In the late

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

and the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

a ''colonus'' (plural: ''coloni'') was a

tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a farmer or farmworker who resides and works on land owned by a landlord, while tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and ma ...

. Known collectively as the colonate, these farmers operated as

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

s, paying landowners with a portion of their crops in exchange for use of their farmlands. The tenant-landlord relationship eventually degraded into one of debt and dependence. As a result, the ''colonus'' system became a new type of land tenancy, placing the occupants in a state between freedom and

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

. The ''colonus'' system can be considered a predecessor of European

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

History

Roman Italy Roman Italy is the period of ancient Italian history going from the founding of Rome, founding and Roman expansion in Italy, rise of ancient Rome, Rome to the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire; the Latin name of the Italian peninsula ...

, much of the agricultural land was leased to tenants. There was a concept in place that allowed the tenants to have tenure on the land, even though they were not the owners. Tax liabilities went with the sales of a land plot, but most of the taxed public land in Italy was leased rather than owned. Therefore, many of the taxes were imposed upon the tenants rather than the land owners. These tenants could also sell and buy leases, which indicates a somewhat flexible and fair property system. According to the Roman courts, agricultural tenants also had rights against landowners who tried to unjustly infringe upon their contracts. This time period indicated a degree of fairness and justice toward the coloni. Originally, a ''colonus'' was in a mutual relationship in which a landowner allowed a tenant the use of their land, in return for a portion of the farmed crops. However, during the reign of

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

(284–305), there was a reform in the taxation system, which many historians view as causing the shift in the tenant-landowner relationship. Several edicts tied ''coloni'' to the land in order to increase land taxes and

poll taxes A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. ''Poll'' is an archaic term for "head" or "top of the head". The sen ...

. Diocletian created a complex tax system based on persons as well as a regular

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of the people to monitor the empire's population and wealth. The tax rates were computed by complex mathematical formula. The system was distributive, i.e. it did not take in consideration capacity to pay as would be the case in a contributive system (adopted by the Eastern Empire in the later 7th century). By converting ''ad hoc'' requisitions and regular tax demands into a regular system of tax collectives, Diocletian had given the Empire a budget for the first time. The status of these farm workers gradually declined until they reached an all-time low during the reign of

Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

(527–565). His top goal was to eliminate corruption in tax collecting by giving governors more direct control. In Book 11 of his codification of Roman law, the ''

Corpus juris civilis The ''Corpus Juris'' (or ''Iuris'') ''Civilis'' ("Body of Civil Law") is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, enacted from 529 to 534 by order of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. It is also sometimes referred ...

'', Justinian updated laws based upon taxation, distribution of land, and types of ''coloni''. When describing the ''agricolae censiti'', Justinian explicitly mentions a type of ', the ', which were considered non-free and comparable to slaves.

''Adscripticii''

An estate owner could claim a laborer as a with the intention that this person would provide him services. The landowner would also need to show proof through two documents, such as a or a ''conductio'' (a

labor contract An employment contract or contract of employment is a kind of contract used in labour law to attribute rights and responsibilities between parties to a bargain. The contract is between an "employee" and an "employer". It has arisen out of the old m ...

),A. J. B. Sirks, "The Colonate in Justinian's Reign," ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 98 (2008), p. 124. or a copy of the (a receipt of his enrollment into the public tax register). These documents would prevent people from being unknowingly drawn into the , as such contracts were often not able to be annulled. By signing onto a contract, a man would sign his family, children, and self into the ''adscripticii''. The birth status, or , of this family and descendants would thus be ''adscripticii''. According to the rules of international private law ''(

ius gentium In Roman law and legal traditions influenced by it, ''ius gentium'' or ''jus gentium'' (Latin for "law of nations" or "law of peoples") is the law that applies to all ''gentes'' ("peoples" or "nations"). It was an early form of international law, ...

)'', one's ''origo'' determined their hometown, public and private law system, and the public tasks they must perform (''

munera Munera is a town and municipality in the province of Albacete, Spain; part of the autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constituti ...

'' and ''honores''). In the cases of the , their hometown was substituted or replaced with the estate of the landowner. Therefore, the land owner could summon one of his farmers to perform duties, such as the way a town could summon its citizen to perform public duties. If the landowner of the estate should sell his property, the tied to the estate would be forced to work for the new owner. Thus, they were forced to do the bidding of the landowner, attached to a specific plot of land, and bound to the contract indefinitely. The only difference between the and slaves was that the were attached to a specific piece of land, and could not be sold or separated from it. The had many obligations to the estate. They had to perform tasks on the estate, till and farm the land, perform the work that a would perform, and remain on the estate. They were also unable to litigate or lodge complaints against the estate owner. who tried to leave the estate without permission were punished, with the methods ranging from being forced to wear chains to

corporal punishment A corporal punishment or a physical punishment is a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person. When it is inflicted on Minor (law), minors, especially in home and school settings, its methods may include spanking or Padd ...

. The free , although subjected to the estate owner with whom they had a contract, were able to leave the estate. Most important were the differences concerning their right to possessions ''( peculium)''. were forced to subject their possessions to the estate owner and were forbidden from removing them from the house without permission. Free were able to move their possessions as they wished and were not subjected to orders of the estate owners.

''Adscriptus glebae''

A laborer was called an "adscript of the soil" () when he could be sold or transferred with the land, as under feudal villeinage and with

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

until 1861.

Taxation

Free were responsible for the taxes of the leased land on which they farmed crops and lived. They had two options of paying this: either by paying the tax directly to the imperial officials, or they could turn over a

lump sum A lump sum is a single payment of money, as opposed to a series of payments made over time (such as an annuity). The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development distinguishes between " price analysis" and " cost analysis" by whether ...

to the landowner. If the ''colonus'' decided to give the owner the lump sum, or , the estate owner turned over the appropriate amount to the tax collector and kept the remaining balance as income. When a ''colonus adscripticius'' signed a contract to work for the landowner indefinitely, the landowner was then forced to take responsibility for the taxes that the farmer would have paid if he was just a tenant leasing the land. Free tenants paid their own taxes to the government. The person who housed the adscripticius had the use of his labor, so they were liable for his taxes. During the fourth and fifth centuries, the leasing contracts were very formal and had strict requirements. Tenancy agreements had to be registered in the municipal tax rolls, and had to include the tenant's name, a particular plot of land, and the landowner's name. The tenant was then added to the tax roll for that specific field and could therefore be identified as part of the chain of responsibility for that parcel of land. Being registered in the imperial or municipal tax rolls also provided additional benefits. Tenants who were registered taxpayers were lawfully protected against eviction and the raising of their rents.

Latifundia and estates

Latifundia A ''latifundium'' (Latin: ''latus'', "spacious", and ''fundus'', "farm", "estate") was originally the term used by ancient Romans for great landed estates specialising in agriculture destined for sale: grain, olive oil, or wine. They were charac ...

were large parcels of land, which specialized in agriculture for export, such as grain, olive oil, and cattle. Latifundia relied on slave labor to produce large quantities of crops. These were developed in the 2nd century BC. In some cases, estate villages were formed, in which many parcels of land owned by the same landlord were leased to villagers who owned their own homes but had no land. Large estates expanded by consolidating the neighboring, smaller farms, which had to sell their land to the estate, as they could not compete in terms of productivity. As small farms were bought up by the wealthy landowners they were folded into their expansion. They tended to go out of fashion with the increase in the cost of the purchase slaves by 200 A.D. Estates, ''massa'', were the successors of the latifundia. The rich Roman landowners preferred rents gathered from free or tied tenants who outnumbered enslaved agricultural workers many times over, hence and . The state and the rich patrons benefited from the labor of an immobilized tenantry.

References