Peasants, Agriculture and the Rise of Towns

Most people in medieval Europe never saw a castle up close. They saw a field. About nine in ten lived by farming, and almost everything else rested on their work.

In this lesson, we follow the peasants. We see who they were, how new tools and warmer weather fed more mouths, and why some of them left for the towns. We end with the guilds and the market towns they built.

1Who were the medieval peasants?

Peasants were the third order of medieval society. They were the people who worked. They grew the food that fed the lords and the clergy.

Not all peasants were equal. Some were free. They paid rent and could leave. Others were serfs, or villeins. A serf was tied to the land.

A serf could not leave the manor without the lord’s leave. A serf also needed permission to marry. But a serf was not a slave. A serf could not be sold apart from the land. In return, the lord owed protection and a plot to farm.

• Peasants were the third order: those who worked.
• A serf was tied to the land.
• A serf needed the lord’s leave to move or marry.
• Unlike a slave, a serf was not sold alone.

2What did peasants owe their lord?

The manor was the basic unit of the countryside. The lord kept part of the land for himself. Peasants farmed their own strips. In return, they worked the lord’s fields.

This unpaid work was called labour service, or corvée. It usually meant a set number of days each year. Serfs might also mend roads or work in the lord’s forest. The exact days differed from place to place.

Peasants also paid in produce and coin. And they paid the Church its tithe, a tenth part of the harvest. Lords often owned the mill and the oven. Villagers had to use them, and they paid for it.

In France, the crown added the taille. It was a direct tax on peasants and other non-nobles. At first it was raised only in times of need. In 1439 it became permanent, to pay for a standing army.

• Peasants worked the lord’s fields: labour service.
• They paid produce and coin to the lord.
• The Church took the tithe, a tenth.
• The French taille became permanent in 1439.

3How did new tools change farming?

Around the year 1000, several tools came into wide use in Europe. They made one farmer’s work go much further.

The first was the heavy plough, with a mouldboard. The old light plough, the ard, only scratched the surface. That was fine on light soils. But northern Europe had heavy clay soils. The heavy plough turned them over. Weeds were buried, and the soil became richer.

The second was the horse collar. Older harnesses pressed on the horse’s windpipe. The collar rested on the shoulders instead. A horse could then pull its full strength. The collar became common in Europe by the 12th century.

The third was the horseshoe. It protected the hooves on hard ground. Together, collar and shoe made the horse a real rival to the ox.

Power came from water and wind too. The Domesday Book of 1086 records 5,624 watermills in England alone. The vertical windmill first appeared in north-western Europe in the 12th century.

• The heavy plough opened up clay soils.
• The horse collar let horses pull without choking.
• The horseshoe protected the hooves.
• 1086: Domesday counts 5,624 watermills in England.
• The vertical windmill appears in the 12th century.

4Why did the three-field system matter?

Land needs rest. Crops drain the soil. So farmers left some land fallow. In the older two-field system, half the land lay idle each year.

The three-field system did better. One field was sown in autumn, with wheat or rye. A second was sown in spring, with oats, barley or beans. The third lay fallow. Each year the crops moved on to the next field.

Now only one third of the land rested. More land was growing food. Spring crops also gave a second harvest, which cut the risk of famine. In much of Europe the change came between the 9th and 11th centuries.

• Two-field: half the land fallow.
• Three-field: only one third fallow.
• Autumn crop, spring crop, fallow, in turn.
• Spread across Europe in the 9th-11th centuries.

5Why did Europe’s population grow?

Better tools and fields were one reason. Weather was another. From about 950 to 1250, the North Atlantic region was warmer than before. Historians call this the Medieval Warm Period. It did not reach every region equally.

Fewer raids also helped. The Viking, Magyar and Saracen attacks of earlier years had faded. Farmers could clear forest and drain marsh in peace.

Europe’s population is thought to have been about 25 to 30 million in Charlemagne’s time. It then grew strongly through the High Middle Ages. It peaked around 1300. These totals are only estimates, so treat any exact figure with care.

• Warm weather: about 950-1250.
• Fewer raids meant new land could be cleared.
• Population peaked around 1300.
• All medieval population figures are estimates.

6Why did towns rise?

More food meant fewer farm hands were needed. Some people turned to crafts and trade. They settled near castles, abbeys and river crossings. Markets grew there, and the markets grew into towns.

Towns wanted freedom from local lords. Many paid for charters, which gave them their own rights. In northern and central Italy, communes became city-states. In Germany, many towns became free cities.

A saying captured the change: “Stadtluft macht frei”. It means “city air makes you free”. By custom, a serf who lived in a town for a year and a day could become free. In practice, the rule differed from place to place.

Trade fairs added to this growth. The Champagne fairs, in north-eastern France, flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries. Merchants from many lands met there.

• Markets near castles and rivers grew into towns.
• Communes first recorded in the 11th-12th centuries.
• Stadtluft macht frei: a year and a day in town.
• The Champagne fairs peaked in the 12th and 13th centuries.

7What did guilds do?

Town crafts were organised in guilds. A merchant guild ran trade in a town. A craft guild gathered workers of one trade, such as weavers or bakers.

Guilds set quality standards. They could fix prices and trading hours. They also limited how many apprentices a master could take. Only guild members could sell their goods inside the town.

Training followed three steps. A young person began as an apprentice. Later they became a journeyman. A skilled worker might finally rise to master. Critics said these rules cut competition. Defenders said they protected standards.

• Merchant guilds ran trade. Craft guilds ran a trade.
• They fixed quality, prices and apprentice numbers.
• Steps: apprentice, journeyman, master.

8What are the exam traps?

• The taille was a royal tax. The tithe went to the Church.
• A serf was bound to land but not a slave.
• Two-field left half fallow. Three-field left one third.
• The horse collar helped the horse pull. The horseshoe protected hooves.
• Do not quote one exact population figure. Historians only estimate.