The life journey of peasants throughout the Middle Ages was difficult. The life of a peasant was hard and neither easy nor respected. The work of the peasant has never been appreciated by the upper social classes. Peasant life must be recognized for the work and impact it has had on British history. Peasants in the Middle Ages were farmers, servants and carpenters. They would take any job to support their family. According to Dianne Zarlengo, “their class constituted the economic backbone of society” (10). Peasants were not able to choose the life they wanted to live. “Even though the burdened peasant class largely accepted their harsh lives as a means to purify their souls and help pave the way to eternal salvation, the peasants occasionally revolted” (Zarlengo 13). Most people were born into peasant life and from then on their life became very hard. The social order in which the peasants found themselves showed that they were considered worthless. They were below all social classes of that time. “The peasant class was the lowest rung of the medieval social ladder” (Zarlengo 11). Their social order being at the bottom of the scale, the upper classes did not respect them too much. “Even though peasants provided the labor that allowed society to survive, they were often despised by the wealthier classes” (Zarlengo 10). Even though peasants were of a lower class, they were still able to provide for their families. The daily life of a peasant was extremely difficult. Many worked as farmers in fields owned by wealthier landowners. They would overwork themselves without being paid. According to Earle Jr. Rice, “peasants worked the lord's land two or three days a week and their own land the rest of the week” (35). The life of the peasants consisted of working and paying forever... middle of paper ... they could not have continued and functioned without the help of the peasants and that is why the peasant life must be recognized in History British. Works Cited Gorman, Benjamin. “Medieval life: squires, young girls and peasants.” Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. No. Internet. February 6, 2014.Jones, Dan. “The Peasants' Revolt, 1381”. History Today 59.6 (2009): n.pag. Internet. February 6, 2014. Jones, Stefanie Dion. “A historian reconstructs the daily life of medieval peasants.” UCONN today (2009): n.pag. Internet. February 6, 2014. Lambert, Tim. “Daily life in the Middle Ages”. An encyclopedia of world history. 2014. “Medieval Kingdoms. » British History. No. Web. February 6, 2014. “Medieval Kingdoms; rural life. » British Library. No. Internet. February 5, 2014.Rice, Earle Jr. Life Middle Ages. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1998. Print. Zarlengo, Dianne. Living in the Middle Ages. San Diego: Bonnie Szumski, 2004. Print.