villeinage

American  

[vil-uh-nij] / ˈvɪl ə nɪdʒ /

Or villainage,

noun

1. the tenure by which a villein held land and tenements from a lord.

2. the condition or status of a villein.

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villeinage British  

/ ˈvɪlənɪdʒ /

noun

1. the status and condition of a villein

2. the tenure by which a villein held his land

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Etymology

Origin of villeinage

1275–1325; Middle English vilenage < Anglo-French, Old French. See villein, -age

Example Sentences

Yea," said he, "that wot I well, that these are of the kin of the daughters of the horse-leech; but how shall they slake their greed, seeing that as thou sayest villeinage shall be gone?

From A Dream of John Ball; and, a king's lesson by Morris, William

Thus, in the first half of the sixteenth century, the old serfdom which still existed in a very harsh form in many provinces was mitigated, and villeinage substituted.

From Pictures of German Life in the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries, Vol. I. by Freytag, Gustav

The fathers early enacted that there should be neither bond slaves nor villeinage amongst us except captives taken in just wars and those condemned judicially to serve.

From Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence The Best Speeches Delivered by the Negro from the days of Slavery to the Present Time by Dunbar-Nelson, Alice Moore

Their inhabitants, in spite of ascetic regulations, found that life was none so hard—at least in comparison with that of serfdom or villeinage; luxuries were not less available than to the laity.

From England under the Tudors by Innes, Arthur D. (Arthur Donald)

The ceorls tended to sink to the position known later as villeinage.

From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 11 — Ancient and Mediæval History by Hammerton, John Alexander, Sir