Serfdom in Moldavia and Wallachia

A generic name for serfs was șerb (from Latin servus, "slave", cognate with serf), but they also had some regional names: vecini in Moldavia (in today's language meaning "neighbour") and rumâni in Wallachia. The latter was actually the native ethnonym of Romanians; Neagu Djuvara explains it by the fact that in the Middle Ages, the landlords may have been foreign, Slavic or Cuman. ==History==

Origins Originally, Romanians lived in autonomous communities called "obște", which mixed private and common ownership, employing an open field system. Some villages were given by the hospodar to boyars, military servants and monasteries, replacing the common ownership with the ownership of a feudal lord. Other villages were taken over by force by military leaders without the involvement of the Hospodar. In 15th century Moldavia, the organization of the villages from free obște (being led by a cneaz) continued to exist in parallel with the feudal order. The peasants complained to the Hospodar that they no longer were treated like serfs, but more like slaves. in order to standardize the conditions of the peasants and to stop the resistance movement of the peasants. ==See also==