Life was hard for peasants throughout the medieval period. The poorest peasants, called villeins or serfs, owned nothing; their strips of land, homes, tools, clothes, and their labour all belonged to their landlord. Higher up the scale were freemen, who paid rent to the lord, but also owed him a certain amount of work on his land, or a share of their produce.

Most peasants lived in simple wood-framed houses with a thatched roof. There were usually only one or two rooms and a fireplace in the centre, which made it very smoky. There were no shops, so people made most things themselves. Women spun wool to make their clothes. Men made simple wooden tools and utensils, and spoons were often carved from horn. Specialised craftsmen produced leather, pottery and ironwork and other things could be bought or bartered at markets and fairs or from travelling peddlers.

Peasants worked every day except Sundays and holy days. Work was a seasonal round of ploughing, sowing and harvesting crops and the working day was long in summer and short in winter. In spite of the harshness of their lives, peasants rarely rebelled. The Peasants Revolt of AD 1381 was an exceptional reaction to a particularly high poll tax – which hit the poor hardest.