Farming in the Middle Ages

Farming in the Middle Ages

  • Interesting Facts and information about Farming in the Middle Ages in the Middle Ages
  • Farming in the Middle Ages
  • Agriculture in the Middle Ages
  • The Manor
  • Common Land
  • Farming Methods
  • Farming Tools

Farming in the Middle Ages

Interesting facts and information about life and the lives of men and women in the Medieval period of the Middle Ages

   
  

Farming in the Middle Ages - Feudalism and Rural Life
The introduction of feudalism fostered the movement from town to country, for feudalism, rested on the soil as its basis. The lord, his family, his servants, and his retainers were supported by the income from landed property. The country estate of a lord was known as a manor.

Farming in the Middle Ages - The Manor
A manor varied in size, according to the wealth of its lord. In England perhaps six hundred acres represented the extent of an average estate. Every noble had at least one manor; great nobles might have several manors, usually scattered throughout the country; and even the king depended on his many manors for the food supply of the court. England, during the period following the Norman Conquest, contained more than nine thousand of these manorial estates.

Farming in the Middle Ages - Common Cultivation of the Arable Land
Of the arable land of the manor the lord reserved as much as he needed for his own use. The lord's land was called his "demesne," or domain. The rest of the land he allotted to the peasants who were his tenants, They cultivated their holdings in common. A peasant, instead of having his land in one compact mass, had it split up into a large number of small strips (usually about half an acre each) scattered over the manor, and separated, not by fences or hedges, but by banks of unploughed turf. The appearance of a manor, when under cultivation, has been likened to a vast checkerboard or a patchwork quilt. The reason for the intermixture of strips seems to have been to make sure that each peasant had a portion both of the good land and of the bad. It is obvious that this arrangement compelled all the peasants to labor according to a common plan. A man had to sow the same kinds of crops as his neighbors, and to till and reap them at the same time.

Farming in the Middle Ages - Farming Methods
Farming in the Middle Ages was very backward. Farmers did not know how to enrich the soil by the use of fertilizers or how to provide for a proper rotation of crops. Hence each year they cultivated only two-thirds of the land, letting the other third lie "fallow" (uncultivated), that it might recover its fertility. It is said that eight or nine bushels of grain represented the average yield of an acre. Farm animals were small, for scientific breeding had not yet begun. A full-grown ox reached a size scarcely larger than a calf of to-day, and the fleece of a sheep often weighed less than two ounces.

Farming in the Middle Ages - Three field system of Agriculture
Manor lands were therefore farmed using the three-field system of agriculture. One field was devoted to winter crops, another to summer crops, and a third lying fallow each year. The land was worked by peasants.

Farming in the Middle Ages - Farm Tools
Farm tools and implements were few and clumsy. The wooden ploughs only scratched the ground. Farrowing was done with a hand implement little better than a large rake. Grain was cut with a sickle, and grass was mown with a scythe. It took five men a day to reap and bind the harvest of two acres.

Farming in the Middle Ages - Common Land
Common Land - the common use of the non-arable land. Besides his holding of farm land, which in England averaged about thirty acres, each peasant had certain rights over the non-arable land of the manor. He could cut a limited amount of hay from the meadow. He could turn so many farm animals such as cattle, geese, and swine on the waste ground. He also enjoyed the privilege of taking so much wood from the forest for fuel and building purposes. A peasant's holding, which also included a house in the village, thus formed a complete self-sufficient unit.

Farming in the Middle Ages
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Farming in the Middle Ages

  • Middle Ages era, period, life, age and times
  • Farming in the Middle Ages
  • The Manor
  • Agriculture in the Middle Ages
  • Common Land
  • Farming Methods
  • Farming Tools

Farming in the Middle Ages

Farming in the Middle Ages - Agriculture in the Middle Ages - Life in the Middle Ages - History of Farming in the Middle Ages - Information about Farming in the Middle Ages - Farming in the Middle Ages Facts - Farming in the Middle Ages Info - Middle Ages era - Middle Ages Life - Middle Ages Times - Agriculture in the Middle Ages - Life - Farming in the Middle Ages - Medieval - Mideval - Agriculture in the Middle Ages - Farming in the Middle Ages History - Information about Farming in the Middle Ages - Farming in the Middle Ages Facts - Farming in the Middle Ages Info - Agriculture in the Middle Ages - Middle Ages era - Middle Ages Life - Middle Ages Times - Information - Facts - Dark Ages - Medieval - Mideval - Feudal system - Manors - Middle Ages Times - Information - Facts - Dark Ages - Medieval - Mideval - Feudal system - Manors - Farming in the Middle Ages - Written By Linda Alchin