Which statement about serfs and chartered towns is correct as historians state it?
Under a single law that applied everywhere in Europe, any serf who set foot in a town became free at once
In some regions custom held that a serf who lived in a chartered town for a year and a day went free✓Correct answer
Serfs were forbidden to enter chartered towns anywhere in medieval Europe
Chartered towns were themselves part of the manor and governed by the manor court
Explanation
Chartered towns stood partly outside manorial jurisdiction, and in a number of regions local custom recognised that a lord who had not reclaimed a runaway within a set period lost his claim to him. The version resting on a single European law fails because no such law existed, and where the custom did apply it was written into particular charters and local usage.