Villeinage

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Villanage \Vil"lan*age\ (?; 48), n. [OF. villenage, vilenage.
     See {Villain}.]
     1. (Feudal Law) The state of a villain, or serf; base
        servitude; tenure on condition of doing the meanest
        services for the lord. [In this sense written also
        {villenage}, and {villeinage}.]


        [1913 Webster]
  
              I speak even now as if sin were condemned in a
              perpetual villanage, never to be manumitted.
                                                    --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Some faint traces of villanage were detected by the
              curious so late as the days of the Stuarts.
                                                    --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Baseness; infamy; villainy. [Obs.] --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  villeinage
       n 1: the legal status or condition of servitude of a villein or
            feudal serf [syn: {villainage}]
       2: tenure by which a villein held land