A serf who lived on the manor of a Lord was likely the descendant of a peasant who had served the ancestor of that Lord. There was very little social mobility, or chance to move upward in status during the Middle Ages. Lords often forced families to pay a tax when a member of their household died to compensate for the manor’s loss of labor. Serfs were encouraged to have many children because a small family might not have enough daylight hours to tend their family plot after their work in the Lord’s fields was complete. Serfs were not allowed to marry without permission from the Lord the family of a serf would have to turn over additional crops when someone wanted to marry and leave the manor. In exchange, serfs were required to work a particular number of days on the lord’s personal fields. ![]() The Lord provided the serf and his family a safe place to live and land to grow food. Serfs could not be sold as slaves, but they could not leave their manor without permission from the Lord.
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