How did serfs pay for protection under the feudal system?

The usual serf “paid” his fees and taxes by working for the lord 5 or 6 days a week. At different times in the year he would do different things. A serf could plough his lord’s fields, harvest crops, dig ditches, or repair fences. The rest of his time he could take care of his own fields, crops and animals.

What would happen if a serf tried to leave the land?

If a serf ran away to another part of the country there may have been no proof of their status. However serfdom could end legitimately. In many cases the lord of the manor held the right to receive a serf’s possessions after their death.

What did serfs have to do for the noble and what did they get in return?

Serfs who occupied a plot of land were required to work for the lord of the manor who owned that land. In return, they were entitled to protection, justice, and the right to cultivate certain fields within the manor to maintain their own subsistence.

How would serfs pay their lords for use of land and other services?

Serfs had to pay for the use of the lord’s land and also for services in the manor. They could grow grain, but they could not mill it. Instead, they had to pay to have it crushed at the lord’s mill. They had flour, but they could not bake bread.

How did the manorial system influence the lives of the serfs?

How did the manorial system influence the lives of the serfs? A: They had increased social mobility and were able to work their way to freedom. They had the ability to read and write through the schools on the manor.

How were serfs different from other peasants during the Middle Ages?

Serfs, however, were legally people—though they had far fewer rights than free peasants (poor farmers of low social status). Serfs’ movements were constrained, their property rights were limited, and they owed rents of all sorts to their landlords.

Can you get out serfdom?

He was bound to his designated plot of land and could be transferred along with that land to a new lord. Serfs were often harshly treated and had little legal redress against the actions of their lords. A serf could become a freedman only through manumission, enfranchisement, or escape.

What happens when a serf died?

In addition to those two heavy costs, a serf was obliged to pay fines and certain customary fees to their lord such as on the marriage of the lord’s eldest daughter, or on the death of a serf in the form of an inheritance tax paid by the serf’s heir.

How were the lives of the serfs and lords different?

The serfs did not own their own land. They worked for the lord of the manor, farming his land. Serfs were tied to the land on which they were born. The serfs provided every service for the manor lord.

How were serfs tied to the land?

serfdom, condition in medieval Europe in which a tenant farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord. The vast majority of serfs in medieval Europe obtained their subsistence by cultivating a plot of land that was owned by a lord.