What are the main groups of medieval society?

The peasants – the main producers, free or serfs, cultivated their own and master’s land, carried corvee, paid the rent in favor of the feudal lord.

Feudal lords (aristocratic class) are the main owners of the land, they received it from a higher lord in exchange for military service. The supreme feudal lord was the king.

The clergy are the privileged and most educated class that did not pay taxes, owned huge land plots, and influenced the politics of kings. The head of the clergy (in the west) is the Pope.

Free townspeople are a class that formed by the 10th-11th centuries, when cities, large cities, gained independence from the feudal lords. They were engaged in trade (mediation between town and country), crafts (formation of a system of workshops).