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[–]11807487?0 points
5 points
5 points
(+5|-0)
ago
In the most general terms, something like this happened in the Middle Ages in Europe. However, they weren't slaves they were serfs. They and their descendants were pledged to be attached to the land, not owned by a specific person. There was a whole ceremony where people would renounce their freedom. The biggest holders of serfs were probably monasteries in many cases.
Serfs did have rights and could, for example, inherit. And often their overlords made sure their rights were respected, in part because Christianity created an atmosphere where the rich were expected to look after the poor (a type of eeeevil paternalism). Also because of the Christian take care of your brother thing, if you were rich enough to and didn't, all the other nobles would look at you askance and talk shit behind your back.
No one will talk about different forms of bondage anymore but history classes should really be teaching this stuff in more detail. Once you understand these social strata and forms of labor, everything else about the society starts to make more sense. The only thing they're allowed to say, even at the university undergraduate level, is that African plantation slavery was the worst and most horrifying slavery system ever devised. Which is not even remotely true, the Spartans among other groups treated slaves extremely brutally. But no one can damage the myth.
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[–] 11807487? 0 points 5 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago
In the most general terms, something like this happened in the Middle Ages in Europe. However, they weren't slaves they were serfs. They and their descendants were pledged to be attached to the land, not owned by a specific person. There was a whole ceremony where people would renounce their freedom. The biggest holders of serfs were probably monasteries in many cases.
Serfs did have rights and could, for example, inherit. And often their overlords made sure their rights were respected, in part because Christianity created an atmosphere where the rich were expected to look after the poor (a type of eeeevil paternalism). Also because of the Christian take care of your brother thing, if you were rich enough to and didn't, all the other nobles would look at you askance and talk shit behind your back.
No one will talk about different forms of bondage anymore but history classes should really be teaching this stuff in more detail. Once you understand these social strata and forms of labor, everything else about the society starts to make more sense. The only thing they're allowed to say, even at the university undergraduate level, is that African plantation slavery was the worst and most horrifying slavery system ever devised. Which is not even remotely true, the Spartans among other groups treated slaves extremely brutally. But no one can damage the myth.