villeinage
Americannoun
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the tenure by which a villein held land and tenements from a lord.
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the condition or status of a villein.
noun
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the status and condition of a villein
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the tenure by which a villein held his land
Etymology
Origin of villeinage
1275–1325; Middle English vilenage < Anglo-French, Old French. See villein, -age
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Husbandry land held in villeinage was inherited according to the custom of its manor as administered in the lords manorial court.
From Our Legal Heritage June 2011 (Sixth) Edition by Reilly, S. A.
In the new French possessions, villeinage and servitude were abolished, with a haste and recklessness which was intended to win the people to the new dominion.
From Pictures of German Life in the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries, Vol. I. by Freytag, Gustav
The institution of villeinage is last mentioned in a commission of Queen Elizabeth, 1574, directing Lord Burleigh and others in certain counties to compound with all such bondmen or bondwomen for their manumission and freedom.
From Popular Law-making by Stimson, Frederic Jesup
In Scotland they had just been emancipated from the status of villeinage.
From Recent Developments in European Thought by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
