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Peasants And Serfs

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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 …show more content…

At first these plows were pulled by horses but later they were pulled by oxen (Cels 12). The meadows were cut in June to make hay for the animals to eat through the winter. This was important as the amount of hay cut determined the number of animals kept through the winter. Next came weeding the crops, which was the most hated work of the year. After this, the busiest time of the year came. It was the harvest, which took place in August and September. During the harvest, everyone helped and worked from dawn to dusk. Crops were gathered with a sickle and grains were separated from the husk and stalks, which was also called the chaff, with a flail. A sickle was a curved crescent shaped blade on a wooden handle, and a flail was two pieces of wood connected by a strap of leather. The beaten crop was widowed, or thrown in the air, so that the lighter chaff blew away. Peasants celebrated once the harvest was safely in with a feast (Crisp 11). The harvest was celebrated as it meant that they had a better chance of surviving the winter, because without the harvest safely in, the chance of them starving in the winter was much higher. Peasants had work, mostly farming, all …show more content…

Serfs grew the food and made the things that everyone required, and without them, the system would collapse. Manorialism was also important to it as a source of order and economy. In this structure, feudalism was the main political land based system of the Middle Ages. And while the practice of it mostly disappeared with the Middle Ages, it is still an imprinted government in

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