I’m reading (via AI) about how the working week (at least at some period in the middle ages) was only three days, and a serf could take his lord to manorial court over him trying to extend it to four days; apparently records show that serfs often won these cases.
Today, serfs wage slaves work five days a week, are pressured to work extra for free, and the rich win most legal cases.
The elites really did refine the system didn’t they?
Again, other medievalists will point this out but there is a way in which this is misleading. You still had to do all of the usual farming and chores everyday. This only applies to corvee labor for the lords. So your lord can’t make you set aside your other jobs and do landscaping for him or even out the road because his butt hurts from all the bouncing on the uneven road in his carriage. But the weeds in the field won’t stop growing because its a Saturday and the pigs still want to be fed if it’s the feast of St. Sebastian. So these limits and holidays should more be seen as those are the days you can’t be asked to do more than your normal job of farming rather than actually having the day off.