villeinage

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

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