VILLEIN or VILLAIN. Villeins were so called because they lived
chiefly in villages, and were employed in the rustic works of the most sordid
kind there. They chiefly belonged to the
lords of the Manors, and were of two kinds - Villeins regardant, that
is, annexed to the land or the Manor, and villeins in gross or at large,
that is, annexed to the person of the lord, and transferable by deed from one
person to another. They could not leave
their lord without his permission; and if they ran away they could be reclaimed
and removed by action, like rent or other chattels. They held small portions of land by way of
sustaining themselves and their families, but it was at the arbitrary will of
the lord of the Manor, who might dispossess them of their holdings whenever he
pleased; and for the privilege they had to lead the manure from his farm to his
lands, plough, sow, reap, to do his hedging and ditching; and, in short, all
other kinds of the meanest offices.
Their services were also uncertain as to kind, quantity, and time. A villein could aquire no propertyin either
land or goods; everything he possessed
in the world, including his wife and family, belonged like himself wholly to
his lord. The children of villeins were
called nativi. The villeins of England were emancipated from this degrading
condition during the confusion and war between the two houses of York and Lancaster,
nearly 400 years ago, in order that they might become soldiers, their previous
low condition in life not fitting them to be the companions of men in arms. Back |
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