Peasants

history · middle-ages · farming · society

Farmers with little land. Peasants were agricultural workers who typically owned very small plots of land or worked on land belonging to a lord. They made up the majority of Europe's population during the Middle Ages.

Three different types. European peasants fell into three main groups: slaves who were owned and unfree, serfs who were partially bound to the land they worked, and free tenants who could leave but still owed rent or services to their landlord.

Paying the landlord. In exchange for using the land, peasants paid their noble landlord with a share of their crops, money, labor, or services like building fences or maintaining the castle.

Many ways to own land. Peasants could hold land through different arrangements, such as socage (paying a fixed rent), quit-rent (paying a small annual fee to leave freely), leasehold (renting for a set time), or copyhold (holding land as recorded in the manor records).

The backbone of society. Though peasants had few rights and little freedom, they fed everyone in medieval Europe through their hard work farming grain, vegetables, and raising animals.