A smerd ( orv, смердъ) was a free

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

and later a feudal-dependent

serf 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, which develo ...

in the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Slavic states of

East Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, wh ...

. Sources from the 11th and 12th centuries (such as the 12th-century ''

Russkaya Pravda The ''Russkaya Pravda'' (Rus' Justice, Rus' Truth, or Russian Justice; orv, Правда роусьскаꙗ, ''Pravda Rusĭskaya'' (13th century, 1280), Правда Руськая, ''Pravda Rus'kaya'' (second half of the 15th century); russian: ...

'') mention their presence in

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

as the ''smardones''. Etymologically, the word ''smerd'' comes from a common Indo-European root meaning "ordinary man" or "dependent man". In Kievan Rus', ''smerdy'' were peasants who gradually lost their freedom (partially or completely) and whose

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

status differed from group to group. Unlike

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

s, they had their own

property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...

and had to pay fines for their delinquencies, legally the ''smerds'' never possessed full

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical th ...

; killing of a ''smerd'' was punished by the same fine as killing of a ''

kholop A kholop ( rus, холо́п, p=xɐˈlop) was a type of feudal serf in Kievan Rus', then in Russia between the 10th and early 18th centuries. Their legal status was close to that of slaves. Etymology The word ''kholop'' was first mentioned i ...

'' (similarly to a slave). The property of the deceased was inherited by the ''

knyaz , or (Old Church Slavonic: Кнѧзь) is a historical Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title in different times of history and different ancient Slavic lands. It is usually translated into English as prince or duke, dependi ...

'' (prince). The ''Russkaya Pravda'' forbade torturing ''smerds'' during court examination without consent of the ''

''. During the 12th and the 13th centuries a number of sources mention the ''smerdy'' while narrating events in Halych-Volynia and in

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the o ...

. 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-

proprietor Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

s, 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 Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

. The change was connected to the dieout of

Slavic paganism Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the Religion, religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation of the Slavs, Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The So ...

by that time, as well as to the Islamization of the

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fragment ...

under

Öz Beg Khan Öz is a Turkish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Doğan Öz (1934–1978), Turkish prosecutor assassinated during his investigation of the Turkish deep state. * Emanuel Öz Emanuel Öz (born 1979) is a Swedish politician, l ...

(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'', to stink).https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B4#Russian

Notes

External links

The Smerd in Kievan Russia

"Smerdy" in The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition
Society of Kievan Rus' Peasants {{Poland-hist-stub