Free tenants, also known as free peasants, were
tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...
peasants
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...
in
medieval England
England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the medieval period, from the end of the 5th century through to the start of the Early Modern period in 1485. When England emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, the econ ...
who occupied a unique place in the
medieval hierarchy.
They were characterized by the low
rents which they paid to their
manorial lord. They were subject to fewer laws and ties than
villein
A villein, otherwise known as ''cottar'' or '' crofter'', is a serf tied to the land in the feudal system. Villeins had more rights and social status than those in slavery, but were under a number of legal restrictions which differentiated them ...
s. The term may also refer to the free peasants of the
Kingdom of France
The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period ...
, part of an ordering of classes with legal privileges who constituted the
third estate
The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...
, a land-owning non-political peasantry, mostly different from other countries with estates.
Definitions
One of the major challenges in examining the free peasants of this era is that no one single definition can be attached to them. The disparate nature of manorial holdings and local laws mean the free tenant in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, for example, may well bear little resemblance to the Free Tenant in the
Danelaw
The Danelaw (, also known as the Danelagh; ang, Dena lagu; da, Danelagen) was the part of England in which the laws of the Danes held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. The Danelaw contrasts with the West Saxon law and the Mercian ...
.
Attempts were made by some contemporary scholars to set out a legal definition of freedom, one of the most notable being the treatise by
Ranulf de Glanvill written between 1187 and 1189. This stated that:
Another way to identify a freeman in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, was to determine what kind of taxes or laws he had to obey. For example, having to pay
merchet
Merchet (also: -ett, -ete, -eit, -eat, -iett, -i(e)te, -iatte, mershet(e), marchet, -eit, market) () was a fine paid on a marriage during the Middle Ages in England. The word derives from the plural form of daughter, ''merched'', in old Welsh. Me ...
, a tax paid upon the marriage of a servile woman, was a key sign of being unfree.
They could get married without permission and they could not be moved between
estates against their will.
See also
*
Franklin (class)
In the Kingdom of England from the 12th to 15th centuries, a franklin was a member of a certain social class or rank. In the Middle English period, a franklin was simply a freeman; that is, a man who was not a serf. In the feudal system under ...
References
External links
"The Town of the Free Peasants near Thirsk" ''
Darlington & Stockton Times
The ''Darlington & Stockton Times'' is a British, regional, weekly, paid for, newspaper covering the Richmond - Darlington - Stokesley - Thirsk - Leyburn area. It is published in Darlington by Newsquest Media Group Ltd, a subsidiary of Gannet ...
'', 7 December 2007.
Agricultural labor
Feudalism in England
Peasants
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