Vileinage

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The condition of being a feudal serf bound to a lord and obliged to render labour and service to him
2. The servile legal status of a medieval peasant tied to the land and dependent on a manorial lord
3. Feudal bondage in which a tenant owed customary labour and obedience to the landowner on whose estate they lived

Etymology: "Vileinage" is a Middle English word for the condition of a villein, the feudal tenant bound to a lord's land and obliged to render labour, produce or services in return for it. The word comes from Old French "vilenage," formed from "vilein" (later "vilain"), which descends from Latin "villanus," a farm servant or worker on a "villa" estate. The base word was thus once neutral, describing a country dweller tied to the land rather than anything pejorative. Its meaning drifted downward in the way many class terms do. Because villeins were the lowest free-status tenants, "vilein" came to mean base, ignoble or mean in character, and English later borrowed that moral sense in "villain." The noun "vileinage" itself stayed a technical term of medieval law and social description, referring to the bondage or servile tenure rather than to the person's character. It is attested in Middle English and was in use among writers and legal commentators into the early modern period, though by then the institution it named was fading across England.