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The Middle Ages are also divided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages. The early modern period followed the Middle Ages. Epidemics and climatic cooling caused a large decrease in the European population in the 6th century. Compared to the Roman period, agriculture in the Middle Ages in Western Europe became more focused on self-sufficiency.
The lowest classes in the Middle Ages did not have access to the same clothing as nobility. Poor men and women working in the fields or wet or muddy conditions often went barefoot. [69] Upper and middle-class women wore three garments and the third garment was either a surcoat, bliaut, or cotehardie. These were often lavish garments, depending ...
The majority of the people—according to one estimate 85% of the population—in the Middle Ages were peasants. [13] Though "peasant" is a word of loose application, once a market economy had taken root, the term peasant proprietors was frequently used to describe the traditional rural population in countries where smallholders farmed much of ...
For peasants and warriors it was always at the knee or above. For winter, outside or formal dress, a cloak or mantle completed the outfit. The Franks had a characteristic short cape called a "saie", which barely came to the waist.
Philip Calderon "French Peasants Finding Their Stolen Child"; 1859. French peasants were the largest socio-economic group in France until the mid-20th century. The word peasant, while having no universally accepted meaning, is used here to describe subsistence farming throughout the Middle Ages, often smallholders or those paying rent to landlords, and rural workers in general.
The Middle Ages saw further improvements in agriculture. Monasteries spread throughout Europe and became important centers for the collection of knowledge related to agriculture and forestry. The manorial system allowed large landowners to control their land and its laborers, in the form of peasants or serfs. [147]
Despite their involvement in the market, even the wealthiest peasants prioritised spending on housing and clothing, with little left for other personal consumption. [55] Records of household belongings show most possessing only "old, worn-out and mended utensils" and tools. [56]
Villein is derived from Late Latin villanus, meaning a man employed at a Roman villa rustica, or large agricultural estate.The system of tied serfdom originates from a decree issued by the late Roman Emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305 CE) in an attempt to prevent the flight of peasants from the land and the consequent decline in food production.