Incidentally, I stumbled on this while looking for a Marx quote about how representatives of the old feudal order falsely positioned themselves as allies to the lower classes by attacking the excesses of industrial capitalism. If anyone has that quote, please let me know.
The thing about being a peasant is you were tied to a piece of land. There were actually peasants who were living pretty good because they lucked out and were tied to a very nice piece of land. Being a peasant with a good piece of land in a wealthy region may have netted you a better lifestyle than a yeoman in a poorer area.
Thing is these were always a minority of peasants.