Serfs
Definition
Serfs were agricultural laborers who were bound to a particular piece of land and to the lord of that land, essentially making them part of the property.
Analogy
Think of serfs as the workers in a factory. They don't own the machines or the products they make - they just work there. And just like how those workers can't leave their job without finding another one first, serfs couldn't leave their lord's land without permission.
Related terms
Manorialism: This is the organization of rural economy and society in medieval western and parts of central Europe, characterized by the vesting of legal and economic power in a lord supported economically from his own direct landholding and from the obligatory contributions of a legally subject part of the peasant population (serfs).
Peasant: A member of a class of persons who are small farmers or farm laborers of low social rank.
Feudal Contract: A set of unwritten rules that determined the relationship between a lord and his vassal (which included serfs).
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