A social and economic system under the feudal system, whereby peasants owed their lord labour, theoretically in return for protection.
Serfdom
Fact of the Day
The eighteenth-century evangelical preacher George Whitefield considered it a badge of honour that, along with rotten fruit, he might be pelted by 'pieces of dead cats'.
Quote of the Day
"This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
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~ Winston Churchill on the Battle of Egypt
On This Day
1016 Cnut defeated Edmund Ironside at the Battle of Assandun, forcing Edmund to make a peace with the invading Danes: he got to keep Wessex, but the rest of England came under Danish rule. A month later, he had died of 'natural causes' so Wessex, too, went to Cnut.
1216 King John died of dysentery. He was succeeded by his nine year old son, Henry III.
1867 The US officially took possession of Alaska. It wasn't a popular decision at the time.
1922 The BBC was founded.
