The condition of peasants lacking personal freedom, especially of movement and the disposal of property, and liable to uncertain or arbitrary obligations; an intermediate position between slavery and freedom. In general, they were attached to the land, and denied freedom of movement or freedom to marry without permission of their lord. They were obliged to work on their lord's fields, to contribute a proportion of their own produce, to surrender part of their land on death, and submit to the justice and penalties administered by their lord in the manorial court. The lord had obligations to his serfs (unlike slaves), most notably to provide military protection and justice. Serfdom was hereditary. In Britain, an acute shortage of manpower as a result of the Black Death led to the substitution of wages for labour services, and peasants' agitation for further improvements. Post-mediaeval references to serfdom in W Europe normally have scant social reality; but in E Europe serfdom persisted - in Russia until 1861.
Serfdom is the forced labour of serfs, on the fields of land owners, in return for protection and the right to work on their leased fields.Serfs are laborers who are bound to the land; Serfs differed from slaves in that serfs were allowed property for themselves and could not be sold apart from the land which they worked.
Etymology
The word "serf" originated from the Middle French "serf", and can be traced farther back to the Latin servus, meaning "slave". As slavery gradually dissapeared and the legal status of these servi became nearly identical to that of coloni, the term changed meaning into our modern concept of "serf".
The system of serfdom
In medieval Europe, almost all land was owned by the nobility, the Church, or royalty. Serfs were allowed to work certain plots of land in exchange for a percentage of the product they produced. While most serfs were farmers, some serfs were craftsmen, such as blacksmiths or millers.
The serf's feudal contract
The serfs had a feudal contract much in the same fashion as a baron or a knight. A serf's feudal contract was that, in return for protection, he would reside upon and work a parcel of land held by his Lord.
The period rationale was that a serf "worked for all", while a knight or baron "fought for all" and a churchman "prayed for all." Obviously the serf was worked harder than all others, and was the worst fed, but at least he had his place and, unlike slavery, there was a degree of reciprocity in the feudal contract.
A manorial Lord could not sell his serfs as a Roman might sell his slaves. On the other hand, if his Lord 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 free man became a serf usually through force or necessity.
The difference between freedom and serfdom
The line between freedom and serfdom was often indistinct.
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 serf's duties
The usual serf "paid" his fees and taxes in the form of seasonally appropriate labor, usually a couple of days a week plowing his lord's fields (demesne), harvesting crops, digging ditches, repairing fences, etc.
The tension of a serf's life derived from the fact that his work for his lord coincided and took precedence over the work he had to perform on his own lands. On the other hand, the serf could look forward to being well fed during his service, and it was a poor lord who did not provide a substantial meal for his serfs during the harvest and planting times.
In addition to service, a serf was required to pay certain taxes and fees.
The restraints of serfdom on personal and economic choice were enforced through various forms of manorial common law and the manorial administration and court.
Benefits of serfdom
Within his constraints, a serf had some freedom. Though the common wisdom was that a serf owned "only his belly" — even his clothes were the property, in law, of his lord — an industrious or lucky serf might still accumulate personal property and wealth, and some serfs became wealthier than their free neighbours, although this was rather an exception to the general rule.
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.
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.
Variations
Specifics of serfdom varied greatly through time and region.
The amount of serfdom required varied, for example in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 13th century it was few days a year;
Sometimes, serfs served as soldiers in the event of conflict and could earn freedom or even ennoblement for valour in combat. In other cases, serfs could also purchase their freedom, be manumitted by their enlightened or generous owners, or flee to towns or 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 and evaded recapture for a year and a day obtained his freedom.
In many cases, serfs had to obtain permission from their landlord to marry a partner from off the manor (merchet).
Furthermore, serfs had to pay to use the lord’s grain mill and bread oven and were charged for miscellaneous services such as using the lord’s carts to haul their produce.
Many peasants were fined for grinding their own grain and resented the fees paid to the miller (multure), usually 1/24 of the total grain milled.
Many manors also required the use of the lord's oven to bake their daily bread.
The freeing of the serfs
In the end, the nature of serfdom began to change when the value of taxes paid in kind began to be less than the value of outright renting of the land. In such cases many Lords "freed" their serfs in exchange for cash rents rather than service.
The change in status following the enclosure movements beginning in the later 18th 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.
The feudal relationship of serfdom gave way over centuries to private property and free labor.
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