Serfdom in Europe

Many European peasants suffered serfdom under feudalism, particularly under manorialism and related institutions. It was a type of debt bondage and indentured servitude that emerged in Europe from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, with parallels and contrasts to slavery, and persisted in certain nations until the mid-nineteenth century. Serfs, unlike slaves, could not be purchased, sold, or exchanged on their own. However, they might be sold with the land, depending on the location.

In contrast, kholops in Russia and villeins in England may be treated like typical slaves, abused with no control over their bodies, unable to leave the land where they were enslaved, and only permitted to marry with their lord's permission. Serfs who lived on a plot of land were obligated to labour for the lord of the manor who owned it.

In exchange, they were guaranteed safety, justice, and the ability to farm-specific areas inside the manor to support themselves. Serfs were frequently forced to work not just on the lord's farms, but also in his mines and woods, as well as on maintaining roads. The lord of the manor and the villeins, and to a lesser degree the serfs, were legally bound: by taxes in the case of the former, and by economic and social duties in the case of the latter.

The worldwide plague outbreak of the Black Death, which entered Europe in 1347 and caused huge deaths and social disruption, has been blamed for the fall of serfdom in Western Europe. The deterioration, on the other hand, had started long before that date. After the mediaeval renaissance at the start of the High Middle Ages, serfdom became rarer in much of Western Europe.

What is Feudalism?

The term feudal is a tricky one to define these days; a few experts agree on what it entails. The various landowner-tenant arrangements that existed in northwest Europe during the Middle Ages were given a common name by seventeenth-century historians and lawyers who studied the Middle Ages. Beginning in the late nineteenth century with the fall of Charlemagne's empire and declining after the Black Plague and the Peasant Revolt in the fourteenth century.

Although these arrangements might be very different in design, they were all grouped under the name feudalism, which comes from the Medieval Latin term feudum, which refers to a landed estate. The functions of the landed estates were essential to the mediaeval economy. Modern historians debate whether combining the management of large estates in this way is helpful. Rather than delving into the debates about how to organise this history, let's look at some of the estates' common threads.

Who were Serfs?

Serfdom was a mediaeval European situation in which a tenant farmer was bound to his landlord's whim and a hereditary piece of land. The great majority of serfs in mediaeval Europe made a living by farming a parcel of land that belonged to a lord. This was the key distinction between serfs and slaves, who were bought and traded without regard for a piece of land. From his creative labour, the serf provided his food and clothes. A significant percentage of the grain grown on the serf's land had to be paid to his lord. The lord may also force the serf to cultivate any of the lord's land that is not occupied by other tenants (called demesne land).

During feudalism in the Middle Ages, serfdom was the term used to characterise the social status of most peasants. Serfdom is also a key concept about the Manor System in Western Europe in the same era. It took place between the High Middle Ages and the mid-nineteenth century. As a result of the Black Death and the Renaissance in the 14th and 15th centuries, serfdom became rarer as a social system. Under the Manor System, serfs (peasants) were obliged to live and work for the lord of the manor, a kind of debt-bondage (slavery).

What is the Difference Between Serfdom and Slavery?

There are significant differences between slavery and serfdom. Slavery is a system in which a person is seen as a piece of property that can be bought and sold; enslaved people are not treated as human beings with rights.

Serfs, on the other hand, were legal individuals with considerably fewer rights than free peasants (poor farmers of low social status). Serfs were restricted in their movements, had limited property rights, and owed a variety of rents to their landowners.

Who are Serfs in Western Europe?

Many imperial institutions began to disintegrate when Germanic peoples seized the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century and beyond. Traditional trade routes connecting areas of the Roman Empire were disrupted by competing forces and interests. Elites controlled the land and the people that lived on it, whether via fighting skill or through political authority. The Roman estate farms did not vanish, but the property changed owners and was used for different reasons. For survival, landowners moved from cultivating grapes and olives for export to grain and livestock production.

Medieval peasants or serfs, like the Roman colony before them, may own land and marry, but their rights were limited. A serf had to pay the price to marry beyond their lord's territory under a law known as merchant or for marriage because they were depriving him of a labour source by departing. "If a serf died childless, his home, tools, and any property reverted to the lord under the right of morte-main from dead hands, on the premise that they had only been given to the serf for his labour in life," writes historian Barbara Tuchman.

During feudalism in the Middle Ages, serfdom was the term used to characterise the social position of the majority of peasants. Serfdom was, in general, a sort of debt-bondage (slavery), in which serfs were compelled to live and labour for a master. Serfdom, like the lord of the manor, freemen, villein, knight, and slave, was one of the several classes in Medieval European culture. In mediaeval civilization, a person became a serf either through force or necessity.

Conclusion

Thus, in this article we learned about Serfdom and its related history. It was considered as a peasant's status under the feudal system. It was related to the condition of debt bondage as well as indentured servitude. It also had similarities as well as differences  with the Slavery system. It began during the Early Middle Ages and is said to have lasted around the mid 19th century.