1. Definition
Soil bondage (German Schollenpflicht; Latin glebae adscriptio) was a strict form of peasant dependence. It incorporated a ban prohibiting the peasant (Peasants) from leaving the farm and its attendant land (German Scholle) without the permission of the landowner (the lord). Soil bondage generally occurred as a component of various species of peasant unfreedom (Hörigkeit, “thraldom”; E…