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
It is noteworthy that some chose one alternative, some the other, not finding villeinage intolerable.
From Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln A Short Story of One of the Makers of Mediaeval England by Marson, Charles L. (Charles Latimer)
Thus, in the first half of the sixteenth century, the old serfdom which still existed in a very harsh form in many provinces was mitigated, and villeinage substituted.
From Pictures of German Life in the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries, Vol. I. by Freytag, Gustav
The second court was the "court customary," which dealt with cases connected with villeinage.
From The Leading Facts of English History by Montgomery, D. H. (David Henry)
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