Editing Serfdom (section)

==History==
{{main|History of serfdom}}
{{see also|Feudalism#History}}
[[File:Galician slaughter in 1846.PNG|thumb|[[Galician slaughter]] in 1846 was a revolt against serfdom, directed against manorial property and oppression.]]
Social institutions similar to serfdom were known in [[ancient history|ancient times]]. The status of the [[helots]] in the [[ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] [[city-state]] of [[Sparta]] resembled that of the medieval serfs. By the 3rd century AD, the [[Roman Empire]] faced a labour shortage. Large Roman landowners increasingly relied on Roman freemen, acting as tenant farmers, instead of slaves to provide labour.<ref name="Mackay298">{{cite book|last=Mackay|first=Christopher|title=Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2004|isbn=0521809185|location=New York|page=298}}</ref>

These [[tenant farmer]]s, eventually known as [[colonus (person)|''coloni'']], saw their condition steadily erode. Because the tax system implemented by [[Diocletian]] assessed taxes based on both land and the inhabitants of that land, it became administratively inconvenient for peasants to leave the land where they were counted in the census.<ref name="Mackay298" />

Medieval serfdom really began with the breakup of the [[Carolingian Empire]] around the 10th century.{{citation needed|date=June 2008}} During this period, powerful [[feudalism|feudal lords]] encouraged the establishment of serfdom as a source of agricultural [[labour economics|labour]]. Serfdom, indeed, was an institution that reflected a fairly common practice whereby great landlords were assured that others worked to feed them and were held down, legally and economically, while doing so.

This arrangement provided most of the agricultural labour throughout the [[Middle Ages]]. [[Slavery]] persisted right through the Middle Ages,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/slavery-sociology/Ways-of-ending-slavery|title=Ways of ending slavery|access-date=21 February 2024}}</ref> but it was rare.

In the later Middle Ages, serfdom began to disappear west of the [[Rhine]] even as it spread through eastern Europe. Serfdom reached Eastern Europe centuries later than Western Europe{{snd}}it became dominant around the 15th century. In many of these countries serfdom was abolished during the [[Napoleonic Wars|Napoleonic invasions]] of the early 19th century, though in some it persisted until mid- or late- 19th century.{{cn|date=December 2022}}