Serf in the medieval Slavic states of Central and East Europe
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Template (table) of early Slavic status
Early Slavic status
Knyaz (sovereign)
Boyar / Szlachta (noble)
Druzhinnik (retainer)
Smerd (free tenant)
Kholop (slave)
v
t
e
A smerd (Old East Slavic: смердъ, romanized: smerdǔ) was a free peasant and later a feudal-dependent serf in the medieval Slavic states of East Europe. Sources from the 11th and 12th centuries (such as the 12th-century Russkaya Pravda) mention their presence in Kievan Rus' and Poland as the smardones. Etymologically, the word smerd comes from a common Indo-European root meaning "ordinary man" or "dependent man".[1][disputed – discuss]
In Kievan Rus', smerdy were peasants who gradually lost their freedom (partially or completely) and whose legal status differed from group to group. Unlike slaves, they had their own property and had to pay fines for their delinquencies, legally the smerds never possessed full rights; killing of a smerd was punished by the same fine as killing of a kholop (similarly to a slave). The property of the deceased was inherited by the knyaz (prince). The Russkaya Pravda forbade torturing smerds during court examination without consent of the knyaz.
During the 12th and the 13th centuries a number of sources mention the smerdy while narrating events in Halych-Volynia and in Novgorod. It appears that during this period the term smerd encompassed the whole rural population of a given region. Sources of the 14th and 15th centuries refer to smerds of Novgorod and Pskov as peasant-proprietors, who possessed lands collectively (communes) or individually and had the right to freely alienate their own allotments. However, their personal freedom was limited: they were forbidden to seek a new master or princely patronage. The knyaz could not accept complaints from smerds against their master. Also, smerds had to provide labor services and to pay tribute (dan') to the benefit of the city as a collective feudal master.
In Russia from the 14th century the word smerd as a denotation for peasants and other commonfolk was replaced with the word krestyanin (крестьянин), meaning Christian. The change was connected to the dieout of Slavic paganism by that time, as well as to the Islamization of the Golden Horde under Öz Beg Khan (ruled 1313–1341), which fostered the rise of Christian self-identification in the vassal Russian lands that were under Mongol yoke.
The old word smerd continued to be used in the pejorative meaning, often in a situation when a lord spoke to dependent people or even lesser nobles. Also the word acquired a meaning of "one who stinks", with the related verb 'smerdet' (смердеть or śmierdzieć, to stink).[2][disputed – discuss]
^Vucinich, Wayne S.; Curtiss, John Shelton (1968). The Peasant in Nineteenth-century Russia - Wayne S. Vucinich, John Shelton Curtiss - Google Książki. ISBN 9780804706384.
A smerd (Old East Slavic: смердъ, romanized: smerdǔ) was a free peasant and later a feudal-dependent serf in the medieval Slavic states of East Europe...
social inequality. During 11th-13th centuries it made new laws for the smerds ("smerd" – a feudal-dependent peasant), zakups ("zakup" - a feudal-dependent...
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Izgoi Kholop Knyaz Posad people Service class people (Sluzhilyye lyudi) Smerd Muscovite Russia was culturally influenced by Slavic and Byzantine cultural...
Preliminary Budget. July Financial Plan 2011–2014. Retrieved from [1]. Smerd, Jeremy. (June 23, 2010). Another Tax Shortfall Hits the MTA's Budget. Crain's...
Kievan Rus consisted of nobility (boyars), free and partially free peasants (smerd, zakup, ryadovich) and kholops whose status was similar to that of slaves...
Pereyaslavl ruled the province through their viceregents. In that period the 1071 smerd rebellion was led by still powerful magi of Yarsolavl, during which bishop...
tribute for Sviatoslav II near Beloozero and suppressed an uprising of smerds there. He took part in military campaigns against the Polovtsy and internecine...
monasteries and churches were much smaller as well. Some land was owned by smerds while other izorniki did not own the land they worked and were obliged to...
2009). "GM bankruptcy forever linked to Harlem dealership". Reuters. Jeremy Smerd (June 1, 2009). "General Motors' Workforce Faces Big Cuts at an 'Unadulterated...
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was born on April 20, 295, then - Yagailo Gan (the figure "Yagailo Gan smerd" was invented by Alexander Sulakadzev), who compiled the Book of Veles ("we...
2009). "GM bankruptcy forever linked to Harlem dealership". Reuters. Jeremy Smerd (June 1, 2009). "General Motors' Workforce Faces Big Cuts at an 'Unadulterated...
29, 2018. MTA Board Members. Retrieved August 13, 2007, from mta.info. Smerd, Jeremy. "Transit Officials Approve $50 Million For Discounts on Holiday...
owner runs the Buffalo mob?". Buffalo News. Retrieved January 26, 2023. Smerd, Jeremy (September 26, 2010). "Accidental candidate". Crain's New York Business...
p. 258. ISBN 978-1-58542-441-2. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help) Smerd, Jeremy (Spring 2006). "A Fling and a Prayer". Columbia: The Magazine of...
they expelled prince Vsevolod Mstislavich accusing him of not caring for smerds, of trying to move to Pereslavl and of cowardliness and indecisiveness in...
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