Daily life for us villein is generally pretty hard. I get up each morning at dawn, eat a quick breakfast of homemade bread and ale and then I'm off to the fields for a full day of work. We have to plant, tend, and harvest at least one good crop a year or we will starve in the winter. We usually try to plant and harvest at least two crops each year. After working all day, I sometimes stop in the village tavern for a bit of socializing before heading home to have my dinner, and then off to bed.
Elizabeth (my wife) gets up at the crack of dawn as well. She has my breakfast ready for me before I leave. After that, her day is full. There's the vegetable garden to tend, clothing to wash, bread to bake for tomorrow, cloth to weave, and a house to keep clean. Rebecca and Samuel (our kids) help her by tending to the animals (we have some pigs, a cow, some chickens, and a couple sheep), and doing other chores. Samuel usually works in the fields with me. He's learning to be a farmer so he can support his own family someday. When Samuel is about 10, he'll come to the fields to work too. Until then, Samuel attends school at the village church to learn some prayers and songs, and how to do a bit of maths.
I work long hours every day, rain or shine, to ensure that our families have enough to eat. Most men have farms, although a
