Life Of The Medieval Peasant

>Both had a land master who persrcuted them and who took 90% of their stuff for (((protection)))

Real life isn't Warhammer. I recommand you read some better books about medieval life.

Land master took 45% and local monastery took 45%. He was pretty correct though.

>implying that there are differences between based peasants

You'll have to give me a citation on that because it's plain wrong. First why would a land master and a local monastery be close to the land that a peasant was cultivating ? A monastery is a landlord like a knight, a church, and even commoners from a town or a village can be a landlord. The different powers and taxes that a landlord could levy varied from place and time, but generally speaking they grew to be somewhat low : In the XIIth century with the inflation of crops, the cens (A feudal tax) remained the same because it was not a proportionate tax but a tax whose amount was already decided and perpetual, which means that peasants generally gained more and more wealth. In fact the XIIth is an era where, to attract new people in regions that were largely empty of people earlier (Because there were swamps or forests), the landlords gave laws and priviledges to the peasants. If you were a man from Normandy who wanted to emigrate to the region of the Perche, the local abbey of Saint-Père-de-Chartres would give you justice priviledges and taxes that were already negociated.
After the Black Plague it was even better for peasants, because Europe was depopulated again after Europe became a filled country during the great XIIIth century ; Because landlords needed to fill their lands again they proceeded to nearly end the use of serfdom. But then again this also depends of regions : Franche-Comté had serfs until Louis XVI forbade it before the revolution, while other regions of France had no serfdom as early as the XIIth.

So to keep it simple : Read some books.

Also you'll have to explain to me why the peasants of Languedoc, who paid a tithe to the church of 1/8th of their harvest (12%) complained that they paid too much taxes, since the peasants of Normandy paid 1/11th (Less than 10%), those of Berry 1/13th, and those of Niverais 1/16th. It is really far from "45%" as you say. The only place where I have ever read that a local lord could take up to 90% of his peasant's was in Bretonnia in Warhammer, never in real life.

Peasants of the medieval era acted as a community. They knew their rights and how to get their rights enforced. Especially as the modern State developped and they could begin to rely on parliaments and the justice of the King to protect them from any lord that could steal or rape them.

but life was like this senpai. The peasants were literally enslaved by the fief masters.

No they were not. Just like I write here

>we wuz enslaved

>implying you wouldnt be pressed into service by your local lord to fight in a war against the other power at some point and come back to a ruined farm while your lord shrugs and lets you starve to death after you spent blood, sweat, and tears fighting for him

peasant life was trash no matter where you lived.

Tell me more about this please. What about social movilty? what was the role of the church vs minor lords vs high lords? What about castles?

Also, what happened with slavery? Slaves just got replaced with servants?

wrong

Peasants were not pressed into military service, this was reserved for the aristocracy and mercenaries. Town militias were made of professionnals and volunteers who were encouraged to fight as it was the mark of their sovereignty and priviledges. During disasters the local lords would help their peasants by emptying their grain storehouses as it was not in their interests to let their taxpayers starve to death, especially since said taxpayers had built your castles and could seize you by force if they wanted as peasants rebellions in Europe during the XIVth century has proven.

Why are so many people on Veeky Forums such complete brainlets ?

Ohh this is interesting too. What about levys? Where the mercernary come from? What social stratum? What about common soldiers?

>Town militias were made of professionnals and volunteers
This is not true. A lot of towns and cities, especially in central Europe, had laws that required all adult males that were citizens to serve in the militia (and also as watchmen and firefighters).
Furthermore, a great deal of mercenaries, like the Genoese crossbowmen and Swiss pikemen, were drawn from those town militias, as their skill and training were held in high regard generally.

Slavery turned into serfdom with the end of the Roman Empire and the begining of foreign invasions, because great manors were replaced by local landlords and strong men who acted as local robber barrons. The fate of a serf was not really envious though, at least for the first few medieval centuries (Vth-Xth), afterwards it changed entirely.
The church has a strange position within the feudal hierarchy of Europe, because it acted as both a counterpower to protect you and a power to rule over you. Bishops and abbots acted as lords, they had lands, they could levy taxes, and they could even get knights as any earl or duke ; Some bishops even lived as great lords, carrying weapons and wearing armors. However, the small parishes which villages were built around were used by the peasantry as a way to organize themselves and defend themselves : Churches were built by the peasants, and they often reminded this fact to everyone as they considered the church "theirs". The local priests, who knew how to write, could act along with the richer peasants (The "laboureurs" in France, the "yeomen" in England) as representatives with the local lords to demand something. This is why peasants never really contested the fact that they paid a tithe, they were much more annoyed when this tithe was used by barons who collected ecclesiestical benefits rather than by the parish to finance charity actions.

Social mobility is extremly rare for most of the medieval era. You have of course some exceptions, like Robert de Sorbon, whose father was a peasant, but he went to Paris, got a scolarship, studied in the university and became a scholare close to the King before founding the school of Sorbonne which still exists. Social mobility becomes much more important with the XVth Century, at the end of the era. Soc mobility mostly relied on wealth and sending sons to the town to become a burgher.

They're not brainlets.
The problem is that they only come here to get (you)s, so when they have no knowledge to provide, they post memes or bullshit instead.

In France the "arrière-ban" was normally meant to ask every male freeman from the country to take arms in case of an invasion ; But in reality the armies fielded in the middle ages were fairly low (France was a properous and populated Kingdom, prehaps the greatest of Europe, and yet their armies never got above 30-40000 troops). That's because the arrière-ban's service was repleaced with a tax. And it's the same thing with knights ; Most of them paid instead of serving, and with this money the King preferred to pay volunteers.
Yes town militias have a different structure than the backward countryside, which is normal since towns were a place of freedom built since the XIth century. But there's a difference between being a watchman and being one of the men that is sent within a contingent when the King required troops, which is why I linked your answer with the other poster above you :
The King of France relied on towns to form most of his infantry. The cities of the Kingdom who received charters had to build brigades of troops to send when he asks, which is why there were soldiers mustered and armed within the city, mostly made of thugs and orphans who had no better prospect in life. In Flanders, Genoa, Switzerland, these town militias were far more trained and motivated and as such could be paid as mercenaries.

Levys were generally free peasant that were required by law to own arms (and often to train with them, like with the welsh longbowmen). When called to serve their lord, they were required to serve only a couple of months and beyond that they hand no obligation to stay on campaighn. They were what you would call common soldiers.

Mercenaries were mostly drawn from town militias, as they would have fairly high standards of training and equipment. They would form companies of their own or join already existing mercenary companies. People who could afford to own and maintain their own horses, such as minor nobility and wealthy peasants, could hire themselves out as light cavalry or even men at arms (i.e heavy cavalry).

Beyond that there were also retainers, which were essentially professional soldiers under the service of noblemen. When a nobleman was called to arms, he was usually required to bring with him a number and type (cavalry, archers etc.) of retainers outlined by his kingdom's law.

Still a greater difference than between the nobles, who spoke French in both countries

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franc-archer

>They would form companies of their own or join already existing mercenary companies.
This allways make me think what stopped this mercenaries to take over a state, a city, etc. What stopped them? How big those companies were?

There's many moments of medieval history where mercenaries threatened states and cities. There's far greater exemples in ancient history or outside Europe, but in medieval european history this was mostly prevented because of two reasons : Walls, and regular forces.
Walls, because the sign that a city was sovereign was the building of great defensive walls. The city of Avignon, where lived the Pope, still has a great belt of stone because the Pope wanted to protect himself from local Great Compagnies of mercenaries who plagued the countryside. He had to pay the companies to cease harrasment in the country.
Great Compagnies of the medieval era varied greatly in size. From a few hundred to a few thousands generally, they mustered heavily as they gained profit in war. When a war was over, they found themselves without employ and that's when they started to plague the country ; They would find castles to occupy, act as thugs who raped women, attacked men to rob them. Often, a King of a local lord who paid mercenaries at one time found himself mustering knights to kill them a few years after.
In the XIIth century, in France, during the great movement of the "Peace of God", began the movement of the Capuciati : Peasants who were tired of being harassed by mercenaries without anyone acting against them, took arms and killed them themselves. From the writing we have of clerical chronicles, a King paying mercenaries was considered as lowly.

The peasant could became part of the church?

They slept when it was dark. They woke up when the sun rose. The ate meals throughout the day as they did their work in the fields.

What are you expecting to be so different?

Customs and habits. Why do you expect that so little was different ?