Editing Serfdom (section)

====Villeins====
{{See also|Villein}}

In England, after the Norman conquest of 1066, an unfree tenant who held their land subject to providing agricultural and other services to their lord, was described as a villein. Villeins had limited rights and were tied to their lord. However they did have
more rights and were of a higher status than the lowest serf. They had to work on the demensne (their lords farm) in return for receiving small plots of land, to support their family.<ref name=friar458>{{Cite book|last=Friar|first=Stephen|title=The Sutton Companion to Local History|publisher=Sutton Publishing|year=2004|isbn=0-7509-2723-2|page=458}}</ref>

Villeins were not freemen, for example they and their daughters were not allowed to marry without their lords permission.
They could not move away without their lord's consent and the acceptance of the lord to whose manor they proposed to migrate to. Villeins were generally able to hold their own property, unlike slaves (serfs).<ref name=friar458/>Villeinage, as opposed to other forms of serfdom, was most common in Continental European feudalism, where land ownership had developed from roots in [[Roman law]].{{cn|date=July 2023}}

A variety of kinds of villeinage existed in Europe in the Middle Ages. Half-villeins received only half as many strips of land for their own use and owed a full complement of labour to the lord, often forcing them to rent out their services to other serfs to make up for this hardship. Villeinage was not a purely uni-directional exploitative relationship. In the Middle Ages, land within a lord's manor provided [[sustenance]] and survival, and being a villein guaranteed access to land, and crops secure from theft by marauding robbers. Landlords, even where they were legally entitled to do so, rarely evicted villeins because of the value of their labour. Villeinage was much preferable to being a vagabond, a slave, or an unlanded labourer.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

In many medieval countries, a villein could gain freedom by escaping from a [[Manorialism|manor]] to a city or [[borough]] and living there for more than a year; but this action involved the loss of land rights and agricultural livelihood, a prohibitive price unless the landlord was especially tyrannical or conditions in the village were unusually difficult.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

In medieval England, two types of villeins existed – ''villeins regardant'' that were tied to land and ''villeins in gross'' that could be traded separately from land.<ref name="urlThe Pictorial History of England: Being a History of the People, as Well as ... – George Lillie Craik, Charles MacFarlane – Google Książki" />