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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

villeinage

One of your most illustrious judges, who was also a profound and philosophical historian, has said "that villeinage was not abolished, but went into decay in England."

From Cotton is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments Comprising the Writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartrwright on This Important Subject by E. N. Elliott

In Scotland they had just been emancipated from the status of villeinage.

From Recent Developments in European Thought by Various

But when villeinage ceased, various and opposite courses seemed to have been pursued in different boroughs.

From The Constitutional History of England from 1760 to 1860 by Charles Duke Yonge

In the seventy years which had intervened since the last peasant rising, villeinage had died naturally away before the progress of social change.

From History of the English People, Volume III The Parliament, 1399-1461; The Monarchy 1461-1540 by John Richard Green

By these provisions both villeinage or land-serfdom and the slavery of debtor classes to capital were to be prevented in the new nation.

From The Right and Wrong Uses of the Bible by R. Heber Newton

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