The day of a medieval peasant was goverened by the
availability of sunlight, and of course the weather circumstances did have
a more direct influence on people's lives than in modern times. The
seasons were governed by the job that had to be done that time of year:
plowing in May, sowing in June, reaping in August, the fruit harvest in
October, slaughering the pigs in November. The Church, with its Sundays
and feastdays, probably provided the only break that these peasants had.
The river provided not only a supply of fresh water, but also of fish, and
its hydraulic power could be used to work a mill. The proceedings of the
mill would go to the lord of the manor; through the bannum he could
constrain his villeins to use his mill. Cottages were simple dwellings;
people and animals sometimes had to sleep under the same roof; the floor
was hardened clay, and a hole on the roof the only outlet for the cooking
fire.
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