History of serfdom
[1] In 332 AD Emperor Constantine issued legislation that greatly restricted the rights of the coloni and tied them to the land.
Serfdom, indeed, was an institution that reflected a fairly common practice whereby great landlords ensured that others worked to feed them and were held down, legally and economically, while doing so.
The rise of powerful monarchs, towns, and an improving economy weakened the manorial system through the 13th and 14th centuries; serfdom had become rare by 1400.
[4] It further declined into the 16th century because of changes in the economy, population, and laws governing lord-tenant relations in Western European nations.
[3] At the same time, increasing unrest and uprisings by serfs and peasants, like Tyler's Rebellion in England in 1381, put pressure on the nobility and the clergy to reform the system.
As a result, the gradual establishment of new forms of land leases and increased personal liberties accommodated serf and peasant demands to some extent.
[3] Serfdom developed in Eastern Europe after the Black Death epidemics of the mid-14th century, which stopped the eastward migration.
The resulting high land-to-labour ratio - combined with Eastern Europe's vast, sparsely populated areas - gave the lords an incentive to bind the remaining peasantry to their land.
Serfdom remained in force in most of Russia until the Emancipation reform of 1861, enacted on February 19, 1861, though in the Russian-controlled Baltic provinces it had been abolished at the beginning of the 19th century.
[citation needed] In Western Europe serfdom became progressively less common through the Middle Ages, particularly after the Black Death reduced the rural population and increased the bargaining power of workers.
In Early Modern France, French nobles nevertheless maintained a great number of seigneurial privileges over the free peasants that worked lands under their control.
[11] In other parts of Europe, there had been peasant revolts in Castille, Catalonia, northern France, Germany, Portugal and Sweden.
[citation needed] The last vestiges of serfdom were officially ended on August 4, 1789, with a decree abolishing the feudal rights of the nobility.
However, the decree was mostly symbolic, as widespread peasant revolts had effectively ended the feudal system beforehand; and ownership of the land still remained in the hands of the landlords, who could continue collecting rents and enforcing tenant contracts.
In German history the emancipation of the serfs came between 1770 and 1830, with the nobility in Schleswig being the first to agree to do so in 1797, followed by the signing of the royal and political leaders of Denmark and Germany in 1804.
[12] Prussia abolished serfdom with the "October Edict" of 1807, which upgraded the personal legal status of the peasantry and gave them ownership of half or two-thirds of the lands they were working.
The peasants were freed from the obligation of personal services to the lord and annual dues; in return landowners were given ownership of 1/3 to 1/2 of the land.
[13] In sharp contrast to the violence that characterized land reform in the French Revolution, Germany handled it peacefully.
Indeed, for most peasants, customs and traditions continued largely unchanged, including the old habits of deference to the nobles whose legal authority remained quite strong over the villagers.
[citation needed] They abolished feudal obligations and divided collectively owned common land into private parcels and thus created a more efficient market-oriented rural economy.
[14] East of the Elbe River, the Junker class maintained large estates and monopolized political power.
In a case history of England, Marx described how the serfs became free peasant proprietors and small farmers, who were, over time, forcibly expropriated and driven off the land, forming a property-less proletariat.
