Were medieval serfs really slaves?

Not quite. A medieval serf was not free, but he was not a slave either. Serfs were peasants tied to a lord's manor who had to work for him, and in return they were entitled to protection, justice and the right to farm certain fields for their own food. Unlike slaves, they could not be bought, sold or traded individually, although depending on the area they could be sold together with the land they worked.

Picture the manor as a small farming kingdom. At its centre stood a large manor house, sometimes fortified, where the lord lived, and around it lay land worked by labourers or serfs, who supported themselves and the lord. A serf's days were not his own. The lord's work took precedence, so when the lord's crops were ready for harvest, so were the serf's own. There were extras, too: a family might owe a dozen extra eggs at Easter and a goose at Christmas.

Yet serfs also had rights. The lord was supposed to protect them from robbers and other lords and to help them in famine, and they could enforce many such rights in the manorial court. Some serfs even gathered personal property, and a few became wealthier than their free neighbours.

Freedom was possible, but costly. In England a serf who reached a chartered town and was not recaptured for a year and a day became free. That meant leaving behind his land and his farming livelihood, a price that was prohibitive unless the lord was especially tyrannical.