From Villein to Peasant in 13th-Century Literature

The stereotype of the churl (“vilain” or “villanus”), embodiment of baseness, does not disappear in the thirteenth century: on the contrary, it is immortalized by the proverbs and the comic literature which also illustrate the stereotypes of the woman and the priest. But another character appears, a rehabilitated and humanized farmer, even if he is still called sometimes villanus, the word “paisant” (peasant) being yet very rare. The poets, among whom many were doubtless of rural origin, picture him as hospitable, patient, even educated. Unlike the priest, he his not the object of public condemnation and undergoes no degrading punishment. He runs his lands and manages his farm normally. As head of the household (“chef de feu”), with his responsibilities and his autonomy, he occupies a specific position in the society, much as the craftsman, the merchant and the lord. Besides the medieval Caliban, the farmer does have a real existence, and contemporary charters of emancipation are the witnesses of his strength and sometimes of his own language.