SERFDOM. 489 



lands and home farm, cultivated by a class of tenants like 

 villeins. There were free tenants, some of them free tribes 

 men settled on the estate, who paid money-rents instead 

 of the original food-rents and services. There were groups 

 of serf -tenants in outlying districts, and there &quot; were ham 

 lets of free tenants, and other hamlets of villein tenants, 

 all contributing rents and services, and the latter supplying 

 provisions and day-works: &quot; all such tributes being &quot; at 

 tached to particular holdings or hamlets.&quot; 



Concerning serfdom among ourselves, we have only fur 

 ther to note that in the time of Henry III, the absolute de 

 pendence of the serf on his lord s will, rapidly became quali 

 fied. While, as in France, the lands to which serfs were tied 

 passed into their own possession, their slave-like services 

 were in various ways commuted: there was &quot; a -transforma 

 tion from tenants in villenage to copy-holders.&quot; And this 

 change, be it remarked, went on earlier here than elsewhere, 

 because in virtue of the subordination of the local rulers 

 to the central ruler, initiated at the conquest, local wars had 

 earlier died away : there was less of diffused war. 



806. For completion of this outline must be included 

 some accounts of serfdom in its latest stages, derived from 

 Prussia and Russia. 



Continuing chiefly on baronial estates, serfdom in Prussia, 

 while still a form of subjection which required sworn allegi 

 ance as well as services and clues, and which tied the serf 

 and his children to the estate, secured him the general rights 

 of a citizen ; subject in some cases to his lord s assent, as in 

 the case of marriage. At the same time, along with this 

 qualified freedom and these obligations on the side of the 

 serf, there went, on the side of the lord, certain reciprocal 

 obligations. He was supposed to help his serf when in need 

 and afford him means of living ; to see that his children were 

 well brought up, sent to school, and provided with busi 

 nesses; he was called on to protect his serfs in their rela- 



