They didn’t have to work a set number of days in the year. It just didn’t work like that. You had two possibilities: you worked for wages, in this case it was daily wage, if you work that day, you get money for that day. And you had taxes or some kind of tributes, which was either a fix amount of something you owed to the lord, or a part of your production.
The 150 days of work probably comes from what the students did. Students studied with the clergy, and the clergy had a lot of days either without work or dedicated to prayers. Sunday was obviously free, that’s already 52 days in the year. All the special Christian days were obviously free. Carême probably also. And then many other days.
For farmers, there was this whole period of winter when you simply have nothing to do with the farm and the day only last 6h anyway. People still did stuff, but it wasn’t work, it was like you cooking for yourself. It wasn’t a society of consumerism, so they had to make most things they needed, and then some more for the other people of village, depending on their resources obviously.
I think you read a bit much into the 18th century propaganda that depicted the middle-ages as the dark ages of humanity when the church would keep people in ignorance. It didn’t work like that. It wasn’t an utopia either.
But it is a fact that people worked less before the industrial revolution.
They didn’t have to work a set number of days in the year. It just didn’t work like that. You had two possibilities: you worked for wages, in this case it was daily wage, if you work that day, you get money for that day. And you had taxes or some kind of tributes, which was either a fix amount of something you owed to the lord, or a part of your production.
The 150 days of work probably comes from what the students did. Students studied with the clergy, and the clergy had a lot of days either without work or dedicated to prayers. Sunday was obviously free, that’s already 52 days in the year. All the special Christian days were obviously free. Carême probably also. And then many other days.
For farmers, there was this whole period of winter when you simply have nothing to do with the farm and the day only last 6h anyway. People still did stuff, but it wasn’t work, it was like you cooking for yourself. It wasn’t a society of consumerism, so they had to make most things they needed, and then some more for the other people of village, depending on their resources obviously.
I think you read a bit much into the 18th century propaganda that depicted the middle-ages as the dark ages of humanity when the church would keep people in ignorance. It didn’t work like that. It wasn’t an utopia either.
But it is a fact that people worked less before the industrial revolution.