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{{Short description|Feudal Russian serf}}
{{Early Slavic status}}
A '''''kholop''''' ([[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] and [[Russian language|Russian]] холо́п; {{IPA|ru|xɐˈlop}}, {{IPA|uk|xoˈɫɔp}}) was a type of [[feudal]] [[serf]] (dependent population) in [[Kievan Rus']] in the 9th and early 12th&nbsp;centuries.<ref>{{cite web |first=Yuri |last=Shemshuchenko |title=ХОЛОПИ |language=uk |trans-title=holopi ("serf") |website=Юридична енциклопедія (Legal Encyclopedia) (leksika.com.ua) |url=https://leksika.com.ua/12991010/legal/holopi}}</ref> Their legal status in Russia was essentially the same as [[slavery|slaves]].<ref name=Perrie-Lieven-Suny-2006>{{cite book |last1=Perrie |first1=Maureen |last2=Lieven |first2=D.C.B. |last3=Suny |first3=Ronald Grigor |year=2006 |title=The Cambridge History of Russia |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521812276 |location=Cambridge, UK |oclc=77011698 |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory03suny_059 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p= 576}} They were sold as any other property of their master until the [[emancipation reform of 1861]].{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} The term ''kholop'' was excluded from official use in 1724, but it remains in vernacular use as a type of insult.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

== Etymology ==
The word холо́п was first mentioned in a [[chronicle]] for the [[986|year 986 CE]]. The word is [[cognate]] with [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] words translated as "man" or "boy" ({{langx|uk|хлопець}} ({{Transliteration|uk|khlopets}}), {{langx|pl|chłopiec}}, {{langx|bg|хлапе / хлапак}} ({{Transliteration|bg|hlape / hlapak}}) "kid"). {{lang|sk|Chlap}} ({{IPA|sk|xlap|pron}}) is a synonym for "man" in [[Slovak language|Slovak]] ({{lang|sk|chlapec}} "boy" thus being the diminutive).<ref>{{cite book |last=Vasmer |first=Max |year=1959–1961 |section=холоп |title=Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language |translator=Trubachyov, O.N. }}</ref> Such transitions between the meanings "young person" and "servant" (in both directions) are commonplace, as evident from the English use of "boy" in the sense of "domestic servant".

{{slavery |expanded=Historical}}

==History==
{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2021}}
===In Kievan Rus===
The ''[[Russkaya Pravda]],'' a [[legal code]] of the late [[Kievan Rus']], details the status and types of ''kholops'' of the time.

In the 11th–12th&nbsp;centuries, the term referred to different categories of dependent people and especially slaves. A ''kholop''<nowiki/>'s master had unlimited power over his life, e.g., he could kill him, sell him, or transfer ownership of him to settle a [[debt]]. The master, however, was responsible for a ''kholop''{{'}}s  actions, such as insulting a [[Free tenant|freeman]] or stealing.

A person could become a ''kholop'' as a result of capture, selling oneself, being sold for debts, after having committed [[crime]]s, or through marriage to a ''kholop''. Until the late 15th&nbsp;century, the ''kholops'' represented a majority among the servants, who had been working lordly lands. Some ''kholops'', mainly house [[serf]]s, replenished the ranks of the [[prince]]ly servants (including those in the [[military]]) or engaged themselves in trades, [[farming]], or administrative activities.
===In the Tsardom of Moscow===

Throughout the 16th&nbsp;century, the role of the ''kholops'' in the [[corvée]] economy had been diminishing due to the increasing involvement of [[peasant]] [[exploitation of labour|exploitation]] (''see [[Russian serfdom]]''). At the turn of the 16th&nbsp;century, the [[service class]] ''kholops'' (служилое холопство, ''sluzhiloye kholopstvo'') began to emerge and spread across the country. In the late 17th&nbsp;century, there were also ''kholops'' "implanted" to their land (посаженные на землю, ''posazhenniye na zemlyu''), who took care of their own [[household]] and had to pay [[chynsh]] (similar to [[quitrent]]). Those ''kholops'', who had been house serfs were subject to [[tax per head|poll tax]] (per-soul tax, ''podushnaya podat'') in 1722–1724, and were thereafter treated as ordinary serfs (''krepostnyye'', "permanent peasants").<ref name=kabala/>

[[File:Boevye kholopi 1556 Gerbersteyn.jpg|thumb|Combat ''kholops'' in the 16th&nbsp;century.|left]]
''Boevie '''kholopi''''' ({{langx|ru|боевые холопы}}, "combat slaves"), also known as "military slaves" in literature,<ref name=Perrie-Lieven-Suny-2006/>{{rp|style=ama|p=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory03suny_059/page/n407  383]}} constituted an armed retinue and personal protection for large and medium-sized landowners in the 16th–18th&nbsp;centuries, and carried out military service together with noblemen, constituting a considerable part of the "[[Landed Army]]". They were equipped as mounted archers, usually wearing cheap quilted armor and caps.<ref>{{cite book |last=Viskovatov |first=Alexander Vasilyevich |year=1841–1862 |title=Историческое описание одежды и вооружения российских войск |edition=Второе изд. – 2nd |language=ru |trans-title=Historical Description of Clothing and Weapons of Russian Troops |place=St.&nbsp;Petersburg, RU |publisher=Chief Quartermaster Exerc |via=runivers.ru |url=http://www.runivers.ru/bookreader/book9740/#page/1/mode/1up |access-date=2018-03-21}} — Detailed descriptions of the military and civil clothing in Russia from 862–1855 {{sc|ce}}.</ref>
[[File:History of Peter I (Krekshin) - Destruction of Serf department.jpg|thumb|left|The 1682 destruction of the ''Kholop Prikaze'']]
"''Kabala'' people" was a variation of '''''kholops''''' in [[Muscovy (disambiguation)|Muscovy]] of 15th–17th&nbsp;centuries. This category of unfree population came under the [[Debt bondage|''"kabala"'']] (heavy [[debt bondage]]) condition following a monetary loan for percentage of which it had serve its creditor until completion of the debt payment.<ref name=kabala>{{cite encyclopedia |title=КАБАЛЬНІ ХОЛОПИ |lang=uk |trans-title=debt slaves ("kabalni holopi") |encyclopedia=[[Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia]] |via=leksika.com.ua |url=https://leksika.com.ua/13750825/ure/kabalni_holopi }}</ref> Legal status of the ''Kabala kholops'' was regulated by general ''kholops'' norms and laws [[Sudebnik of 1550]], [[Sobornoye Ulozheniye]] of 1649. After the Ukaze of 1&nbsp;February 1597, the principle of the ''kholop's'' servitude until the death of his / her creditor was enacted.<ref name=kabala/> Over time, all types of kholops were placed to the category of ''Kabala kholops''. Agreements on ''Kabala kholops'' were inscribed in "''Kabala'' books".<ref name=kabala/>

== See also ==

* [[Chłopomania|Chłopomania or Khlopomanstvo]]
* [[Serf (film)|Kholop (film)]]

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

== Sources ==
* {{GSEncyclopedia}}

[[Category:Society of Kievan Rus']]
[[Category:Economy of the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Feudalism in Russia]]
[[Category:Economy of Kievan Rus']]
[[Category:Kievan Rus' law]]
[[Category:Russian farmers]]
[[Category:Polish farmers]]