Reply #15: yes, in august, they did, in winter they didn't work [View All]

In medieval and early modern times, you could not grow crops in winter. Used to be this thing called snow. And it stayed on the ground for months at a time, making it impossible to grow or harvest crops.

Medieval peasants got off all winter, and they also got off on Sundays, and on saint's days -- and there were many, many, many more saint's days and religious holidays than we recognize today.

You may be thinking of the early industrial revolution, when men, women, and children worked year-round in factories, sometimes for 16 hours a day, with no holidays, but this was obviously in the early modern period, not in medieval times.

Today, in the U.S. south and probably other places, farming is a year-round activity but this is a very modern innovation.