The tenure or status of a villein in the feudal system.
〈史〉隶农制；隶农身份
Example sentencesExamples
The villeins had not won their freedom this time but had changed history and themselves forever, and within 50 years villeinage had disappeared from England forever.
In particular, they rejected villeinage - the condition of hereditary unfreedom - which bore down on them in a variety of ways.
So long as villeinage had importance, the courts reinforced status by requiring some labour services over and above that fixed by custom and practice.
Rents had been low, too, on peasants' customary holdings; labour services had been commuted, and servile villeinage had virtually disappeared by 1485.
Definition of villeinage in US English:
villeinage
noun
historical
The tenure or status of a villein.
〈史〉隶农制；隶农身份
Example sentencesExamples
Rents had been low, too, on peasants' customary holdings; labour services had been commuted, and servile villeinage had virtually disappeared by 1485.
The villeins had not won their freedom this time but had changed history and themselves forever, and within 50 years villeinage had disappeared from England forever.
So long as villeinage had importance, the courts reinforced status by requiring some labour services over and above that fixed by custom and practice.
In particular, they rejected villeinage - the condition of hereditary unfreedom - which bore down on them in a variety of ways.