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What does villeins or peasants mean?
Villeins were medieval peasants who worked the land for landlords,some had their own strips of land.
What are the different levels of peasants?
The term peasant encompassed a number of different types, including freemen, villeins, cottars, bordars, serfs, and slaves. The link below goes to an article on serfdom, and to the section of the article describing the various types of peasants. Unfortunately, the term serf is used in the article to mean peasant, in some places, and a peasant who is bound to the land, in others.
What were a medieval peasants freedoms?
Some peasants were freemen, either as tenant farmers or as yeomen, who had their own holdings. They were pretty much free, though with some restrictions we might find a bit uncomfortable today; for example, they could not speak out against the monarch. Serfs were assigned work, which they had to do, but they also could do as they liked during the unassigned times, which were bout three or four days per week. This was not time off, but time during which they farmed the plots they had for themselves. They were not free to move away from the manor they lived on.
Wealthy peasants in the Soviet Union were called what?
A peasant is a farmer. Most peasants were poor, and most worked land owned by someone else, but not all. Poor peasants who worked the land of lords are most commonly referred to as serfs. Serfs did not pay rent, and were required to provide labor for the lord. They also were not free to move away from the manor on which they worked, though they were not slaves. They had some important rights that provided for their security, and they could not legally be forced to leave the manor unless they broke a law or failed to do their duties. Serfs were also called villeins. Certain serfs who had fewer rights were called cottagers or bordars, though the exact legal situation of bordars may not be entirely understood. Some medieval societies allowed slavery, but not all. Freemen worked land they rented, and they had contracts like leases. Yeomen were peasants who owned their own land. They did not owe duties to a lord, but had to be prepared for military service as archers (at least in England).
What do the serfs do?
Serfs, also known as villeins, were peasants who lived in small farming villages in the middle ages. There were a bondsman in that they owed labor to the lord of the manor, in some places up to two days per week, and could not move their residence away from their home manor without permission of their lord, although this was sometimes arranged in exchange for an annual fee. Most villeins supported themselves by farming their own lands while not working the lord's land. A few practiced crafts. Common village crafts included blacksmith, carpenter, and miller, although there may have not been enough work to fully support them, and they may have still farmed as well. Not all villeins had the same level of wealth. Some held only a house, farmyard (called a toft) and a large garden of half an acre to an acre (called a croft). This would have been inadequate to support a family and the individual would have had to do day labor or otherwise hire out to make ends meet. Villeins who held 10-12 acres would have been able to live at a subsistence level, and a minority who held 20 acres or more would have generated significant surplus and had relative economic comfort compared to their neighbors. A few peasants held 30, 40 or even more acres of land. The wealthiest peasants would have had hired hands for agricultural work, may have hired someone to fulfill part or all of their labor obligation to the lord, and in a few cases even employed a servant or two. A small minority of village peasants were not serfs, but were free men. They still paid a rent based on the amount of land they held in the village field, and various taxes and fees, but did not owe labor, or only owned a token amount of labor, and were free to remove themselves from the village if they chose. Serfs or villeins should not be confused with slaves. There were not considered chattel. They could not sold to another lord, nor could they be forced from their land. They were free to own their own possession, organize their time outside of their labor obligations as they saw fit, and a few succeeded in accumulating modest wealth.
