Costumes of slaves or serfs, from the sixth to the twelfth centuries, collected by H. de Vielcastel from original documents in European libraries.

Serfdom is the socio-economic status of unfree peasants under feudalism, and specifically relates to Manorialism. Socioeconomics or socio-economics is the study of the relationship between economic activity and Social life. A peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval Europe Political system composed This article is about the medieval system "Manors" redirects here It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe. Debt bondage or bonded labor is a means of paying off loans with direct labor instead of currency or goods As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another The High Middle Ages was the period of European history in the 11th 12th and 13th centuries (AD 1000&ndash1299 Serfdom was the enforced labor of serfs on the fields of landowners, in return for protection and the right to work on their leased fields.

Serfdom involved work not only on fields, but various agriculture-related works, like forestry, mining, transportation (both land and river-based), crafts and even in production. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture Forestry is the Art and Science of managing forests tree Plantations and related Natural resources. Mining is the extraction of valuable Minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually (but not always from an Ore body Manors formed the basic unit of society during this period, and both the lord and his serfs were bound legally, economically, and socially. This article is about the medieval system "Manors" redirects here Serfs were labourers who were bound to the land; they formed the lowest social class of the feudal society. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. Serfs were also defined as people in whose labour landowners held property rights. Before the 1861 abolition of serfdom in Russia, a landowner's estate was often measured by the number of "souls" he owned. Feudalism in Europe evolved from agricultural slavery of the late Roman Empire and spread through Europe around the tenth century; it flourished in Europe during the Middle Ages but lasted until the nineteenth century. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial The Black Death broke the established social order to some degree and weakened serfdom. The Black Death, or the Black Plague, was one of the deadliest Pandemics in human history widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia

After the Renaissance, serfdom became increasingly rare in most of Western Europe but grew strong in Central and Eastern Europe, where it had previously been less common (this phenomenon was known as "later serfdom"). The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' Central Europe is the Region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. In England, it lasted legally up to the 1600s and in France until 1789. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. There were native-born Scottish serfs until 1799, when coal miners previously kept in serfdom gained emancipation. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Emancipation is a term used to describe various efforts to obtain Political rights or equality, often for a specifically Disenfranchised group or more In Eastern Europe the institution persisted until the mid-19th century. It persisted in Austria-Hungary till 1848 and was abolished in Russia only in 1861. The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya ^[1] In Finland, Norway and Sweden feudalism was not established, and serfdom did not exist.

Feudalism, according to Joseph R. Strayer, can be applied to the societies of the Russia, Byzantine Empire, Iran, ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt (Sixth to Twelfth dynasty), Muslim India, China (Zhou Dynasty, and end of Han Dynasty) and in Japan during the Shogunate. The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers" is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers largely corresponding Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now The Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent mainly took place from the 11th to the 17th centuries though earlier Muslim conquests made limited inroads into the region beginning China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The Zhou Dynasty ( POJ: Chiu Tiau 1122 BC to 256 BC was preceded by the Shang Dynasty and followed by the Qin Dynasty in China. The Han Dynasty ( 206 BC–220 AD followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. is a military rank and historical title in Japan. The Japanese word for "general" it is made up of two Kanji words sho, meaning "commander" James Lee and Cameron Campbell describe the Chinese Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) as also maintaining a form of serfdom. Not to be confused with Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of Imperial China ^[2] According to Pierre Bonnassie, feudalism could also be seen in Spain. The Spanish Empire (Imperio Español was one of the largest Empires in history and one of the first Global empires In the 15th and 16th centuries Although serfdom is believed to exist in all these regions, it was not uniform throughout them. Tibet is described by Melvyn Goldstein^[3][4] to have serfdom until 1959, but whether their form of peasant tenancy qualified as serfdom or was widespread is contested. Definitions of Tibet See also Definitions of Tibet Name In English The English word Tibet, like the word for Tibet in most European ^[5][6] Bhutan is described by Tashi Wangchuk, a Bhutanese civil servant, of abolishing serfdom officially by 1959 but believes less than or about 10% of poor peasants were in copyhold situations. At its origin in Medieval England, copyhold tenure was tenure of land according to the custom of the manor the "title deeds" being ^[7]

Etymology

The word "serf" originated from the Middle French "serf", and can be traced farther back to the Latin servus, meaning "slave". As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another The history of slavery uncovers many different forms of human exploitation across many cultures throughout history Slavery as an institution in Mediterranean cultures of the ancient world comprised a mixture of Debt-slavery, slavery as a punishment for crime and The issue of religion and slavery is an area of historical research into the relationship between the world's major Religions and the practice of Slavery. The Bible contains several references to slavery. The Hebrew Bible does not promote Slavery, but neither does it condemn it Christianity does not have a clear position regarding slavery, in favour or against The major juristic schools of Islam traditionally accepted the institution of Slavery. Judaism has been influenced by the experience of slavery of the Hebrews in the land of Egypt, as narrated in the biblical story of The Exodus The Atlantic Slave trade, also known as the transatlantic slave trade, was the trade of African people supplied to the Colonies of the New World This article discusses systems of slavery within Africa the history and effects of the slavery trade upon Africa The Arab Slave trade was the practice of Slavery in West Asia, North Africa, East Africa, and certain parts of Europe (such The history of slavery uncovers many different forms of human exploitation across many cultures throughout history Human trafficking is the recruitment transportation harbouring or receipt of people for the purposes of slavery forced labor (including bonded labor or debt bondage and servitude Sexual slavery refers to the organised coercion of persons into various different sexual practices forced Prostitution single-owner sexual slavery Abolitionism was a political movement of the 18th and 19th century which sought to make Slavery illegal particularly in the United States and British West Indies Involuntary servitude is a United States legal and Constitutional term for a person laboring against that person's will to benefit another under some form The Gulag was the government agency that administered the penal labor camps of the Soviet Union. Unfree labour is a generic or collective term for those work relations especially in modern or early modern history in which people are employed against their will Debt bondage or bonded labor is a means of paying off loans with direct labor instead of currency or goods An indentured servant is a form of Debt bondage worker The Laborer is under Contract of an Employer for some period of time usually three to Slavery is a social-economic system under which certain persons — known as slaves — are deprived of personal freedom and compelled to perform labour or services In Law legal status refers to the concept of individuals having a particular place in society relative to the law as it determines the laws which affect them Middle French (le moyen français is a historical division of the French language which covers the period from (roughly 1340 to 1611. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. In Late Antiquity and most of the Middle Ages, what we now call serfs were usually designated in Latin as coloni (sing. Late Antiquity (c 300-600 is a Periodization used by historians to describe the transitional centuries from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in A colonus was a type of Roman peasant farmer a serf This designation was carried into the Medieval period for much of Europe colonus). As slavery gradually disappeared and the legal status of these servi became nearly identical to that of coloni, the term changed meaning into our modern concept of "serf". This meaning fell out of use by the 1700s, but the current meaning was first used in 1611. The term "serfdom" was coined in 1850.

Dependency and the lower orders

The serfs had a place in feudal society in much the same fashion as a baron or a knight. Baron is a specific Title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin (liber Knight is the English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages. A serf's place was that, in return for protection, he would reside upon and work a parcel of land held by his lord. There was thus a degree of reciprocity in the manorial system.

The period rationale was that a serf "worked for all," while a knight or baron "fought for all" and a churchman "prayed for all;" thus everyone had his place. The serf worked harder than the others, and was the worst fed and paid, but at least he had his place and, unlike in slavery, he had his own land and properties. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another

A manorial lord could not sell his serfs as a Roman might sell his slaves. On the other hand, if he chose to dispose of a parcel of land, the serf or serfs associated with that land went with it to serve their new lord. Further, a serf could not abandon his lands without permission, nor could he sell them.

Becoming a serf

A freeman became a serf usually through force or necessity. Sometimes freeholder or allodial owners were intimidated into dependency by the greater physical and legal force of a local baron. Often a few years of crop failure, a war or brigandage might leave a person unable to make his own way. Brigandage refers to the life and practice of brigands Highway robbery and Plunder. In such a case a bargain was struck with the lord. In exchange for protection, service was required, in payment and/or with labor. These bargains were formalized in a ceremony known as "bondage" in which a serf placed his head in the seigneur's hands, parallel to the ceremony of "homage" where a vassal placed his hands between those of his lord. These oaths bonded the seigneur to their new serf and outlined the terms of their agreement. ^[8]Often these bargains were severe. A seventh century Anglo Saxon “Oath of Fealty" states “By the Lord before whom this sanctuary is holy, I will to N. be true and faithful, and love all which he loves and shun all which he shuns, according to the laws of God and the order of the world. Nor will I ever with will or action, through word or deed, do anything which is unpleasing to him, on condition that he will hold to me as I shall deserve it, and that he will perform everything as it was in our agreement when I submitted myself to him and chose his will. ” To become a serf was a commitment that invaded all aspects of the serf’s life.

Moreover, serfdom was inherited. By taking on the duties of serfdom, serfs bound not only themselves but all of their future heirs.

Serfdom's class system

The class of peasant was often broken down into smaller categories. A peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground The distinctions between these classes were often less clear than would be suggested by the different names encountered for them. Most often, there were two types of peasants - freemen and villeins. However, both half-villeins, cottars or cottagers, and slaves made up a small percentage of workers.

Freemen

Freemen were essentially rent-paying tenant farmers who owed little or no service to the lord. In parts of eleventh-century England these freemen made up only ten percent of the peasant population and in the rest of Europe their numbers were relatively small. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland

Villeins

A villein was the most common type of serf in the Middle Ages. Villeins had more rights and status than those held as slaves, but were under a number of legal restrictions that differentiated them from the freeman. Villeins generally rented small homes, with or without land. As part of the contract with their landlord, they were expected to use some of their time to farm the lord's fields and the rest of their time was spent farming their own land. Landlord is the owner of a House, Apartment, Condominium, or Real estate which is rented or Leased to an individual or business Like other types of serfs, they were required to provide other services, possibly in addition to a rent of money or goods. These services could be very onerous. Villeins were tied to the land and could not move away without their lord's consent. However, in other regards, they were free men in the eyes of the law. Villeins were generally able to have their own property, unlike slaves. Villeinage, as opposed to other forms of serfdom, was most common in Western European feudalism, where land ownership had developed from roots in Roman law. Roman law is the legal system of Ancient Rome. As used in the West the term commonly refers to legal developments prior to the Roman/Byzantine state's adopting

A variety of kinds of villeinage existed in the European Middle Ages. Half-villeins received only half as many strips of land for their own use and owed a full complement of labor to the lord, often forcing them to rent out their services to other serfs to make up for this hardship. Villeinage was not, however, a purely exploitative relationship. In the Middle Ages, land guaranteed sustenance and survival, and being a villein guaranteed access to land. Landlords, even where legally able to, rarely evicted villeins because of the value of their labor. Villeinage was much preferable to being a vagabond, a slave, or an un-landed laborer.

In many medieval countries, a villein could gain freedom by escaping to a city and living there for more than a year; but this avenue involved the loss of land and agricultural livelihood, a prohibitive price unless the landlord was especially tyrannical or conditions in the village were unusually difficult. Villeins newly arrived in the city in some cases took to crime for survival, which gave the alternate spelling "villain" its modern meaning.

Cottagers

Cottars or cottagers, another type of serf, did not possess parcels of land to work. They spent all of their time working the lord’s fields. In return, they were given their hut, gardens, and a small portion of the lord’s harvest.

Slaves

The last type of serf was the slave. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another Slaves had the fewest rights and benefits from the manor and were also given the least. A right is a legal or moral Entitlement or Permission. Rights are of vital importance in theories of Justice and deontological ethics They owned no land, worked for the lord exclusively and survived on donations from the landlord. It was always in the interest of the lords to prove that a servile arrangement existed, as this provided them with greater rights to fees and taxes. The legal status of a man was a primary issue in many of the manorial court cases of the period.

The serf's duties

The usual serf (not including slaves or cottars) paid his fees and taxes in the form of seasonally appropriate labor. Usually a portion of the week was devoted to plowing his lord's fields (demesne), harvesting crops, digging ditches, repairing fences, and often working in the manor house. The lord’s demesne included more than just fields: it included all grazing rights, forest produce (nuts, fruits, timber, and forest animals), and fish from the stream; the lord had exclusive rights to these things. In the Feudal system demesne (also spelled desmesne pronounced /dəmeɪn/ or /dəmiːn/; via Old French demeine from Latin dominium) was all the land The rest of the serf’s time was devoted to tending his or her own fields, crops and animals in order to provide for his or her family. Most manorial work was segregated by gender during the regular times of the year; however, during the harvest, the whole family was expected to work the fields. Gender comprises a range of differences between men and women extending from the biological to the social In Agriculture, the harvest is the process of Gathering mature crops from the fields Reaping is the cutting of Grain

The difficulty of a serf's life derived from the fact that his work for his lord coincided with, and took precedence over, the work he had to perform on his own lands: when the lord's crops were ready to be harvested, so were his own. On the other hand, the serf could look forward to being well fed during his service; it was a poor lord who did not provide a substantial meal for his serfs during the harvest and planting times. In exchange for this work on the lord's property, the serf had certain privileges and rights. They were allowed to gather deadwood from their lord’s forests. For a fee, the serfs were allowed to use the manor’s mills and ovens. These paid services were called banalities in France during this time.

In addition to service, a serf was required to pay certain taxes and fees. Taxes were based on the assessed value of his lands and holdings. Fees were usually paid in the form of foodstuffs rather than cash. The best ration of wheat from the serf’s harvest always went to the landlord. For the most part, hunting on the lord’s property was prohibited for the serfs. On Easter Sunday the peasant family owed an extra dozen eggs, and on Christmas a goose was expected as well. Easter ( Greek: Πάσχα Pascha or Pasxa) is the most important religious feast in the Christian Liturgical year. When a family member passed away, extra taxes were paid to the manor for the cost of that individual's labor. Any young woman who wished to marry a serf outside of her manor was forced to pay a fee for the lost labour.

Often there were arbitrary tests to judge the worthiness of their tax payments. A chicken, for example, was required to be able to jump over a fence of a given height to be considered old enough or well enough to be valued for tax purposes. The restraints of serfdom on personal and economic choice were enforced through various forms of manorial common law and the manorial administration and court.

It was also a matter of discussion whether serfs could be required by law in times of war or conflict to fight for their lord's land and property.

Benefits of serfdom

Within his constraints, a serf had some freedom. Though the common wisdom is that a serf owned "only his belly" — even his clothes were the property, in law, of his lord — a serf might still accumulate personal property and wealth, and some serfs became wealthier than their free neighbors, although this was rather an exception to the general rule. A well-to-do serf might even be able to buy his freedom.

Serfs could raise what they saw fit on their lands (within reason — a serf's taxes often had to be paid in wheat, a notoriously difficult crop), and sell the surplus at market. Wheat ( Triticum spp is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Levant area of the Middle East. Sao Paulo Stock Exchangejpg|thumb| Virtual market arena where buyer and seller are not present and trade via intemediates and electronical information Their heirs were usually guaranteed an inheritance. "Heir" and "Heiress" redirect here For the men and women fragrances endorsed by Paris Hilton see Heiress (fragrance. "Heir" and "Heiress" redirect here For the men and women fragrances endorsed by Paris Hilton see Heiress (fragrance.

The landlord could not dispossess his serfs without cause and was supposed to protect them from the depredations of outlaws or other lords, and he was expected to support them by charity in times of famine. An outlaw or bandit is a person living the lifestyle of outlawry; the word literally means "outside the Law " by folk-etymology from the original A famine is a widespread shortage of food that may apply to any Faunal species which phenomenon is usually accompanied by regional Malnutrition, Starvation

Variations

Specifics of serfdom varied greatly through time and region. In some places, serfdom was merged with or exchanged for various forms of taxation.

The amount of labor required varied. In Poland, for example, it was few days a year in the thirteenth century; one day per week in the fourteenth century; four days per week in the seventeenth century and six days per week in the eighteenth century. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Early serfdom in Poland was most limited on the royal territories (królewszczyzny). Crown land is a designated area belonging to The Crown, the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the Monarchy and could not be

Sometimes, serfs served as soldiers in the event of conflict and could earn freedom or even ennoblement for valour in combat. Ennoblement is the conferring of Nobility —the induction of an individual into the noble class. In other cases, serfs could purchase their freedom, be manumitted by their enlightened or generous owners, or flee to towns or newly-settled land where few questions were asked. Manumission is the act of freeing a slave, done at the will of the owner Laws varied from country to country: in England a serf who made his way to a chartered town and evaded recapture for a year and a day obtained his freedom.

History of serfdom

Social institutions similar to serfdom were known in ancient times. "Ancient" redirects here For other uses see Ancient_(disambiguation. The status of the helots in the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta resembled that of the medieval serfs. The helots (in Classical Greek / Heílôtes) were an unfree population group that formed the The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca A city-state is a Region controlled exclusively by a City, usually having Sovereignty. The city of Sparta ( Doric Σπάρτα Attic Σπάρτη By the third century AD, the Roman Empire faced a labor shortage. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial Large Roman landowners increasingly relied on Roman freemen, acting as tenant farmers, instead of slaves to provide labor. These tenant farmers, eventually known as coloni, saw their condition steadily erode. A colonus was a type of Roman peasant farmer a serf This designation was carried into the Medieval period for much of Europe In 332 AD Constantine issued legislation that greatly restricted the rights of the coloni and tied them to the land. Some see these laws as the beginning of medieval serfdom in Europe.

However, medieval serfdom really began with the breakup of the Carolingian Empire around the tenth century. Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term sometimes used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty. The demise of this empire, which had ruled much of the western Europe for more than 200 years, was followed by a long period during which no strong central governments existed in most of Europe.

During this period powerful feudal lords encouraged the establishment of serfdom as a source of agricultural labor. Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval Europe Political system composed Serfdom, indeed, was an institution that reflected a fairly common practice whereby great landlords were assured that others worked to feed them and were held down, legally and economically, while doing so.

This arrangement provided most of the agricultural labor throughout the Middle Ages. Slavery persisted right through the Middle Ages,^[9] but it was rare, diminishing and largely confined to the use of household slaves. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another Parts of Europe, including much of Scandinavia, never adopted many feudal institutions, including serfdom. Terminology and usage As a cultural term "Scandinavia" has no official definition and is subject to usage by those who identify with the culture in question as well

In the later Middle Ages serfdom began to disappear west of the Rhine even as it spread through eastern Europe. The Rhine (Rhein Rijn Rhin Reno Rain Rhenus is one of the longest and most important Rivers in Europe at 1320 kilometres (820 mi with an average discharge This was one important cause for the deep differences between the societies and economies of eastern and western Europe.

In Western Europe, the rise of powerful monarchs, towns, and an improving economy weakened the manorial system through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and serfdom was rare following the Renaissance. Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' This article is about the medieval system "Manors" redirects here The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere

Serfdom in Western Europe came largely to an end in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, because of changes in the economy, population, and laws governing lord-tenant relations in Western European nations. The enclosure of manor fields for livestock grazing and for larger arable plots made the economy of serfs’ small strips of land in open fields less attractive to the landowners. Furthermore, the increasing use of money made tenant farming by serfs less profitable; for much less than it cost to support a serf, a lord could now hire workers who were more skilled and pay them in cash. Money is anything that is generally accepted as Payment for Goods and services and repayment of Debts. Paid labor was also more flexible since workers could be hired only when they were needed.

At the same time, increasing unrest and uprisings by serfs and peasants, like Tyler’s Rebellion in England in 1381, put pressure on the nobility and the clergy to reform the system. As a result serf and peasant demands were accommodated to some extent by the gradual establishment of new forms of leasing the land and increased personal liberties.

Another important factor in the decline of serfdom was industrial development — especially the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the With the growing profitability of industry farmers wanted to move to towns to receive higher wages than those they could earn working in the fields, while landowners also invested in the more profitable industry. For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" This also led to the growing process of urbanization. Urbanizationn (also spelled urbanisation) is the physical growth of Urban areas into rural or natural land as a result of population in-migration to an existing

Grain pays

Serfdom reached Eastern European countries relatively later than Western Europe — it became dominant around the fifteenth century. Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. Before that time, Eastern Europe had been much less populated than Western Europe, and the lords of Eastern Europe created a peasantry-friendly environment to encourage migration east. Serfdom developed in Eastern Europe after the Black Death epidemics, which not only stopped the migration but depopulated Western Europe. The Black Death, or the Black Plague, was one of the deadliest Pandemics in human history widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia

The resulting large land-to-labor ratio combined with Eastern Europe's vast, sparsely populated areas gave the lords an incentive to bind the remaining peasantry to their land. With increased demand for agricultural products in Western Europe during the later era when Western Europe limited and eventually abolished serfdom, serfdom remained in force throughout Eastern Europe during the seventeenth century so that nobility-owned estates could produce more agricultural products (especially grain) for the profitable export market. Nobility is a government-privileged title which may be either hereditary (see Hereditary titles) or for a lifetime

Such Eastern European countries include Prussia (Prussian Ordinances of 1525), Austria, Hungary (laws of late fifteenth, early sixteenth centuries), the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (szlachta privileges of early sixteenth century) and the Russian Empire (laws of late sixteenth/first half of seventeenth century). Prussia ( Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Prūsija Prūsija Prusy Old Prussian: Prūsa) was most recently a historic state Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, officially the Commonwealth of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also known as the Most Serene Republic Szlachta ( refers to the noble class in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (since 1569 semi-federal semi-confederal The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya

Grain doesn't pay. Those two pictures illustrate the notion that agriculture, once extremely profitable to the nobles (szlachta) in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, became much less profitable from the second half of seventeenth century onwards

This also led to the slower industry development and urbanisation of those regions. Generally, this process, referred to as 'second serfdom' or 'export-led serfdom', which persisted until the mid-19th century, became very repressive and substantially limited serfs' rights.

In many of these countries serfdom was abolished during the Napoleonic invasions of the early nineteenth century. The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815 involved Napoleon's French Empire and a shifting set of European allies and opposing coalitions Serfdom remained the practice on the most part of territory of Russia until February 19, 1861, though in Russian Baltic provinces it has been abolished in the beginning of nineteenth century (Russian Serfdom Reforms). Events 197 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum Year 1861 ( MDCCCLXI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Economic development The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were times of crisis for Russian nuts Russian serfdom was perhaps the most notable among the Eastern European experiences, as it was never influenced by German law and migrations, and the serfdom and manorialism systems were forced by the crown (Tsar), not the nobility. The origins of Serfdom in Russia are traced to Kievan Rus in the 11th century This article is about the medieval system "Manors" redirects here Tsar csar and tzar redirect here For other uses see Tsar (disambiguation.

The decline of serfdom

End of serfdom: a German „Freilassungsbrief“ (Letter for the End of a serfdom) from 1762

Serfdom became progressively less common through the Middle Ages, particularly after the Black Death reduced the rural population and increased the bargaining power of workers. The Black Death, or the Black Plague, was one of the deadliest Pandemics in human history widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia Furthermore, the lords of many manors were willing (for payment) to manumit ("release") their serfs. Serfdom had largely died out in England by 1500 as a personal status, but land held by serf tenure (unless enfranchised) continued to be held by what was henceforth known as a copyhold tenancy, which was not abolished until 1925. At its origin in Medieval England, copyhold tenure was tenure of land according to the custom of the manor the "title deeds" being During the Late Middle Ages, peasant unrest led to outbreaks of violence against landlords. The Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe European history in the period of the 14th and 15th centuries (AD 1300–1499 In May 1381 the English peasants revolted because of the heavy tax placed upon them by Parliament. TalkParliament#Screen-size. -->A  parliament is a Legislature, especially in those There were similar occurrences at around the same time in Castille, Germany, northern France, Portugal, and Sweden. Although these peasant revolts were often successful, it usually took a long time before legal systems were changed. Popular revolts in late medieval Europe were uprisings and Rebellions by (typically Peasants in the countryside or the Bourgeois in towns against In France this occurred on August 11, 1789 with the “Decree Abolishing the Feudal System”. Events 2492 BC - Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation Year 1789 ( MDCCLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common This decree abolished the manorial system completely. It included removing the authority manorial courts, outlawing pigeon houses, eliminating and rerouting tithes (set taxes), and it freed those who were enslaved. Fear and hatred of the privileged was the most important idea that emerged as a result of the eventual dismantlement of serfdom. The majority of the population consisted of peasants. This social system was no longer viable. The beginning of the eradication of the feudal system marks an era of rapid change in Europe. The change in status following the enclosure movements beginning in the later eighteenth century, in which various lords abandoned the open field farming of previous centuries in exchange for, essentially, taking all the best land for themselves and "freeing" their serfs, may well have made serfdom a lifestyle desperately to be wished for by many peasant families. Enclosure or inclosure (the latter is used in Legal documents and Place names is the term used in England and Wales

In his book Kapital, in Chapter 26 named "The Secret of Primitive Accumulation" and the following Chapter Twenty-Seven: "Expropriation of the Agricultural Population from the Land" Marx shows that the feudal relationship of serfdom was violently transformed into to private property and free labor: free of possession and free to sell their labor force on the market. Being liberated from serfdom meant being able to sell one's land and work wherever one desired. "The so-called primitive accumulation, therefore, is nothing else than the historical process of divorcing the producer from the means of production. It appears as primitive, because it forms the pre-historic stage of capital and of the mode of production corresponding with it. " (emphasis added) In a case history of England, Marx looks at how the serfs became free peasant proprietors and small farmers, who were, over time, forcibly expropriated and driven off the land, forming a property-less proletariat. He also shows how more and more legislation is enacted by the state to control and regiment this new class of wage workers. Meantime, the remaining farmers became capitalist farmers operating more and more on a commercial basis; and gradually, legal monopolies preventing trade and investment by entrepreneurs are broken up.

Taxes levied by the state took the place of labor dues levied by the lord. Although serfdom began its decline in Europe in the Middle Ages, it took many hundreds of years to disappear completely. In addition, the struggles of the working class during the Industrial Revolution can often be compared with the struggles of the serfs during the Middle Ages. In parts of the world today, forced labour is still used. Serfdom is an institution that has always been commonplace for human society; however, it has not always been of the same nature.

The Alleged Return of Serfdom

See also: The Road to Serfdom

Some economic and political thinkers have argued that centrally-planned economies, especially the Soviet collective farm system and other systems based on Soviet-style Communist economics, amount to a return to government-owned serfdom. The Road to Serfdom is a book written by Friedrich Hayek (recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1974 which has significantly Collective farming is an organization of agricultural production in which the holdings of several farmers are run as a joint enterprise A soviet (сове́т, "council" originally was a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based This view was put most powerfully by Friedrich Hayek in The Road to Serfdom as early as 1944 and has since been adopted by others including Mikhael Gorbachev. Friedrich August von Hayek CH ( May 8, 1899 March 23, 1992) was an Austrian British Economist The Road to Serfdom is a book written by Friedrich Hayek (recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1974 which has significantly Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev ( Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov;; born 2 March 1931 in Privolnoye Stavropol Krai) is a Russian politician In certain Communist countries, farmers were tied to their farms, either kolkhoz which were theoretically collectives, or sovkhoz which were state-owned, through a system of internal passports and household registration. A kolkhoz () plural kolkhozy, was a form of Collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state Farms ( Sovkhoz, A sovkhoz ( Russian language: Совхоз, Советское хозяйство, Sovetskoye khozyaystvo, "soviet Farm " An internal passport is an Identity document that can be compared to Identity card used in some countries to control the internal movement and residence of people They had to plant crops according to instructions from the central authorities, especially if they were on state-run farms. These authorities would then "buy" their agricultural produce at vastly reduced prices and use the surplus to invest in heavy industry. Heavy industry does not have a single fixed meaning as compared to Light industry.

That de-facto serfdom persisted in Russia till as late as 1974 (with a brief break during the Civil War), when the USSR Government Decree #667 was put in effect, for the first time in Russian history granting peasants identification documents, with an unrestricted right to move within the country — thus detaching them from the piece of land where they had worked for generations. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 However, the Laogai camps, which is the application of forced labor by the Chinese government, constitutes an integral part of China's economy viewed by some analysts as economics of slavery. Laogai ( the abbreviation for Láo dòng Gǎi zào (勞動改造 which means "reform through labor" is a slogan of the Chinese criminal Unfree labour is a generic or collective term for those work relations especially in modern or early modern history in which people are employed against their will ^[10]

Dates of emancipation from serfdom in various countries

See also

External links

• serfdom -- Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Peasantry (social class) -- Encyclopaedia Britannica
• An excerpt from the book "Serfdom to Self-Government: Memoirs of a Polish Village Mayor, 1842–1927"
• The Granary of Europe — serfdom in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• The Causes of Slavery or Serfdom: A Hypothesis, discussion and full online text of Evsey Domar (1970), "The Causes of Slavery or Serfdom: A Hypothesis," Economic History Review 30:1 (March), pp. The Kingdom of Bhutan (buːˈtɑːn is a Landlocked nation in South Asia. Definitions of Tibet See also Definitions of Tibet Name In English The English word Tibet, like the word for Tibet in most European An indentured servant is a form of Debt bondage worker The Laborer is under Contract of an Employer for some period of time usually three to Ministerialis (plural ministeriales) a post-classical Latin word used in English, meaning originally servitor, agent, in a The Serfdom Patent of 1781 ( German: Leibeigenschaft) aimed to abolish aspects of the traditional serfdom system of the Habsburg lands through A colonus was a type of Roman peasant farmer a serf This designation was carried into the Medieval period for much of Europe Debt bondage or bonded labor is a means of paying off loans with direct labor instead of currency or goods A farm is an area of land including various structures devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food ( Produce, Grains, or Livestock Under the system of Feudalism, a fiefdom, fief, feud, feoff, or fee, often consisted of inheritable lands or revenue-producing Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval Europe Political system composed Folwark (Palivarkas is a Polish word for the giant Farms (in Latin, " latifundia " that were operated in the Crown Hacienda is a Spanish word for an estate usually but not always a vast Ranch. Josephinism is the term used to describe the domestic policies of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II of Austria (1765-1790 This article is about the medieval system "Manors" redirects here Kholops (Холопы were Feudally dependent people in Russia between the 10th and early 18th centuries A kolkhoz () plural kolkhozy, was a form of Collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state Farms ( Sovkhoz, The words peon and peonage are derived from the Spanish peón (pe'on The origins of Serfdom in Russia are traced to Kievan Rus in the 11th century A was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term Zhuangyuan. Slavery in early Medieval Europe was relatively common It was widespread at the end of antiquity. Smerds (sing smerd; in Russian: pl смерды sing смерд) were Feudal -dependent Peasants in Russia and some other Yeoman is noun used to indicate a variety of positions or Social classes In the 16th century a yeoman was also a Farmer of middling social status who owned A thrall ( Þræll; Þír, f) was a variety of slave in Scandinavian culture during the Viking Age. Birkarls ( birkarlar in Swedish, unhistorical pirkkamiehet or pirkkalaiset in Finnish; bircharlaboa, bergcharl In Sociology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of Social classes Castes and strata within a Society. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. Is a concept in Sociology that refers to the group of people at the top of a Social hierarchy. The term ruling class refers to the Social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that society's political policy Nobility is a government-privileged title which may be either hereditary (see Hereditary titles) or for a lifetime White-collar worker refers to a salaried professional or an educated Worker who performs semi-professional office administrative and sales coordination tasks as opposed to Petit-bourgeoisie (or petty bourgeois through Folk etymology) is a French term that originally referred to the members of the lower middle social-classes The upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the Social group constituted by higher-status members of the Middle class. The creative class is a group of people that social scientist Dr Gentry generally refers to people of high Social class, especially in the past The proletariat (from Latin la ''proles'' "offspring" is a term used to identify a lower Social class; a member of such a class is proletarian The middle class, in colloquial usage consists of those who have some economic independence but not a great deal of social Influence or power. Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types Nouveau riche ( French for "new rich" or new money, refers to a person who has acquired considerable Wealth within his or her A Parvenu is a person that is a relative newcomer to a socioeconomic class A pink-collar worker works in a job that is considered traditionally female (these traditions generally harking back to the first half of the twentieth century Lumpenproletariat (a German word meaning "raggedy proletariat" is a term first defined by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in In developed nations across the earth the lower middle class, is a sub-division of the greater Middle class which constitutes by far the largest socio-economic class Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types Old Money is a term that refers to the established Upper class. Gold-collar worker (GCW is a Neologism which has been used to describe either young low-wage workers who invest in conspicuous Luxury (often with parental support A peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another The contemporary concept of the underclass is a sanitized term for what was known in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the undeserving poor and may have been coined by American sociologist This article is translated from and may fit related articles there better. There is considerable controversy regarding social class in the United States, and it remains a concept with many competing definitions The American upper class describes the sociological concept pertaining to the "top layer" of society in the United States. The American middle class is an ambiguously defined Social class in the United States. The concept of a lower class in the United States is used to describe those at or near the lower end of the socio-economic hierarchy. Income in the United States is measured by the United States Department of Commerce either by household or individual. The educational attainment of the US population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education Evsey David Domar ( April 16, 1914 - April 1, 1997) was a Polish-American Economist, famous as co-author of the Harrod-Domar 18–32
• Serfdom
• "Serfdom: a declining institution"

Notes

References

• Gorbachev's BBC Interview
• Dhont, Jan, La Alta Edad Media (Das früche Mittlelatter), Madrid: Siglo XXI. ISBN 84-323-0049-7
• Backman, Clifford R. The Worlds of Medieval Europe. New York/Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003.
• Coulborn, Rushton, ed. Feudalism in History. London: Princeton UP, 1956.
• Freedman (Paul), Bourin (Monique) ed. , Forms of Servitude in Northern and Central Europe. Decline, Resistance and Expansion, Brepols, 2005.
• Frantzen, Allen J. , and Douglas Moffat, eds. The World of Work: Servitude, Slavery and Labor in Medieval England. Glasgow: Cruithne P, 1994.
• Pierre, Bonnassie. From Slavery to Feudalism in South-Western Europe. Trans. Birrell Jean. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991
• White, Stephen D. Re-Thinking Kinship and Feudalism in Early Medieval Europe. second ed. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Variorum, 2000