Was the feudal pyramid fair to the serfs or not?

Answer 1

1st Answer:

Not at all unless for some reason they were ruled by an exceptionally kind Lord which wasn't very often.

Serfs had no freedoms and were the low men on the pyramid.

2nd Answer:

The manorial system was fair enough that many serfs wanted to live on manors.

Serfs were not slaves. They were not bought or sold. They had some very important rights. They are described as unfree, because they were bound to the soil. They had obligations to farm the land they lived on, and not to move away. They paid rent, in the form of labor, crops like wheat, or money.

In exchange for their labor and their obligations, they got a place to live, fields to farm, protection in times of unrest or famine, and certain obligations from the lord on whose land they lived; and the obligations of the lord matched those of the serfs. While the serfs were obliged to remain on the land whether the times were bad or good, the lord was obliged to allow them to live there regardless of what the times were like. In times of war, the lord was obliged to protect them, and in famine, he was obliged to feed them. Importantly, he could not make them move away; the soil was bound to them in the same way they were bound to the soil. They had the right to be there, as long as they stayed there.

This was a situation that was quite fair to the serfs when times were dangerous. It protected them. In fact, many people became serfs in such times quite willingly. The lords often did not want them in such times, because taking on additional serfs meant taking on additional obligations.

It was a situation that was fair neither to the serfs nor the lords when the times were really good. The serfs could get a better deal in town and cities in such times. But as times became really good, the lords often wanted to do something with their land other than have it be farmed by a bunch of serfs.

In some places, a serf who ran off was considered free if he stayed away for a year. The down side of freedom was that if he lost his job after a year, he could not return to the manor with the expectation that he would be accepted back. Personally, I think the thing that kept the serfs on the manors was the realization that there was value in security.