socage (Latin servitium, labor or robota)

Besides having to make payments in money and crops, serfs also owed their landlord labour. This meant the cultivation of the landlord's land, the harvest, transportation of the crops or work around the landlord's castle etc. The number of socage a serf was obliged to perform annually varied significantly from one part of the country to another. In the cases of land-bound serfs the number of socage days was rather high (often as many as 2-3 days per week), while in other areas it was possible to redeem socage by making cash payments.

PG