Serfdom
Money was not very common during the Middle Ages. Serfs usually paid their lord by giving food and working without pay.  Usually, serfs spent five or six days a week working for their lord. On these days, the lord would give his serfs better food.  However, serfs had to do the lord’s work before they could do their own work. When the lord’s crops needed to be harvested, the serf’s own crops needed to be harvested too. Still, the serf could not harvest his own food until he had done his required work for the lord.