What is corvee and overgrown. Corvee and quitrent - what is it and how do they differ: what does monetary and natural rent look like, how is corvée economy characterized

a form of land rent, gratuitous forced labor of a dependent peasant working with his own equipment in the feudal lord's household. In Western Europe, B. spread from the Vin-IX centuries, from the XII-XIII centuries. began to be replaced by quitrents and by the XIV-XV centuries. came to naught. B. has not received wide circulation in the countries of the East. It appeared in Russia during the Kyiv domination. Widespread in European Russia in the 2nd half. XVI - 1st half of the XIX centuries. After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, it was preserved for temporarily liable peasants as a sharecropper. Canceled 1882

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CORVEE

gratuitous forced labor of a serf who works with his own inventory in the lordly (landlord) economy. Coercion of the peasant to barter demanded the greatest (in comparison with other forms of feudal rent) restriction of his personal freedom, so its widespread use was usually accompanied by the most severe forms of feudal dependence. B. spread in Western Europe from the 8th-9th centuries, from the 12th-13th centuries. began to be replaced by quitrents and by the XIV-XV centuries. came to naught. It appeared in Russia during the time of the Kievan state and spread widely in European Russia in the second half of the 16th - first half of the 19th centuries. After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, it was preserved for temporarily liable peasants as sharecropping. Canceled 1882

Modern society is spoiled by the benefits of civilization. Young people, waking up in the morning, drink a cup of coffee, turn on a laptop to read the latest news, answer letters from friends, then slowly get ready for study or work. Has anyone thought about how the morning began 100, 200, 300 years ago for the same girls and boys? Today, not everyone will be able to correctly answer the question of what quitrent and corvée are, and after all, just about two centuries ago, people worked out the service, did not belong to themselves, ruined their health in other people's fields.

What is a quitrent?

Over the centuries, several definitions of this concept have appeared. The quitrent first arose at the beginning of the formation of Ancient Russia, when taxes were just being introduced. Then the princes collected tribute from their subordinates in the form of food, money, goods. Later, this type of duty appeared as the obligation of the peasants to give part of the money or products to the feudal lords. The reform of 1861 abolished the food quitrent, and the cash quitrent was kept for another two years.

In the days of feudalism, peasants were considered someone's property, so the feudal lords could give not only specific people, but entire villages for use. The quitrent can be compared to rent, that is, a nobleman provided another nobleman with his possessions for use. In the 16th century, a state tax appeared, duties were paid by landowners to the treasury. At the same time, the quitrent also applied to the peasants, only they paid it not to the state, but to the owner of the land on which they lived and used to grow food. People could pay the master with money, goods or their own labor.

What is barshchina?

For three centuries (XVI-XIX centuries) corvee existed. The definition of this concept is very simple - a peasant paid for the rent of a land plot owned by a feudal lord with his own labor. This is nothing but one of the forms of the labor system. Corvee and dues are, in fact, very similar. Since the poor could not always pay tribute to the feudal lord in the form of money or food, because they themselves were left with nothing, the rich allowed them to repay the debt with labor.

What is quitrent and corvée in essence? These are peculiar forms of payment of rent for land. Corvee was collected only by physical labor, but it could be varied: agriculture, hunting, fishing, gardening, cattle breeding, etc. No one was exempt from this tribute, the work was absolutely free, the master did not pay anything for it.

The size of the duties

During the time of feudalism, local “Regulations” were in force, which deciphered in detail what quitrent and corvée were, as well as in what amounts they were charged. The amount paid for land varied depending on its location. For example, peasants living near St. Petersburg paid 12 rubles, but Moscow and Yaroslavl gave only 10 rubles. The smallest amount - 9 rubles - was paid by the poor of the Kursk and Voronezh provinces. Having paid tribute, the peasant could not only use the landowner's land, but also freely dispose of his labor force.

Corvee is the physical work that temporarily liable and serfs performed for the master. The amount of duty was calculated on the basis of a person's shower allotment. For one land plot, women worked for a month, and men for 40 days. At the same time, the feudal lord did not provide tools, the poor had to come with their choppers, plows, shovels, fishing rods, etc. Women fell under corvée at the age of 17 to 50 years, and men - from 18 to 55 years.

What is quitrent and corvee? What is the difference?

Corvee:

  • Peasants with personal tools worked for free on the land of the landowners.
  • The poor could work not only for the master, but also for the monastery, church, educational institution.
  • Duty was based on work with agriculture.
  • Corvee is beneficial for the landlords who lived in the villages, since they themselves could set the amount of working off.
  • Duty enslaved the peasants and became widespread in Russia.

quitrent:


Cancellation of duties

In Russia, quitrent and corvee somehow got accustomed very well. Although there were differences between these two duties, they both made the peasants slaves, strangled them, and did not allow them to develop. The intelligentsia tried to fight feudalism, but everything was in vain, the landowners, like leeches, sucked the strength out of the poor, exploiting them for their own purposes. Serfdom was abolished in 1861, and quitrent was abolished in 1863. However, it took several more decades to completely change the minds of people, rebuild the economy in a new way and destroy feudalism.

quitrent

This concept has several definitions. For the first time this term is mentioned in connection with the collection of taxes in the earliest period of Ancient Russia. At that time, quitrent meant almost any tribute collected by princes from people subordinate to them in the form of money, food or goods. Later, dues began to be understood as a type of duty of peasants to the feudal lords, which consisted in paying tribute to the landowner in food or money. Monetary dues remained in Russia until 1863, and food dues were abolished by the reform of 1861.

The ancients understood the concept of "rent" in the same way as we perceive the word "lease" today, that is, a fixed-term or perpetual right to use property that follows from a lease agreement. Since the peasants at the dawn of feudalism were considered in fact a thing, the property of the feudal lord, it was normal to give someone "for rent", that is, for rent, entire villages along with the people living there.

Starting from the 16th century. quitrent is used in the sense of the state tax, which was paid to the state treasury by land owners. The quitrent was also paid by the peasants to their landowner for the fact that he gave them the right to live and work on his land, as well as grow vegetables and feed. The quitrent was paid in money or goods, it was also possible to work off the quitrent by labor. Later corvee began to form from this tradition.

Corvee

Corvee is the work of a serf in favor of the feudal lord on his land in payment of the rent of the plot on which the peasant works to feed his family.

Corvee became widespread in the 16th century. and existed until the 19th century, and in some territories until the 20th century. - as one of the forms of the developed system after the abolition of serfdom.

Corvee came to replace quitrent. The peasants, who received certain allotments from the feudal lord and could live there and grow their own vegetables for food, were not always able to pay the feudal tribute in goods or money, otherwise they themselves would have nothing to feed themselves. In this regard, more and more often the feudal lords allowed their serfs to earn dues by labor.

The corvee had several basic principles. Firstly, the corvee was charged exclusively by physical labor, and not by goods. This work could be the most diverse: work on the land, fishing, hunting and much more. Secondly, corvée was obligatory, no one was exempt from it, and it served as a kind of form of payment of rent for land. Thirdly, it was absolutely free labor in favor of the feudal lord: a peasant could work on the land of his master for several weeks, but not get anything for it.

Corvee, in contrast to quitrent, turned out to be a more tenacious system and lasted a long time. Often these two types of duty were combined.

The end of corvée and dues

Corvée and dues in Russia, although they actively fought against them and considered them a relic of feudalism, existed for a long time, until the 19th century. This was facilitated by the economic state of the country: feudalism did not allow the regional economy to develop in the right way, the peasants did not have money, so they were forced to depend on richer people, paying those rents either in goods or in work. Despite the abolition of serfdom, it took several decades to finally destroy the feudal system and rebuild the economy.

Barshchina, labor rent, one of the forms of feudal land rent, gratuitous forced labor of a dependent peasant working with his own equipment in the feudal lord's household. Forcing a peasant to corvee required the greatest (in comparison with other forms of feudal rent) restriction of his personal freedom. The productivity of corvée labor was low, the productive forces under the rule of corvée developed slowly. Corvee could include field work, cart service, construction and handicraft work, and logging. The size and economic role of corvee at different stages of feudalism and in different countries were not the same.
In the countries of the East, where the landowners usually did not run their own economy, corvée was not widespread, but the peasants were actively involved in state work on the construction of irrigation facilities, roads, bridges, and palaces. Various forms of forced labor, approaching corvée, persisted in modern times and modern times, which is associated with the remnants of feudal relations, landlessness and lack of land of the peasantry, and the prevalence of enslaving forms of peasant rent.
In Western Europe, corvée spread from the 8th-9th centuries; in a number of large estates, it was the dominant form of rent, and its duration among peasants of certain categories was 2-4 days a week. From the 12th-13th centuries, due to the reduction of the master's economy and the distribution of the domain to holdings, the replacement of corvée with dues began. Although in some areas at different times there was a temporary return to corvée, by the 14th-15th century it was fading away, remaining until the 17th-18th century only in the form of small labors (several days a year) during the bad season.
In most countries of Central and especially Eastern Europe, corvee did not play a significant role in the Middle Ages, but in the 16-17 centuries, with the development of entrepreneurial landownership, corvee becomes the dominant type of agricultural production and creates the basis for the "second edition of serfdom." Corvee increases for most peasants to 4-5 and even 6 days a week. The gradual reduction of corvée began only in the second half of the 18th century, but some of its remnants (mainly in the form of working off for peasant land leases) persisted until the end of World War II.
The emergence of corvee in Russia is attributed to the times of Kievan Rus. At first, the labor of serfs was mainly used, and in the 13-15 centuries, along with the use of serfs in large secular estates, the labor of peasants began to be used on the monastery lands. In addition to corvée, in Russia in the 13-15 centuries, quitrent in kind became widespread. At the end of the 15th-16th century, with the growth of commodity-money relations, corvee became more widespread, covering almost all types of economy and categories of dependent peasantry (especially in connection with the economic crisis of the 1560s-1580s). The peasants in the corvee performed several types of work: they cultivated the master's arable land, carried out underwater service, harvested hay, built houses and outbuildings. Corvee contributed to the creation in Russia of a nationwide system of serfdom.
Commodity-money relations played a decisive role in the spread of corvée. Under the conditions of developing commodity production, when demand in the market and prices for agricultural products were constantly growing, the interest of the landlords in expanding their farms increased, and they began to intensively transfer the peasants to corvée. Thus, corvée no longer served a natural closed economy, but a commodity-money economy, thereby acquiring a new economic content.
In the 17th - the first half of the 18th century corvée and quitrent in kind were the main forms of exploitation of landlord, church, and palace peasants. At the same time there was a geographical differentiation of various forms of rent. Corvee began to prevail in the central black earth regions of the country, as well as in the districts adjacent to Moscow. In the north and east of the country, there was a transition to cash dues. Corvee was 2-4 days a week. In the 17th century, a new type of corvee appeared - work at landlord enterprises (potash, cloth, linen). In the second half of the 18th century, areas of corvee distribution were clearly defined. In seven provinces of the Chernozem region (Oryol, Tula, Ryazan, Penza, Tambov, Kursk, Voronezh), 74% of the landlord peasants were in corvée. In thirteen provinces of the Non-Chernozem Region (Olonets, Petersburg, Moscow, Novgorod, Smolensk, Tver, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vologda, Vladimir, Pskov, Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod) corvee covered 45% of the serfs. Corvee prevailed in the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. In the form of tithe arable land, corvee was preserved among the state peasants of Siberia. Palace (subsequently appanage) and most of the state peasants of Russia were on a cash quitrent.
The size of the corvée was not regulated by law. In 1797, a decree was issued on a three-day corvee, but it was advisory in nature and was ignored by the landowners. In practice, corvee in certain regions of Russia has reached 3-4 and even 6 days a week. A new moment in the development of the corvee consisted in the transfer of the peasants to the month, in which they, receiving food from the landowner every month, had to go to the corvee every day. The strengthening of the corvee led to the ruin of the peasant economy, the dispossession of the peasants.
After the abolition of serfdom in Russia (1861), corvée was not abolished and was retained under the name "share duty" for temporarily liable peasants. In 1882, with the introduction of compulsory redemption, corvée was legally abolished, but in essence continued to exist in the form of a labor service system. At the end of the 19th century, it prevailed over capitalist methods of farming in 12 black earth and 5 non-black earth provinces. In seven provinces, both systems occupied approximately the same position.

In modern conditions, there are four ways to make a profit from leasing a land plot:

  • direct rental;
  • leasing a site as a natural resource;
  • percentage of profit from economic activities of the tenant;
  • lump-sum income received from the transfer of land for rent.

Two types of feudal rent

During feudalism, land owners received profit from them in the form of corvée and dues. These forms of rent for land differed from each other in that quitrent was paid in kind or in money, while corvée involved paying for land rent with one's own labor.

Corvee

It was far from always that dependent peasants had the opportunity to pay for the rent of land belonging to the feudal lord with money or goods. Therefore, they were given the opportunity to work on the farm of the owner of the land.

It is easy to guess that the conditions here could be completely different - from the number of days per week, month or year to the amount of work performed. At the same time, the assessment of the quality of labor was entirely the prerogative of the feudal lord, depending on his character and loyalty to the dependent peasant.

In its final form, corvee labor was fixed after the formation of the feudal system, and since this process took place in different countries in different ways, the terms for its application are different everywhere.

In Russia, for example, corvee existed for about three hundred years - from the 16th to the 19th centuries - until the abolition of serfdom. In France, this type of payment for land rent existed already in the 7th century. In England, corvée was abolished after the decree of King Edward III "Statute of Ploughmen", he issued it in 1350, 200 years before it arose in Russia.

Legislative regulation also differed in different countries and at different times. In the same France, the subordinate peasants differentiated, but the most disenfranchised of them were the serfs from the 7th to the 12th centuries. were subject to arbitrary corvee, depending solely on the appetites of the landowner.

In England, where the king was recognized as the supreme feudal lord and owner of all lands, there was no such arbitrariness. In addition, there was a labor shortage in Foggy Albion, and the demand for it exceeded supply, which forced the feudal lords to recruit peasants to work on favorable terms for them. That is why the "Statute of Plowmen" was issued, according to which all free or involuntary workers began to receive payment for this. But as early as the 11th century, the amount of peasant duties in England was fixed by law, and a special presence was established to resolve disagreements and disputes arising on this issue.

In Russia, the position of serfs was much worse. Until the end of the 18th century, the law did not regulate the size of the service that the peasants carried to the corvée. The landowners themselves set the time and scope of work, and some peasants did not have enough time to work for themselves. Therefore, it was very difficult.

Infected with European free-thinking, Catherine II tried to completely abolish serfdom, but abandoned this idea at the insistence of the Senate. A real revolution in relations between landlords and serfs was made by her son, Pavel I. On April 5, 1797, he issued the “Manifesto on the Three-Day Corvee”.

According to this decree, landlords could involve peasants in corvee work no more than three days a week and it was forbidden to do this on weekends and holidays. These orders remained practically unchanged until 1861, when serfdom was abolished. However, with its abolition, the corvee was preserved for some time. It could be a mutual agreement between the peasant and the landowners, and if there was no such agreement, corvee work was regulated by legally established rules. They provided:

  1. Restriction of corvée either by the number of working days, or by a certain area of ​​​​the plot on which women work no more than 35, and men no more than 40 days a year.
  2. The division of days according to the seasons, as well as the gender of the person who works out the corvée. They were divided into male and female.
  3. From now on, the order of work was regulated, the outfit for which was appointed with the participation of the village headman, taking into account the gender, age, health of workers, as well as their ability to replace each other.
  4. The quality of work should be limited by the requirement that the physical capabilities of workers and their state of health be consistent.
  5. The rules introduced the procedure for accounting for corvée.
  6. And finally, conditions were created for serving various types of corvée: work at the factories of landowners, leading economic positions, etc.

In general, conditions were created that gave the peasants the right, in the event of a voluntary agreement with the landlords, to buy out the land on which they work. It only remains to add that corvée was worked out not only on the landowners' lands, but also on lands belonging to the state or monasteries.

quitrent

This duty obligated the peasant to pay the landowner with the products produced or with the money received for it. Therefore, this form of real estate use is most suitable for the concept of rent that is familiar today.

The application of the quitrent system is much broader than corvée. Shops, taverns, and other outlets were sold under quitrent at auction. Industrial facilities such as mills, forges, etc. It was also a hunting and fishing area. The duty of dependent peasants from landowners is only one of the aspects of dues.

Well, it all began with Ancient Russia, when the formation of taxes was just born. The princes began, who began to take tribute from their vassals in the form of goods and money. The vassals, in turn, shifted these problems onto the shoulders of people dependent on them, leaving part of the tribute to themselves.

Then this system, during the formation of feudalism in Russia, passed into the relationship between landowners and serfs. It is obvious that peasants with a special economic streak, entrepreneurial talent and golden hands could pay dues.

All others were doomed to work out the corvée.

The quitrent has another negative side - in the Middle Ages in Russia, entire villages with old people, children, farms and all belongings were rented out as quitrent. At the same time, the tenant paid the owner, the state, did not forget himself, and received funds, of course, at the expense of peasant labor.

Corvee, labor rent, one of the forms of feudal land rent, gratuitous forced labor of a dependent peasant working with his own equipment in the feudal lord's household. Forcing a peasant to corvee required the greatest (in comparison with other forms of feudal rent) restriction of his personal freedom. The productivity of corvée labor was low, the productive forces under the rule of corvee labor developed slowly. Corvee could include field work, cart service, construction and handicraft work, and logging. The size and economic role of corvee at different stages of feudalism and in different countries were not the same.

In the countries of the East, where the landowners usually did not run their own economy, corvée was not widespread, but the peasants were actively involved in state work on the construction of irrigation facilities, roads, bridges, and palaces. Various forms of forced labor, approaching corvee, persisted in modern times and modern times, which is associated with the remnants of feudal relations, landlessness and lack of land of the peasantry, the prevalence of bonded forms of peasant rent.

In Western Europe, corvée spread from the 8th-9th centuries; in a number of large estates, it was the dominant form of rent, and its duration among peasants of certain categories was 2-4 days a week. From the 12th-13th centuries, due to the reduction of the master's economy and the distribution of the domain to holdings, the replacement of corvée with dues began. Although in some areas at different times there was a temporary return to corvée, by the 14th-15th century it was fading away, remaining until the 17th-18th century only in the form of small labors (several days a year) during the bad season.

In most countries of Central and especially Eastern Europe, corvee did not play a significant role in the Middle Ages, but in the 16-17 centuries, with the development of entrepreneurial landownership, corvee becomes the dominant type of agricultural production and creates the basis for the "second edition of serfdom." Corvee increases for most peasants to 4-5 and even 6 days a week. The gradual reduction of corvée began only in the second half of the 18th century, but some of its remnants (mainly in the form of working off for peasant land leases) persisted until the end of World War II.

The emergence of corvee in Russia is attributed to the times of Kievan Rus. At first, the labor of serfs was mainly used, and in the 13-15 centuries, along with the use of serfs in large secular estates, the labor of peasants began to be used on the monastery lands. In addition to corvée, in Russia in the 13-15 centuries, quitrent in kind became widespread. At the end of the 15th-16th century, with the growth of commodity-money relations, corvee became more widespread, covering almost all types of economy and categories of dependent peasantry (especially in connection with the economic crisis of the 1560s-1580s). The peasants in the corvee performed several types of work: they cultivated the master's arable land, carried out underwater service, harvested hay, built houses and outbuildings. Corvee contributed to the creation in Russia of a nationwide system of serfdom.

Commodity-money relations played a decisive role in the spread of corvée. Under the conditions of developing commodity production, when demand in the market and prices for agricultural products were constantly growing, the interest of the landlords in expanding their farms increased, and they began to intensively transfer the peasants to corvée. Thus, corvée no longer served a natural closed economy, but a commodity-money economy, thereby acquiring a new economic content.

In the 17th - the first half of the 18th century corvée and quitrent in kind were the main forms of exploitation of landlord, church, and palace peasants. At the same time there was a geographical differentiation of various forms of rent. Corvee began to prevail in the central black earth regions of the country, as well as in the districts adjacent to Moscow. In the north and east of the country, there was a transition to cash dues. Corvee was 2-4 days a week. In the 17th century, a new type of corvee appeared - work at landlord enterprises (potash, cloth, linen). In the second half of the 18th century, areas of corvee distribution were clearly defined. In seven provinces of the Chernozem region (Oryol, Tula, Ryazan, Penza, Tambov, Kursk, Voronezh), 74% of the landlord peasants were in corvée. In thirteen provinces of the Non-Chernozem Region (Olonets, Petersburg, Moscow, Novgorod, Smolensk, Tver, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vologda, Vladimir, Pskov, Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod) corvee covered 45% of the serfs. Corvee prevailed in the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. In the form of tithe arable land, corvee was preserved among the state peasants of Siberia. Palace (subsequently appanage) and most of the state peasants of Russia were on a cash quitrent.

The size of the corvée was not regulated by law. In 1797, a decree was issued on a three-day corvee, but it was advisory in nature and was ignored by the landowners. In practice, corvee in certain regions of Russia has reached 3-4 and even 6 days a week. A new moment in the development of the corvee consisted in the transfer of the peasants to the month, in which they, receiving food from the landowner every month, had to go to the corvee every day. The strengthening of the corvee led to the ruin of the peasant economy, the dispossession of the peasants.

After the abolition of serfdom in Russia (1861), corvée was not abolished and was retained under the name "share duty" for temporarily liable peasants. In 1882, with the introduction of compulsory redemption, corvée was legally abolished, but in essence continued to exist in the form of a labor service system. At the end of the 19th century, it prevailed over capitalist methods of farming in 12 black earth and 5 non-black earth provinces. In seven provinces, both systems occupied approximately the same position.

Wikipedia explains that corvée is unpaid forced labor on the land of a landowner, carried out by a peasant in predetermined volumes for a certain period of time using his tools and tools.

The time frame for the prevalence of this phenomenon includes the 16th - 19th centuries, although references to this type of duty were recorded in written sources from different countries in an earlier period.

The phenomenon flourished most in Russia and European countries in the period from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Its defining essence is free work performed by peasants for the benefit of feudal lords in exchange for providing land for personal use, without the right to receive remuneration.

In fact, the peasants could take only a part of the grown crop for themselves, a significant share of it went to the landowner. The term of work for the master was calculated in days, months, in some cases even decades.

The concept of “corvée” is inextricably linked with the development of the serf system; it cannot be attributed to free labor activity performed by agreement of the parties, but it is not classified as slavery either. The slaves were deprived of personal freedom, and the peasants dependent on the landlords had free time to solve life problems, improve their homes, run a subsidiary farm, and had the right to their own tools and personal belongings.

Note! Corvee became one of the forms of feudal rent; in addition, there was food and cash rent.

A special place in the system of labor duties was occupied by field work, which was widespread in the warm season. Due to employment in the master's field, the peasant practically did not have the opportunity to process his own crops in a timely manner.

Difference from quitrent

Quit - a type of duty, which is a tax for the use of the lands of the landowner. This form of rent obliges the landowner to provide part of the crop in kind or in cash. The most common form of quitrent was the "5th sheaf" (1/5 of the harvest received was given to the landowner). In addition, the quitrent could include handicrafts and handicrafts.

In order to combat the arbitrariness of land owners, the amount of dues that the peasant was obliged to pay was legally established. For each province, the amount of payment was calculated individually. After completing the work and paying taxes, the peasant had the opportunity to work freely to maintain his well-being.

Determining the differences between working off a master and paying dues is possible after a comprehensive study of the main characteristics.

Features of corvée Features of quitrent
Free labor activity in the lands of the landowner Allocation of part of the crop or money from the sale of agricultural products to the budget of the landowner
The church and the state could act as a "master" Diverse scope
The work was carried out mainly in the agricultural sector Payment was made in advance
The amount of time for working off was determined by the owner of the land independently This form was convenient for the nobles living in the city.
Distributed in varying degrees of intensity throughout the territory of the Russian state Limited distribution (among the wealthy serfs and in conditions of insufficiently high yields)

Thus, it can be noted that the general difference between labor service and various payments in favor of the landowner is very significant. What is common is the parallel existence of all forms of rent in the period of the strongest serfdom.

The evolution of the concept in Russia

The first mention of the practice of corvee within the borders of the Russian state refers to the period of existence of Kievan Rus. This is the gratuitous work of serfs in large estates. "Russkaya Pravda" mentions the beginnings of corvée, which is characterized by the performance of various types of work by purchases.

During this period, the relationship between landowners and purchases was of a contractual nature: temporary employment in the master's economy was due to debts for the use of the owner's agricultural implements or the opportunity to live on the land.

In the Middle Ages, the labor of peasants was introduced on the monastic lands and the quitrent was introduced. Wage labor on arable land and meadows in exchange for remuneration from the landowner is also gaining ground. In written sources, it is noted that these works are voluntary, which means that there is no legal regulation of corvée.

With the growth of commodity-money relations in the 16th century, the corvée expanded its action, attracting new categories of peasants, forming the general mass of the dependent population. Agricultural goods were in great demand in the domestic market, the landowners were interested in increasing profits and crop areas, and as a result, in increasing the tax burden on the peasants. Passing this path of development, the corvee is already more focused on expanding trade relations and increasing the profitability of enterprises than on meeting the vital needs of the landowner.

The work was varied. These were not only labor duties associated with the processing of the lord's arable land, but also activities to keep the landlord's yard in order, construction, hay harvesting, and cattle care. As a result of the development of industrial production, it was practiced to attach entire villages to manufactories.

It is important to note! During this period, in the Russian state, by increasing the number of taxes and the growth of quitrent, a nationwide system of serfdom was being formed.

In the XVII century there was a differentiation of types of rent in different regions of the country. It is logical that the corvee was most widespread in the black earth regions and in the central districts than in the northern and eastern regions. Corvée economy is characterized as inefficient, it was replaced by quitrent payments. State peasants were planted on a cash quitrent.

The sphere of application of forced labor is also expanding, peasants are being used to work at industrial enterprises. There were no clearly defined rules establishing the size of the corvée. The decree on a three-day corvée issued in 1797 was more of a recommendation for landowners. The practice of switching to a month was popular: in exchange for daily work, the landlord kept the serf, providing food and shelter.

The strengthening of the feudal system had a negative impact on the economic component of the peasant economy, leading to the dispossession of land and the ruin of huge peasant masses.

Peasants during the release of the manifesto on the three-day corvee

Features of managing abroad

The corvée type of farming in its classical form has not become widespread in the eastern countries. The form of labor conscription was presented in the form of attracting peasants to construction at the state level of importance:

  • bridges,
  • palaces,
  • irrigation.

For Western Europe, corvée is the most characteristic way of life in the patrimony:

  1. The use of forced peasant labor has been practiced since the 8th century, its duration varied from 2 to 4 times a week.
  2. By the XII century, in connection with the reduction of the master's economy and the transition to the domain, quitrent gradually began to displace corvée.
  3. By the beginning of the 17th century, corvée had completely outlived its usefulness, having been preserved in the form of working off for several days a year.

Corvée in Europe

The feudal economy of France and Germany followed a similar path. People employed in corvee work had practically no right to free labor, the authorities did not worry about their well-being. It was possible to get rid of the remnants of the old system only through coup d'état and large-scale reform of the system of society and the state.

Territorially, corvee existed in the northern lands of Italy, however, the main form of rent was dues. Corvee labor in Spain did not develop intensively due to the influence of the invasion of the Arabs in the 8th century, who were not supporters of this type of service. The same situation accompanied the history of the Balkan states, which were under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The struggle for independence from feudal fetters in Sweden, Norway and Switzerland was over by the 14th century.

The English monarchy did not support the humiliation of the lower strata of society by the nobles, so free labor on the lands of the feudal lords was not welcomed. On the other hand, hired labor and paid obligatory work were actively spread. After the transformations carried out by Charles II in the second half of the 17th century, feudal remnants in society were completely destroyed.

During the Middle Ages, the exploitation of peasant labor was not widespread in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, but in modern times, with the development of entrepreneurship, serfdom makes a new round, establishing corvee work as the dominant type of agricultural production. The term of working off increases, reaching in some cases almost daily. A significant reduction in labor duties occurred only by the end of the 18th century, but the remnants of the old way of life in certain territories continued to exist until the middle of the 20th century.

Useful video: traditional economy - corvée and dues

Conclusion

The abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861 also marked the abolition of duties. A complete rejection of established forms of rent was impossible in a short period, because of this, a category of temporarily obliged peasants appeared, who were forced to work out their right to be free from serfdom. After the introduction of the labor system in 1882, the former system actually continued to exist, because the redemption amount was unbearable for an ordinary peasant, even with a loan from the state.