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 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

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

Now, if the weaker party remained to brave the attack and was conquered, he was reduced to a state of villeinage or of dependence more or less complete.

From The Communes of Lombardy from the VI. to the X. Century An Investigation of the Causes Which Led to the Development Of Municipal Unity Among the Lombard Communes. by Williams, William Klapp

The ceorls tended to sink to the position known later as villeinage.

From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 11 — Ancient and Mediæval History by Hammerton, John Alexander, Sir

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