Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/337

 Medieval Life in Country and Town 249 from vill. A portion of the estate was reserved by the lord for his own use; the rest of the plowed land was divided among the peasants, usually in long strips, of which each peasant had several scattered about the manor. 406. Condition of the Serfs. The peasants were generally serfs, who did not own their fields, but could not, on the other hand, be deprived of them so long as they worked for the lord and paid him certain dues. They were bound to the land and went with it when it changed hands. The serfs were required to till those fields which the lord reserved for himself and to gather in his crops. They might not marry without their lord's permis- sion. Their wives and daughters helped with the indoor work of the manor house. In the women's buildings the women serfs en- gaged in spinning, weaving, sewing, baking, and brewing, thus producing clothes, food, and drink for the whole community. We get our clearest ideas of the position of the serfs from the ancient descriptions of manors, which give an exact account of what each member of a particular community owed to the lord. For example, we find that the abbot of Peterborough held a manor upon which Hugh Miller and seventeen other serfs, mentioned by name, were required to work for him three days in each week during the whole year, except one week at Christmas, one at Easter, and one at Whitsuntide. Each serf was to give the lord abbot one bushel of wheat and eighteen sheaves of oats, three hens, and one cock yearly, and five eggs at Easter. If he sold his horse for more than ten shillings, he was to give the said abbot fourpence. 407. Slight Use of Money. One of the most remarkable characteristics of the manor was its independence of the rest of the world. It produced nearly everything that its members needed and might almost have continued to exist indefinitely without communication with those who lived beyond its bounds. Little or no money was necessary, for the peasants paid what was due to the lord in the form of labor and farm products. They also gave one another the necessary help and found little occasion for buying and selling.