Chapter 28

THE SERFS

The Rural Population in Ancient Times--The Peasantry in the Eighteenth Century--How Was This Change Effected?--The Common Explanation Inaccurate--Serfage the Result of Permanent Economic and Political Causes--Origin of the Adscriptio Glebae--Its Consequences--Serf Insurrection--Turning-point in the History of Serfage--Serfage in Russia and in Western Europe--State Peasants--Numbers and Geographical Distribution of the Serf Population--Serf Dues--Legal and Actual Power of the Proprietors--The Serfs' Means of Defence--Fugitives--Domestic Serfs--Strange Advertisements in the Moscow Gazette--Moral Influence of Serfage.