View source for Serfdom

{{Short description|Status of peasants under feudalism}}
{{Feudal status}}

'''Serfdom''' was the status of many [[peasant]]s under [[feudalism]], specifically relating to [[manorialism]] and similar systems. It was a condition of [[debt bondage]] and [[indentured servitude]] with similarities to and differences from [[slavery]]. It developed during [[late antiquity]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]] in Europe and lasted in some countries until the mid-19th century.<ref name="urlVilleins in the Middle Ages | Middle Ages">{{cite web |url=http://www.thefinertimes.com/Middle-Ages/villeins-in-the-middle-ages.html |title=Villeins in the Middle Ages &#124; Middle Ages |date=31 May 2012 |access-date=5 November 2018 |archive-date=5 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105202643/http://www.thefinertimes.com/Middle-Ages/villeins-in-the-middle-ages.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Unlike [[slave]]s, serfs could not be bought, sold, or traded individually, though they could, depending on the area, be sold together with land. Actual slaves, such as the [[kholop]]s in Russia, could, by contrast, be traded like regular slaves, abused with no rights over their own bodies, could not leave the land they were bound to, and marry only with their [[lord]]'s permission.

Serfs who occupied a plot of land were required to work for the [[lord of the manor]] who owned that land. In return, they were entitled to protection, justice, and the right to cultivate certain fields within the manor to maintain their own subsistence. Serfs were often required not only to work on the lord's fields, but in his mines and forests and to labour to maintain roads. The manor formed the basic unit of feudal society, and the lord of the manor and the [[villein]]s, and to a certain extent the serfs, were bound legally: by taxation in the case of the former, and economically and socially in the latter.

The decline of serfdom in [[Western Europe]] has sometimes been attributed to the widespread plague epidemic of the [[Black Death]], which reached Europe in 1347 and caused massive fatalities, disrupting society.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Austin Alchon |first=Suzanne |title=A Pest in the Land: New World Epidemics in a Global Perspective |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YiHHnV08ebkC&pg=PA21 |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |year=2003 |page=21 |isbn=0-8263-2871-7 |access-date=1 July 2015 |archive-date=1 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401101639/https://books.google.com/books?id=YiHHnV08ebkC&pg=PA21 |url-status=live}}</ref> Conversely, serfdom grew stronger in [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]], where it had been less common (this phenomenon was known as "[[second serfdom]]"). In Eastern Europe, the institution persisted until the mid-19th century. In Russia, serfdom gradually evolved from the usual European form to become ''de facto'' slavery, though it continued to be called serfdom.  In the [[Austrian Empire]], serfdom was abolished by the [[Serfdom Patent (1781)|1781 Serfdom Patent]]. Serfdom was [[Emancipation reform of 1861|abolished in Russia]] in 1861.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-serf.html|title=Serf. ''A Dictionary of World History''|access-date=12 February 2008|archive-date=7 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107051229/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-serf.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Prussia]] declared serfdom unacceptable in its [[General State Laws for the Prussian States]] in 1792 and abolished in 1807, in the wake of the [[Prussian Reform Movement]].<ref>''[http://www.westfaelische-geschichte.de/que4656 Edikt den erleichterten Besitz und den freien Gebrauch des Grundeigentums so wie die persönlichen Verhältnisse der Land-Bewohner betreffend] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512042730/https://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/portal/Internet/finde/langDatensatz.php?urlID=4656&url_tabelle=tab_quelle |date=12 May 2022}}''</ref> In Finland, Norway, and Sweden, feudalism was never fully established, and serfdom did not exist; in Denmark, serfdom-like institutions did exist in the ''[[stavnsbånd]]'', between 1733-88 and its vassal Iceland (the more restrictive ''[[vistarband]]'', from 1490 until 1894).

The concept of feudalism can be applied to the societies of ancient [[Achaemenid Empire|Persia]], ancient [[Mesopotamia]], [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] from the late [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old Kingdom]] through the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]] ([[Sixth Dynasty of Egypt|Sixth]] to [[Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt|Twelfth dynasty]]), [[Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent|Islamic-ruled Northern and Central India]], China ([[Zhou dynasty]] and end of [[Han dynasty]]) and Japan during the [[Shogunate]].<ref name="wudagun">{{cite journal |last1=Wu |first1=Ta-k'un |title=An Interpretation of Chinese Economic History |journal=Past & Present |date=February 1952 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1093/past/1.1.1}}</ref> James Lee and Cameron Campbell describe the Chinese [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1912) as also maintaining a form of serfdom.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=James |last2=Campbell |first2=Cameron |year=1998 |title=Headship succession and household division in three Chinese banner serf populations, 1789–1909 |journal=Continuity and Change |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=117–141 |doi=10.1017/s0268416098003063|s2cid=144755944}}</ref> [[Melvyn Goldstein]] described [[Tibet]] as having serfdom until 1959.<ref name="TibetGoldstein1">{{cite journal |last=Goldstein |first=Melvyn C. |year=1986 |title=Re-examining Choice, Dependency and Command in the Tibetan Social System-'Tax Appendages' and Other Landless Serfs |journal=Tibet Journal |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=79–112}}</ref><ref name="TibetGoldstein2">{{cite journal |last=Goldstein |first=Melvyn C. |year=1988 |title=On the Nature of Tibetan Peasantry |journal=Tibet Journal |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=61–65}}</ref> but this is contested.<ref name="TibetBarnett">Barnett, Robert (2008) "What were the conditions regarding human rights in Tibet before democratic reform?" in: ''Authenticating Tibet: Answers to China's 100 Questions,'' pp. 81–83. Eds. Anne-Marie Blondeau and Katia Buffetrille. [[University of California Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-520-24464-1}} (cloth); {{ISBN|978-0-520-24928-8}} (paper)</ref><ref name="TibetSamuel">{{cite journal |last=Samuel |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Samuel |year=1982 |title=Tibet as a Stateless Society and Some Islamic Parallels |journal=Journal of Asian Studies |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=215–229 |doi=10.2307/2054940 |jstor=2054940 |s2cid=163321743}}</ref> [[Bhutan]] is described by as [[slavery in Bhutan|having officially abolished serfdom]] by 1959.<ref name="BhutanWangchuk">[http://www.bhutanstudies.org.bt/admin/pubFiles/3.landusechange.pdf BhutanStudies.org.bt] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627061318/http://www.bhutanstudies.org.bt/admin/pubFiles/3.landusechange.pdf |date=27 June 2008}}, T Wangchuk ''Change in the land use system in Bhutan: Ecology, History, Culture, and Power'' Nature Conservation Section. DoF, MoA</ref>

The [[United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery]] prohibits serfdom as a practice similar to slavery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/supplementaryconventionabolitionofslavery.aspx |website=United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commission |access-date=23 February 2019 |archive-date=12 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612163305/https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/SupplementaryConventionAbolitionOfSlavery.aspx |url-status=live}}</ref>

==History==
{{main|History of serfdom}}
{{see also|Feudalism#History}}
[[File:Galician slaughter in 1846.PNG|thumb|[[Galician slaughter]] in 1846 was a revolt against serfdom, directed against manorial property and oppression.]]
Social institutions similar to serfdom were known in [[ancient history|ancient times]]. The status of the [[helots]] in the [[ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] [[city-state]] of [[Sparta]] resembled that of the medieval serfs. By the 3rd century AD, the [[Roman Empire]] faced a labour shortage. Large Roman landowners increasingly relied on Roman freemen, acting as tenant farmers, instead of slaves to provide labour.<ref name="Mackay298">{{cite book|last=Mackay|first=Christopher|title=Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2004|isbn=0521809185|location=New York|page=298}}</ref>

These [[tenant farmer]]s, eventually known as [[colonus (person)|''coloni'']], saw their condition steadily erode. Because the tax system implemented by [[Diocletian]] assessed taxes based on both land and the inhabitants of that land, it became administratively inconvenient for peasants to leave the land where they were counted in the census.<ref name="Mackay298" />

Medieval serfdom really began with the breakup of the [[Carolingian Empire]] around the 10th century.{{citation needed|date=June 2008}} During this period, powerful [[feudalism|feudal lords]] encouraged the establishment of serfdom as a source of agricultural [[labour economics|labour]]. 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 labour throughout the [[Middle Ages]]. [[Slavery]] persisted right through the Middle Ages,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/slavery-sociology/Ways-of-ending-slavery|title=Ways of ending slavery|access-date=21 February 2024}}</ref> but it was rare.

In the later Middle Ages, serfdom began to disappear west of the [[Rhine]] even as it spread through eastern Europe. Serfdom reached Eastern Europe centuries later than Western Europe{{snd}}it became dominant around the 15th century. In many of these countries serfdom was abolished during the [[Napoleonic Wars|Napoleonic invasions]] of the early 19th century, though in some it persisted until mid- or late- 19th century.{{cn|date=December 2022}}

==Etymology==
[[File:Costumes of Slaves or Serfs from the Sixth to the Twelfth Centuries.png|thumb|right|upright=1.25|Costumes of slaves or serfs, from the sixth to the twelfth centuries, collected by H. de Vielcastel from original documents in European libraries]]

The word ''serf'' originated from the [[Middle French]] {{lang|frm|serf}} and was derived from the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|[[servus]]}} (slave or servant). In [[Late Antiquity]] and most of the Middle Ages, what are now called serfs were usually designated in Latin as {{lang|la|coloni}}. As slavery gradually disappeared and the legal status of {{lang|la|servi}} became nearly identical to that of the {{lang|la|coloni}}, the term changed meaning into the modern concept of "serf". The word "serf" is first recorded in English in the late 15th century, and came to its current definition in the 17th century. ''Serfdom'' was coined in 1850.{{Citation needed|date=December 2017}}

==Dependency and the lower orders==
Serfs had a specific place in feudal society, as did [[English feudal barony|barons]] and [[knight]]s: in return for protection, a serf would reside upon and work a parcel of land within the [[Lord of the manor|manor of his lord]]. Thus, the manorial system exhibited a degree of reciprocity.

One rationale held that serfs and freemen "worked for all" while a knight or baron "fought for all" and a churchman "prayed for all"; thus everyone had a place (see [[Estates of the realm]]). The serf was the worst fed and rewarded. However, unlike slaves, they had certain rights in land and property.

A lord of the manor 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 serfs associated with that land stayed with it to serve their new lord; simply speaking, they were implicitly sold in mass and as a part of a lot. This unified system preserved for the lord long-acquired knowledge of practices suited to the land. Further, a serf could not abandon his lands without permission,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/serfdom |title=Serfdom |work=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=6 June 2017 |language=en |archive-date=12 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912034926/https://www.britannica.com/topic/serfdom |url-status=live}}</ref> nor did he possess a saleable title in them.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/medieval-times/european-middle-ages-and-serfdom/a/serfdom-in-europe |title=Serfdom in Europe |publisher=Khan Academy |language=en |access-date=6 June 2017 |archive-date=13 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813073605/https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/medieval-times/european-middle-ages-and-serfdom/a/serfdom-in-europe |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Initiation===
A [[Franklin (class)|freeman]] became a serf usually through force or necessity. Sometimes the greater physical and legal force of a local [[magnate]] intimidated [[Fee simple|freeholders]] or [[Allodial title|allodial]] owners into dependency. Often a few years of crop failure, a war, or [[brigandage]] might leave a person unable to make his own way. In such a case, he could strike a bargain with a lord of a manor. In exchange for gaining protection, his service was required: in labour, produce, or cash, or a combination of all. These bargains became formalised in a ceremony known as "bondage", in which a serf placed his head in the lord's hands, akin to the ceremony of [[Homage (feudal)|homage]] where a [[vassal]] placed his hands between those of his [[Lord|overlord]]. These oaths bound the lord and his new serf in a feudal contract and defined the terms of their agreement.<ref>Marc Bloch, ''Feudal Society: The Growth of the Ties of Dependence''.{{page?|date=March 2024}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> Often these bargains were severe.{{Clarification needed|reason=What does severe mean?|date=April 2024}}

A 7th-century [[Old English|Anglo Saxon]] "Oath of Fealty" states:
{{blockquote|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 encompassed all aspects of the serf's life. The children born to serfs inherited their status, and were considered born into serfdom. By taking on the duties of serfdom, people bound themselves and their progeny.

===Class system===
The social class of the [[peasant]]ry can be differentiated into smaller categories. These distinctions were often less clear than suggested by their different names. Most often, there were two types of peasants:
# freemen, workers whose tenure within the manor was [[freehold (law)|freehold]]
# [[villein]]

Lower classes of peasants, known as [[cottar]]s or [[bordar]]s, generally comprising the younger sons of villeins;<ref>''Studies of field systems in the British Isles'', by Alan R. H. Baker, Robin Alan Butlin</ref><ref>''An Economic History of the British Isles'', by Arthur Birnie. p. 218 {{ISBN?}}</ref> vagabonds; and slaves, made up the lower class of workers.

====Coloni====
The {{Lang|la|[[Colonus (person)|colonus]]}} system of the late Roman Empire can be considered the predecessor of Western European [[feudal]] serfdom.<ref name="urlThe Pictorial History of England: Being a History of the People, as Well as ... – George Lillie Craik, Charles MacFarlane – Google Książki">{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rxk5AQAAMAAJ&q=roman+colonus+feudalism&pg=PA545 |title=The Pictorial History of England: Being a History of the People, as Well as ... – George Lillie Craik, Charles MacFarlane –Google Książki |last1=Craik |first1=George Lillie |year=1846 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-date=12 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512042725/https://books.google.com/books?id=rxk5AQAAMAAJ&q=roman+colonus+feudalism&pg=PA545 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="urlThe Edinburgh Review, Or Critical Journal: ... To Be Continued Quarterly - Google Książki">{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DblZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA449 |title=The Edinburgh Review, Or Critical Journal: ... To Be Continued Quarterly – Google Książki |year=1842 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407103336/https://books.google.com/books?id=DblZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA449 |url-status=live}}</ref>

====Freemen====
Freemen, or [[free tenant]]s, held their land by one of a variety of contracts of [[feudal land tenure|feudal land-tenure]] and were essentially rent-paying tenant farmers who owed little or no service to the lord, and had a good degree of security of tenure and independence. In parts of 11th-century England freemen made up only 10% of the peasant population, and in most of the rest of Europe their numbers were also small.

====Ministeriales====
[[Ministerialis|Ministeriales]] were hereditary unfree knights tied to their lord, that formed the lowest rung of nobility in the [[Holy Roman Empire]].

====Villeins====
{{See also|Villein}}

In England, after the Norman conquest of 1066, an unfree tenant who held their land subject to providing agricultural and other services to their lord, was described as a villein. Villeins had limited rights and were tied to their lord. However they did have
more rights and were of a higher status than the lowest serf. They had to work on the demensne (their lords farm) in return for receiving small plots of land, to support their family.<ref name=friar458>{{Cite book|last=Friar|first=Stephen|title=The Sutton Companion to Local History|publisher=Sutton Publishing|year=2004|isbn=0-7509-2723-2|page=458}}</ref>

Villeins were not freemen, for example they and their daughters were not allowed to marry without their lords permission.
They could not move away without their lord's consent and the acceptance of the lord to whose manor they proposed to migrate to. Villeins were generally able to hold their own property, unlike slaves (serfs).<ref name=friar458/>Villeinage, as opposed to other forms of serfdom, was most common in Continental European feudalism, where land ownership had developed from roots in [[Roman law]].{{cn|date=July 2023}}

A variety of kinds of villeinage existed in Europe in the Middle Ages. Half-villeins received only half as many strips of land for their own use and owed a full complement of labour to the lord, often forcing them to rent out their services to other serfs to make up for this hardship. Villeinage was not a purely uni-directional exploitative relationship. In the Middle Ages, land within a lord's manor provided [[sustenance]] and survival, and being a villein guaranteed access to land, and crops secure from theft by marauding robbers. Landlords, even where they were legally entitled to do so, rarely evicted villeins because of the value of their labour. Villeinage was much preferable to being a vagabond, a slave, or an unlanded labourer.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

In many medieval countries, a villein could gain freedom by escaping from a [[Manorialism|manor]] to a city or [[borough]] and living there for more than a year; but this action involved the loss of land rights and agricultural livelihood, a prohibitive price unless the landlord was especially tyrannical or conditions in the village were unusually difficult.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

In medieval England, two types of villeins existed – ''villeins regardant'' that were tied to land and ''villeins in gross'' that could be traded separately from land.<ref name="urlThe Pictorial History of England: Being a History of the People, as Well as ... – George Lillie Craik, Charles MacFarlane – Google Książki" />

====Bordars and cottagers====
In England, the [[Domesday Book]], of 1086, uses {{Lang|ang|bordarii}} (bordar) and {{Lang|ang|cottarii}} ([[Cotter (farmer)|cottar]]) as interchangeable terms, ''cottar'' deriving from the native Anglo-Saxon tongue whereas ''bordar'' derived from the French.<ref>{{Cite book|editor-last=Hallam|editor-first= H.E.|editor2-last=Finberg|editor3-last=Thirsk |editor3-first=Joan |title=The Agrarian History of England and Wales: 1042–1350|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1988 |location=Cambridge, England|isbn=0-521-20073-3|page=58}}</ref>

[[File:Supplice du Grand Knout.jpg|thumb|Punishment with a [[knout]]. Whipping was a common punishment for [[Serfdom in Russia|Russian serfs]].<ref>Chapman, Tim (2001). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=EJCOl7S0UYgC&pg=PA83 Imperial Russia, 1801–1905] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513021134/https://books.google.com/books?id=EJCOl7S0UYgC&pg=PA83&dq&hl=en |date=13 May 2016}}''. Routledge. p. 83. {{ISBN|0-415-23110-8}}</ref>]]

Status-wise, the bordar or cottar ranked below a villein in the social hierarchy of a manor, holding a [[cottage]], garden and just enough land to feed a family. In England, at the time of the Domesday Survey, this would have comprised between about {{convert|1|and|5|acre|ha|1|abbr=off}}.<ref name="mcgarry242">Daniel D. McGarry, ''Medieval History and Civilization'' (1976) p. 242</ref> Under an [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan]] [[statute]], the [[Erection of Cottages Act 1588]], the cottage had to be built with at least {{convert|4|acre|km2 sqmi|2}} of land.<ref name="elmes178">{{Cite book|last=Elmes|first=James|title=On Architectural Jurisprudence; in which the Constitutions, Canons, Laws and Customs etc |publisher=W.Benning|location=London|year=1827|pages=178–179}}</ref> The later [[inclosure act]]s (1604 onwards) removed the cottars' right to any land: "before the Enclosures Act the cottager was a farm labourer with land and after the Enclosures Act the cottager was a farm labourer without land".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hammond|first=J. L. |author-link1=John Lawrence Hammond|author2=Barbara Hammond |author-link2=Barbara Hammond|title=The Village Labourer 1760–1832|publisher=Longman Green & Co|location=London|year=1912|page=100}}</ref>{{better source|date=July 2023}}

The bordars and cottars did not own their draught oxen or horses. The Domesday Book showed that England comprised 12% freeholders, 35% serfs or villeins, 30% cotters and bordars, and 9% slaves.<ref name="mcgarry242" />

====Smerd====
[[Smerd]]y were a type of serfs above kholops in [[Medieval Poland]] and [[Kievan Rus']].

====Kholops====
[[Kholop]]s were the lowest class of serfs in the medieval and early modern Russia. They had status similar to slaves, and could be freely traded.

====Slaves====
The last type of serf was the slave.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McIntosh |first1=Matthew |title=A History of Serfdom |url=https://brewminate.com/a-history-of-serfdom/ |website=Brewminate |access-date=17 February 2020 |date=4 December 2018 |archive-date=17 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217153144/https://brewminate.com/a-history-of-serfdom/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Slaves had the fewest rights and benefits from the manor. They owned no tenancy in land, worked for the lord exclusively and survived on donations from the landlord. It was always in the interest of the lord to prove that a servile arrangement existed, as this provided him with greater rights to fees and taxes. The status of a man was a primary issue in determining a person's rights and obligations in many of the [[manorial court]]-cases of the period. Also, runaway slaves could be beaten if caught.

===Duties===
[[File:Reeve and Serfs.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Reeve (England)|Reeve]] and serfs in [[kingdom of England|feudal England]], c. 1310]]

The usual serf (not including slaves or cottars) paid his [[fee]]s and [[tax]]es in the form of seasonally appropriate labour. Usually, a portion of the week was devoted to ploughing his lord's fields held in [[demesne]], harvesting crops, digging ditches, repairing fences, and often working in the [[manor house]]. The remainder of the serf's time was spent tending his own fields, crops and animals in order to provide for his family. Most manorial work was segregated by [[gender]] during the regular times of the year. During the [[harvest]], the whole family was expected to work the fields.

A major difficulty of a serf's life was 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 of a benign lord could look forward to being well fed during his service; it was a lord without foresight who did not provide a substantial meal for his serfs during the harvest and planting times.{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}} In exchange for this work on the lord's demesne, the serfs had certain privileges and rights, including for example the right to gather deadwood – an essential source of fuel – from their lord's forests.

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 agricultural produce rather than cash. The best ration of wheat from the serf's harvest often went to the landlord. Generally hunting and trapping of wild game by the serfs on the lord's property was prohibited. On [[Easter Sunday]] the peasant family perhaps might owe an extra dozen eggs, and at Christmas, a goose was perhaps required, too. When a family member died, extra taxes were paid to the lord as a form of [[feudal relief]] to enable the heir to keep the right to till what land he had. Any young woman who wished to marry a serf outside of her manor was forced to pay a fee for the right to leave her lord, and in compensation for her lost labour.

Often there were arbitrary tests to judge the worthiness of their tax payments. A chicken, for example, might be 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 customary law and the manorial administration and [[court baron]].

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. In the case of their lord's defeat, their own fate might be uncertain, so the serf certainly had an interest in supporting his lord.

===Rights===
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. Within his constraints, a serf had some freedoms. Though the common wisdom is that a serf owned "only his belly"{{snd}}even his clothes were the property, in law, of his lord{{snd}}a serf might still accumulate personal property and wealth, and some serfs became wealthier than their free neighbours, although this happened rarely.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hollister|first1=Charles Warren|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G5chAQAAIAAJ&q=serf+richer+free|title=Medieval Europe: A Short History|last2=Bennett|first2=Judith M.|date=2002|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=978-0-07-112109-5|page=171|language=en|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=19 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319152505/https://books.google.com/books?id=G5chAQAAIAAJ&q=serf+richer+free|url-status=live}}</ref> A well-to-do serf might even be able to buy his freedom.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bailey|first=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLjCAwAAQBAJ&q=manumission+serf&pg=PA64|title=The Decline of Serfdom in Late Medieval England: From Bondage to Freedom|date=2014|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|isbn=978-1-84383-890-6|pages=63|language=en|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=23 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210323081919/https://books.google.com/books?id=SLjCAwAAQBAJ&q=manumission+serf&pg=PA64|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=McIntosh |first1=Matthew |title=A History of Serfdom |url=https://brewminate.com/a-history-of-serfdom/ |website=Brewminate |access-date=17 February 2020 |date=4 December 2018 |archive-date=17 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217153144/https://brewminate.com/a-history-of-serfdom/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

A serf could grow what crop he saw fit on his lands, although a serf's taxes often had to be paid in wheat. The surplus he would sell at [[Market (place)|market]].

The landlord could not dispossess his serfs without legal cause and was supposed to protect them from the depredations of robbers or other lords, and he was expected to support them by charity in times of [[famine]]. Many such rights were enforceable by the serf in the manorial court.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}

===Variations===
Forms of serfdom varied greatly through time and regions. In some places, serfdom was merged with or exchanged for various forms of taxation.

The amount of labour required varied. In Poland, for example, it was commonly a few days per year per household in the 13th century, one day per week per household in the 14th century, four days per week per household in the 17th century, and six days per week per household in the 18th century. Early serfdom in Poland was mostly limited to the royal territories (''[[królewszczyzny]]'').

"Per household" means that every dwelling had to give a worker for the required number of days.<ref>Maria Bogucka, ''Białogłowa w dawnej Polsce'', Warsaw, 1998, {{ISBN|83-85660-78-X}}, p. 72</ref> For example, in the 18th century, six people: a peasant, his wife, three children and a hired worker might be required to work for their lord one day a week, which would be counted as six days of labour.

Serfs served on occasion as soldiers in the event of conflict and could earn freedom or even [[ennoblement]] for valour in combat.{{clarify|date=January 2013|reason=Undue weight? How "occasional" was it?}} Serfs could purchase their freedom, be [[manumission|manumitted]] by generous owners, or flee to towns or to newly settled land where few questions were asked. Laws varied from country to country: in England a serf who made his way to a chartered town (i.e. a borough) and evaded recapture for a year and a day obtained his freedom and became a [[citizen|burgher]] of the town.

==Serfdom by country and location==
[[File:Serfdom in Europe, 1750.png|300px|thumb|Serfdom in Europe, 1750]]
===Americas===
====Aztec Empire====
In the Aztec Empire, the [[Aztec slavery|Tlacotin class]] held similarities to serfdom. Even at its height, slaves only ever made up 2% of the population.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bray|first=Warwick|title=Everyday Life of the Aztecs|url=http://inside.sfuhs.org/dept/history/Mexicoreader/Chapter1/socialorder.pdf|access-date=12 August 2021|archive-date=13 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113133708/http://inside.sfuhs.org/dept/history/Mexicoreader/Chapter1/socialorder.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Byzantine Empire===
The [[paroikoi]] were the Byzantine equivalent of serfs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gregory |first1=Timothy E. |title=A History of Byzantium |year=2010 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-8471-7 |page=425 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gXCl9P0vKS4C |access-date=12 November 2021 |language=en |archive-date=14 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414002831/https://books.google.com/books?id=gXCl9P0vKS4C |url-status=live }}</ref>

===France===

Serfdom in France started to diminish after the [[Black Death in France]], when the lack of work force made [[manumission]] more common from that point onward, and by the 18th-century, serfdom had become relatively rare in most of France. 

In 1779, the reforms of [[Jacques Necker]] abolished serfdom in all Crown lands in France. On the outbreak of the [[French Revolution]] of 1789, between 140,000<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=by82CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 The French Revolution, Napoleon, and the Republic: Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite]''</ref> and 1,500,000<ref>L.C.A. Knowles: ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ_8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 Economic Development in the Nineteenth Century: France, Germany, Russia and ...]'', s. 47</ref> serfs remained in France, most of them on clerical lands<ref>Jean Brissaud: ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=jkkP1k1vIyYC&pg=PA327 A History of French Public Law]'', s. 327</ref> in [[Franche-Comté]], Berry, [[Burgundy]] and Marche.<ref>L.C.A. Knowles: ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ_8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 Economic Development in the Nineteenth Century: France, Germany, Russia and ...]'', s. 47</ref><ref>Amy S. Wyngaard, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=90sND9EpHx8C&pg=PA159  From Savage to Citizen: The Invention of the Peasant in the French Enlightenment]'', s. 159</ref>
However, although formal serfdom no longer existed in most of France, the feudal seigneurial laws still granted noble landlords many of the rights previously exercised over serfs, and the peasants of Auvergne, Nivernais and Champagne, though formally not serfs, could still not move freely.<ref>L.C.A. Knowles: ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ_8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 Economic Development in the Nineteenth Century: France, Germany, Russia and ...]'', s. 47</ref><ref>Amy S. Wyngaard, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=90sND9EpHx8C&pg=PA159  From Savage to Citizen: The Invention of the Peasant in the French Enlightenment]'', p. 159</ref> 

Serfdom was formally abolished in France on 4 August 1789,<ref>Jean Brissaud: ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=jkkP1k1vIyYC&pg=PA327 A History of French Public Law]'', p. 327</ref> and the remaining feudal rights that gave landlords control rights over peasants were abolished in 1789-93.<ref>Christopher Thornhill, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=OzQTEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA93 Democratic Crisis and Global Constitutional Law]'', p. 93</ref>

===Habsburg monarchy===
In the Habsburg monarchy, the [[enlightened absolutist]] Emperor [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]] issued the  [[Serfdom Patent (1781)|Serfdom Patent]] that abolished serfdom in Bohemia and the German speaking areas in 1781. In the Kingdom of Hungary, Joseph II issued a similar decree in 1785 after the [[Revolt of Horea, Cloșca, and Crișan|peasant revolt in Transylvania]]. 

The Serfdom Patent diminished the long-established mastery of the landlords; thus allowing the serfs to independently choose marriage partners, pursue career choices, and move between estates.<ref>{{cite book|author=Barbara Jelavich|title=Modern Austria: Empire and Republic, 1815-1986|url=https://archive.org/details/modernaustria00barb|url-access=registration|date=25 September 1987|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-31625-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/modernaustria00barb/page/25 25]–}}</ref> The document allowed the serfs legal rights in the Habsburg monarchy, but it did not affect the financial dues and the physical [[corvée]] (unpaid labor) that the serfs legally owed to their landlords. It continued to exist and was only abolished during the [[revolutions of 1848]].

===Ireland===
====Gaelic Ireland====
In [[Gaelic Ireland]], a political and social system existing in [[Ireland]] from the prehistoric period (500 BC or earlier) up until the [[Norman invasion of Ireland|Norman conquest]] (12th century AD), the {{Lang|ga|bothach}} ("hut-dweller"), {{Lang|ga|fuidir}} (perhaps linked to {{Lang|ga|fot}}, "soil")<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dil.ie/24771|title=eDIL – Irish Language Dictionary|website=www.dil.ie|access-date=3 August 2020|archive-date=12 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512042732/https://dil.ie/24771|url-status=live}}</ref> and {{Lang|ga|sencléithe}} ("old dwelling-house")<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dil.ie/37125|title=eDIL – Irish Language Dictionary|website=www.dil.ie|access-date=3 August 2020|archive-date=7 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207201610/http://www.dil.ie/37125|url-status=live}}</ref> were low-ranked semi-free servile tenants similar to serfs.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y91ZHuZLCyAC&q=sencleithe&pg=PA294|title=The Story of the Irish Race|first=Seumas|last=MacManus|date= 2005|publisher=Cosimo, Inc.|isbn=9781596050631|via=Google Books|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=12 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512042726/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y91ZHuZLCyAC&q=sencleithe&pg=PA294|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/farming/rural-life/an-interesting-life-through-the-eyes-of-a-slave-driver-35409740.html|title=An interesting life through the eyes of a slave driver|website=Independent|date=5 February 2017 |access-date=3 August 2020|archive-date=21 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221112404/https://www.independent.ie/business/farming/rural-life/an-interesting-life-through-the-eyes-of-a-slave-driver-35409740.html|url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[Laurence Ginnell]], the {{Lang|ga|sencléithe}} and {{Lang|ga|bothach}} "were not free to leave the territory except with permission, and in practice they usually served the ''[[flaith]]'' [prince]. They had no political or [[Irish clan|clan]] rights, could neither sue nor appear as witnesses, and were not free in the matter of entering into [[contract]]s. They could appear in a court of justice only in the name of the ''flaith'' or other person to whom they belonged, or whom they served, or by obtaining from an aire of the [[Túath|tuath]] to which they belonged permission to sue in his name."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.libraryireland.com/Brehon-Laws/Bothachs.php|title=Bothachs and Sen-Cleithes – Brehon Laws|website=www.libraryireland.com|access-date=3 August 2020|archive-date=16 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516083106/https://www.libraryireland.com/Brehon-Laws/Bothachs.php|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110810104507900|title=bothach|website=Oxford Reference|access-date=3 August 2020|archive-date=7 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207174602/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110810104507900|url-status=live}}</ref> A {{Lang|ga|fuidir}} was defined by [[D. A. Binchy]] as "a '[[tenant at will]],' settled by the lord (''flaith'') on a portion of the latter's land; his services to the lord are always undefined. Although his condition is servile, he retains the right to abandon his holding on giving due notice to the lord and surrendering to him two thirds of the products of his husbandry."<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095837574|title=fuidir|journal=Oxford Reference|access-date=26 September 2020|archive-date=31 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131233250/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095837574|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tearma.ie/q/fuidir/|title=fuidir|website=téarma.ie|access-date=26 September 2020|archive-date=6 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206003511/https://www.tearma.ie/q/fuidir/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Poland===
{{main|Serfdom in Poland}}

Serfdom in Poland became the dominant form of relationship between peasants and nobility in the 17th century, and was a major feature of the economy of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], although its origins can be traced back to the 12th century.

The first steps towards abolition of serfdom were enacted in the [[Constitution of 3 May 1791]], and it was essentially eliminated by the [[Połaniec Manifesto]]. However, these reforms were partly nullified by the [[partition of Poland]]. [[Frederick the Great]] had abolished serfdom in the territories he gained from the [[first partition of Poland]]. Over the course of the 19th century, it was gradually abolished on Polish and Lithuanian territories under foreign control, as the region began to [[Industrial Revolution|industrialize]].

===Russia===
{{main|Serfdom in Russia}}
[[File:Grigoriy Myasoyedov Reading of the 1861 Manifesto 1873.jpg|thumb|Russian peasants reading the [[Emancipation reform of 1861|Emancipation Manifesto]], an 1873 painting by [[Grigory Myasoyedov]]]]
Serfdom became the dominant form of relation between Russian peasants and [[nobility]] in the 17th century. Serfdom only existed in central and southern areas of the Russian Empire. It was never established in the North, in the Urals, or in Siberia. The [[Conscription in the Russian Empire|conscripted]] serfs dramatically increased the size of the Russian military during the [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref>David Moon. "The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia". Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2001. Page 33</ref> According to the ''Encyclopedia of Human Rights'':

{{quote|In 1649 up to three-quarters of [[Tsardom of Russia|Muscovy]]'s peasants, or 13 to 14 million people, were serfs whose material lives were barely distinguishable from slaves. Perhaps another 1.5&nbsp;million were formally enslaved, with Russian slaves serving Russian masters.<ref>{{cite book|editor=David P. Forsythe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QbX90fmCVUC&pg=RA3-PA464|title=Encyclopedia of Human Rights: Vol. 1|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|page=3|isbn=9780195334029|access-date=1 July 2015|archive-date=13 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513021154/https://books.google.com/books?id=1QbX90fmCVUC&pg=RA3-PA464|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Russia's over 23 million (about 38% of the total population<ref>{{cite web |url=http://home.freeuk.net/russica2/books/russia/28.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705223359/http://home.freeuk.net:80/russica2/books/russia/28.html |archive-date=5 July 2009 |title=Chapter XXVIII. The Serfs |work=Russia |author=Donald Mackenzie Wallace |date=1905}}</ref>) privately held serfs were freed from their lords by [[Emancipation reform of 1861|an edict]] of [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] in 1861. The owners were compensated through taxes on the freed serfs. [[State serf]]s were emancipated in 1866.<ref>David Moon, ''Abolition of Serfdom in Russia: 1762–1907'' (2002)</ref>

==Emancipation dates by country==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
* [[Scotland]]: neyfs (serfs) disappeared by the late 14th century,<ref>Richard Oram, 'Rural society: 1. medieval', in Michael Lynch (ed.), ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: University Press, 2005), p. 549.</ref> except in the salt and coal mining industries, where a form of serfdom survived until the [[Colliers (Scotland) Act 1799]].<ref name=":0">J. A. Cannon, 'Serfdom', in John Cannon (ed.), ''The Oxford Companion to British History'' (Oxford: University Press, 2002), p. 852.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Act of Parliament 1799 relating to Colliers in Scotland |url=https://www.hoodfamily.info/coal/law1799act.html |website=www.hoodfamily.info |access-date=7 February 2024 |archive-date=20 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020093554/https://www.hoodfamily.info/coal/law1799act.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[England and Wales]]: obsolete by 15th–16th century.<ref name=":0"/>
* [[Wallachia]]: 5 August 1746<ref name="Djuvara">{{Cite book|title=Între Orient și Occident. Țările române la începutul epocii moderne|last=Djuvara|first=Neagu |publisher=[[Humanitas publishing house]] |year=2009|isbn=978-973-50-2490-1|pages=276}}</ref> (land reforms in 1864)
* [[Moldavia]]: 6 August 1749<ref name="Djuvara" /> (land reforms in 1864)
* [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)|Piedmont-Sardinia]]: 19 December 1771
* [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]]: 1 November 1781 (first step; second step: 1848)
* [[Bohemia]]: 1 November 1781 (first step; second step: 1848)
* [[Baden]]: 23 July 1783
* [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]]: 22 August 1785 (first step; second step: 1848)
* Denmark: 20 June 1788 (part of [[Denmark–Norway]])
* [[France]]: 4 August 1789
* [[Helvetic Republic]]: 4 May 1798
* [[Batavian Republic]] (Netherlands): constitution of 12 June 1798 (in theory; in practice with the introduction of the French [[Napoleonic code|Code Napoléon]] in 1811)
* Serbia: 1804 (''de facto'', ''de jure'' in 1830)
* [[Schleswig-Holstein]]: 19 December 1804 (part of [[Denmark–Norway]])
* [[Swedish Pomerania]]: 4 July 1806
* [[Duchy of Warsaw]] (Poland): 22 July 1807
* [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]]: 9 October 1807 (effectively 1811–1823)
* [[Mecklenburg]]: October 1807 (effectively 1820)
* [[Bavaria]]: 31 August 1808
* [[Old Finland]] in 1812 (as the area was incorporated into [[Grand Duchy of Finland]] where serfdom had not existed in centuries, if ever)
* [[Duchy of Nassau|Nassau]]: 1 September 1812
* [[Spain]]: 18 March 1812 (first step; second step: 26 August 1837)
* Argentina: 1813
* [[Governorate of Estonia]]: 23 March 1816
{{col-break}}
* [[Governorate of Courland]]: 25 August 1817
* [[Württemberg]]: 18 November 1817
* [[Governorate of Livonia]]: 26 March 1819
* [[Kingdom of Hanover|Hanover]]: 1831
* [[Saxony]]: 17 March 1832
* Hawaii: 1835
* [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]]: 11 April 1848
* [[Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)|Croatia]]: First steps in 1780 and 1785.<ref>[https://www.enciklopedija.hr/clanak/kmetstvo]  Croatian encyclopedia, 1780 queen Maria Theresa introduced the regulations in Royal Croatia. 1785. King Joseph II introduced the Patent of freedom of movement of Serfs which gave them the right of movement, education and property, also ended their dependence to feudal lords.</ref> Final step on 8 May 1848.[[File:Abolition of serfdom in Croatia.jpg|thumb|The proclamation by count [[Josip Jelačić]] abolishing serfdom in the [[Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)|Kingdom of Croatia]]]]
* [[Austrian Empire]]: 7 September 1848<ref>[http://plato.kfunigraz.ac.at/dp/KONST/DOCS_F/KUDLICH.HTM Kfunigraz.ac.at] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20041029174052/http://plato.kfunigraz.ac.at/dp/KONST/DOCS_F/KUDLICH.HTM |date=29 October 2004}}</ref>
* [[Principality of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]]: 1858 (''de jure'' by [[Ottoman Empire]]; ''de facto'' in 1878)
* [[Russian Empire]]: 19 February 1861 (''see [[Emancipation reform of 1861]]'')
* Tonga: 1862
* [[Congress Poland]]: 1864<ref>[http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/russia/lectures/20emancipation.html Emancipation of the Serfs] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060907061852/http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/russia/lectures/20emancipation.html |date=7 September 2006}}</ref>
* Georgia: 1864–1871
* [[Kalmykia]]: 1892
* Iceland: 1894 ([[Vistarband]])
* Bosnia and Herzegovina: 1918
* Afghanistan: 1923
* Bhutan: officially abolished by 1959<ref name="BhutanWangchuk" />
* [[Tibet]], People's Republic of China: [[Serfs Emancipation Day|29 March 1959]], but use of "serf" for Tibet is [[Serfdom in Tibet controversy|controversial]]. There are differences depending on the region and sect.<ref name="TibetGoldstein1" /><ref name="TibetGoldstein2" /><ref name="TibetBarnett" /><ref name="TibetSamuel" />
{{col-end}}

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=17em}}
* [[Alipin]]
* [[Birkarls]]
* [[Coolie]]
* [[Encomienda]] {{ndash}} Spanish serfdom transplanted to the Americas
* [[Fengjian]]
* [[Fief]]
* [[Folwark]]
* [[Fugitive peasants]]
* [[Hacienda]] {{ndash}} Spanish manors
* [[Josephinism]]
* [[Kolkhoz]]
* [[Maenor]] {{ndash}} Welsh manors
* [[Peon]]
* [[Ritsuryō]]
* [[Sharecropping]]
* [[Shōen]] {{ndash}} Japanese serfdom
* [[Slavery in medieval Europe]]
* [[Taeog]] {{ndash}} Welsh serfs
* [[Taxation as theft]]
* [[Thrall]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|40em}}
* Backman, Clifford R. ''The Worlds of Medieval Europe'' Oxford University Press, 2003.
* Blum, Jerome. ''The End of the Old Order in Rural Europe'' (Princeton UP, 1978)
* Coulborn, Rushton, ed. ''Feudalism in History''. Princeton University Press, 1956.
* Bonnassie, Pierre. ''From Slavery to Feudalism in South-Western Europe'' Cambridge University Press, 1991 [https://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Feudalism-South-Western-Present-Publications/dp/0521363241/ excerpt and text search] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402221941/http://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Feudalism-South-Western-Present-Publications/dp/0521363241 |date=2 April 2016}}
* Freedman, Paul, and Monique Bourin, eds. ''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.
* Gorshkov, Boris B. "Serfdom: Eastern Europe" in Peter N. Stearns, ed, ''Encyclopedia of European Social History: from 1352–2000'' (2001) volume 2 pp.&nbsp;379–388
* Hoch, Steven L. ''Serfdom and social control in Russia: Petrovskoe, a village in Tambov'' (1989)
* Kahan, Arcadius. "Notes on Serfdom in Western and Eastern Europe," ''Journal of Economic History''  March 1973 33:86–99 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/2117143 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512042728/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2117143 |date=12 May 2022}}
* Kolchin, Peter. ''Unfree labor: American slavery and Russian serfdom'' (2009)
* Moon, David. ''The abolition of serfdom in Russia 1762–1907'' (Longman, 2001)
* Scott, Tom, ed. ''The Peasantries of Europe'' (1998)
* Vadey, Liana. "Serfdom: Western Europe" in Peter N. Stearns, ed, ''Encyclopedia of European Social History: from 1352–2000'' (2001) volume 2 pp.&nbsp;369–378
* White, Stephen D. ''Re-Thinking Kinship and Feudalism in Early Medieval Europe'' (2nd ed. Ashgate Variorum, 2000)
* Wirtschafter, Elise Kimerling. ''Russia's age of serfdom 1649–1861'' (2008)
* Wright, William E. ''Serf, Seigneur, and Sovereign: Agrarian Reform in Eighteenth-century Bohemia'' (U of Minnesota Press, 1966).
* Wunder, Heide. "Serfdom in later medieval and early modern Germany" in T. H. Aston et al., ''Social Relations and Ideas: Essays in Honour of R. H. Hilton'' (Cambridge UP, 1983), 249–272
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Serfdom}}
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-535485/serfdom Serfdom], ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' (on-line edition).
* [http://www.domesdaybook.net/home/hullproject The Hull Project], ''[[Hull University]]''
* {{Cite EB1911 |last=Vinogradoff |first=Paul |authorlink=Paul Vinogradoff |wstitle=Serfdom |short=x}}
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-448160/peasant Peasantry (social class)], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.
* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~atpc/heritage/history/h-life/peasant.html An excerpt from the book ''Serfdom to Self-Government: Memoirs of a Polish Village Mayor, 1842–1927''].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030514164951/http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/2003_archives/001447.html 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.&nbsp;18–32.

{{Social class}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Serfdom| ]]
[[Category:3rd-century establishments in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:1894 disestablishments in Iceland]]
[[Category:Agricultural labor]]
[[Category:Debt bondage]]
[[Category:Feudalism]]
[[Category:Indentured servitude]]
[[Category:Peasants]]
[[Category:Social classes]]
[[Category:Slavery by type]]