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BOOK V. CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES CHAPTER XX MEDIEVAL LIFE IN COUNTRY AND TOWN I. THE SERFS AND THE MANOR 404. Unimportance of Town Life in the Early Middle Ages. There was little town life in western Europe before the twelfth century. The Roman towns were decreasing in population before the German inroads. The confusion which followed the invasions hastened their decline, and a great number of them disappeared altogether. Those which survived and such new towns as sprang up were of very little importance during the early Middle Ages. We may assume, therefore, that during the long period from Theodoric to the opening of the Crusades by far the greater part of the population of England, Germany, and northern and central France were living in the country, on the great estates belonging to the feudal lords, abbots, and bishops. 1 405. The Vill, or Manor. Obviously the owner of the castle had to obtain supplies to support his family and servants and armed men. He could not have done this had he not possessed extensive tracts of land. A great part of western Europe in the time of Charlemagne appears, as we have seen, to have been divided into great estates or plantations. These medieval estates were called vills, or manors, and closely resembled the Roman villas which had existed in former centuries. The peasants who tilled the soil were called villains, a word derived 1 In Italy and southern France town life was doubtless more general. 248