The claim that medieval peasants worked only 150 days a year and had many holidays off is partially true but oversimplified. The reality is more complex and depends on time period, location, and economic conditions. Here’s a breakdown of the historical evidence:
Medieval Work Schedules & Holidays
Church Holidays: The Catholic Church mandated numerous feast days (e.g., Christmas, Easter, saints’ days) when labor was restricted. Estimates suggest 80–100 holidays per year in some places, but enforcement varied.
Sunday Rest: Work was generally prohibited on Sundays, adding about 52 non-working days.
Seasonal Workload: Agricultural work was highly seasonal. Planting and harvest times were extremely labor-intensive, while winter months involved less fieldwork but still required tasks like repairing tools, feeding animals, and processing food.
The 150-Day Work Year Claim
Some economic historians estimate that medieval peasants worked fewer days annually than modern industrial workers. However, 150 days seems too low, as it assumes every feast day and Sunday was fully work-free, which was not always the case.
Many peasants supplemented their farming with additional work (e.g., weaving, milling, carpentry) during “off” periods.
Hardships & Work Conditions
While feast days provided breaks, peasant life was physically demanding. Workdays could be long (often from sunrise to sunset).
Hunger, disease, and social obligations (such as corvée labor—unpaid work for the lord) made life challenging.
Despite rest periods, subsistence farming meant that food shortages and unpredictable weather could quickly lead to hardship.
Conclusion
The idea that medieval peasants had an easy work schedule with extensive holidays is partly true in the sense that they had more frequent breaks than modern 9-to-5 workers. However, their work was far more physically demanding, they faced food insecurity, and their “off days” didn’t always mean leisure. The claim of a 150-day work year is likely exaggerated but does reflect the fact that medieval societies structured work differently from modern capitalism.
One of capitalism’s most durable myths is that it has reduced human toil…
TLDW: we used to be paid by the day, not by the hour, and we would do a little more in summer and lot less in winter and still be paid the same. Moreover, employers used to incentivise employees to work by providing free food and sometimes free lodging.
He’s got some issues with his sources on this video (one is a secondary source from the 1840s for example). I want his claims to be true but take the info with a grain of salt.
One thing that tends to get left out is that peasants had a lot of work to do at home. Washing and repairing clothes, maintaining tools, cooking and preserving food, etc all had to be done by hand.
Moreover, employers used to incentivise employees to work by providing free food and sometimes free lodging. [In exchange for labor]
Yes, the historical name for providing free food and shelter in exchange for a person’s coerced labor is slavery, though sometimes the ruling class dresses it up in laws and calls it serfdom or indentured servitude.
If “providing free food and shelter in exchange for a person’s coerced labor is slavery”, then isn’t providing currency in exchange for a person’s coerced labor slavery?
I did low effort gpt 😉
Church Holidays: The Catholic Church mandated numerous feast days (e.g., Christmas, Easter, saints’ days) when labor was restricted. Estimates suggest 80–100 holidays per year in some places, but enforcement varied.
Sunday Rest: Work was generally prohibited on Sundays, adding about 52 non-working days.
Seasonal Workload: Agricultural work was highly seasonal. Planting and harvest times were extremely labor-intensive, while winter months involved less fieldwork but still required tasks like repairing tools, feeding animals, and processing food.
Some economic historians estimate that medieval peasants worked fewer days annually than modern industrial workers. However, 150 days seems too low, as it assumes every feast day and Sunday was fully work-free, which was not always the case.
Many peasants supplemented their farming with additional work (e.g., weaving, milling, carpentry) during “off” periods.
While feast days provided breaks, peasant life was physically demanding. Workdays could be long (often from sunrise to sunset).
Hunger, disease, and social obligations (such as corvée labor—unpaid work for the lord) made life challenging.
Despite rest periods, subsistence farming meant that food shortages and unpredictable weather could quickly lead to hardship.
Conclusion
The idea that medieval peasants had an easy work schedule with extensive holidays is partly true in the sense that they had more frequent breaks than modern 9-to-5 workers. However, their work was far more physically demanding, they faced food insecurity, and their “off days” didn’t always mean leisure. The claim of a 150-day work year is likely exaggerated but does reflect the fact that medieval societies structured work differently from modern capitalism.
Historia Civilis did a very good and very concise (~25 minute) breakdown of work/free time of labour through the ages:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvk_XylEmLo
TLDW: we used to be paid by the day, not by the hour, and we would do a little more in summer and lot less in winter and still be paid the same. Moreover, employers used to incentivise employees to work by providing free food and sometimes free lodging.
He’s got some issues with his sources on this video (one is a secondary source from the 1840s for example). I want his claims to be true but take the info with a grain of salt.
One thing that tends to get left out is that peasants had a lot of work to do at home. Washing and repairing clothes, maintaining tools, cooking and preserving food, etc all had to be done by hand.
Yes, the historical name for providing free food and shelter in exchange for a person’s coerced labor is slavery, though sometimes the ruling class dresses it up in laws and calls it serfdom or indentured servitude.
In the example he provides, they were compensated for their work and had homes they could go back to.
You have to remember that the plague successively wiped out a third of Europe. Employers were practically begging people to come to work
If “providing free food and shelter in exchange for a person’s coerced labor is slavery”, then isn’t providing currency in exchange for a person’s coerced labor slavery?
Yes, wage slavery. /j