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Serfs

Interesting Facts and information about Serfs in the Middle Ages

The Daily Life of Medieval Serfs and Peasants

Definition of Serfs

Daily Life and work of a Middle Ages Serfs

Middle Ages Serfs and their Clothing

Origin of the Serfs and Serfdom

Medieval Serfs and Peasants
A medieval village or manor usually contained several classes of laborers, consisting of serfs and peasants. There might be a number of freemen, who paid a fixed rent, either in money or produce, for the use of their land. Then there were serfs who laboured in the lord's household or at work on his domain. Most of the peasants were serfs or villeins. The other labourers were called Cottagers or small holders. Under feudalism the lords and nobles of the land had certain rights over Medieval Serfs and Peasants which included the right of jurisdiction, which gave judicial power to the nobles and lords and the right of hunting. For more interesting information about rights in the Middle Ages click the following link:

Feudal System

Serfs

Interesting facts and information about life and the lives of men and women who were the serfs in the
Medieval period of the Middle Ages

Daily Life of a Serf
The daily life of a serf was hard. The Medieval serfs did not receive their land as a free gift; for the use of it they owed certain duties to their master. These took chiefly the form of personal services. Medieval Serfs had to labor on the lord's domain for two or three days each week, and at specially busy seasons, such as ploughing and harvesting, Serfs had to do do extra work. The daily life of a serf was dictated by the requirements of the lord of the manor. At least half his time was usually demanded by the lord. Serfs also had to make certain payments, either in money or more often in grain, honey, eggs, or other produce. When Serfs ground the wheat he was obliged to use the lord's mill, and pay the customary charge. In theory the lord could tax his serfs as heavily and make them work as hard as he pleased, but the fear of losing his tenants doubtless in most cases prevented him from imposing too great burdens on the daily life of the serf.

Origin of the Serfs and Serfdom
Serfdom developed during the later centuries of the Roman Empire and in the early Middle Ages. Most serfs seem to have been the successors, of Roman slaves, whose condition had gradually improved. Serfs were also recruited from the ranks of freemen who, because of the desire to gain the protection of a lord, became subject to him.

Serfs
Each section of this Middle Ages website addresses all topics and provides interesting facts and information about these great people and events in bygone Medieval times. The Sitemap provides full details of all of the information and facts provided about the fascinating subject of the Middle Ages!

Medieval Serfs Clothing
The Medieval clothing of serfs in the Middle Ages was basic and practical. Typical clothing or dress consisted of:

A blouse of cloth or skin fastened by a leather belt round the waist

An overcoat or mantle of thick woollen material, which fell from his shoulders to half-way down his legs

Shoes or large boots

Short woollen trousers,

From his belt there hung a sheath for his knife

They generally went bareheaded, but in cold weather or in rain he wore a woollen hat

Gloves were only worn for their practical clothing value and were padded for use in tasks such as hedging

Serfs

Medieval Serfs and Peasants

Definition of a Serf in the Middle Ages

Daily Life of Serfs

Medieval Serf Clothing and Daily Life

Origin of Serfs and Serfdom

The Oppression of the Serf

The Emancipation of the Serf

Life for Middle Ages Men and Women

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Serfs Interesting Facts and information about Serfs in the Middle Ages The Daily Life of Medieval Serfs and Peasants Definition of Serfs Daily Life and work of a Middle Ages Serfs Middle Ages Serfs and their Clothing Origin of the Serfs and Serfdom Medieval Serfs and Peasants A medieval village or manor usually contained several classes of laborers, consisting of serfs and peasants.

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BBC Medieval Lives Episode 1: The Peasant

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peasants get 8 weeks of vacation to stop rebelling. also,  they get the winter off.

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peasants get 8 weeks of vacation to stop rebelling. also,  they get the winter off.

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Life for the medieval peasant was certainly no picnic. His life was shadowed by fear of famine, disease and bursts of warfare. His diet and personal hygiene left much to be desired. But despite his reputation as a miserable wretch, you might envy him one thing: his vacations.

Plowing and harvesting were backbreaking toil, but the peasant enjoyed anywhere from eight weeks to half the year off. The Church, mindful of how to keep a population from rebelling, enforced frequent mandatory holidays. Weddings, wakes and births might mean a week off quaffing ale to celebrate, and when wandering jugglers or sporting events came to town, the peasant expected time off for entertainment. There were labor-free Sundays, and when the plowing and harvesting seasons were over, the peasant got time to rest, too. In fact, economist Juliet Shor found that during periods of particularly high wages, such as 14th-century England, peasants might put in no more than 150 days a year.

As for the modern American worker? After a year on the job, she gets an average of eight vacation days annually.

It wasn't supposed to turn out this way: John Maynard Keynes, one of the founders of modern economics, made a famous prediction that by 2030, advanced societies would be wealthy enough that leisure time, rather than work, would characterize national lifestyles. So far, that forecast is not looking good.

What happened? Some cite the victory of the modern eight-hour a day, 40-hour workweek over the punishing 70 or 80 hours a 19th century worker spent toiling as proof that we're moving in the right direction. But Americans have long since kissed the 40-hour workweek goodbye, and Shor's examination of work patterns reveals that the 19 th century was an aberration in the history of human labor. When workers fought for the eight-hour workday, they weren't trying to get something radical and new, but rather to restore what their ancestors had enjoyed before industrial capitalists and the electric lightbulb came on the scene. Go back 200, 300 or 400 years and you find that most people did not work very long hours at all. In addition to relaxing during long holidays, the medieval peasant took his sweet time eating meals, and the day often included time for an afternoon snooze. "The tempo of life was slow, even leisurely; the pace of work relaxed," notes Shor. "Our ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure."

Fast-forward to the 21 st century, and the U.S. is the only advanced country with no national vacation policy whatsoever. Many American workers must keep on working through public holidays, and vacation days often go unused. Even when we finally carve out a holiday, many of us answer emails and "check in" whether we're camping with the kids or trying to kick back on the beach.

Some blame the American worker for not taking what is her due. But in a period of consistently high unemployment, job insecurity and weak labor unions, employees may feel no choice but to accept the conditions set by the culture and the individual employer. In a world of "at will" employment, where the work contract can be terminated at any time, it's not easy to raise objections.

It's true that the New Deal brought back some of the conditions that farm workers and artisans from the Middle Ages took for granted, but since the 1980s things have gone steadily downhill. With secure long-term employment slipping away, people jump from job to job, so seniority no longer offers the benefits of additional days off. The rising trend of hourly and part-time work, stoked by the Great Recession, means that for many, the idea of a guaranteed vacation is a dim memory.

Ironically, this cult of endless toil doesn't really help the bottom line. Study after study shows that overworking reduces productivity. On the other hand, performance increases after a vacation, and workers come back with restored energy and focus. The longer the vacation, the more relaxed and energized people feel upon returning to the office.

Economic crises give austerity-minded politicians excuses to talk of decreasing time off, increasing the retirement age and cutting into social insurance programs and safety nets that were supposed to allow us a fate better than working until we drop. In Europe, where workers average 25 to 30 days off per year, politicians like French President Francois Hollande and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras are sending signals that the culture of longer vacations is coming to an end. But the belief that shorter vacations bring economic gains doesn't appear to add up. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) the Greeks, who face a horrible economy, work more hours than any other Europeans. In Germany, an economic powerhouse, workers rank second to last in number of hours worked. Despite more time off, German workers are the eighth most productive in Europe, while the long-toiling Greeks rank 24 out of 25 in productivity.

Beyond burnout, vanishing vacations make our relationships with families and friends suffer. Our health is deteriorating: depression and higher risk of death are among the outcomes for our no-vacation nation. Some forward-thinking people have tried to reverse this trend, like progressive economist Robert Reich, who has argued in favor of a mandatory three weeks off for all American workers. Congressman Alan Grayson proposed the Paid Vacation Act of 2009, but alas, the bill didn't even make it to the floor of Congress.

Speaking of Congress, its members seem to be the only people in America getting as much down time as the medieval peasant. They get 239 days off this year.
PHOTO: Caitlin, an Australian tourist, enjoys the sun on a beach of the Croisette during a hot summer day in Cannes July 31, 2013. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

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Why a medieval peasant got more vacation time than you

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John Maynard Keynes, one of the founders of modern economics, made a famous prediction that by 2030, advanced societies would be wealthy enough that leisure time, rather than work, would characterize national lifestyles. So far, that forecast is not looking good.

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charlie

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watch movie become the master race

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BBC - KS3 Bitesize History - The feudal system and the Domesday Book : Revision, Page 2

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A key stage 3 history revision resource for the feudal system and the Domesday Book.