The Medieval Manor

A medieval manor was typically composed of meadows, woods, fields, rivers, a mill, wine press, church, and a village. All of this was owned and ruled by a lord and some richer lords even had numerous manors. The lord's castle was populated by servants who worked for the lord in return for food, coins, lodging and even candles. Most of these people were skilled craftsmen such as, bakers, smiths, carpenters, and leatherworkers.

On the outer side of the protection walls was the village, it was populated by villagers. These villagers were  poor unpaid presents that worked on the lord's fields and farm in return for a strip of land on which they would build a little mud hut and grow vegetables to live on. 

The villagers would build a small hut made of mud and wooden poles in which the whole family would live. These huts were normally made up of two rooms with mud floors and a thatched roof. As these huts were only made of mud they were no good at keeping the heat in or out, so it was very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. To heat up the hut or to cook there was a stone slab or an iron plate in the middle of the hut, with a hole in the roof just above it to let the smoke escape.The villagers hug tools on the walls and meat, onions and dried herbs.

The villagers were the lowest in the manor which was why they did all of the very hard work. They repaired bridges or roads when broken. They were also taxed and had to pay in whatever way that they could. The villagers normally worked on the lord's farms during three days of the week and the rest of the week he could spend on his own garden or livestock.

The villagers could not leave the manor without the lord's permission. However if someone managed to escape to a nearby town and remained unclaimed for a year and a day he would be proclaimed free. The lord could also free any villagers,  make them paid workers at his house or castle or give them permission to enter the church.