nst fire
burning down the huts. The warmth of the animals then helped make
the hut warm. Around the room are a couple of chests to store
salt, meal, flour, a broom made of birch twigs, some woven
baskets, the distaff and spindle for spinning, and a simple loom
for weaving. All clothes were homemade. They were often coarse,
greasy wool and leather made from their own animals. The man wore
a tunic of coarse linen embroidered on the sleeves and breast,
around with he wore a girdle of rope, leather, or folded cloth.
Sometimes he also wore breeches reaching below the knee. The woman
wore a loose short-sleeved gown, under which was a tight fitting
garment with long loose sleeves, and which was short enough to be
clear of the mud. If they wore shoes, they were clumsy and
patched. Some wore a hood-like cap. For really bad weather, a man
wore on his head a hood with a very elongated point which could be
wrapped around his neck. Sometimes a short cape over the shoulders
was attached. Linen was too expensive for commoners.

The absence of fresh food during the winter made scurvy prevalent;
in the spring, people eagerly sought "scurvy grass" to eat.
Occasionally there would be an outbreak of a nervous disorder due
to the ergot fungus growing in the rye used for bread. This
manifested itself in apparent madness, frightening hallucinations,
incoherent shouting, hysterical laughing, and constant scratching
of itching and burning sensations.

The villein and his wife and children worked from daybreak to dusk
in the fields, except for Sundays and holydays. He had certain
land to farm for his own family, but had to have his grain milled
at his lord's mill at the lord's price. He had to retrieve his
wandering cattle from his lord's pound at the lord's price. He was
expected to give a certain portion of his own produce, whether
grain or livestock, to his lord. However, if he fell short, he was
not put off his land. The villein, who worked the farm land as his
ancestor ceorl had, now was so bound to the land that he could not
leave or marry or sell an ox without his lord's consent. If the
manor was sold, the villein was sold as a part of the manor. When
his daughter or son married, he had to pay a "merchet" to his
lord. He could not have a son educated without the lord's
permission, and this usually involved a fee to the lord. His best
beast at his death, or "heriot", went to his lord. If he wanted
permission to live outside the manor,