villeinage

Once elected, whether by the actual ceremony or by a survival of it, he assumed control over the tenants in villeinage and over the waste lands of the tribe.

It is not necessary for us further to notice the existence of villeinage or slavery in these kingdoms.

Feudalism, too, had its proletariat—the villeinage—which contains all the germs of the middle class.

Husbandry land held in villeinage was inherited according to the custom of its manor as administered in the lords manorial court.

The rebels at first demanded no more than that Richard should declare villeinage abolished, and that all feudal dues and services should be commuted for a rent of fourpence an acre.