Not every Lord wants to be popular amongst his own serfs, but if you are wanting to make your population rise so you can fleece them for more taxes at some point in the future you are going to need to know how to get your approval rating up to attract more of the right type of peasant to your enclave and worship all who come under your coat of arms.
For starters, you need to make sure everybody has somewhere to live. There's no point in moving to your town if they are going to be sleeping on the streets you probably don't even have because it's the Middle Ages.
Back in the day, the heart of any new community was its Church, so make sure one of these is on the priority list for construction as you will get an instant popularity bump when it is completed.
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