EXPLORING LIFE, DEATH AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN MEDIEVAL TIMES
The peasants lived in a village, in small houses with a plot of ground for growing vegetables or vines. Their houses had a timber frame, and the walls were made of wattle and daub (interwoven sticks and mud). The roof was thatched. The inside was dark and smokey from the open fire and candles.
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● The peasants were either freemen or serfs. Freemen paid a money rent and could move away whenever they wanted to. Serfs were not free. They needed the permission of the lord to travel to the nearest town.
All peasants had to work on the lord’s demesne (private estate) at certain times. They had to help with ploughing, sowing and harvesting the lord’s crops. They also had to pay a tithe (one-tenth of their produce) to the parish priest. They had to grind their corn in the lord’s mill.