Liz: The page would not have been a serf but the son of a noble house who was "fostered" to Lord Arlen to learn to be-ultimately- a knight. He would start as a page and learn to serve the Lord and Lady as messenger and general go-fer.During this time he would be taught what little reading and writing he would get
When he became a little older, he would begin training in arms and would become a squire.
And so it would go. In the end he would be much closer to Lord Arlen than to his own father; who would have had fosterlings of his own.
Serfs were never used as pages etc. This was a priviledge reserved for the gently born.
Nice theory but the page as serf does not work historicaly.

troll