It was bread that was the chief diet of serfs. ... It was made from bran, malt, dried crusts of bread, flour and water (Vuinich, p.13). ... In return for protection, the peasants gave their loyalty to the local lords giving rise to the feudal system. ... This ever increasing exploitation of the serfs reduced them by the end of the seventeenth century and had so impoverished serfs that they were forced to give up many of their former and civil rights. ...

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