Peasantry

Villein

The wealthiest class of peasant, they usually cultivated 20-40 acres of land, often in isolated strips. In medieval Europe a peasant personally bound to his lord, to whom he paid dues and services, sometimes commuted to rents, in return for his land. A member of a class of partially free persons under the feudal system, who were serfs with respect to their lord but had the rights and privileges of freemen with respect to others.

Small Holder

A middle class peasant, farming more land than a cottager but less than a villein. A typical small holder would have farmed 10 to 20 acres.

Cottager

A peasant of lower class who owned a cottage, but owned little or no land.

Commoner

Lowest class of people. A person who does not belong to the nobility. A person who has a right in or over common land jointly with another or others.

Peasant

Farm laborers of low social rank; coarse, unsophisticated, boorish, uneducated person of little financial means.

Serf

Serfs lived in small communities called manors that were ruled by a local lord or vassal. Most peasants were serfs. They were bound to the manor and could not leave it or marry without the manor lord's permission. Serfs did all the work on the manor farm: they worked the fields, cared for the livestock, built and maintained the buildings, made the clothing, and cut firewood. Men, women, and children worked side by side. Serfs had small plots of land they could work for themselves; sometimes a serf saved enough money to buy his freedom and became a freeman.

A semi-free peasant (cottagers, small holders, or villeins) who worked his lord's land and paid him certain dues in return for the use of land, the possession (not ownership) of which was heritable. These dues ("corvee"), were in the form of labor on the lord's land, averaging three days a week. Essentially a slave in medieval times.

Steward

The man responsible for running the day-to-day affairs of the castle when the lord was absent. The steward organized farm work and kept accounts of the estate’s money. Stewards were well-paid, powerful figures in the district.

Bailiff

A peasant, next in importance to the steward. The bailiff was not a serf but a freeholder who owned his own land. He was in charge of giving jobs to the peasants, overseeing the care of the livestock, and taking care of building repairs by hiring skilled craftsmen to do the job.

Reeve

The bailiff’s right-hand man. A peasant chosen by the other villagers. He carried a white stick as a badge of office. He supervised work on the lord’s demesne, checking that everyone began on time, and ensuring that none of the produce was stolen.

Burgess

The holder of land or a house within a borough.

Labourers

A person engaged in physical work, esp. of an unskilled kind, serfs.

Hinds

Farm workers

Maid

"A virgin, a young unmarried woman," a shortening of the word maiden. A female servant, girl or young unmarried woman.

Scullery Maid

In great houses, scullery maids were the lowest-ranked and often the youngest of the female servants and acted as assistant to a kitchen maid. The scullery maid reported to the cook or chef. Along with the junior kitchen-maid, the scullery maid did not eat at the communal servants' dining hall table, but in the kitchen in order to keep an eye on the food that was still cooking. Duties included the most physical and demanding tasks in the kitchen, such as cleaning and scouring the floor, stoves, sinks, pots and dishes. After scouring the plates in the scullery, she would leave them on racks to dry. The scullery maid also assisted in cleaning vegetables, plucking fowl, and scaling fish.