A serf is a member of a servile feudal class bound to the land and subject to the will of its owner. Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. The word "serf" originated from the Middle French serf and was derived from the Latin servus ("slave") . In Late Antiquity and most of the Middle Ages, what are now called serfs were usually designated in Latin as coloni. As slavery gradually disappeared and the legal status of servi became nearly identical to that of the coloni, the term changed meaning into the modern concept of "serf".
Serfs had a specific place in feudal society, as did barons and knights: in return for protection, a serf would reside upon and work a parcel of land within the manor of his lord. Thus, the manorial system exhibited a degree of reciprocity. Serfs served on occasion as soldiers in the event of conflict and could earn freedom or even ennoblement for valor in combat. Serfs could purchase their freedom, be granted it by a lord, acquire it through a process of "self-enslavement," or simply escape.
Serfs typically lived in a modest one-story building made of cheap and easily acquired materials like mud and timber for the walls and thatch for the roof. They had leisure time on Sundays and on holidays when the most popular pastimes were drinking beer, playing games, and dancing.
