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 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

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 king or the prince who is enslaved by his conscience oweth the duties of villeinage to the worst and hardest of masters.

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 16 by Various

In Poland, at this day, the peasants seem to be in an absolute state of slavery, or at least of villeinage, to the nobility, who are the land-holders.

From Dissertation on Slavery With a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it, in the State of Virginia by Tucker, St. George

The fathers early enacted that there should be neither bond slaves nor villeinage amongst us except captives taken in just wars and those condemned judicially to serve.

From Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence The Best Speeches Delivered by the Negro from the days of Slavery to the Present Time by Dunbar-Nelson, Alice Moore