Peasantry

About 90 percent of the people in Renaissance Europe were peasants—rural laborers who planted crops and tended animals. Agriculture was the most important economic activity throughout Europe, and the peasantry produced the food consumed by people living in cities.

During the Middle Ages most European peasants were serfs, legally bound to the land they worked. Serfdom began to decline in western Europe in the 1300s, and by the late 1500s it had largely disappeared. As a result, Renaissance peasants enjoyed much greater freedom. Many peasants moved to other villages, to other regions, or to towns and cities in search of a better life. Those most likely to migrate were the young and the landless. Adult peasants often became seasonal migrants, helping to harvest crops in areas far from their own villages—or even in foreign countries.

Peasant villages served as the economic and political foundation of Renaissance society. Each village had a local assembly or council to govern it. Outside authorities, such as nobles and the church, granted villages a large degree of local self-rule because they recognized the need for local decisions about some issues. In theory, all citizens could participate in village government on equal terms. However, wealthy landowners or merchants often dominated local assemblies.

Village councils regulated the use of local resources such as forests, pastures, and farmland. They also took charge of building and maintaining roads, wells, and anything else that would benefit the community as a whole. Village governments also played a role in the hundreds of peasant rebellions that took place in the Renaissance. These revolts often resulted from the growing power of nation-states, which cut into time-honored peasant rights.

Rural society during the Renaissance was quite varied. Many peasants not only worked in agriculture, but also labored as shopkeepers, artisans*, or traders. Furthermore, the boundaries between rural and urban society were often unclear. All towns and cities had residents who worked in the surrounding countryside. The social and economic life of the villages often overlapped with that of nearby cities. Beginning in the 1400s, many peasants started growing cash crops for sale, rather than merely producing enough for their own needs. A few of these peasants became wealthy and bought up their neighbors' lands, while others moved into trade and other businesses. These changes made rural society more diverse and weakened traditional peasant life.