Why were serfs called serfs?

Answer 1

1st Answer:

The word "serf" is Latin for slave, so they were called serfs/slaves because that is what they were.

2nd Answer:

The Latin for slave is servus. A number of words are derived from it, including both serf and servant. A serf, however, was not a slave, but a person who was in a state of mutual obligation with a landlord, which included a legal obligation not to move away. Please see the link below.

Answer 2

The nobility fought for everyone, the clergy prayed for everyone, and the serfs fed everyone.

The serfs were the lowest class. They provided food and simple labor. They did not have much in the way of power, and could be abused by their superiors, but they did have rights and were not slaves. They were bound to the soil, not the owner of the manor. They not permitted to leave the lands to which they were bound, but the owner could not put them off of it either; they occupied the land they lived on by right. They were not bought or sold.

The serfs provided some countries with the lowest level of soldiers. In England they provided the strongest part of the army, as was proven at the battles of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, where they broke the heavily armored French knights utterly.

The serfs could influence nations, especially if they cooperated with the merchants and freemen of towns and cities, but this level of cooperation rarely developed. There is an occasional case of a serf leading a successful revolt, and even subsequently becoming king, as happened in Bulgaria when the peasant, Ivaylo the Cabbage became ruler in 1278. It did not work out well for him, however, as being king had problems of its own.

Answer 3

The serfs were near the bottom of the food chain in the Feudal System.The vassals either served the King , or a local Lord. Some people who chose to remain free risked starvation and no protection from marauders if they rejected serfdom.

Answer 4

Serfs were peasants who worked his lord's land and paid him certain dues in return for the use of land, the possession (not the ownership) of which was heritable. The dues were usually in the form of labor on the lord's land.

Answer 5

they were just like peasants but were more lower class

Answer 6

If you are talking about the mid-ages then it was important because land was how the lords got money. People, like farmers would use the land and the lords would get rent from them

Answer 7

They did all the work and made up the foot soliders for the armies.

Answer 8

because they need serf to work for them.

Answer 9

the serfs grow crops for everyone in the city / castle / village . if there are no serfs , people will barely have food to eat , to feed the animals , they grow crops for selling and for food , the earn money by the food , they can't live if they done sell them , the money will go to clothes , materials , rents and even marriage and furniture

Answer 10

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