The trend toward individual ownership of land, typified in England by Enclosure, displaced many peasants from the land and compelled them, often unwillingly, to become urban factory-workers, who came to occupy the socio-economic stratum formerly the preserve of the medieval peasants.
For most people living in medieval Europe, life was governed by the seasons, local customs, and duties to lords or landowners. These people were known as peasants. They made up the majority of the population. In many regions, the number could reach as high as 90 percent.
Around 85% of medieval people were peasants, which consisted of anyone from serfs who were legally tied to the land they worked, to freemen, who, as enterprising smallholders untethered to a lord, could travel more freely and accrue more wealth.
Although their lives were often harsh and heavily regulated, peasants sustained medieval society through their labour. Whether free or unfree, their daily routines, seasonal work, homes, diets, and legal obligations reveal much about everyday life in medieval Europe.
Serfs and peasants were often looked down upon by the nobility and were not allowed to participate in political or economic decision-making. Overall, the lack of social mobility for serfs and peasants was a major barrier to their advancement in medieval society.
Peasants lived within agricultural time—the seasons and the weather were the realities of life; the "world-time," in Braudel's term, of politics and economics did not directly affect the peasant. Peasants typically made up the majority of the population.
Living conditions for peasants in medieval England were better than most people imagine, with good working conditions and plenty of opportunities for fun. 80% of the medieval England population were peasants, either Serfs tied to the land or tax-paying Freemen, but the two intermingled.