<P> Serfs who occupied a plot of land were required to work for the lord of the manor who owned that land . In return they were entitled to protection , justice , and the right to cultivate certain fields within the manor to maintain their own subsistence . Serfs were often required not only to work on the lord 's fields , but also in his mines and forests and to labor to maintain roads . The manor formed the basic unit of feudal society , and the lord of the manor and the villeins , and to a certain extent serfs , were bound legally : by taxation in the case of the former , and economically and socially in the latter . </P>
<P> Serfs who occupied a plot of land were required to work for the lord of the manor who owned that land . In return they were entitled to protection , justice , and the right to cultivate certain fields within the manor to maintain their own subsistence . Serfs were often required not only to work on the lord 's fields , but also in his mines and forests and to labor to maintain roads . The manor formed the basic unit of feudal society , and the lord of the manor and the villeins , and to a certain extent serfs , were bound legally : by taxation in the case of the former , and economically and socially in the latter . </P>
in feudal europe a serf was a person who
in feudal europe a serf was a person who
required to work for the lord of the manor who owned that land
required to work for the lord of the manor who owned that land