be blessed by their lord. “A serf had to work and do menial jobs for his lord. He had to pay inheritance tax when his son took over his father’s role to the lord” (Difference). The serfs and peasants would never miss paying their taxes to their lord, because the power of the lord was so high and the serfs and peasants were scared by what they could do to

The most significant ways in which the legal status of the inhabitants of Lorris differed from that of the medieval serfs was that the inhabitants of Lorris were treated with more respect than the medieval serfs. The inhabitants of Lorris were given more privileges with being except from paying taxes and owing their property. They had more advantages when it come growing their business and traveling without paying any tolls along their way. They were able to profit from their own crops and were allow to “…made to pay measurage fee on the grain which he has raised by his own labor”. On the other hand the medieval serfs did not benefit from any of this legal status.

The majority of people in medieval Britain, both men and women, lived as farmers. Surely this was a life dominated by men at the time, with the heavy and physical work demanded in the fields? In fact, peasant life was very much about a partnership between husband and wife in raising a family and working the fields. At crucial times in the farming year, particularly harvesting seasons. Women worked alongside men in the fields.

The upper class had high demands for serfs. Rebellions occurred because lords in the feudal system tried to continue impose the feudalism structure, which lead to the Peasant’s revolt. Through this, the laborers were able to demand better working conditions since the upper class was desperate for people to grow their crops. Those who were slaves gained power. Those who had their rights abused were able to stand up. “The peasants became slightly more empowered, and revolted when the aristocracy attempted to resist the changes brought about by the plague” (“1320: Section...”). The Peasant’s Revolt foreshadowed future labor unions. They wanted to have fairness and better treatment which started the end of feudalism. “This set Western Europe along the path of diverging classes” (“1320:

The peasants worked the land for the lords. The lords owned the land, and some were even knights. Knights were honored people who served the king and fought as army generals. Their armor was the best there was. The nobles served in the king’s court.

Serfs had difficult, demanding lives in the MIddle Ages. First, they had horrible rags as clothes. Could you imagine!!!!! They probably looked like dishonored people and they were. The boys would wear dress like robes while the were doing there work/job. Also, serfs worked for the lord. They had to ask the lord to get married and if their child could have a differet job then them.

The peasant has always been looked upon as an object of pity, an underclass citizen who worked to provide for the higher classes. A passage from Pierce the Ploughman’s Creed gives the perfect description of a day in the life of a peasant: As I went by the way, weeping for sorrow, I saw a poor man hanging on to the plough. His coat was of a coarse stuff which was called cary; his hood was full of holes and his hair stuck out of it. As he trod the soil his toes stuck out of his worn shoes with their thick soles; his hocks on all sides and he was all bedaubed with muck as he followed the plough. He had two mittens, scantily made of rough stuff, with worn-out fingers and thick with muck. This man bemired himself in mud

Life as a serf or peasant was not easy. Serfs were bound to their lord's land and required to do services for him. Although they could not be sold like slaves, they had no freedom (Ellis and Esler 219-244). Peasants farmed for the goods that the lord and his manor needed. They went through difficult hardship because of this. Peasants were heavily taxed and had to provide for themselves the goods that they needed (“The Middle Ages”). According to the medieval law, the peasants were not considered to 'belong to' themselves (“The Middle Ages”). Although serfs were peasants and had relatively the same duties and similar rights, what differentiated a peasant from a serf was that a peasant was not bound to the land (“The Middle Ages”). Peasants had no schooling and no knowledge of the outside world (Ellis and Esler 219-244). They rarely traveled more than a couple miles outside of their villages. All members of a peasant family, including children, tended crops, farmed, and did some sort of work to help out (Ellis and Esler 224). Very few peasants lived past the age of 35 because of hunger in the winter and the easy development and transmission of disease (Ellis and Esler 224).