The Medieval Agrarian Economy

by Tim Harding

This striking image depicts the three main classes of medieval society – the clergy, the knights and the
peasantry.[1]  Tellingly, the cleric and the knight are shown talking to each other; but the peasant is excluded
from the conversation.  Even though the peasants comprised over 90% of the population, they were in many
ways marginalized socially and economically.  So who were these peasants and what was their daily life like?

Source of image: Wikimedia Commons

The term ‘peasant’ essentially means a traditional farmer of the Middle Ages, although in everyday language it
has come to mean a lower class agricultural labourer.  In the Central Middle Ages, that is the period from 1000
to 1300CE, European peasants were divided into four classes according to their legal status and their
relationship to the land they farmed.  These classes were slave, serf, free tenant or land owner.  The first two
classes were usually much poorer than the second two.

There were several factors that influenced the lives of peasants during this period.  The reciprocal benefits of
agricultural labour and warrior protection gave rise to closely settled manorial and feudal communities.[2] 
More land was brought under cultivation by the communal clearing of forests, draining of swamps and the
building of levees or dykes.[3]
The invention of a heavier wheeled plow enabled deeper cultivation of soils, including the burying of green
manure from fallow land and also stubble from previous crops.  The deeper furrows also protected seed from
wind and birds.[4]

Source of image: Wikimedia Commons

There was also a period of warmer temperatures, milder winters and higher rainfall at this time, resulting in
longer growing seasons.[5]  Another important factor was the replacement of the Roman two-field rotation
system by a more efficient three-field system, enabling two-thirds of the land to be under cultivation at any one
time, instead of only half the land.  This image shows the three cropping fields (West, South and East) of a
typical rural community, with the remaining quarter devoted to pasture, the Manor house and Church.[6]
Source of image: Bennett, Judith M., Medieval Europe – A Short History
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011). p. 142.

Interestingly, the typical length of a plow-strip was 220 yards, called a furlong (a word still used in horse
racing today).  The width of a plow-strip was a rod, and a rectangle of 4 rods by one furlong became an acre.
[7] (Four rods later became a ‘chain’ of 22 yards, so an acre was an area one furlong by one chain).
The resulting increases in agricultural yields raised farm production above subsistence levels for the first time
in centuries.   These surpluses not enabled not only trade, but also the storage of produce such as oats for the
feeding of horses.  This in turn enabled the replacement of plow-pulling oxen by horses that required less
pasture that could be reallocated to cropping.  Horses also moved and turned faster than oxen, resulting in even
more efficiencies.[8]
Crop yields for wheat improved to an estimated four times the quantity of grain sown.  Typically, one quarter
of the yield was reserved for the next planting, one or two quarters went to the lord of the manor as rent, and
the remainder was either consumed as bread or beer, stored for the winter or sold at local markets.[9]
Few peasants could afford meat to eat – they mainly lived on bread, beer and vegetables grown by women and
children in small cottage gardens, plus eggs from chickens and milk from cows and goats.  Those living in
coastal areas also ate fish. [10]

 Bibliography
Backman, Clifford R., The Worlds of Medieval Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).
Bennett, Judith M., Medieval Europe – A Short History (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011).
Endnotes
[1] Bennett, Judith M., Medieval Europe – A Short History (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011) p.135.
[2] Backman, Clifford R., The Worlds of Medieval Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015) p.215
[3] Bennett, p.140.
[4] Backman, p.218.
[5] Bennett, p.139.
[6] Bennett, p.140-142.
[7] Backman, p.217.
[8] Backman, p.218.
[9] Backman, p.219.
[10] Backman, p.220.

European Agrarian Society: Manorialism

One of the greatest achievements of the early Middle Ages was the emergence of the
single-family farm as the basic unit of production. Villa owners, that is, former Roman
patricians, were forced to settle their slaves on their own estates. The wreckage of the
Roman Empire and with it, the decline of any form of centralized government, demanded
such a development. This development often called manorialism or serfdom, marks the
beginning of the European peasantry, a class or order of laborers who did not really
disappear until quite recently. Before we turn our attention to serfdom or manorialism, it
is necessary to highlight a few technological achievements of the period, roughly 500-
1000.

By the 6th century a series of new farm implements began to make their appearance. The
first development was the heavy plow which was needed to turn over the hard soil of
northern Europe. The older "scratch" plow had crisscrossed the field with only slight
penetration and required light, well-drained soils. The heavy plow or "moldboard" cut
deep into the soil and turned it so that it formed a ridge, thus providing a natural drainage
system. It also allowed the deep planting of seeds. The heavy plow, by eliminating the
need for cross-plowing, also had the effect of changing the shape of fields in northern
Europe from squarish to long and narrow. The old square shape of fields was
inappropriate to the new plow -- to use it effectively all the lands of a village had to be
reorganized into vast, fenceless open fields plowed in long narrow strips. This invited
cooperation.

The only drawback as that it required an increased amount of animal power to draw it
across the soil. So, a second innovation attempted to overcome this drawback: the
introduction of teams of oxen. This became possible through the adoption of two pieces of
technology known to the Romans: the rigid horse collar and the tandem harness. The rigid
collar and tandem harness allowed teams to pull with equal strength and greater
efficiency. And this invited cooperation as well for how many peasants can be said to
have owned eight oxen, the number requisite to pull the heavy plow? If they wished to use
this new piece of technology they would have to pool their teams. Added to this was the
fact that each peasant might "own" and harvest fifty or sixty small strips scattered widely
over the entire arable land of the village. The result was the growth of a powerful village
council of peasants to settle disputes and to decide how the total collection of small strips
ought to be managed. This was the essence of the manorial system as it operated in
northern Europe.

Northern European farmers also began to experiment with the three-field system of crop
rotation. Under the older, two-field system, the arable land was divided in half. One field
was planted in the fall with winter wheat while the other field remained fallow. Under the
three-field system, the same land would be divided into thirds. One field would be planted
in the fall with winter wheat or rye and harvested in early summer. In late spring a second
field planted with oats, barley, legumes or lentils , which were harvested in late summer.
The third field would remain fallow. Such a system improved the arability of the soil since
the tendency to overuse was greatly diminished. The importance of this cannot be
overlooked. Without additional plowing, it would be possible for the land to yield more
food. The increased amount of vegetable protein made available meant that European
peasants might enjoy an improved level of nutrition. Lastly, the diversification into other
crops such as oats, meant that horses could be fed properly. And the horse would
eventually replace oxen as the preferred method of animal power.

These innovations in agricultural techniques -- medieval microchips, if you will -- were by

no means the only ones to make their appearance during the early Middle Ages. Iron
became increasingly utilized to make agricultural implements since it was more durable
than wood. New farm implements were either discovered or refined such as the toothed
harrow. There was also a startling incidence of windmills. All this meant greater food
production and with much greater efficiency. These developments took place, gradually
and regionally, on the medieval manor. The manor was the fundamental unit of economic,
political and social organization. It was, furthermore, the only life the medieval serf or
peasant ever knew. The manor was a tightly disciplined community of peasants organized
collectively under the authority of a lord. Manors were usually divided into two parts:
the demense defined the lord's land and was worked by the serf and then there were the
small farms of the serfs themselves. There were also extensive common lands (held by
men in common by the grace of God) used by the serfs for grazing, gleaning, hunting and
fishing. The typical medieval manor also contained various workshops which
manufactured clothes, shoes, tools and weapons. There were bakeries, wine presses and
grist mills.

A lord controlled at least one manorial village and great lords might control hundreds. A
small manor estate might contain a dozen families while larger estates might include fifty
or sixty. The manorial village was never completely self-sufficient because salt, millstones
or perhaps metalware were not available and had to be obtained from outside sources.
However, the medieval manor did serve as a balanced economic setting. Peasants grew
their grain and raised cattle, sheep, hogs and goats. There were blacksmiths, carpenters
and stonemasons who built and repaired dwellings. The village priest cared for the souls
of the inhabitants and it was up to the lord to defend the manor estate from outside attack.

When a manor was attacked by a rival lord, the peasants usually found protection inside
the walls of their lord's house. By the 12th century, the lord's home had become in many
cases, a well-fortified castle. Peasants generally lived, worked and died within the lord's
estate and were buried in the village churchyard. The world of the medieval peasant was
clearly the world and experience of the manor estate.

There was a complex set of personal relationships which defined the obligations between
serf and lord. In return for security and the right to cultivate fields and to pass their
holdings on to their sons, the serf had many obligations to their lord. As a result, the
personal freedom of the serf was restricted in a number of ways. Bound to the land, they
could not leave the manor without the lord's consent. Before a serf could marry, he had to
gain the consent of the lord as well as pay a small fee. A lord could select a wife for his
serf and force him to marry her. A serf who refused was ordered to pay a fine. In addition
to working their own land, the serfs also had to work the land of their lords. The lord's
land had to be harvested by the serfs before they could harvest their own land. Other
services exacted by the lord included digging ditches, gathering firewood, building and
repairing fences, and repairing roads and bridges. In general, more than half of a serf's
 workweek was devoted to rendering services to the lord. The serf also paid a variety of
dues to the lord: the annual capitation or head tax (literally, a tax on existence),
the taille (a tax on the serf's property), and the heriot (an inheritance tax). Lastly, medieval
serfs paid a number of banalities which were taxes paid to use the lord's mills, ovens and
presses.

The serf's existence was certainly a harsh one. The manor offered protection to the serfs,
something desperately needed in this time of uncertainty. The manor also promoted group
cooperation. How else could fifty serfs use a handful of oxen to plow their fields? They
had to learn to work collectively for the collective good of the village community. The
serf knew his place in medieval society and readily accepted it. So too did the medieval
nobility and clergy. The medieval manor therefore sustained the three orders of medieval
society: those who pray, those who fight, and those who work.

Literacy may have reached its lowest level on the manor estate but at least the serf was
protected and secure.

Manorialism and feudalism presupposed a stable social order in which every individual
knew their place. People believed that society functioned smoothly when individuals
accepted their status and performed their proper roles. Consequently, a person's rights,
duties, and relationship to the law depended on his or her ranking in the social order. To
change position was to upset the delicate balance. No one, serfs included, should be
deprived of the traditional rights associated with his or her rank in the medieval matrix.
This arrangement was justified by the clergy:

God himself has willed that among men, some must be lords and some serfs, in such a
fashion that the lords venerate and love God, and that the serfs love and venerate their
lord following the word of the Apostle; serfs obey your temporal lords with fear and
trembling; lords treat your serfs according to justice and equity.

In the high Middle Ages, the revival of an urban economy, the humanization of
Christianity, the growth of universities and the emergence of centralized governments
would undermine feudal and manorial relationships. Although the relationship of
dependence remained, feudal institutions gradually disappeared.
http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture22b.html