[1] The institution of slavery as practiced in the Polish territories during the Early Middle Ages played a lesser economic or cultural role than in other states such as Roman Empire where slavery played a crucial role in keeping its economy alive.
[3] According to Samuel Augustus Mitchell, non-free people were emancipated in Poland in 1347 under the Statutes of Casimir the Great issued in Wiślica.
[5] Throughout the remaining history of feudal Poland, particularly in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, much of the peasantry was subject to serfdom, which was often likened to slavery.
Children of niewolni was in default categorized as part of the slavery class, since they belonged to the king or knights.
Some of them were able to escape and some were favored as their owners saw them to be more profitable when they are used as peasants (Polish: czeladź, Latin: servi casati) rather than servants.
[15][16][17] Common techniques for trafficking people into slavery from other countries include false job promises, high fees or alleged debts, rape, and withholding the person's documentation.