Are Peasants and Serfs the Same?

The main difference between serf and peasant is that peasants were free to move from fief to fief or manor to manor to look for work. Serfs, on the other hand, were like slaves except that they could not be bought or sold. Above peasants were knights whose job it was to be the police force of the manor.

How did peasants become serfs?

serfdom, condition in medieval Europe in which a tenant farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord. The vast majority of serfs in medieval Europe obtained their subsistence by cultivating a plot of land that was owned by a lord.

Did serfs have more rights than peasants?

Serfs, however, were legally people—though they had far fewer rights than free peasants (poor farmers of low social status). Serfs' movements were constrained, their property rights were limited, and they owed rents of all sorts to their landlords.