How Did So Many Peasants Live In The Middle Ages

A typical peasant household consisted of immediate and extended family ranging from children to grandparents in the same house. Since the setting up of new households was discouraged, a son would bring his new wife to live with his parents until he inherited the land. The patriarch and landowner of the family was always the oldest male, but upon his death, the land was divided among the sons. The size of the family was also positively proportional to the general income. Children were a drain on the household economy due to their inability to contribute to the work effort. Adolescents, however, were able to work and help support the family. Smaller households had less opportunities and thus were most commonly involved with industrial or agricultural wage labor. Larger families were more fortunate in that they had enough labor to pursue either farming alone or a mix of agriculture and domestic industries.

The Middle Ages or the Medieval Ages consisted of a new western society in Europe. Europe was filled with chaos of invasions and frequent warfare was dominating this new society. There in the Middle Ages, Kingdoms were formed after the fall of the Roman Empire had spread from all over the Mediterranean and Western Europe. They brought with them new technological and agricultural innovations that allowed trade to flourish. With the new innovations, peasants owed rent and labor services to nobles who provided the tools and land for them to farm. During this time, majority of the population of Medieval Europe was estimated to be 97% of the population. This large number of peasants trying to survive through village life was difficult. Many of the peasants could not repay their lords were in a cycle of debt. Their debt bondage can be passed on from generations to generations, with the children required to pay off their parents

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 were members of the lowest class, those who work. They were the most common class. They were the millers, blacksmiths, butchers, carpenters, farmers, and other trades people. Peasant women in particular, spent much of their time taking care of children, making clothes, and cooking meals. They also tended gardens, took care of animals by tending chicken, shearing sheep, and milking cows (Cels 16). Within peasants, there were two main groups of people, the serfs and the freemen. Both were employed by the lords. And serfs were people that paid more fees, and had less rights. Freemen on the other hand paid less fees and had more rights than serfs (Noiret). While freemen could leave the manor when at whim, serfs were not allowed to leave

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).

Life in the high middle ages, between 1000 and 1300 A.D., had two kinds of communities, manorial villages and towns. The major difference in these two distinct types of communities was the freedom and rights of the people. In the manorial villages you had lords who owned large portions of land. The vassals who entered into a military obligation with the lords, in exchange for land and protection. Finally, serfs who were a class of people that worked their lord’s land as half slave and half freeman. Vassals were more of an employee and the serfs were little more than a slave because they were bound to the lord’s land. The serfs could not leave or do anything without the lord’s permission and most of the time they had to pay fees to be granted the permissions they requested. In contrast the townspeople elected their officials, had freedom to choose a careers, they move about where they liked, and could acquire training and schooling. Townspeople were in fact free and not absolutely controlled by a lord. As for the manorial villages, the lords had all the power and had absolute control over all the actions and work of the vassals and serfs.

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.

The peasants seemed very poor and their children were ragged. The peasants were being crushed and couldn't do anything about it. The only thing they could try to do was revolt and hope for change. (Document 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,

During the Middle Ages a peasant’s life was, indeed, very rough, there were anywhere from ten to sixty families living in a single village; they lived in rough huts on dirt floors, with no chimneys, or windows. Usually one end of the hut was given over to storing livestock. Furnishings were quite sparse; three legged stools, a trestle table, beds softened with straw or leaves and placed on the floor; the peasant diet was mainly porridge, cheese, black bread, and a few homegrown vegetables. Peasants had a hard life, yet they did not work on Sundays, and they could travel to nearby fairs and markets. The basic diet of a lord consisted of meat, fish, pastries, cabbage, turnips, onions, carrots, beans, and peas, as well as fresh bread, cheese, and fruit. This is by no means equivalent to the meals the peasants ate, a lord might even feast on boar, swan, or peacock as well.

Frankish society was entirely rural and was composed of three orders or classes: (1) clergy (those who pray), (2) nobility (those who fight), (3) peasants (those who work). In general, life was harsh and brutal for the early medieval peasant. Even in the wealthiest parts of Europe, the story is one of hardship and poverty. Many peasants died from malnutrition, due to poor diet. Most peasants were illiterate although a few were practicing Christians. The majority could not understand the language of the church, which was Latin. While nobility was better off, and had more food, their diet still not very nutritional. Living in larger houses and castles, these were often just as cold as the peasant's small structure. Additionally, most nobility

Rich people had more variety of food than poor peasant people. An important part of a peasant's diet was bread. Peasant's eggs were gathered from their chickens, cheese/butter was made from their cow's milk, and meat was from chickens that no longer made eggs. Fish and meat, were luxurious to most peasants. Peasants who had meat and fish slated them to keep them from spoiling. The wealthier you were the better you ate. For upper class people, instead of eating just normal 'bread' they ate white bread of finest quality bread made from flour that was sifted two or three times. People who were rich would have rabbit, pork, chick and beef flavored with spices. Both the upper and lower-class people all drank ale and

In the feudal formation of the Middle Ages, the nobles who lived in the country add the king to protection in exchange for land. Peasants worked the land for the nobles, for which they accepted protection and their own small bundle of land. These backwoods peasants worked from sunrise to sundown, but even the nobles had few creature relief. In feudal cities, where there was a small middle-class population, life was a little easier and individuals had the freedom to go after whatever trade or industry they liked. In the late Middle Ages, when the threat of raid from wild had weakened, people left the country for towns and cities so they could employ in a more beneficial hunt.

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).

Behind each house was a garden or small plot of land. The common fields surrounding the village were some distance away, divided into strips and separated by twigs and pieces of unplowed land. Past the open fields was the waste, the uncultivated land which provided grazing land for the cattle, sheep and pigs and also fuel and timber for building.11 Bread was the staple item of the peasant diet. Eating meat was either a rare or nonexistent occurrence. Peasants ate whatever they grew: grains and a small percent of vegetables and potatoes. Barley and oats were made into both food and drink for consuming. The good grains, the meat from the animals, and the tasty fruits and vegetables went to either the lords or to the upper classes.12 “The peasant’s housing was as basic as his diet.” Most houses consisted of two rooms, one for living and one for sleeping. The walls were constructed of clay or straw supported by wooden frames. The roofs were thatched and animals were free to wander in and out. The smells of animals, sweat and waste were anything but pleasant and were more than plentiful.Water was gathered from an outside well or spring and there was no form of sanitation leading to a low level of personal