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.

The facts are all against them; these showing it a scheme of villeinage, more oppressive than the European serfdom of the Middle Ages.

From The Death Shot A Story Retold by Reid, Mayne

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

In spite of the prayers and resolutions and acts of the early fathers, a form of slavery grew up here, but it was milder than the English villeinage: it resembled apprenticeship except in the duration.

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

A plea had been set up that villeinage had never been abolished by law in England; ergo, the possession of slaves was not illegal.

From Toronto of Old by Scadding, Henry

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

From Our Legal Heritage June 2011 (Sixth) Edition by Reilly, S. A.