317). The word "serf" emerged during this period, having shifted meanings from the classical Latin "servus" or "slave" to one who is "bound to the soil"(P.317). This new social class made up the majority of the peasants, and their existence was dominated by a conjunction of legal, personal, and economic influence (P.317). Serfs were often "excluded from judicial proceedings," "denied the right to bear arms," " required approval to contract a marriage," and could even be "set upon by dogs" or "flogged in public"(P.317).
             Many serfs "entered into economic bonds" with the lord of a manor, a "key development in the Frankish West"(P.317, 299). The manor was a bipartite estate, usually surrounding a castle, in which "one part of the land was set aside" as a demesne (P.299). This portion was generally one quarter to one half of the manor's total area, and was exploited strictly for the lord's benefit (P.299). The rest of the manor was divided into plots called tenancies, and were usually farmed by the peasants for their own sustenance (P.299). However, peasants were required to provide labor services to their lord, working a certain number of days per year on the demesne, or were required, and charged to use the lord's mill and oven (P.318). These estates were of great benefit to the aristocracy, and in fact allowed the presence of one of the other orders, those who fought. Once the aristocracy was provided wi
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