| 释义 |
▪ I. villein Now Hist.|ˈvɪlən, -eɪn|
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 n. Both types of spelling have been freely employed for this special sense of the word, and the tendency to use the form villein 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 n.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 labourer, or low-born rustic.
αa1325MS. Rawl. B. 520 fol. 56 b, Also lith assise after excepcion of villenage ȝif þat vileyn vnder his louerdes power purchasede ani lond. 1390Gower 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.] c1400Mandeville (1839) 191 Olifauntz..that he makethe for to ben brought up amonges his Vileynes. c1450Lovelich Merlin 11625 And while the veleyn hadde seyd al this, Evere stood sire Vlphyn and herkened, j-wys. 1587Holinshed Chron. (ed. 2) III. 1109/1 In case my aduersaries villen or bondman be impaneled, I may lawfullie chalenge him. 1590Swinburne Testaments 34 Amongest the second sort are comprehended such as lacke freedome, & full liberty, as bond-slaue, slaues, and villeines. 1620J. 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. 1648D. Jenkins Wks. 10 The Villeine of a Lord, in the presence of the King cannot be seized. 1699Temple Hist. Eng. 65 The Villens, that held nothing but at the Will of the Landlord. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 72 Villeins might be enfranchised by manumission. 1775Archaeol. III. 80 Is it probable, that two day labourers, and at that time villeins, should have any fine to compound? 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 256 After the conquest the estates of the great lords were cultivated by their villeins. 1848Lytton Harold i. v, The villeins are many and their hate is strong. 1875K. 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.1607Hieron Wks. I. 333 The scorner and scoffer at the word, is euen a villen to his own profanenes.
β1470–85Malory Arthur viii. iii. 277 That..alle men of worship maye disseuer a gentylman fro a yoman, and from a yoman a vylayne. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 148/2 It happed upon a day that he tormented a vylayn or a carle for the couetyse of hys good. 1532Dial. Laws Eng. ii. xliii. P v, Yf a vyllayn be made a preste, yet neuertheles the lorde may sease his goodes. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 104 There were slain and taken foure hundred gentlemen and the villaines frankely let go. 1570Lambarde Peramb. Kent 452 Bondseruants, which we do now sence call by a strained worde Villaines, ar not here talked of. 1600Holland Livy xlv. xliv. 1233 b, This K[ing]..was wont..to acknowledge & cal himselfe the freed villaine and vassaile of the people of Rome. 1622Bacon Henry VII, 156 John Cut,..Henry Wyat, and such other Caitifes and Villaines of Birth, have beene the principall Finders. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 267 They are Preferred to no higher Employment than to Cultivate the Earth as Villains, not Inheritors. 1714Spect. No. 607 ⁋12 The Steward shall cause these two Neighbours to swear..if he be a Free-man, or a Villain. 1750Carte Hist. Eng. II. 602 An act for disabling the villains or copyholders of prelates and monasteries to purchase lands in fee. 1776Dalrymple Ann. Scot. 320 A covenant between the Lord and the villain. 1839Keightley 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. 1866Rogers Agric. & Prices I. iii. 62 Time out of mind the services of the villains had been commutable for money payments. 1876Freeman 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
1535Goodly Primer Passion iv. The villains had made a great fire beneath in the midst of the hall.
2. attrib., as villein burgher, villein class, villein issue, villein land, etc.; villein service, service which 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.
1529Rastell 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. 1544tr. Littleton's Tenures xi. 40 b, Lande holden in vyllenage or vyllayne landes. a1625Sir 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. 1651G. W. tr. Cowel's Inst. 9 There may be villain Issue between those which are our Captives. 1651tr. Kitchin's Jurisdict. (1657) 327 If my Villain Infant be in ward of one, by reason that he holds of him by Knights service. 1766Blackstone 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. 1776Dalrymple Ann. Scot. 320 Merchetum..was also used for expressing another villain custom. 1864J. 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. 1875K. E. Digby Real Prop. (1876) 51 Freemen sometimes held lands by villein services. 1878Stubbs 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.
1551in J. S. Leadam Sel. Cases Crt. Requests (Selden) 55 Your Oratour repplyede that he was Free and of Free estate and nott vyllayne.
▪ II. villein
obs. f. villain n. and a. |