smerd
Sign in to saveA smerd () was a free peasant and later a feudal-dependent serf in the medieval Slavic states of East Europe. Sources from the 11th and 12th centuries (such as the 12th-century Russkaya Pravda) mention their presence in Kievan Rus' and Poland as the smerdones. Etymologically, the word smerd comes from a common Indo-European root meaning "ordinary man" or "dependent man".
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A smerd () was a free peasant and later a feudal-dependent serf in the medieval Slavic states of East Europe. Sources from the 11th and 12th centuries (such as the 12th-century Russkaya Pravda) mention their presence in Kievan Rus' and Poland as the smerdones. 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 status differed from group to group. Unlike slaves, they had their own property and had to pay fines for their delinquencies, legally the smerds never possessed full rights; killing of a smerd was punished by the same fine as killing of a kholop (similarly to a slave). The property of the deceased was inherited by the knyaz (prince). The Russkaya Pravda forbade torturing smerds during court examination without consent of the knyaz.