Feudal society in European countries began to form since the mid 16th century.It was then allocated a special class of the population - the peasants who lived in the territory of the landowner or lord, and were dependent on it totally or partially.Without exception, all the peasants were subjected to conscription.Compulsory duties of this estate were numerous: from the daily work at the estate of the feudal lord to military service.The severity of the labor burdens depend on many factors, including the age of the farmer, his abilities and skills.Often, the feudal lords, taking advantage of his power, could appoint additional burdens to those to whom they had a personal dislike.It is compulsory duty dependent peasants become the main theme outlined in this article.
dependent peasants, Who is this?
consider forms of dependence of peasants from feudal landlord or: complete and incomplete.Totally dependent on the owner of the peasants were called personally dependent.Their position in society was one of the most deplorable.They had not only the ownership of any household items, including clothing, but also the right to free expression and even their own lives.This form of peasant dependence was characteristic of the states where slavery flourished.Forced duty dependent peasants from this class could not be challenged even in the case of improper attitude toward them host.The feudal lord, in turn, had the right to condemn the peasant to corporal punishment and even take his life for any fault.
Part dependence of peasants consisted mainly in their economic subordination to the lord.One of the compulsory duties dependent peasants - work in the fields or in the workshops of the master.Serving his estate or the estate, they at the same time have the individual rights: to move freely, to acquire or sell its own property.In addition, the manifestation of violence or unfair treatment to the feudal peasant could be subject to legal proceedings.Forced labor is dependent peasant in the event of partial dependence was limited to working out the debt or the rent for use of land allotment, given to him by feudal lords.Due to the fact that many farmers were unable to afford to buy their own land or equipment for its processing, often used this feudal lords, and "debt" back to him within a few decades.
Signs of forced labor in the feudal economy
Like any economic or social phenomenon, forced duty dependent peasants can be determined by several characteristic features, which include the following:
- dependence of the peasant is in the use of land that isIt is the property of the feudal lord.
- addition to work on their own land allotments, a farmer and cultivated the land, which was listed as a "manor", and all products from it was purely feudal lord.
- for processing land holdings (peasant and manor) used agricultural implements, including a horse belonging to the farmer.
- for negligent performance of forced labor peasant could be punished in the form of increasing the size of the subsistence fee (dues), or additional terms of pro bono work on feudal lord (serfdom).
In all other forms of forced labor in the feudal peasant production are somewhat different.Let us consider in more detail each of them.
Features of the corvée system
As mentioned above, in medieval Europe, there are several types of work for which the dependent people did not receive payment.One of the compulsory duties dependent peasants - boon - was spread almost the entire territory of Western and Eastern Europe, including Russia.The essence of this kind of labor service was in the unpaid labor of the dependent population in the fields of the lord with his own equipment.At the same time, the farmer and his cultivated land, growing and producing food for their own consumption.The main disadvantage of the corvee system was a constant need for supervision by the lord, because it is often forced to work carried out on the basis of farmers' somehow. "
In the states of the Middle Ages corvée (forced labor of dependent peasants) existed from about 8-9 until the 18th century.The most widely used this form of unpaid labor has acquired in the territory of Russia and it lasted almost until the end of the 19th century called "sharecropping."
Features rent-paying economy
Another of the compulsory duties dependent peasants in medieval Europe - rents - there was about the same time as the boon.The essence of this phenomenon was the fact that almost all the land lord to give to the use of the peasant, who handles its own resources using its same equipment.
yield obtained with plots, divided into two parts, one of which went to pay the lord, and the other used a farmer at his own discretion.In connection with the spread and development of crafts natural (food) rents combined with the money, and in some estates, and all they had replaced.Such enforcement duties dependent peasants, as a natural and cash rents, provided the impetus to even greater division of labor and, as a consequence, the development of commodity-money relations.
labor rent
labor rent as a form of forced labor was one of the easiest.If it dependent on feudal peasant received an allotment, animal breeding, farm tools and other equipment.As payment for the use of these benefits, he had to work in the production of the landlord a certain period.By the way, the system of forced labor was most prevalent in Eastern countries where practically no personal dependence of the peasants.Rents are often paid a product produced in an economy dependent peasant, household items, jewelry, cloth or money.
