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 == peasant == 

  
 I again object to the inclusion of the term 'peasant' in this article which is misleading because it is now regarded as perjorative and furthermore, and more importantly  because there has never been a class of person (at least in England) called 'peasant'. The social strata of persons in Mediaeval England was complex and not simply a two-tier us-and-them Lord and Peasant culture. That is a gross oversimplification. 

 In settlements there were freemen/sokemen, villeins, bordars, cottars, slaves, and lords and other classifications of person. Their relationship was complex and not a matter of a division into two. The bordar did not belong to the same class as the slave or the lord. ""Bordar"" was his social class. There was never a social class termed 'peasant'. The villein was inferior to the lord and the lord was inferior to the king. Each had his own class. The term 'peasant' is not used in Domesday to refer to persons or in any other contemporary Mediaeval document that I have seen. There was clearly no need for such a term and it would carry no meaning for that culture. 

 It seems to me that the use of the term 'peasant' dates back only to the Victorian period in England. A time when the social stratum of society had become very polarised and so this oversimplfied and patronising way of referring to Mediaeval men and women seemed appropriate to those in the educated elite. 

 It should also be said that these very same Victorians were very fond of referring to black Africans as 'savages'. I think most people would agree that this is also a perjorative and patronising term, though I daresay that the average Victorian would also deny that any offence was ever intended.  

 I am not going to engage in a war over this term with the person who reversed my changes. If you - whoever you are - would like to do some original research, rather than quoting from books you might find that you will learn a lot more about the men and women - yes the MEN and WOMEN that you insult with the term. 
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