|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
villein
villein [O.Fr.,=village dweller], peasant under the manorial system of medieval Western Europe. The term applies especially to serfs in England, where by the 13th cent. the entire unfree peasant population came to be called villein. The localism of medieval economy has made a general definition of villein status exceedingly difficult. The villein was a person who was attached to the manor and who performed the servile work of the lord and in some respects was considered the property of the lord. Various distinctions of villeinage, or serfdom, were sometimes made. In privileged villeinage the services to be rendered to the lord were certain and determined; in pure villeinage the services were unspecified, and the villein was, in effect, subject to the whim of the lord. The villein was theoretically distinguished from the freeholder by the services and duties he owed to the lord; these included week-work (a specified number of days' work on the lord's demesne each week throughout the year) and boon days (work required at busy periods during the seasonal year, as at plowing or harvesting time), payment on the marriage of the villein's daughter, payment of tallage on demand, and the like. In practice, however, distinctions blurred, and all land tenure on the manor tended to approach a common level. The villein in England was protected by law against all except his lord, and some guarantee against the lord's power was gradually extended by the royal courts. In the 14th cent. English villeinage began to disappear. A contributing factor in its decline was the increasing substitution of money payments for manual services; rents replaced labor dues. The Black Death of 1349 (see plague ), by greatly reducing the population and thus making labor scarce, made the demands of villeins more difficult to refuse and thus hastened the decline. The growth of towns also influenced the breakdown of the older class distinctions and the building up of new.
|
|
|
Cite this article
"villein." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "villein." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-villein.html "villein." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-villein.html |
|
villein
villein was the term used to describe a peasant in a state of serfdom—i.e. subject to a lord and under obligation to perform labour services. The term ‘villanus’ was used in Domesday Book without any derogatory flavour to indicate persons who lived in ‘vills’—and therefore formed the largest social class. Though not free men, they were above the bordars and cottars who held less land, and well above the slaves, who had been numerous in Saxon England. But the term is not precise and status and duties varied from manor to manor, region to region, and over time. There was very little villeinage in Kent, in the old Danelaw, most of the north, and parts of the west. Villeins on crown estates were likely to have more privileges. As royal justice developed, the status of villeins sank, since they had no access to royal courts and could not serve as jurors. There were several ways in which they could escape from villeinage—by purchasing freedom from the lord (commutation); by escaping to a town for one year and one day; by taking holy orders (with the lord's permission). By the end of the 14th cent. villeinage was clearly disintegrating, villeins changing their status to that of copyholders.
J. A. Cannon |
|
|
Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "villein." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "villein." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-villein.html JOHN CANNON. "villein." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-villein.html |
|
villein
villein was the term used to describe a peasant in a state of serfdom—i.e. subject to a lord and under obligation to perform labour services. The term ‘villanus’ was used in Domesday Book without any derogatory flavour to indicate persons who lived in ‘vills’—and therefore formed the largest social class. Though not free men, they were above the bordars and cottars who held less land, and well above the slaves, who had been numerous in Saxon England. But the term is not precise and status and duties varied from manor to manor, region to region, and over time. There were several ways in which they could escape from villeinage—by purchasing freedom from the lord (commutation); by escaping to a town for one year and one day; by taking holy orders (with the lord's permission). By the end of the 14th cent. villeinage was clearly disintegrating, villeins changing their status to that of copyholders.
|
|
|
Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "villein." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "villein." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-villein.html JOHN CANNON. "villein." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-villein.html |
|
villein
villein (from Latin villanus, ‘villager’) A medieval peasant entirely subject to a lord or attached to a manor, similar to a SERF. Both groups were part of the MANORIAL SYSTEM which dominated Europe between the 4th and 13th centuries. Villeins provided labour services to the lord (in return for tilling their own strips of land). By the 13th century villeins in England had become unfree tenants. In Europe they had fewer duties and remained essentially free peasants, creating a significant difference in rank to the serfs. By the 15th century, even in England, social and economic changes had blurred the distinctions between free and unfree peasants, leading to a single enlarged class of peasants.
|
|
|
Cite this article
"villein." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "villein." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-villein.html "villein." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-villein.html |
|
villein
|
|
|
Cite this article
ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "villein." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "villein." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-villein.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "villein." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-villein.html |
|
villein
vil·lein / ˈvilən; -ˌān/ • n. (in medieval England) a feudal tenant entirely subject to a lord or manor to whom he paid dues and services in return for land. |
|
|
Cite this article
"villein." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "villein." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-villein.html "villein." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-villein.html |
|
villein
villein (hist.) see VILLAIN.
So villeinage XIV. — AN., OF. vilenage, medL. villenagium. |
|
|
Cite this article
T. F. HOAD. "villein." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. T. F. HOAD. "villein." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-villein.html T. F. HOAD. "villein." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-villein.html |
|
villein
villein
•Alun, Malin, Tallinn
•Jacklin • franklin
•chaplain, Chaplin
•ratline
•Carlin, marlin, marline, Stalin
•Helen, Llewelyn
•Mechlin
•Emlyn, gremlin, Kremlin
•Galen • capelin • kylin • Evelyn
•Enniskillen, penicillin, villein
•Hamelin • Marilyn • discipline
•Colin, Dolin
•goblin, hobgoblin
•Loughlin
•Joplin, poplin
•compline • tarpaulin
•Magdalen, maudlin
•bowline, pangolin
•Ventolin • moulin • Lublin • Brooklyn
•masculine • insulin • globulin
•mullein • Dublin • dunlin • muslin
•kaolin • chamberlain • Michelin
•madeleine • Mary Magdalene
•Gwendolen • francolin • mescaline
•formalin • lanolin
•adrenalin, noradrenalin
•crinoline • zeppelin • cipolin
•Carolyn • Jocelyn • porcelain • Ritalin
•Ottoline
•javelin, ravelin
•Rosalyn
•merlin, purlin
•Dunfermline • purslane
|
|
|
Cite this article
"villein." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "villein." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-villein.html "villein." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-villein.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
