They Took Serfdom Away From Us
It is often supposed that the Rich and Powerful had only recently discovered the utility of self-serving Propaganda. But then we can look back centuries and see with what enthusiasm the Landed Aristocracies and the Bourgeois Classes conspired to designate Serfdom as a form of ‘Slavery’, and then to use an abolitionist-like fervor to throw the Serfs off of their Land.
Even in Modern History Books we are given strange and slanted views of what Serfdom was. We are told that the Serfs were ‘bound’ to the Land. Well, ‘bound’ to their land in the same way as we are ‘bound’ to our Bank Accounts. In actual fact, the Land belonged to the Serfs as a Birthright. The same Birthright that entitled the Lords to their manors also extended an undisputable Title to the Serfs for their fields and their cottages. It was theirs by Right and Tradition. Rents and conditions of service, ‘corvee’, were fixed by tradition and could not be unilaterally increased – Lords could not turn into Land Lords and up rents or evict tenants. You see, with Serfdom, the Serfs were themselves Lords of their own little Castles – as humble as they were, they were indisputably and unalienable their own. Serfs could not be evicted, and could not be expected to pay a penny more, or serve a minute longer at ‘corvee’ than what was normal and livable for a hundred generations before.
But the Serfs were ‘Liberated’. The Lords turned into Landlords and assumed ownership of the Land. Where they existed, the “Commons” – land set aside for common use among entire communities of Serfs – were enclosed, that is, they were also usurped by the Lords. It all comes down to us through written History as a chronicle of Progress. History congratulates the Winners and forgets the losers. But, still, it is undeniable that the Disenfranchisement of the Serfs did change things. People were forced off the land and into the Cities.
Much of our Population Explosion sources to this expulsion of People from the Land. You see, when one considers the Rights of Serfdom – that there was a Family Entitlement to a particular House and to some particular Fields, then one must suppose that the Family must stay approximately stable in its size and number – no manner how many Generations would transpire, there could only be one Cottage and one Land. The Legal Institutions of Inheritance provided some help and guidance here. Their were the Laws of Primogeniture – that only the First Born had right to the Estate. Property was not divided up equally among all the children. The Lords lived by the same Laws, and Estates stayed whole from Generation to Generation, often combining through Marriage, but never dividing through equal inheritance among competing siblings. What happened to extra children? Well, they would grow to be tradesman, clerics, clergy, monks, soldiers. Especially Monks, and Nuns where women were concerned. Where the Population had to remain somewhat fixed, it was natural that Institutions would be formed to take account of large segments of the populace that had no choice but to remain childless and effectively celibate. And the World went on for Century after Century without choking itself to death.
But when driven off the Land, such moderating and well considered Institutions and Traditions were abandoned. And now we see the results: Human Beings are about to swarm the Globe into a toxic and polluted expanse of glutted desolation. Like too many rats in a Cage – they foul their water and food with their waste and end up in a frenzy of cannibalism.
But we can expect that History will somehow report it as just more Progress.
