Forced duties of dependent peasants. Forced labor of a dependent peasant

Feudal society in European states began to form from the middle of the 16th century. It was then that a special class of the population was singled out - peasants who lived on the territory of the landowner or feudal lord and were dependent on him in whole or in part. Without exception, all peasants were subject to service. Forced duties of this class were numerous: from daily work in the estate of the feudal lord before military service. The severity of the labor encumbrance depended on many factors, including the age of the peasant, his abilities and skills. Often, feudal lords, using their power, could impose an additional burden on those to whom they felt personal dislike. It is the compulsory duties of dependent peasants that have become the main topic described in this article.

Dependent peasants: who is this?

Consider the forms of dependence of the peasants on the landowner or feudal lord: complete and incomplete. Completely dependent on the owner of the peasants was customarily called personally dependent. Their position in society was one of the most deplorable. They had not only the right of ownership of any household items, including clothing, but also the rights to free expression of will and even to own life. A similar form of peasant dependence was characteristic of states in which slavery flourished. Forced duties of dependent peasants from this class could not be challenged even in the case of an unsuitable attitude of the owner. Feudalus, in turn, had the right to sentence the peasant to corporal punishment and even to deprive him of his life for any wrongdoing.

The incomplete dependence of the peasants was mainly in their economic subordination to the feudal lord. One of the compulsory duties of dependent peasants is work in the fields or in the master's workshops. Serving his estate or estate, they at the same time had personal rights: they could freely move around, acquire or sell their own property. In addition, with the appearance of cruelty or unfair treatment of the peasant, the feudal lord could be subject to legal proceedings. Forced labor of the dependent peasant in the case of his incomplete dependence was reduced to working off a debt or rent for using the land allotment granted him by the feudal lord. Due to the fact that many peasants did not have the opportunity to acquire land or implements for processing it, feudal lords often used this, and "debts" returned to him for several decades.

Signs of forced labor in the feudal economy

Like any economic or social phenomenon, the compulsory duties of dependent peasants can be determined with the help of several characteristic features, to which one can include the following:

1. The dependent peasant has in use land that is the property of the feudal lord.
2. In addition to work on his own land allotments, the peasant also cultivated a piece of land that was listed as "lordly", and all the produce went exclusively to the feudal lord.
3. For the processing of land plots (peasant and bar), agricultural implements, including horses belonging to the peasant, were used.
4. For unscrupulous enforcement of forced labor, the peasant could be punished by increasing the amount of the natural collection (obroka) or the additional term of gratuitous works for the feudal lord (corvée).

Otherwise, the forms of forced peasant labor in feudal production differ somewhat. Let us consider in more detail each of them.

Features of the conduct of the corvee economy

As mentioned above, in medieval Europe, there were several types of work for which involuntary people did not receive payment. One of the forced duties of dependent peasants - corvée - was extended practically throughout the whole of Western and Eastern Europe, including Rus. The essence of this type of labor service consisted in the unpaid labor of the dependent population in the fields of the feudal lord with the use of his own implements. At the same time, the peasant cultivated his own plot of land, growing and producing food for his own consumption. The main shortcoming of the corvee system was the constant need for supervision by the feudal lord, as often forced work was carried out by peasants on the principle of "somehow".

In medieval states, corvee (forced labor of dependent peasants) existed from about 8-9 to 18 centuries. This form of gratuitous labor was most widely spread on the territory of the state of Rus and existed there almost until the end of the 19th century under the name of "sharecropping".

Features of vestry

Another of the compulsory duties of dependent peasants in medieval Europe - a quitrent - existed about the same time as corvée. The essence of this phenomenon was that almost all the land of the feudal lord was given to the peasant who was processing it with his own resources and using his own inventory.

The crop obtained from the allotments was divided into two parts, one of which went to pay the feudal lord, and the other was used by the peasant at his own discretion. In connection with the spread and development of crafts, the natural (grocery) ritual was combined with money, and in some estates it was replaced at all. Such compulsory duties of dependent peasants, as a natural and monetary dues, served as an impetus to an even greater division of labor and, as a consequence, the development of commodity-money relations.

Developmental rent

Developmental labor as a form of forced labor was one of the easiest. In the case of her, the dependent peasant received land from the feudal lord, animals for breeding, agricultural tools and other equipment. As a payment for the use of these goods, he had to work out a certain period of time for the production of the landlord. By the way, such a system of forced labor was most widespread in the countries of the East, where there was practically no personal dependence of the peasants. Rent was often paid for by products made in the farm of a dependent peasant, by household objects, jewelry, cloth or money.