Serfs and the Manor System

Vocabulary flashcards covering the rights, duties, and social status of serfs during the Middle Ages based on lecture notes.

Who were serfs

Farmers and their families who lived on a manor and were bound to the land, typically depending entirely on their lord.

Enslaved people

A group contrasted with serfs who had no rights at all, whereas serfs could own property and keep part of their harvest.

Manor

The estate where serfs lived in small cottages or huts and worked in workshops and fields around the village.

Bound to the land

A condition where serfs could not be sold or traded by a lord and would remain part of the estate even if it was inherited by another lord.

Produce

Items such as corn, chicken, bread, or timber used by serfs to pay rent and fees to their lord during the early Middle Ages instead of money.

Corvée labour

Specific services serfs performed for their lord, such as men building and repairing buildings or women weaving clothing.

Permission to leave

A requirement for serfs to exit the manor; those caught leaving without it faced harsh punishment and loss of their farming land.

Bandits

Criminals who occupied dangerous roads and looked for victims to rob, serving as a deterrent for serfs leaving the manor.