HIST-102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 59: Furlong
14 Oct 2020
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Congregations of peasants who placed themselves and their descendants under the protection of warlords became known as serfs from the latin servus, or slave. As a contractual relationship, the specifics of each arrangement varied widely, depending on local conditions and needs. In the mountainous regions of germany, for example, few great landlords existed because the land itself was naturally given to division; consequently, free ownership of small peasant farms remained widespread. In northern and central france, by contrast, where the terrain was flat and the land almost uniformly fertile, serfdom was ubiquitous and powerful lords were able to command manors of enormous size. The word peasant does not mean simply a poor farmer. The word itself derives from the latin term pagensis, which in classical times denoted a. Country rustic or agricultural laborer but not a free farmer. In the early middle ages, the derivative term paganus designated a pagan.
