open-field system
Communal farming method
The open-field system was a medieval European method of farming where village land was divided into large unfenced fields, with each peasant cultivating scattered strips rather than consolidated plots.
Villagers shared common pastures and coordinated planting and harvesting collectively.
The system persisted for centuries before enclosure movements consolidated land into private holdings: The open-field system required cooperation among all village farmers.
- enclosure movementPrivatization of communal farmland
- villeinageFeudal tenant bondage
- fallow landCropless soil regaining fertility
- selionPlowed ridge in field
- feudalismLand-for-service social structure
glebe · allotments · common lands · village commons · runrig · serfdom · furlong · crop rotation · communal ownership · peasant life · communal farming · medieval villages · shared resources · lord · plough · plowing · arable · oxen
- feudalismfief, vassal, fealty, homage, lord
- farming historypeasant farming, crop rotation, enclosures, manorialism, threshing machine
open-field systemenclosure
Confined, bordered space
severalty · private estates · plantation system · private estate · smallholding
open-field systemplantation system
Labor-intensive colonial farming model