A
peasant is a member of a traditional class of
farmers, either laborers or owners of small farms, especially in the
Middle Ages under
feudalism, or more generally, in any pre-industrial society. In Europe, peasants were divided into three classes according to their personal status:
slave,
serf, and free tenant. Peasants either hold title to land in
fee simple, or hold land by any of several forms of
land tenure, among them
socage,
quit-rent,
leasehold, and
copyhold.