An open hearth was in the
middle of the earthen floor of the hall, which was strewn with
rushes. There was a hole in the roof to let out the smoke. Here
the landholder and his men would eat meat, bread, salt, hot spiced
ale, and mead while listening to minstrels sing about the heroic
deeds of their ancestors. Richer men drank wine. There were
festivals which lasted several days, in which warriors feasted,
drank, gambled, boasted, and slept where they fell. Physical
strength and endurance in adversity were admired traits.
Slaves often were used as grain grinders, ploughmen, sowers,
haywards, woodwards, shepherds, goatherds, swineherds, oxherds,
cowherds, dairymaids, and barnmen. Slaves had no legal rights. A
lord could kill his slave at will. A wrong done to a slave was
regarded as done to his owner. If a person killed another man's
slave, he had to compensate him with the slave's purchase price.
The slave owner had to answer for the offenses of his slaves
against others, as for the mischief done by his cattle. Since a
slave had no property, he could not be fined for crimes, but was
whipped, mutilated, or killed.
During famine, acorns, beans, peas, and even bark were ground down
to supplement flour when grain stocks grew low.
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