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.

But when villeinage ceased, various and opposite courses seemed to have been pursued in different boroughs.

From The Constitutional History of England from 1760 to 1860 by Yonge, Charles Duke

And the pretence at proselytising, with its mongrel mixture of Christianity and superstition, did not make this Transatlantic villeinage a whit less irksome to endure.

From The Death Shot A Story Retold by Reid, Mayne

The master's counsel contended that slavery was not a condition unsanctioned by English law, for villeinage was slavery, and no statute had ever abolished villeinage.

From The Constitutional History of England from 1760 to 1860 by Yonge, Charles Duke

Through various grades of slavery, serfdom, villeinage, and through various organizations of castes and guilds, the industrial organization has been modified and developed up to the modern system.

From What Social Classes Owe to Each Other by Sumner, William Graham

The institution of villeinage is last mentioned in a commission of Queen Elizabeth, 1574, directing Lord Burleigh and others in certain counties to compound with all such bondmen or bondwomen for their manumission and freedom.

From Popular Law-making by Stimson, Frederic Jesup