Serfdom

“Serf” redirects here. For the saint, see Saint Serf. Forthe type of magnetometer, see SERF.

Serfdom is the status of many peasants under feudalism,specifically relating to manorialism. It was a conditionof bondage, which developed primarily during the HighMiddle Ages in Europe and lasted in some countries untilthe mid-19th century.Serfs who occupied a plot of land were required to workfor the Lord of the Manor who owned that land, and inreturn were entitled to protection, justice and the right toexploit certain fields within the manor to maintain theirown subsistence. Serfs were often required not only towork on the lord’s fields, but also his mines, forests androads. The manor formed the basic unit of feudal soci-ety, and the Lord of the Manor and his serfs were boundlegally, economically, and socially. Serfs formed the low-est social class of feudal society.The decline of serfdom inWestern Europe has sometimesbeen attributed to the Black Death, which reached Eu-rope in 1347,[1] although the decline had begun beforethat date. Serfdom became increasingly rare in most ofWestern Europe after the Renaissance, but conversely,it grew strong in Central and Eastern Europe, where ithad previously been less common (this phenomenon wasknown as “later serfdom”).In Eastern Europe the institution persisted until the mid-19th century. It persisted in the Austrian Empire un-til 1848 and was abolished in Russia in 1861.[2] In Fin-land, Norway and Sweden feudalism was not established,and serfdom did not exist; however, serfdom-like insti-tutions did exist in both Denmark (the stavnsbånd, from1733 to 1788) and its vassal Iceland (the more restrictivevistarband, from 1490 until 1894).According to Joseph R. Strayer, the concept of feudalismcan also be applied to the societies of ancient Persia, an-cient Mesopotamia, Egypt (Sixth to Twelfth dynasty),Muslim India, China (Zhou Dynasty and end of Han Dy-nasty) and Japan during the Shogunate. James Lee andCameron Campbell describe the Chinese Qing Dynasty(1644–1912) as also maintaining a form of serfdom.[3]

Tibet is described by Melvyn Goldstein to have hadserfdom until 1959,[4][5] but whether or not the Ti-betan form of peasant tenancy that qualified as serfdomwas widespread is contested.[6][7] Bhutan is described byTashi Wangchuk, a Bhutanese civil servant, as abolishingserfdom officially by 1959, but Wangchuk believes lessthan or about 10% of poor peasants were in copyhold

situations.[8]

United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on theAbolition of Slavery also prohibits serfdom as a form ofslavery.

1 Etymology

Costumes of slaves or serfs, from the sixth to the twelfth cen-turies, collected by H. de Vielcastel from original documents inEuropean libraries

The word “serf” originated from the Middle Frenchserf and can be traced further back to the Latin servus(“slave”). In Late Antiquity andmost of theMiddle Ages,what we now call serfs were usually designated in Latinas coloni. As slavery gradually disappeared and the le-gal status of servi became nearly identical to that of thecoloni, the term changed meaning into our modern con-cept of “serf”. “Serfdom” was coined in 1850.

2 Dependency and the lower orders

Serfs had a specific place in feudal society, as did baronsand knights: in return for protection, a serf would re-side upon and work a parcel of land within the manorof his lord. Thus the manorial system exhibited a degreeof reciprocity.One rationale held that a serf “worked for all” while aknight or baron “fought for all” and a churchman “prayedfor all"; thus everyone had a place. The serf was the worstfed and rewarded, but at least he had his place and, unlikeslaves, had certain rights in land and property.

1

2 2 DEPENDENCY AND THE LOWER ORDERS

A lord of the manor could not sell his serfs as a Romanmight sell his slaves. On the other hand, if he chose todispose of a parcel of land, the serfs associated with thatland stayed with it to serve their new lord, benefitting himwith their long-acquired knowledge of practices suited tothe land. Further, a serf could not abandon his lands with-out permission, nor did he possess a saleable title in them.

2.1 Becoming a serf

A freeman became a serf usually through force or neces-sity. Sometimes the greater physical and legal force of alocal magnate intimidated freeholders or allodial ownersinto dependency. Often a few years of crop failure, a war,or brigandage might leave a person unable to make hisown way. In such a case he could strike a bargain with alord of a manor. In exchange for protection, service wasrequired: in cash, produce or labour, or a combinationof all. These bargains became formalized in a ceremonyknown as “bondage” in which a serf placed his head inthe lord’s hands, akin to the ceremony of homage wherea vassal placed his hands between those of his overlord.These oaths bound the lord and his new serf in a feu-dal contract and defined the terms of their agreement.[9]Often these bargains were severe. A 7th-century AngloSaxon “Oath of Fealty” states:

By the Lord before whom this sanctuaryis holy, I will to N. be true and faithful, andlove all which he loves and shun all which heshuns, according to the laws of God and the or-der of the world. Nor will I ever with will or ac-tion, through word or deed, do anything whichis unpleasing to him, on condition that he willhold to me as I shall deserve it, and that he willperform everything as it was in our agreementwhen I submitted myself to him and chose hiswill.

To become a serf was a commitment that encompassedall aspects of the serf’s life.Moreover, the children born to a serf inherited at birththe condition of serfdom. By taking on the duties of serf-dom, serfs bound not only themselves but all of their fu-ture progeny.

2.2 Serfdom’s class system

The social class of the peasantry can be differentiatedinto smaller categories. These distinctions were often lessclear than suggested by their different names. Most often,there were two types of peasants:

1. freemen, whose tenure within the manor wasfreehold

2. villeins

Lower classes of peasants, known as cottars, gener-ally comprising the younger sons of villeins[10][11] or asbordars in the British Isles, and slaves, made up the lowerclass of workers.

2.2.1 Freemen

Freemen, or free tenants held their land by one of a va-riety of contracts of feudal land-tenure and were essen-tially rent-paying tenant farmers who owed little or noservice to the lord, and had a good degree of security oftenure and independence. In parts of 11th-century Eng-land freemen made up only 10% of the peasant popula-tion, and in the rest of Europe their numbers were small.

2.2.2 Villeins

A villein (or villain) represented the most common typeof serf in the Middle Ages. Villeins had more rights andhigher status than the lowest serf, but existed under anumber of legal restrictions that differentiated them fromfreemen. Villeins generally rented small homes, with orwithout land. As part of the contract with the landlord,the lord of the manor, they were expected to spend someof their time working on the lord’s fields. The require-ment often was not greatly onerous, contrary to popularbelief, and was often only seasonal, for example the dutyto help at harvest-time. The rest of their time was spentfarming their own land for their own profit.Like other types of serfs, villeins had to provide otherservices, possibly in addition to paying rent of money orproduce. Villeins were tied to the land and could notmove away without their lord’s consent and the accep-tance of the lord to whose manor they proposed to mi-grate to. Villeins were generally able to hold their ownproperty, unlike slaves. Villeinage, as opposed to otherforms of serfdom, was most common in Continental Eu-ropean feudalism, where land ownership had developedfrom roots in Roman law.A variety of kinds of villeinage existed in Europe in theMiddle Ages. Half-villeins received only half as manystrips of land for their own use and owed a full comple-ment of labour to the lord, often forcing them to rent outtheir services to other serfs to make up for this hardship.Villeinage was not, however, a purely uni-directional ex-ploitative relationship. In the Middle Ages, land withina lord’s manor provided sustenance and survival, and be-ing a villein guaranteed access to land, and crops securefrom theft by marauding robbers. Landlords, even wherelegally entitled to do so, rarely evicted villeins because ofthe value of their labour. Villeinage was much preferableto being a vagabond, a slave, or an unlanded labourer.In many medieval countries, a villein could gain freedomby escaping from a manor to a city or borough and liv-

2.4 Rights of serfdom 3

ing there for more than a year; but this action involvedthe loss of land rights and agricultural livelihood, a pro-hibitive price unless the landlord was especially tyrannicalor conditions in the village were unusually difficult.

2.2.3 Bordars and cottagers

In England the Domesday Book, of 1086, uses bordarii(bordar) and cottarii (cottager) as interchangeable terms,“cottager” deriving from the native Anglo-Saxon tonguewhereas “bordar” derived from the French.[12]

Status-wise, the bordar or cottager ranked below a serf inthe social hierarchy of a manor, holding a cottage, gar-den and just enough land to feed a family. In England, atthe time of the Domesday Survey, this would have com-prised between about 1 and 5 acres (0.4 to 2 hectares).[13]Under an Elizabethan statute, the Erection of CottagesAct 1588, the cottage had to be built with at least 4 acres(0.02 km2; 0.01 sq mi) of land.[14] However, the laterEnclosures Acts (1604 onwards) removed the cottagers’right to any land: “before the Enclosures Act the cottagerwas a farm labourer with land and after the EnclosuresAct the cottager was a farm labourer without land”.[15]

The bordars and cottagers did not own their draught oxenor horses. The Domesday Book showed that Englandcomprised 12% freeholders, 35% serfs or villeins, 30%cotters and bordars, and 9% slaves.[13]

2.2.4 Slaves

The last type of serf was the slave. Slaves had the fewestrights and benefits from the manor. They owned no ten-ancy in land, worked for the lord exclusively and survivedon donations from the landlord. It was always in the inter-est 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 determininga person’s rights and obligations in many of the manorialcourt-cases of the period. Also, runaway slaves could bebeaten if caught.

2.3 The serf’s duties

Reeve and serfs in feudal England, ca. 1310

The usual serf (not including slaves or cottars) paid hisfees and taxes in the form of seasonally appropriatelabour. Usually a portion of the week was devoted toploughing his lord’s fields held in demesne, harvestingcrops, digging ditches, repairing fences, and often work-ing in the manor house. The remainder of the serf’s timehe spent tending his own fields, crops and animals in orderto provide for his family. Most manorial work was segre-gated by gender during the regular times of the year; how-ever, during the harvest, the whole family was expectedto work the fields.A major difficulty of a serf’s life was that his work for hislord coincided with, and took precedence over, the workhe had to perform on his own lands: when the lord’s cropswere ready to be harvested, so were his own. On the otherhand, the serf of a benign lord could look forward to beingwell fed during his service; it was a lord without foresightwho did not provide a substantial meal for his serfs duringthe harvest and planting times. In exchange for this workon the lord’s demesne, the serfs had certain privileges andrights, 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 certaintaxes and fees. Taxes were based on the assessed valueof his lands and holdings. Fees were usually paid in theform of agricultural produce rather than cash. The bestration of wheat from the serf’s harvest often went to thelandlord. Generally hunting and trapping of wild gameby the serfs on the lord’s property was prohibited. OnEaster Sunday the peasant family perhaps might owe anextra dozen eggs, and at Christmas a goose was perhapsrequired too. When a family member died, extra taxeswere paid to the lord as a form of feudal relief to enablethe heir to keep the right to till what land he had. Anyyoung woman who wished to marry a serf outside of hermanor was forced to pay a fee for the right to leave herlord, and in compensation for her lost labour.Often there were arbitrary tests to judge the worthiness oftheir tax payments. A chicken, for example, might be re-quired to be able to jump over a fence of a given height tobe considered old enough or well enough to be valued fortax purposes. The restraints of serfdom on personal andeconomic choice were enforced through various forms ofmanorial customary law and the manorial administrationand court baron.It was also a matter of discussion whether serfs could berequired by law in times of war or conflict to fight for theirlord’s land and property. In the case of their lord’s defeat,their own fate might be uncertain, so the serf certainlyhad an interest in supporting his lord.

2.4 Rights of serfdom

Within his constraints, a serf had some freedoms.Though the common wisdom is that a serf owned “onlyhis belly”—even his clothes were the property, in law, of

4 3 HISTORY OF SERFDOM

Punishment with a knout. Whipping was a common punishmentfor Russian serfs.[16]

his lord—a serf might still accumulate personal propertyand wealth, and some serfs became wealthier than theirfree neighbours, although this happened rarely. A well-to-do serf might even be able to buy his freedom.A serf could grow what crop he saw fit on his lands, al-though a serf’s taxes often had to be paid in wheat. Thesurplus he would sell at market.The landlord could not dispossess his serfs without legalcause and was supposed to protect them from the depre-dations of robbers or other lords, and he was expected tosupport them by charity in times of famine. Many suchrights were enforceable by the serf in the manorial court.

2.5 Variations

Forms of serfdom varied greatly through time and re-gions. In some places serfdom was merged with or ex-changed for various forms of taxation.The amount of labour required varied. In Poland, for ex-ample, it was commonly a few days per year per house-hold in the 13th century; one day per week per householdin the 14th century; four days per week per household inthe 17th century and six days per week per household inthe 18th century. Early serfdom in Poland was mostlylimited on the royal territories (królewszczyzny).“Per household” means that every dwelling had to give aworker for the required number of days.[17] For example,in the 18th century, six people: a peasant, his wife, threechildren and a hired worker might be required to work for

their lord one day a week, which would be counted as sixdays of labour.Serfs served on occasion as soldiers in the event of con-flict and could earn freedom or even ennoblement for val-our in combat. Serfs could purchase their freedom, bemanumitted by generous owners, or flee to towns or tonewly settled land where few questions were asked. Lawsvaried from country to country: in England a serf whomade his way to a chartered town (i.e. a borough) andevaded recapture for a year and a day obtained his free-dom and became a burgher of the town.

3 History of serfdom

Main article: History of serfdomSocial institutions similar to serfdom were known in

Galician slaughter in 1846. It was a revolt against serfdom, di-rected against manorial property and oppression.

ancient times. The status of the helots in the ancientGreek city-state of Sparta resembled that of the medievalserfs. By the 3rd century AD, the Roman Empire faceda labour shortage. Large Roman landowners increasinglyrelied on Roman freemen, acting as tenant farmers, in-stead of slaves to provide labour.[18]

These tenant farmers, eventually known as coloni, sawtheir condition steadily erode. Because the tax systemimplemented by Diocletian assessed taxes based on bothland and the inhabitants of that land, it became adminis-tratively inconvenient for peasants to leave the land wherethey were counted in the census.[18]

However, medieval serfdom really began with thebreakup of the Carolingian Empire around the 10th cen-tury. During this period, powerful feudal lords encour-aged the establishment of serfdom as a source of agricul-tural labor. Serfdom, indeed, was an institution that re-flected a fairly common practice whereby great landlordswere assured that others worked to feed them and wereheld down, legally and economically, while doing so.This arrangement provided most of the agricultural

5

labour throughout the Middle Ages. Slavery persistedright through the Middle Ages,[19] but it was rare.In the later Middle Ages serfdom began to disappearwest of the Rhine even as it spread through eastern Eu-rope. Serfdom reached Eastern Europe centuries laterthan Western Europe—it became dominant around the15th century. In many of these countries serfdom wasabolished during the Napoleonic invasions of the early19th century, though in some it persisted until mid- orlate- 19th century.

3.1 Russia

Main article: Serfdom in Russia

Serfdom became the dominant form of relation betweenRussian peasants and nobility in the 17th century. Serf-dom only existed in central and southern areas of the Rus-sian Empire. It was never established in the North, in theUrals, and in Siberia. According to the Encyclopedia ofHuman Rights:

In 1649 up to three-quarters of Muscovy'speasants, or 13 to 14 million people, were serfswhose material lives were barely distinguish-able from slaves. Perhaps another 1.5 millionwere formally enslaved, with Russian slavesserving Russian masters.[20]

Russia’s 23+ million privately held serfs were freed fromtheir lords by an edict of Alexander II in 1861. The own-ers were compensated through taxes on the freed serfs.State-owned serfs were emancipated in 1866.[21]

3.2 21st century

In 2014 Belarus, under the leadership of AlexanderLukashenko, enacted legislation that would prohibitworkers on collective farms from leaving the land.[22]

4 Dates of emancipation from serf-dom in various countries

5 See also

6 References[1] Austin Alchon, Suzanne (2003). A pest in the land: new

world epidemics in a global perspective. University of NewMexico Press. p. 21. ISBN 0-8263-2871-7.

[2] Serf. A Dictionary of World History

[3] Lee, James; Campbell, Cameron (1998). “Headship suc-cession and household division in three Chinese bannerserf populations, 1789–1909”. Continuity and Change 13(1): 117–141. doi:10.1017/s0268416098003063.

[4] Goldstein, Melvyn C. (1986). “Re-examining Choice,Dependancy and Command in the Tibetan Social System-'Tax Appendages’ and Other Landless Serfs”. Tibet Jour-nal 11 (4): 79–112.

[5] Goldstein, Melvyn C. (1988). “On the Nature of TibetanPeasantry”. Tibet Journal 13 (1): 61–65.

[6] Barnett, Robert (2008) What were the conditions regard-ing 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 Buf-fetrille. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24464-1 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-520-24928-8 (paper)

[7] Samuel, Geoffrey (1982). “Tibet as a Stateless Societyand Some Islamic Parallels”. Journal of Asian Studies 41(2): 215–229. doi:10.2307/2054940.

[8] BhutanStudies.org.bt, TWangchuk Change in the land usesystem in Bhutan: Ecology, History, Culture, and PowerNature Conservation Section. DoF, MoA

[9] Marc Bloch “Feudal Society: the growth of the ties of de-pendence”.

[10] Studies of field systems in the British Isles By Alan R. H.Baker, Robin Alan Butlin

[11] An Economic History of the British Isles By ArthurBirnie. P. 218

[12] Hallam, H.E.; Finberg; Thirsk, Joan, eds. (1988). TheAgrarian History of England and Wales: 1042-1350.Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 58.ISBN 0-521-20073-3.

[13] Daniel D. McGarry, Medieval history and civilization(1976) p 242

[14] Elmes, James (1827). On Architectural Jurisprudence; inwhich the Constitutions, Canons, Laws and Customs etc.London: W.Benning. pp. 178–179.

[15] Hammond, J L; Barbara Hammond (1912). The VillageLabourer 1760-1832. London: Longman Green & Co. p.100.

[16] Chapman, Tim (2001). Imperial Russia, 1801-1905.Routledge. p.83. ISBN 0-415-23110-8

[17] Maria Bogucka, Białogłowa w dawnej Polsce, Warsaw,1998, ISBN 83-85660-78-X, p. 72

[18] Mackay, Christopher (2004). Ancient Rome: A Militaryand Political History. New York: Cambridge UniversityPress. p. 298. ISBN 0521809185.

[19] Ways of ending slavery

[20] David P. Forsythe, ed. (2009). Encyclopedia of HumanRights: Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. p. 3.

6 8 EXTERNAL LINKS

[21] David Moon, Abolition of Serfdom in Russia: 1762–1907(2002)

[22] Taylor, Adam (5 June 2014). “WhyBelarus wants to bring'serfdom' back”. The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 June2014.

[23] Richard Oram, 'Rural society: 1. medieval', in MichaelLynch (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Scottish History(Oxford: University Press, 2005), p. 549.

[24] J. A. Cannon, 'Serfdom', in John Cannon (ed.), The Ox-ford Companion to British History (Oxford: UniversityPress, 2002), p. 852.

[25] Cannon, 'Serfdom', p. 852.

[26] Kfunigraz.ac.at

[27] Emancipation of the Serfs

7 Further reading

• Backman, Clifford R. The Worlds of Medieval Eu-rope Oxford University Press, 2003.

• Blum, Jerome. The End of the Old Order in RuralEurope (Princeton UP, 1978)

• Coulborn, Rushton, ed. Feudalism in History.Princeton University Press, 1956.

• Bonnassie, Pierre. From Slavery to Feudalism inSouth-Western Europe Cambridge University Press,1991 excerpt and text search

• Freedman, Paul, and Monique Bourin, eds. Formsof Servitude in Northern and Central Europe. De-cline, Resistance and Expansion Brepols, 2005.

• Frantzen, Allen J., and Douglas Moffat, eds. TheWorld of Work: Servitude, Slavery and Labor in Me-dieval England. Glasgow: Cruithne P, 1994.

• Gorshkov, Boris B. “Serfdom: Eastern Europe” inPeter N. Stearns, ed, Encyclopedia of European So-cial History: from 1352-2000 (2001) volume 2 pp379–88

• Hoch, Steven L. Serfdom and social control in Rus-sia: Petrovskoe, a village in Tambov (1989)

• Kahan, Arcadius. “Notes on Serfdom in Westernand Eastern Europe,” Journal of Economic HistoryMarch 1973 33:86-99 in JSTOR

• Kolchin, Peter. Unfree labor: American slavery andRussian serfdom (2009)

• Moon, David. The abolition of serfdom in Russia1762-1907 (Longman, 2001)

• Scott, Tom, ed. The Peasantries of Europe (1998)

• Vadey, Liana. “Serfdom: Western Europe” in Pe-ter N. Stearns, ed, Encyclopedia of European SocialHistory: from 1352-2000 (2001) volume 2 pp 369–78

• White, Stephen D. Re-Thinking Kinship and Feudal-ism in Early Medieval Europe (2nd ed. Ashgate Var-iorum, 2000)

• Wirtschafter, Elise Kimerling. Russia’s age of serf-dom 1649-1861 (2008)

• Wright, William E. Serf, Seigneur, and Sovereign:Agrarian Reform in Eighteenth-century Bohemia (Uof Minnesota Press, 1966).

• Wunder, Heide. “Serfdom in later medieval andearly modern Germany” in T. H. Aston et al., So-cial Relations and Ideas: Essays in Honour of R. H.Hilton (Cambridge UP, 1983), 249-72

8 External links• Serfdom, Encyclopaedia Britannica (on-line edi-tion).

• Paul Vinogradoff (1911). "Serfdom".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.).

• Peasantry (social class), Encyclopaedia Britannica.

• An excerpt from the book Serfdom to Self-Government: Memoirs of a Polish Village Mayor,1842–1927.

• The Causes of Slavery or Serfdom: A Hypothe-sis, discussion and full online text of Evsey Domar(1970), “The Causes of Slavery or Serfdom: A Hy-pothesis”, Economic History Review 30:1 (March),pp. 18–32.

7

9 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1 Text• Serfdom Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom?oldid=673437025 Contributors: Mav, Rjstott, Apollia, LK~enwiki, Heron, Rick-yrab, Leandrod, PhilipMW, Michael Hardy, Kwertii, 172, Sannse, Delirium, SebastianHelm, Shimmin, Ellywa, Theresa knott, Snoyes,Jebba, Stephenw32768, RodC, Adam Bishop, Jallan, David Thrale, Dysprosia, Pedant17, Taxman, Paul-L~enwiki, Ann O'nyme, Nick-shanks, AnonMoos, JorgeGG, Owen, Donarreiskoffer, Robbot, Altaar, Benwing, Jmabel, Altenmann, Romanm, Ktotam, Alain Narinx,Seano1, Guy Peters, Xyzzyva, Christopher Parham, Nat Krause, Inter, Wiglaf, Tom harrison, Everyking, RScheiber, Mboverload, Jdevine,Quadell, Piotrus, Domino theory, The Land, Sam Hocevar, Neutrality, Irpen, Klemen Kocjancic, Dr. Nodelescu~enwiki, PBC, Lac-rimosus, T-Boy, Freakofnurture, KNewman, Erc, Rich Farmbrough, Hydrox, Hidaspal, EliasAlucard, Bender235, Petersam, Harris000,Shanes, Bcholmes, Orbst, Cmdrjameson, Wwwillly, SpeedyGonsales, Toh, Polylerus, Llhm, HasharBot~enwiki, Guy Harris, Denoir, Ea-gleridge, Wikidea, Fwb44, Sugaar, SamUK, Sligocki, Svartalf, Snowolf, Helixblue, Kurivaim, Skyring, Pwqn, Mattbrundage, Chamaeleon,Mullet, Pekinensis, Firsfron, Cruci, Woohookitty, ScottDavis, CyrilleDunant, Unigolyn, Before My Ken, Kelisi, Kmg90, Bkwillwm,Male1979, SPOC, Marudubshinki, Dysepsion, LeoO3, Mandarax, Ashmoo, Magister Mathematicae, BD2412, Rjwilmsi, Bonanzajellydog,Vary, Marasama, Stilgar135, Acreature, Adbatstone, Cassowary, Yamamoto Ichiro, Falphin, Mariocki, CarolGray, AJR, RexNL, Gurch,Str1977, Homo stannous, Bdelisle, Volunteer Marek, Bgwhite, EamonnPKeane, YurikBot, Albanaco, Hairy Dude, Rtkat3, Huw Powell,RussBot, Peterkingiron, Elrith, Groogle, SylwiaS, Stephenb, Grubber, Theelf29, Pseudomonas, Hkandy, Lao Wai, Aftermath, Grafen,Rjensen, Countakeshi, Gerhard51, Vancouveriensis, Codenamecuckoo, BusterD, Nlu, Smaines, Sandstein, Sagsaw, Covington, Josh3580,Ray Chason, BME, Smurrayinchester, Lordrosemount, Aoa8212, Katieh5584, Appleseed, New European~enwiki, Jade Knight, Smack-Bot, Aim Here, KnowledgeOfSelf, Hydrogen Iodide, Dminott, Aardvark92, WilyD, Jab843, Tpellman, Srnec, JFHJr, Hmains, Chaojoker,Dahn, H2ppyme, Dwinetsk, Bjmullan, Jprg1966, Salvor, Rediahs, Ben-Velvel, Darth Panda, D-Rock, MaxSem, Can't sleep, clown willeat me, PeteShanosky, Alphathon, Addshore, Kevlar67, Sokolesq, Iridescence, Bejnar, Qmwne235, Snowgrouse, Lambiam, Rory096,Gryffon, John, Mathiasrex, Hlucho, Invisifan, Drieakko, KirrVlad, Peyre, Iridescent, Jalousie~enwiki, Lathrop1885, Britannica~enwiki,IAmTheLaw.Tarr, DavidOaks, Xxxiv34, Bertport, Tawkerbot2, Pontificake, Filelakeshoe, Blahstickman, Harold f, CmdrObot, SarcasticAvenger, Bridesmill, Ale jrb, Elisabeth Cottier Fábián, Except, Rwflammang, Iamcuriousblue, NickW557, ShelfSkewed, Neelix, Legone,FilipeS, Jac16888, Cydebot, Yamibakuragod, Travelbird, Asenine, Ebyabe, Hypnosadist, Epbr123, Daa89563, Kubanczyk, Wikid77,Lucidus, Kablammo, John254, Amity150, Doyley, HammerHeadHuman, Iulius, Noclevername, Escarbot, AntiVandalBot, BokicaK, CZ-marlin, Quintote, Way Of Life, Mdotley, LibLord, Nukemason, Myanw, Serpent’s Choice, DagosNavy, JAnDbot, Arch dude, OhanaU-nited, Andonic, Igodard, AmM964, SteveSims, Sfrostee, Magioladitis, VoABot II, Southernwood, Sedmic, The Enlightened, Objectivesea,APB-CMX, Ujalm, NMarkRoberts, Edward321, Andronico, S3000, Aluvia, MartinBot, Poeloq, APT, Uriel8, R'n'B, Matt57, Eliz81, SULinguist, J.A.McCoy, Skier Dude, Jayden54, Pyrospirit, Gemena, DadaNeem, Aatomic1, Robertgreer, Natl1, Darkfrog24, HighKing,CardinalDan, Idioma-bot, Black Kite, Ariobarzan, Piotrnikitin, VolkovBot, Andyvphil, DSRH, Jeff G., Holme053, Bassomatic, Firstorm,Adrey, Af648, Dojarca, Rightfully in First Place, Andres rojas22, DrewP, Mowsbury, Beyond silence, LeaveSleaves, Dragana666, Can-tiorix, Valirpaz, Universaladdress, N4sir389, Coffee, Graham Beards, Caltas, Meaghandawson, Mothmolevna, Lachrie, The UnknownHitchhiker, Rédacteur Tibet, Granf, Faradayplank, Ptolemy Caesarion, Lightmouse, Fratrep, Belligero, Segregold, Benny the wayfarer,Adam Cuerden, Owlmonkey, Mygerardromance, Bowei Huang 2, Chignecto, ClueBot, Dakinijones, DionysosProteus, Shujaat Ali Rahi,Rubeta, Arakunem, Drmies, Timberframe, Parkwells, Neverquick, Ellanow, Philerd, Arcot, Lartoven, Hotgunzzz, Dexterhaven, Rodhat,Hedrel, Bilbaosr, Bald Zebra, Anon126, Pirags, Miami33139, Glapa, NellieBly, Mifter, Alexius08, Casewicz, Addbot, Legosock, Mo-hjive, Jdtapaboc, Ashanda, LokiiT, RTG, Favonian, Lemonade100, Ehrenkater, Zimmermana, Pietrow, Zorrobot, Verdi, Legobot, Yobot,2D, Grebaldar, Amirobot, PMLawrence, Romano-Dacis, QueenCake, Againme, Otiuqok, Bility, AnomieBOT, Piano non troppo, Llywe-lynII, Flopsy Mopsy and Cottonmouth, Thefahs33, Bob Burkhardt, MidnightBlueMan, Frankenpuppy, Aqualungs, Xqbot, Medivalmario,Capricorn42, Pontificalibus, Beeline23, BritishWatcher, LevenBoy, Emily gregg, Frysun, Sophus Bie, Erik9, Dougofborg, Joostik, Fres-coBot, Wilfridselsey, Tobby72, Urgos, MathFacts, Westmorlandia, Pinethicket, Bubbleboom1, Tóraí, Jandalhandler, Dukurs, FoxBot,Lotje, LilyKitty, Tbhotch, Lovetimes9, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, Ripchip Bot, Paluki, Beyond My Ken, John of Reading, THEQUEEN99,Stubes99, Lobsterthermidor, Triton Rocker, PBS-AWB, Manchester.bw, 1kn0wtruth, Lorzu, Rangoon11, ChuispastonBot, Rare Akuma,Crown Prince, Gnarristi, Mikhail Ryazanov, Budgie1988, Virillustre, MerlIwBot, Helpful Pixie Bot, Regulov, BlueBonnet, Phương Huy,Zyxwv99, Carlstak, BoboRastafari, CitationCleanerBot, Haymouse, DoctorKubla, Irondome, Mogism, Editorfun, Monkbot, KasparBotand Anonymous: 375

9.2 Images• File:Abolition_of_serfdom_in_Croatia.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Abolition_of_serfdom_in_Croatia.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: self-made photograph Original artist: Ex13

• File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Originalartist: ?

• File:Costumes_of_Slaves_or_Serfs_from_the_Sixth_to_the_Twelfth_Centuries.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Costumes_of_Slaves_or_Serfs_from_the_Sixth_to_the_Twelfth_Centuries.png License: Public domainContributors: ? Original artist: ?

• File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

• File:Galician_slaughter_in_1846.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Galician_slaughter_in_1846.PNG License: Public domain Contributors: Own work User:Mathiasrex Maciej Szczepańczyk Original artist: Jan Lewicki

• File:IJzeren_voetring_voor_gevangenen_transparent_background.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/IJzeren_voetring_voor_gevangenen_transparent_background.png License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Tropenmuseum Originalartist: ?

• File:Reeve_and_Serfs.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Reeve_and_Serfs.jpg License: Public do-main Contributors: this file: scan dated 2009, uploaded (without identification of the source) 12 May 2010 by Ann Scott(medievalminds.comReeve-and-Serfs.original1.jpg) Original artist: anonymous (Queen Mary Master)

8 9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

• File:Supplice_du_Grand_Knout.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Supplice_du_Grand_Knout.jpgLicense: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

9.3 Content license• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0