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Medieval Farming

Farming dominated life for most Medieval people in England, as peasants lived in villages with land to farm and supplied food for surrounding towns. Farming involved crude tools and no machinery, with peasants working strips of land owned by the local lord under the feudal system. Peasants helped each other with vital farming tasks like plowing, planting, and harvesting, but the success of crops depended on luck with the unpredictable weather.

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Florencia Gorski
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351 views3 pages

Medieval Farming

Farming dominated life for most Medieval people in England, as peasants lived in villages with land to farm and supplied food for surrounding towns. Farming involved crude tools and no machinery, with peasants working strips of land owned by the local lord under the feudal system. Peasants helped each other with vital farming tasks like plowing, planting, and harvesting, but the success of crops depended on luck with the unpredictable weather.

Uploaded by

Florencia Gorski
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Medieval Farming

Farming dominated the lives of most Medieval people. Many peasants in Medieval
England worked the land and, as a result, farming was critically important to
a peasant family in Medieval England. Most people lived in villages where there was plenty
of land for farming. Medieval towns were small but still needed the food produced by
surrounding villages.
Farming was a way of life for many. Medieval farming, by our standards, was very crude.
Medieval farmers/peasants had no access to tractors, combine harvesters etc. Farming
tools were very crude. Peasants had specific work they had to do in each month and
following this "farming year" was very important.

Harvesting a crop using sickles and scythes

Farms were much smaller then and the peasants who worked the land did not own the
land they worked on. This belonged to the lord of the manor. In this sense, peasants were
simply tenants who worked a strip of land or maybe several strips. Hence why farming was
called strip farming in Medieval times.
This reliance on the local lord of the manor was all part of the feudal system introduced
by William the Conqueror.
A peasant family was unlikely to be able to own that most valuable of farming animals an
ox. An ox or horse was known as a 'beast of burden' as it could do a great deal of work
that people would have found impossible to do. A team of oxen at ploughing time was vital

and a village might club together to buy one or two and then use them on a rota basis. In
fact, villagers frequently helped one another to ensure the vital farming work got done.
This was especially true at ploughing time, seeding time and harvesting.
The most common tools used by farmers were metal tipped ploughs for turning over the
soil and harrows to cover up the soil when seeds had been planted. The use of manure
was basic and artificial fertilisers as we would know did not exist.
Growing crops was a very hit and miss affair and a successful crop was due to a lot of
hard work but also the result of some luck.
In the summer (the growing season) farmers needed sun to get their crops to grow.
Though weather was a lot more predictable in Medieval England, just one heavy downpour
could flatten a crop and all but destroy it. With no substantial harvest, a peasant still had to
find money or goods to pay his taxes. But too much sun and not enough moisture in the
soil could result in the crop not reaching its full potential. A spring frost could destroy seeds
if they had been recently planted.
The winter did not mean a farmer had an easy time. There were plenty of tasks to do even
if he could not grow crops at that particular time.
Some estates had a reeve employed to ensure that peasants worked well and did not steal
from a lord

ACTIVITY
The beginnings and endings of the following sentences have been mixed up. Using the information
on the text above, match the correct heads and tails.

1)A peasant family

a)

farmers needed sun to get


their crops to grow.

2)The most common tools

b)

was unlikely to be able to own that


most valuable of farming animals

used by farmers
3) Most people

c)

specific work they had to do in each month


and following this "farming year" was very
important.

4) Peasants had

d)

lived in villages where there was

plenty of land for farming.

5) In the growing season

e)

were metal tipped ploughs for

turning over the soil and harrows


to cover up the soil when seeds had been planted

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