the one least desirable was probably that of the serf.

The meager serf was at the bottom

of an already bleak totem pole of lower class

and didn't share in the same freedoms

as their poor brethren, the peasants.

Though a landowner could sell the labor of a serf,

it could not, and it cannot be stressed enough,

sell the serf themselves, making them technically not slaves.

At one point, a whopping 75% of the medieval population

was a serf.

Today, we're going to explore how much it

sucked to be a serf.

But before we get started, you lowly serfs,

we order you to subscribe to the Weird History channel

and let us know what you would do with a parcel of land.

OK.

We're going serfing.

In the Vaud, a canton of Switzerland,

the law allowed for lords to chastise their serfs

like the recommended consumption of Taco Bell while sober,

very light.

The customary law said punishment

could be served to a serf with or without cause.

But they drew the line at torment,

which was strictly forbidden.

Unfortunately, their definition of torment was pretty loose.

It was perfectly legal to throw a serf in prison

for an indefinite amount of time or to take

all of their possessions, as one might

a misbehaving toddler and their toys, but worse and forever.

In Notre Dame, it was legit legal to murder a serf

should they get into an argument with the tenants,

a law thankfully not extended to modern-day landlords.

Take that, Mr. Roper.

Since the rules were all over the place

and varied substantially from region to region,

lords pretty much did what they wanted

to do when it came to disciplining serfs.

This led to many lords acting in bad faith

and skirting the rules with technicalities.

For example, in Aragon, a lord could technically

kill a man who killed one of his own dependents,

but bloodshed was a no-no.

So technically, an Aragon lord could and did dispose of serfs

through starvation, thirst, or exposure to the elements,

as in being tossed out during a very cold night.

For a serf, life was hard.

Serfs were given a tiny piece of land

by the lord within the estate they were living on,

which allowed them to harvest and provide

food for their own family.

Typically, this included just a small plot of land,

around 12 acres per family, plus their own personal living

quarters.

And while they were able to enjoy

the fruits of their labor, according to law,

everything a serf owned was possession of the lord

and could be taken or repurposed with no warning at any time.

Serfs were responsible for building their homes

and making their clothes.

But technically, even those tattered rags

and flammable huts belonged to the lord.

Even the food they harvested for their own personal groceries

belonged to the lord since he owned the land.

But it's hard to say how often a lord snatched

the food from a serf's harvest like they were a cartoon

villain.

Kind lords also probably didn't go

around taking all of their serfs' possessions for fun.

What's a wealthy lord going to do with a serf's little shovel,

after all?

One are the main differences between a serf

and a peasant was the ability to leave the land.

Serfs were bound to the manor they served,

while a peasant was free to roam around and be

poor on any street of their choosing.

You couldn't tie a peasant down.

Think of them as serfs with wanderlust.

Peasants were poverty-stricken and relied heavily

on the affluent community to provide sustenance,

but serfs legally had to pay taxes, rent,

and other random payments to their lords.

There was no general rule for what financial dues

a serf was responsible for, as it varied by region.

In most European countries, a serf

was treated as part of the estate and came with the land.

Serfs weren't seen as slaves during this era

because a serf could not be purchased,

but their labor could be sold, though this too

varied by region.

For example, in Russia, a serf was totally up for sale,

much more like a slave.

Some countries saw serfs as poor, little babies

whose only purpose in life was to tend to manors and castles

until they died.

But others saw an opportunity to beef up their military numbers.

Russian forces in the Middle Ages

were extremely dependent on serf and peasant labor,

boosting the amount of soldiers to over 1 million men

throughout the 19th century.

State-owned peasants as well as privately-owned serfs

were bound to servitude.

So this really wasn't a volunteer,

patriotic calling for serfs in Russia.

Russia didn't have a big distinction

between a serf and a peasant.

A serf who was freed of serfdom would be let loose into society

with no land or money, like a theater major,

and probably with the same amount of job prospects.

Serfs could turn to self-imposed state peasantry, since it

was better to be supported with some measurable degree

of freedom, or like when that theater major moves back

in with their parents after college.

Beggars can't be choosers.

It might be tradition for a man to ask

a woman's father for permission to marry his daughter,

but in a serf's life, he had to ask his lord before putting

a ring on his bride-to-be.

It might sound insane to have to double check with one's boss

before popping the question, but remember,

a serf was barely considered a human, basically

like permanent, entry-level peons.

The abbot of Upper Swabia, or what today

is the modern-day German state of Bavaria,

issued a number of decrees designed to oppress

the freisenser, which was a term used to describe free,

but census-paying tenants as well as all serfs.

The abbot focused his serf-hating energy

on placing regulations on who could marry

and providing consequences for people who

married beneath their class.

Oh, sure.

A serf couldn't marry someone a slight step above a serf,

but fives marry tens all the time on TV shows

and nobody says anything.

Weird History, "How Kevin James Married All Those Hotties

on TV," coming in the year 2050.

If a peasant did get desperate and decide

to settle for a penniless serf, half of the peasant's estate

would be confiscated and the other half

would be taxed to literal death, with death duties.

This kept peasants and serfs humble and poor

and knocked many down to an even lower class

with less hope of buying their way out of serfdom.

Sounds like a pretty good excuse to never get married.

Plus, did the term "old" maid even exist in these times?

What was that, unmarried at 20 years old?

Mmm, OK.

There was no such thing as calling

in sick for a serf with a scratchy throat

and a runny nose.

That's not to say sick days didn't exist in this time.

Some estates provided a set amount of sick days,

normally amounting to two to three weeks

throughout the year.

How a sick serf was treated varied on laws of the land

and what kind of mood the lord was in that day.

A cruel lord could very well force his bubonic-plagued serf

to work while not providing him one minute of sick leave.

And if the illness left him incapacitated and unable

to work, he could be punished, as if getting the plague

wasn't bad enough.

And for more information on how much the plague sucked,

see some of our other Weird History videos.

Other manors allowed for serfs to quit all work for the day,

with the exception of plowing and other random jobs that

needed to be done.

Usually, the day of work had to be made up

at some point within the year, either by himself

or through a replacement.

As if being a serf wasn't bad enough,

serfs also had to find somebody to cover their shift at work?

Yeesh.

A serf didn't dare say, that's not in my job description,

as their day-to-day lives encompassed

a plethora of duties.

The men normally stuck with most of the backbreaking

agricultural chores like plowing and mowing the fields

for a real hard day's hard.

Apologies, current-day office worker.

Because of the intensity of the labor,

a serf's workweek was a breezy three to four days.

Women serfs may not have been out in the fields all day,

but they didn't lack chores of their own to accomplish.

Women were in charge of all the cooking, general housework,

baking bread, making wool, milking,

and making butter and cheese, and taking care of whatever

children might be in the mix.

No time for wine night with the girls.

However, should they have decided

to have an impromptu wine and cheese night,

pressing wine was part of the duties for a serf.

Unfortunately, if it required a wine press,

well, that came out of the serf's shallow pockets

since it was their responsibility

to pay the owner of said wine press.

Medieval court systems had no time

for nonsense such as serf problems.

So whenever a civil dispute would blow up

between a serf and a fellow serf or a serf and his lord,

the issue was handled internally and not in the king's court.

The aristocracy had no interest in peasant justice,

so they passed along the power of the courts

to lords, giving them power to operate their own manor court.

It's probably no surprise that this was not exactly weighted

in a serf's favor.

If the issue being challenged was

between the serf and the lord, be it a monetary dispute,

alleged dicey work ethic, or unreasonable conditions

for the serf, it was not likely that the judge,

the lord accused, would rule against himself.

This was a real bummer for serf since a lord also

had the power to take generous liberties

with their interpretation of the laws

to curb it to their own favor.

One of the two to three benefits of being a serf

included having a place to live.

Serfs usually lived alone or with their families,

but serfs bunking with fellow random serfs like a dorm room

was not common.

Their housing varied from region to region,

but the most common was a hut with a thatched roof

or a roof comprised of dried vegetation, which

sounds extremely safe.

The hut itself was typically made of wood,

with one or two rooms and dirt floors.

In the center of the hut was a hearth for cooking complete

with a state-of-the-art hole in the ceiling for smoke

to ventilate.

Unfortunately, this did not take into account

the dried vegetation being used on the roof,

famously flammable.

So sure enough, these huts were known to catch on fire.

While most people would see something like the Black Plague

as something of a disadvantage to staying alive,

serfs saw it as more of an opportunity

to flee for a better life.

During times of upheaval or societal chaos,

of which there were many in the Middle Ages,

some serfs would take advantage and quietly

slip out into the night to towns far away from their lords,

successfully leaving their serfdom behind.

This decision did not come without risk.