1st Edition

Serfdom and Slavery Studies in Legal Bondage

By M. L. Bush Copyright 1996
    368 Pages
    by Routledge

    368 Pages
    by Routledge

    Serfdom and Slavery compares the two forms of legal servitude in cultures in Western civilization, in Europe and the New World from ancient times to the modern period. Within a tightly controlled framework of general contextual chapters followed by specific case studies, a distinguished team of scholars offers 17 specially written essays that illuminate the nature, development, impact and termination of serfdom and slavery in European society. While the case studies range form classical Greece to early modern Brandenburg, and from medieval England to nineteenth-century Russia, the volume as a whole is closely integrated. It makes an important contribution to a topic of increasing international interest.

    Introduction.

    Part One. Comparative studies of serfdom and slavery.
    2. Slavery, serfdom amd other forms of coerced labour: similarities and differences, Stanley L Engerman.
    3. Some controversial questions concerning nineteenth century emancipation from slavery and serfdom, Peter Kolchin.

    Part Two. Themes and case studies on slavery
    4. Continuity and change in Western slavery, ancient to modern times,
    William D. Philips Jr.
    5. The origin and establishment of Ancient Greek slavery, Tracey Rihll.
    6.The hierarchical household in Roman society: a study of domestic slavery,
    Richard Saller.
    7. Emancipation in Byzantium: Roman law in a medieval society,Rosemary Morris.
    8. New World Slavery, Old World slavery,(Howard Temperley).
    9. Slave exploitation and the elementary structures of enslavement,Robin Blackburn.
    10. Slave emancipations in modern history,David Turley.

    Part Three. Themes and case studies on serfdom.
    11. Serfdom in medieval and modern history: a comparison, Michael Bush.
    12. On servile status in the early Middle Ages, Wendy Davis.
    13. The rises and declines of serfdom in medieval and early modern Europe,
    Robert Brenner.
    14. Memories of freedom: attitudes towards serfdom in England 1200-1350,
    Christopher Dyer.
    15. Subject farmers in Brandenburg-Prussia and Polland: village life and fortunes under manorialism in early modern Central Europe,William W. Hagen.
    16. The serf economy and the social order in Russia, Steven Hoch.
    17. When and why was the Russian peasantry emancipated?Boris N. Mironov.
    Notes on contributors. Index.

    Biography

    M. L. Bush