villeinage


Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

vil·lein·age

also vil·lain·age  (vĭl′ə-nĭj)
n.
1. The legal status or condition of a villein.
2. The legal tenure by which a villein held land.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

villeinage

(ˈvɪlənɪdʒ) ,

villainage

,

villenage

or

villanage

(in medieval Europe) n
1. (Historical Terms) the status and condition of a villein
2. (Historical Terms) the tenure by which a villein held his land
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

vil•lein•age

or vil•len•age

(ˈvɪl ə nɪdʒ)

n.
1. the tenure by which a villein held land from a lord.
2. the condition or status of a villein.
[1275–1325; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

villeinage

the type of tenure under which a villein held his land. Also called villanage.
See also: Property and Ownership
-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.villeinage - the legal status or condition of servitude of a villein or feudal serf
villainage
legal status - a status defined by law
servitude - state of subjection to an owner or master or forced labor imposed as punishment; "penal servitude"
2.villeinage - tenure by which a villein held land
land tenure, tenure - the right to hold property; part of an ancient hierarchical system of holding lands
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

villeinage

also villainage
noun
A state of subjugation to an owner or master:
bondage, enslavement, helotry, serfdom, servileness, servility, servitude, slavery, thrall, thralldom, yoke.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Mentioned in ?
References in periodicals archive ?
While it is true that villeinage was still present in the sixteenth century, the institution of slavery had largely disappeared in England.
Michael Guasco: Slaves and Englishmen: Human Bondage in the Early Modern Atlantic World
Bailey, 'Villeinage in England: a regional case study, c.
Danger and displacement in the Dollard: The 1509 flooding of the Dollard sea (Groningen) and its impact on long-term inequality in the distribution of property
Though the opening part concerning the decline of servitude has been thoroughly researched in past scholarship, Bailey offers many new components: a reconsideration of the decline of serfdom during some hundred and fifty years after the Black Death, an exploration of the relationship between customary land values and the decline of villeinage, and an examination of how different types of land tenure emerged out of serfdom and formed England's subsequent economic development.
The Decline of Serfdom in Late Medieval England: From Bondage to Freedom
The social universe of the English Bible was re-drawn to populate the Bible with English-style household servants, ubiquitously indispensable in sixteenth-and seventeenth-century England, whereas medieval villeinage was by then extinct.
Naomi Tadmor, The Social Universe of the English Bible. Scripture, Society, and Culture in Early Modern England
Michael Guasco considers the varieties of enslavement in English society (villeinage, penal slavery, and gallery slavery) and their impact on new world ideologies and the adoption of African slavery.
Robert Appelbaum and John Wood Sweet, eds. Envisioning an English Empire: Jamestown and the Making of the North Atlantic World

Dictionary browser ?
Full browser ?