Now Hist. Forms: α. 4 vilein, 4–5 vileyn, 5 veleyn, 6 vylleyne, 6–7 villeine, 6– villein, 8–9 villeyn; also 6–7 villen. β. 5 vylayn, 5–6 -ayne, 6 vyllayn(e, villayne, 6–7 villaine, 6– villain (7 vilain). [a. AF. villein (vilein, -eyn, vyleyn, etc.), var. villain, etc., VILLAIN sb. Both types of spelling have been freely employed for this special sense of the word, and the tendency to use the form villain has increased in recent years.]
1. One of the class of serfs in the feudal system; spec. a peasant occupier or cultivator entirely subject to a lord (villein in gross GROSS sb.2 2 e) or attached to a manor (villein regardant REGARDANT a. 1); a tenant in villeinage; also applied to a person regarded as holding a similar position in other communities, a bondsman. † Hence formerly in general use, a peasant, country laborer, or low-born rustic.
α. a. 1325. MS. Rawl. B. 520, fol. 56 b. Also lith assise after excepcion of villenage ȝif þat vileyn vnder his louerdes power purchasede ani lond.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 325. Nou lete we this maiden hiere, And speke of Dionise ayein And of Theophile the vilein, Of whiche I spak of nou tofore. [Cf. p. 320, l. 1358.]
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), 191. Olifauntz … that he makethe for to ben brought up amonges his Vileynes.
c. 1450. Lovelich, Merlin, 11625. And while the veleyn hadde seyd al this, Evere stood sire Vlphyn and herkened, j-wys.
1587. Holinshed, Chron. (ed. 2), III. 1109/1. In case my aduersaries villen or bondman be impaneled, I may lawfullie chalenge him.
1590. Swinburne, Testaments, 34. Amongest the second sort are comprehended such as lacke freedome, & full liberty, as bond-slaue, slaues, and villeines.
1620. J. Wilkinson, Courts Baron, 146. If any Villeine or Bondman of blood hath purchased any land within his Lordship, the Lord may seise both it and such villeines goods at his pleasure.
1648. D. Jenkins, Wks., 10. The Villeine of a Lord, in the presence of the King cannot be seized.
1699. Temple, Hist. Eng., 65. The Villens, that held nothing but at the Will of the Landlord.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. 72. Villeins might be enfranchised by manumission.
1775. Archaeol., III. 80. Is it probable, that two day labourers, and at that time villeins, should have any fine to compound?
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), I. 256. After the conquest the estates of the great lords were cultivated by their villeins.
1848. Lytton, Harold, I. v. The villeins are many and their hate is strong.
1875. K. E. Digby, Real Prop. (1876), 51. If the villein could not depart from the land, no more could the lord remove him so long as he rendered the service due to the lord.
fig. 1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 333. The scorner and scoffer at the word, is euen a villen to his own profanenes.
β. 1470–85. Malory, Arthur, VIII. iii. 277. That … alle men of worship maye disseuer a gentylman fro a yoman, and from a yoman a vylayne.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 148/2. It happed upon a day that he tormented a vylayn or a carle for the couetyse of hys good.
1532. Dial. Laws Eng., II. xliii. P v. Yf a vyllayn be made a preste, yet neuertheles the lorde may sease his goodes.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 104. There were slain and taken foure hundred gentlemen and the villaines frankely let go.
1570. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent, 452. Bondseruants, which we do now sence call by a strained worde Villaines, ar not here talked of.
1600. Holland, Livy, XLV. xliv. 1233 b. This K[ing] … was wont … to acknowledge & cal himselfe the freed villaine and vassaile of the people of Rome.
1622. Bacon, Henry VII., 156. John Cut,… Henry Wyat, and such other Caitifes and Villaines of Birth, have beene the principall Finders.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 267. They are Preferred to no higher Employment than to Cultivate the Earth as Villains, not Inheritors.
1714. Spect., No. 607, ¶ 12. The Steward shall cause these two Neighbours to swear … if he be a Free-man, or a Villain.
1750. Carte, Hist. Eng., II. 602. An act for disabling the villains or copyholders of prelates and monasteries to purchase lands in fee.
1776. Dalrymple, Ann. Scot., 320. A covenant between the Lord and the villain.
1839. Keightley, Hist. Eng., I. 168. They [the judges] were likewise required … to receive the oath of fealty from all persons from the earl down to the villain.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. iii. 62. Time out of mind the services of the villains had been commutable for money payments.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., V. 478. The villain was not a slave, but a freeman minus the very important rights of his lord. As against all men but his lord, he was free.
† b. A servant, a retainer. Obs.–1
1535. Goodly Primer, Passion, iv. The villains had made a great fire beneath in the midst of the hall.
2. attrib., as villein burgher, class, issue, land, etc.; villein service, service that a villein was bound to render to his lord as a condition of holding his land; villein-socage, socage or tenure by villein service (cf. quot. 1766); so villein-socman.
1529. Rastell, Pastyme, E iij b. Swanus … besegyd Canterbury, and wan it,… and slew the monkys; but euer kept the .x. monk alyue to do vylleyne seruyce, & slew .ix. of them.
1544. trans. Littleton’s Tenures, xi. 40 b. Lande holden in vyllenage or vyllayne landes.
a. 1625. Sir H. Finch, Law (1636), 23. A villein shall make free land to bee villein land, but villein land shall not make a free-man to be a villein.
1651. W. G., trans. Cowel’s Inst., 9. There may be villain Issue between those which are our Captives.
1651. trans. Kitchin’s Jurisdict. (1657), 327. If my Villain Infant be in ward of one, by reason that he holds of him by Knights service.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. 61. These villein-socmen do villein services. Ibid., 79. But socage … is of two sorts: free-socage,… and villein-socage, where the services, though certain, are of a baser nature.
1776. Dalrymple, Ann. Scot., 320. Merchetum … was also used for expressing another villain custom.
1864. J. F. Kirk, Ch. the Bold, I. v. 244. For what purpose were the taille and the gabelle levied on the villain burghers, if the nobles derived no benefit from these exactions.
1875. K. E. Digby, Real Prop. (1876), 51. Freemen sometimes held lands by villein services.
1878. Stubbs, Const. Hist., xix. III. 367. The villein class … aspired to holy orders as one of the avenues to liberty.
† 3. As adj. Of base or servile birth; belonging to the class of feudal villeins or serfs. Obs.
1551. in J. S. Leadam, Sel. Cases Crt. Requests (Selden), 55. Your Oratour repplyede that he was Free and of Free estate and nott vyllayne.
