Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed during late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages in Europe and lasted in some countries until the mid-19th century.
Punishment with a knout. Whipping was a common punishment for Russian serfs.
Reeve and serfs in feudal England, c. 1310
The proclamation by count Josip Jelačić abolishing serfdom in the Kingdom of Croatia
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants existed: non-free slaves, semi-free serfs, and free tenants. Peasants might hold title to land outright, or by any of several forms of land tenure, among them socage, quit-rent, leasehold, and copyhold.
Young women offer berries to visitors to their izba home, 1909. Those who had been serfs among the Russian peasantry were officially emancipated in 1861. Photograph by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky.
A farm in 1794
Finnish Savonian farmers at a cottage in early 19th century; by Pehr Hilleström and J. F. Martin
"Feiernde Bauern" ("Celebrating Peasants"), artist unknown, 18th or 19th century