Were people free in middle ages?

Answer 1

People in villages in the medieval times had little freedom. There were people called freedman, and people called villeins (yes, that is spelt right). Villeins had no freedom whatsoever. If they wanted to work, they could but they would get payed little wages, if they didn't want to work, they had no choice but to work the minimum of one day a week; if this was the case, and they only worked one day a week then they wouldn't get payed for it. If you were a villein, you would have to ask the lords permission to get married, and you would have to ask his permission to eat or share the bread you have made,even if you did make it yourself.

If you were a freedman, it was completely different, you could get married to whoever and whenever you wanted, and would not have to ask anybodys permission. You could work, but you didn't have to work, and also you could eat the bread you made without permission, and you didnt even have to make the bread you could buy it- unlike the villeins-.# Hope that helped x :)

Answer 2

Most medieval people were free to some degree, but freedom was rather different than what we might think of its being.

Technically, slaves were not free. In some places, they had no freedom at all. Slavery, however, was frowned on by the Church, and in Western Europe, various governments banned slavery at various times. In some places, slaves were not captured and enslaved, but rather a sentence of slavery was imposed by the courts as a punishment. William the Conqueror was one king who banned slave traffic, and King Henry I banned slavery altogether.

Serfs lived on manors, and were not allowed to move away from them except through various legal means, such as getting the agreement of their landlords. They owed labor, often of two days per week, to the lord as a form of rent, in exchange for which they got a place to live, land to farm, and protection against crime and war. They also owed labor to common efforts of the serfs in general, such as farming commonly worked land. Aside from these duties, they were pretty much free.

Everyone who was not a serf had some sort of obligation to some lord or another or to the monarch. Since the political philosophy of the time was based on the idea of exchange of obligations, the monarch had obligations of his own.

Answer 3

The degree of freedom medieval people had is a complicated issue. There was slavery in the Middle Ages, but it was condemned repeatedly by the Church. It was made illegal in England by King Henry I in the early 12th century because of these condemnations. It also fell out of use in other place, though it continued to be common in the Byzantine Empire and Muslim lands.

Aside from slaves, everyone in society had his or her freedoms curtailed through a set of mutual obligations. People's freedoms were restricted, but they got something in exchange for this.

Most medieval Europeans were peasants, and in much of the Middle Ages most peasants of France, Germany, and England were serfs. Serfs were free to the extent that they could do as they chose much of the time. They were required to work one or two days per week for their manorial lords at jobs assigned to them. And they were not allowed to move away from the manor - though this was not quite as it might be made out, because in exchange for this lack of freedom, they were guaranteed a home, land to farm, and protection.

Many peasants were of the yeoman class. They were largely free, but they owed service to their overlord or king. This service was very often a requirement that they serve as archers during wars. The king or overlord had to protect them in difficult times, however.

Similarly, members of the nobility had freedom, but obligations to the king, usually to serve as knights. The kings had freedom, but obligations to the Church, and they were obliged to protect their nobles and often to obey earlier laws and customs. Merchants were free, but had obligations to guilds, the king, and others.

Really, the most free people of Europe were probably minstrels. But you can count on it; most were very poor.

Women did not have the same legal status as men, but the relative degrees of freedom varied widely from place to place. In some places, when a woman married, anything she owned passed to the control of her husband; in others this was not true. In some places, a woman could not be a monarch, but there were many countries where women could be monarchs. In most places, an adult woman was allowed to chose her own husband, but also in most places, wealthy women were married based on the desires of their family leaders, before they were adults. Some guilds allowed women members, but others did not (in fact some only allowed women and excluded men).

One thing worth pointing out was that any woman who was in an abusive relationship had the ability to take refuge in a convent. Though this might not sound like much, it was a place where she would be able to live without the abuse she had suffered. And anyone who attempted to remove a person who had taken such sanctuary was bound for trouble - probably more than he could handle.

I have put a link below to a related question on what medieval women did. It speaks to their possibilities.

Answer 4

Not really, because back then they had kings and queens and knights to tell you what to do.