English peasants do not have a better QoL.

There's a meme going around claiming that medieval peasants only worked 150 days a year. That's not accurate. But, even if it were, it's not interesting as a critique of modern living.

Let's use Angus Maddison's data. GDP/capita in England in 1000 AD is about $760 in ppp-adjusted 1990 USD. That's about $1780 now. To earn that, the average American worker--including part-time, low-paid workers who bring down the average--has to work about 50 hours.

So you can live as well as an English peasant in 1000 in slightly more than 6 day's work.