During the Byzantine period, the rural population mostly lived in villages or hamlets. In the mid-Byzantine era, these were called differently depending on whether they belonged to a large landowner (proasetion) or not (chôrion). Villages were of modest size, rarely exceeding a hundred households. Hamlets were also designated differently if they belonged to laypeople (ktèma or ktèsis) or depended on monasteries (métoques).
The living conditions.
The peasantry, overall, experienced the most difficult living conditions during the Byzantine period. It is also the least studied population, often poorly described by sources. The peasant house is not well known. In some regions, like Lycia or northern Syria, with their famous villages, houses were built to last and of high quality. However, in many cases, these houses were made of wood and could be dismantled if necessary. Some were very simple, while others were organized around a courtyard.
Peasant furniture was certainly very modest. The poorest probably owned nothing in their miserable huts, except for the most basic items for daily life, for cooking or clothing, and likely slept on straw mattresses on the ground. The wealthiest owned blankets and rugs, as well as kitchen utensils (pots, pans), and jars for storing oil and wine. Food was eaten without plates, using fingers, from a common dish.
Peasants wore only basic attire, as shown in certain manuscript miniatures. They seemingly went bareheaded, wearing a long tunic, sometimes sleeveless, cinched at the waist and pleated at the front. Their shoulders were covered by a short cloak, fastened with a large knot. For the lower body, they wore hose and heelless shoes.
Fieldwork.
It is also depicted in certain miniatures or drawings in manuscripts. It often began with clearing: workers are depicted felling trees and shrubs, while others uproot roots. Some dig holes to sink large stakes marking property boundaries.
In plowing scenes, the plow is always represented, a type consisting of a curved stem attached to the yoke of the harness, with the share and handle held by the plowman. However, the wheeled plow was already known.
The grain was then sown. Harvesting is less often depicted. On an ivory casket from the Morgan Collection in New York, Adam can be seen cutting wheat with a sickle while Eve carries a heavy sheaf on her shoulders.
Threshing wheat was likely done in the Byzantine era as it was during antiquity. Wheat was spread on a hard ground circular area. A pair of oxen pulled an elongated sled, armed on its underside with flint points. The driver stood on the implement to increase its weight. The team walked in circles for several hours, and the animals’ stride and the sawing of the ears caused threshing.
Livestock breeders.
Pastures played an important role in the Byzantine agricultural economy. Until the Turkish invasion, Anatolia was renowned as a breeding ground. It was also the region that provided the vast majority of horses for the imperial cavalry. The high valleys of the Balkan Peninsula were also breeding areas. In these latter zones, during the middle Byzantine period, it was often the Vlachs, Bulgarians, and Cumans who engaged in it. In the Rhodope and Balkan massifs, in Macedonia for example, it was a nomadic population that often clashed with landowners as they crossed their lands. In the summer, sheepfolds were set up near pastures and forests by large landowners and by the state, and for a tithe, shepherds could lodge there with their families and freely graze their herds. Breeding methods were quite basic; for example, pigs were allowed to graze freely.
Another type of lucrative and widespread livestock farming was beekeeping. Manuscript paintings depict hives shaped like small yellow-painted huts, with cylindrical roofs and small windows at the front, amid shrubs.