Serfdom
is the
forced labour
of serfs in a
feudal society
. In
medieval
Europe
, serfs were
peasant
farmers
who worked without pay for a
lord
. In exchange, they got to live and work on the lord’s
manor
. They also got the lord’s protection.
Serfs had more rights than
slaves
(for example, serfs could own property). However, they were not completely free. They could not move,
marry
, or leave the manor without the lord’s permission. In most serfdoms, serfs were legally part of the land. If the land was sold, they were sold with it. Serfs worked in their lord’s fields. They sometimes did other things related to
agriculture
, like
forestry
and
transportation
(by both land and river). Some also worked in
craft
and
manufacturing
.
Serfdom developed from
agricultural
slavery in the
Roman Empire
. It spread through
Europe
around the
10th century
. During the
Middle Ages
, most European people lived in serfdoms.
Serfdom lasted up to the 1600s in
England
and until 1789 in
France
. In most other European countries, serfdom continued until the early
19th century
.
Serfdom was unusual in the Russian Empire until the 18th century when it became widespread.
Alexander II of Russia
abolished it in 1861,
During the Middle Ages in Europe,
monarchs
, the
Catholic Church
, and the
nobility
owned all land. Serfs did not own land. Instead, they did
manual labor
for landowners in exchange for a place to live and work.
Most serfs were
workers
, but some were
craftsmen
- like the
village
blacksmith
,
miller
or
innkeeper
.
Serfs had a
feudal
contract
, just like a
baron
or a
knight
. A serf's feudal contract said that he would live and work on a piece of land owned by his lord. A serf was allowed to have their own home, fields,
crops
, and animals on the lord’s land. Serfs had some rights in the feudal contract. In return for their work, the serf would get protection.
During feudal times, people said that a serf "worked for all", a knight or baron "fought for all," and
clergy
"prayed for all." Serfs were in a lower
social class
than knights and barons. However, they were better off than slaves.
A
manorial
lord could not sell his serfs like
Romans
sold slaves. Serfs were legally tied to the land they worked on. If their lord sold his land, the serfs were sold along with the land. Serfs could not sell the land they lived on, and could not leave the manor without their lord’s permission. Often, they needed the lord’s permission before they could marry someone who was not also a serf for that lord.
A
free
man usually became a serf because he owed a large
debt
. He would make an agreement with the lord of the land. The lord would keep him safe, give money to pay his debt, and give him land to work on. In return, he would work for the lord. All his children would become serfs.
Serfs had to pay
taxes
to their lord. The lord would decide how much each serf had to pay, based on the size of the land the serf lived on. Usually, serfs had to pay 1/3 of their land’s value in taxes. When the lord was fighting a war, serfs also had to pay wartime taxes.
Money was not very common during the Middle Ages. Serfs usually paid their lord by giving food and working without pay. Usually, serfs spent five or six days a week working for their lord. On these days, the lord would give his serfs better food. However, serfs had to do the lord’s work before they could do their own work. When the lord’s
crops
needed to be
harvested
, the serf’s own crops needed to be harvested too. Still, the serf could not harvest his own food until he had done his required work for the lord.
At different times in the year, serfs would do different things. A serf might
plough
his lord's fields, harvest crops, dig ditches, or repair fences. The rest of his time he could take care of his own fields, crops and animals.
There were strange tests to decide if something was good enough to be given for taxes. A
chicken
, for example, had to be able to jump over a fence. That showed that the chicken was young and healthy.
Lords also required serfs to pay
fines
when they did certain things. For example, a serf would have to pay a fine:
- If he
inherited
money or property
- If he became a priest or
monk
- If his children moved to the city instead of staying and being a serf on the lord’s manor
- If he used his own
mill
to grind the grain he grew
When a serf died, his children could only stay on the land if they gave the lord their best animal.
Serfs had to pay to use the lord’s grain
mill
. Many serfs thought this was unfair. Millers charged a fee called multure, which was usually 1/24 of the total grain milled. The serfs often thought the millers were not honest.
Many serfs had to use their lord’s
ovens
to bake their daily
bread
. They had to pay to use these ovens. They also had to pay to use the lord’s carts to carry their
produce
.
Serfs had some freedoms. They could get and keep property and money. Some serfs had more money and property than their free neighbours. Sometimes, serfs could buy their freedom.
The lord could not make serfs leave his land unless he had good reasons. The lord was supposed to protect them from criminals or other lords, and he was supposed to give them
charity
during
famines
.
Serfs could grow what they wanted on their lands. Sometimes they had to pay their taxes in
wheat
, which is difficult to grow. They could take the wheat they did not give for taxes to the
market
.
Mostly, serfs were
subsistence farmers
, eating what they grew. Their
heirs
usually got an
inheritance
.
The rules for serfdom were different at different times and places. In some places, serfdom changed into different types of
taxation
.
In the
13th-century
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
, serfs had to work two to three days a week for their
landlords
. In the
14th century
, they had to work one day per week. In the
17th century
, they had to work four days per week. In the
18th century
, they had to work six days per week.
[
source?
]
Sometimes, serfs had to be
soldiers
during war. They could earn their freedom or even become nobles as a reward for bravery in war.
Serfs could also gain their freedom in other ways. Sometimes they could buy their freedom. Enlightened or generous owners could free a serf (this is called
manumission
). Some serfs were able to flee to other towns or to newly settled land where people would not ask questions about the serf’s past. Laws varied from country to country. In
England
, a serf became free if he made his way to a
chartered town
and avoided being recaptured for a year and a day.
When people started to use money more, and
barter
became less important, serfdom began to change. Now lords could make money by
renting
their land. This was more
profitable
than getting unpaid work from serfs. Many lords "freed" their serfs when their work became less valuable than money.
Still, the serfs' lives were not seriously changed. They still had to farm their land, take care of their families, and pay their taxes. However, they could no longer be forced off their lands if they did not pay rent, or if their Lord decided he wanted to use their fields for a different purpose.
The
helots
in the
ancient Greek
city-state
of
Sparta
worked like serfs. So did peasants working on government lands in
ancient Rome
. However, these workers were not called “serfs.” Instead, they were called
coloni
, meaning "
tenant farmers
.” When
Germanic tribes
took over the
Roman Empire
, they took the lands from the wealthy Romans. They became the new lords in the same
economic system
of serfdom.
Medieval serfdom in Western Europe began with the breakup of the
Carolingian Empire
around the
10th century
. This empire had ruled most of
western Europe
for more than 200 years. After the empire broke up, Western Europe had no strong central governments for a long time. During this time, feudal lords worked to make serfdom the common way for people to live. Under serfdom, rich landlords could force other people to work for them and feed them. Serfs did most of the agricultural work in medieval Western Europe. Slavery did exist during this time, but it was not common. Usually slaves were only used to take care of people’s houses.
Some parts of Europe, including much of
Scandinavia
, never used serfdom or other feudal institutions.
Serfdom reached
Eastern European
countries later than Western Europe. It started in Russia around the 12th century, but was not common until several hundred years later. By the
17th century
, serfdom was the most common relationship between Russian peasants and the nobility. It was most common in the central and southern areas of the
Tsardom of Russia
, and later the
Russian Empire
.
Serfdom in
Ukraine
, in other
Cossack
lands, in the
Urals
and in
Siberia
was rare until the reign of
Catherine the Great
(r. 1762?1796). At that time, it spread to Ukraine
[
source?
]
. Noblemen began to send their serfs into Cossack lands in an attempt to harvest their extensive untapped natural resources.
Russian serfdom
was different than in other Eastern European countries, because it was not changed by
German
law or by people coming from Germany. In Russia, serfdom and
manorialism
systems were enforced by the crown (the
Tsar
), not by the nobility.
By the
13th
and
14th centuries
, serfdom was becoming less common in Western Europe. The manorial system weakened as powerful
monarchs
took control, towns developed, and the economy improved. At the same time, there were more protests by serfs and peasants, like
Wat Tyler
’s Rebellion in England in 1381. This put pressure on the nobility and the clergy to change the system and make improvements. New ways of renting the land gave people more freedom. By the
15th
and
16th centuries
, serfdom was ending in Western Europe. As the economy continued to change, serfdom became less profitable than renting land for money. Other causes for the end of serfdom included changes in the population and laws about what lords could make their tenants do.
The
Industrial Revolution
also helped to end serfdom. Landowners began to put their money into
industries
, because they made more money this way than they did from having serfs. This caused
urbanization
. As towns got bigger, farmers wanted to move off of manors. They could make more money working in town than they could by working in a lord’s fields.
In England, serfdom ended around 1600. After the
Renaissance
, serfdom was not common in Western Europe. However, as serfdom was ending,
chattel slavery
was beginning in the
English-speaking parts
of the
Western Hemisphere
.
Serfdom existed in Russia until February 19, 1861. In Russian Baltic
provinces
, it ended in the beginning of the
19th century
.
Dates for abolition in European countries
[
change
|
change source
]
Some people say that
planned economies
, especially those based on
Soviet
-style
Communist
economics (like the Soviet
collective farm
system) are government-owned serfdom.
Friedrich Hayek
said this in his book
The Road to Serfdom
.
Mikhail Gorbachev
grew up in a
kolkhoz
. These were supposed to be collectives. There were also
sovkhoz
, which were state-owned. The government used a system of
internal passports
and household registration (like China's
hukou
system) to make people stay on their farms. They had to plant crops according to instructions from the central authorities, especially if they were on state-run farms. The state then bought their agricultural produce at low prices and invested heavily in
industrialization
. Gorbachev said this was much like being a serf.
This kind of serfdom lasted in Russia until 1974 (with a brief break during the
Russian Civil War
).
USSR
Government Decree #667 gave peasants identification documents, with an unrestricted right to move within the country, for the first time in Russian history. It is possible that a system like this still exists in rural
China
.