Laura Rodriguez , age 15, of Dayton, Ohio, for her question:

WHO WERE THE SERFS?

Serfs made up a large class of peasants in the early Middle Ages. The term "serf" comes from the Latin word "sevus," which means "slave." The status of a serf was midway between that of a freeman and a slave.

The serf was a bondman, generally bound to the soil, and required to provide certain payments and services to his lord. In these respects, he was not free. But by custom, the serf enjoyed certain rights of which he could not be justly deprived.

A serfs holdings included his house, which was often crude, the adjoining plot of land, a share of the surrounding field and a few animals. Part of his annual crop went to the lord of the manor as rent payment. The serf also occasionally worked on the lord's land and made special payments to him.

The institution of serfdom is usually connected with medieval Europe, although it existed elsewhere under corresponding conditions.

English law ended serfdom in the 1600s. Few serfs were left in France in 1789 when the French Revolution started. But Russia and Prussia had serfs until the 1800s.