Serfdom And Slavery

This social history compares the two forms of legal servitude (serfdom and slavery) in cultures in Western civilization, in Europe and the New World from ancient times to the modern period. The text illuminates the history of servitude, seeking to explain why it should develop or disappear. 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.