villein
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishRelated topics: Occupations, Agriculturevilleinvil‧lein /ˈvɪlən, ˈvɪleɪn/ noun [countable] BOTAa poor farm worker in the Middle Ages who was given a small piece of land in return for working on the land of a rich lord → feudalismExamples from the Corpusvillein• What is interesting is that the insect imagery used to characterise the villeins is continued here.• Spenser makes it clear that the villeins are not individually dangerous to the superior knights.