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GCSE History · key term
A person of relatively low social status who lived mainly by farming. Peasants’ wealth, freedoms and obligations varied.
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Paper 2
A person who lived mainly by farming. Peasants could be free or unfree; unfree peasants owed labour services and could not leave their lord without permission.
Revise: English SocietyFarming provided food for peasant families and supported the wealth of landowners. A manor was an estate controlled by a lord, often a knight. Peasants held strips of land on which they grew food for their families, while also owing obligations to the lord.
Paper 1
When explaining an influence on health, make the link explicit: dependence on farming meant that failed harvests put poorer peasants at risk of hunger.
Support broad descriptions with specific details: for example, explain rural life through peasants farming a lord’s land, rather than simply calling Britain ‘agricultural’.
Avoid absolute claims such as ‘the king could do anything’ or ‘all peasants had no rights’. Medieval society was unequal, but people’s positions and obligations varied.
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A person of low social status who lived mainly by farming; peasants made up most of medieval Britain's population.
Medieval society was organised in a hierarchy, with the king at the top, powerful landholding lords below him and peasants forming the largest group. This arrangement is commonly described as the feudal system. Landholding connected power with obligations: kings granted land to supporters, who owed them loyalty and service and helped govern the country.
A person of relatively low social status who made a living mainly through farming. Peasants’ rights and obligations varied.