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Serfdom was a good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
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Text or other creative content from French nobility was copied or moved into Serfdom with this edit on 15:02, 12 March 2009. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists.
Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
In the lead, we find the statement that "Serfdom became increasingly rare in most of Western Europe after the medieval renaissance at the outset of the High Middle Ages." This is problematic. It's vague, linking to the article on "medieval renaissances" as a general topic, and not specifying whether it means the Carolingian (which precedes the High Middle Ages) or the more-likely Ottonian renaissance (which overlaps with the beginning of the High Middle Ages). It contradicts text elsewhere in the article: "Medieval serfdom really began with the breakup of the Carolingian Empire around the 10th century." (and the breakup of the Carolingian Empire precedes "the outset of the High Middle Ages"); "This arrangement provided most of the agricultural labour throughout the Middle Ages."; "In the later Middle Ages serfdom began to disappear west of the Rhine even as it spread through eastern Europe." Essentially, this sentence in the lead (which isn't itself sourced) disagrees with the content of the article (and with history of serfdom), confusingly implying that serfdom began declining at the same time that it was becoming more and more widespread. It doesn't really make sense, unless the editor who wrote it thought "outset" meant "ending," or thought that "High Middle Ages" means the period usually called the "Late Middle Ages," or some similar confusion. I'm going to delete it. Yspaddadenpenkawr (talk) 14:16, 15 December 2022 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
The section on Villeins has very few sources and makes very general statements without specifying an era or place. Moreover source (22) is horribly racist and very inappropriate. BanachsInSpace (talk) 14:23, 29 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
"According to medievalist historian Joseph R. Strayer, the concept of feudalism can also be applied to the societies of ancient Persia, ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt from the late Old Kingdom through the Middle Kingdom (Sixth to Twelfth dynasty), Islamic-ruled Northern and Central India, China (Zhou dynasty and end of Han dynasty) and Japan during the Shogunate."
Latest comment: 1 year ago1 comment1 person in discussion
"In Russia, serfdom gradually evolved from the usual European form to become de facto slavery, though it continued to be called serfdom".
This is a statement without any grounds. Especially since the definition of Serfdom is given at the very beginning, including the second paragraph. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.169.33.159 (talk) 13:43, 14 January 2025 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 1 year ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Why is the 1588 Statute from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth not mentioned? It allowed the literal killing of peasants. The article is written in a propaganda style ... 92.36.59.35 (talk) 15:44, 18 August 2025 (UTC)Reply
Please provide details of the independent reliable source (including page numbers) that discusses this. Without that, we can't add the material you mention. See WP:RS. MichaelMaggs (talk) 15:58, 18 August 2025 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 11 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Cite note 16 is used to support the claim that slavery was rare during the middle ages, but nowhere in the text it says that. On the contrary, it claims that slavery persisted during the middle ages, being widespread in some countries even in the late medieval period. Jack mcslay (talk) 11:13, 12 October 2025 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 8 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
The use of statare was wide-spread in Sweden until this kind of farm work was abolished in 1945. Statare is not typically translated in English as "serf" but for all intents and purposes their lives were very similar to those of serfs, as evidenced by the Wikipedia article on this topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statare
Latest comment: 8 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
The map 'Serfdom in Europe, 1750' does not depict the serfdom status in different regions correctly, at least it is wrong for Estonia and Livonia, maybe also for Ingria. At that time, there was serfdom. Otovi (talk) 15:58, 16 January 2026 (UTC)Reply
level-4 vital article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Wikipedia is user-generated content and not considered reliable for a citation. Jamedeus (talk) 02:35, 11 July 2024 (UTC)