Serfdom
Videos
Serfdom 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
Punishment with a knout. Whipping was a common punishment for Russian serfs.
Reeve and serfs in feudal England, c. 1310
Russian peasants reading the Emancipation Manifesto, an 1873 painting by Grigory Myasoyedov
The proclamation by count Josip Jelačić abolishing serfdom in the Kingdom of Croatia
Serfdom in Russia
Videos
In tsarist Russia, the term serf meant an unfree peasant who, unlike a slave, originally could be sold only together with the land to which they were "attached". However, this had stopped being a requ
Serfdom
…where it had been less common (this phenomenon was known as "second serfdom"). In Eastern Europe, the institution persisted until the mid-19th century. Serfdom in Russia gradually evolved from the usual European form to become de facto slavery, though it continued to be called serfdom; one way or another, reforms were…
A Peasant Leaving His Landlord on Yuriev Day, painting by Sergei V. Ivanov
Darya Saltykova punishing one of her serfs
Vengeance of Serfs. Engraving by Charles Michel Geoffroy, 1845