What was the relationship of the lord and serf?

Answer 1

The serfs worked for the lords and the lords gave them land and food and protection

Serfs differed from slaves in some important respects, and one of them is that they were not owned. They could not be bought or sold. They were not free because they were bound to the land they lived on and could not move away. If the owner of a manor sold it, the serfs stayed on the manor. They were not sold with the manor, but they did belong there, and the new owner could not move them off the land.

The relationship between the serf and the owner of the manor was one of mutual obligation. The serf had to work and provide a part of the crops to the lord. The lord had to provide the serf with a place to live and a plot of land to farm and protection. Buying a manor meant buying the obligation to protect the serfs who lived there.

Answer 2

About ninety percent of the medieval popoulation were peasants. There were free peasants who owned their lands, and peasants who became serfs because they gave their land to a landowner for help and protection. The lord, on the other hand, gave land and dwelling in exchange for work on the land and goods that the serfs gave him. Serfs worked on manors. They had to farm the demense (the land the lord kept in his direct ownership, the crops grown there were harvested for the lord) as well as their own piece of land. It is important to rememeber that the serfs did not have their land as their own property, the just had the right to use it. All the land belonged to the lords. That is why the lords could 'force' them to farm all the land. Peasants used their lands as tenants. In exchange for this right, the lord wanted produce and services from them: it was usual to demand one tenth of the produce from the tenants (tax), and some other goods(poultry, eggs) usually on set occasions , and of course the free work on the demesne.

Answer 3

They are both people.