villeinage

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Their inhabitants, in spite of ascetic regulations, found that life was none so hard—at least in comparison with that of serfdom or villeinage; luxuries were not less available than to the laity.

From England under the Tudors by Innes, Arthur D. (Arthur Donald)

The villeinage into which the peasants had been thrust back could not, indeed, endure long, because service unwillingly rendered is too expensive to be maintained.

From A Student's History of England, v. 1 (of 3) From the earliest times to the Death of King Edward VII by Gardiner, Samuel Rawson

The charter that contains this enactment treats of villeinage also, and orders that whoever has a man for sale within the limits of the viscounty shall fix the price, and shall not change it afterwards.

From Two Summers in Guyenne by Barker, Edward Harrison

In the new French possessions, villeinage and servitude were abolished, with a haste and recklessness which was intended to win the people to the new dominion.

From Pictures of German Life in the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries, Vol. I. by Freytag, Gustav

But besides what belonged thus exclusively to the lord of the manor, there was a great deal more that was legally described as held in villeinage.

From Mediaeval Socialism by Jarrett, Bede