Thus far the Renaissance has been studied as an
intellectual and artistic movement, which did much to liberate the human mind
and brought the Middle Ages to an end in literature, in art, and in science. It
is necessary, however, to consider the Renaissance era from another point of
view. During this time an economic change of vast significance was taking place
in rural life all over western Europe. We refer to the decline and ultimate
extinction of medieval serfdom.
DECLINE OF SERFDOM
Serfdom imposed a burden only less heavy than the slavery
which it had displaced. The serf, as has been shown, might not leave the
manor in which he was born, he might not sell his holdings of land, and,
finally, he had to give up a large part of his time to work without pay for the
lord of the manor. This system of forced labor was at once unprofitable to the
lord and irksome to his serfs. After the revival of trade and industry in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries had brought more money into circulation,
the lord discovered how much better it was to hire men to work for him, as he
needed them, instead of depending on serfs who shirked their tasks as far as
possible. The latter, in turn, were glad to pay the lord a fixed sum for the
use of land, since now they could devote themselves entirely to its
cultivation. Both parties gained by an arrangement which converted the manorial
lord into a landlord and the serf into a free tenant-farmer paying rent.
