Concept in Definition ABC

The term servitude is used to refer to a complex system of human domain in which labor, productive and social levels are included. Servitude generally assumes that one person is forcibly placed under the dominion of another and that, therefore, you have to perform different types of work in exchange for minimal protection or payment for the goods plus basic. Servitude is equated in many senses to slavery as it prevents the servant, or dominated individual, from exercising his full Liberty.

The servile system was established with great force in Europe in medieval times. This was so when the fall of the Roman empire he took with him the slave system that had reigned up to that moment in human history. However, the empty space left by the disappearance of slavery must have been filled by another productive system that would ensure to the wealthiest and richest classes their preeminence and permanence in such place of the scale Social. In this way, the nobles and kings progressively implemented a system that implied that those who were born free were placed under his guardianship and protection in exchange for permanent services and jobs.

The difference with slavery then resided there since traditionally slaves were not considered free beings but objects of possession of whoever had them. In any case, the servitude established a structure of violence similar to that of slavery since the loss of freedom was, in most cases, of for life because of the limited possibilities of social advancement that were allowed to such individuals.

Medieval serfs were characterized by the performance of mainly agricultural tasks (the economic activity most important of the time), but also for acting as people at the direct service of those who dominated them, having to attend to them in their daily tasks. Serfdom would begin to decline as a socioeconomic system with the end of the Middle Ages and the entrance to the Modern Age, although in many parts of Europe (especially Eastern Europe), it would continue to exist with great force until the beginning of the 20th century.