Tsar Alexander II "freed" the serfs in 1861, which sounded well and good but they weren't truly freed. In order to provide the "freed" serfs with land to work and live on, the Russian government took land from the owners, paid them for it then turned it over to village collectives called mirs. The serfs were part of the mir and were required to repay the Russian government over a 49 year period. The "free" serfs could not leave the land until the government was fully paid. Neither the landowners nor the serfs were happy with the situation. Alexander II was later assassinated in 1881.
No, Catherine the Great did not free the serfs during her reign.
No, Catherine the Great did not free the serfs in Russia during her reign.
No, Catherine the Great did not free the serfs during her reign as Empress of Russia.
The last countries to free serfs (as opposed to slaves) were Tibet and Bhutan, in 1959. The last serfs freed in Europe were in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1918. Please see the link below.
Serfs were slaves tied to the land and lord and nothing would free them. Freemen were peasants who had bought their freedom.
Serfs did not have fiefs. They were bound to the soil and not allowed to leave it. The arrival of a new lord did not change this. Nevertheless, the serfs were largely free to farm as they pleased. The condition of the serfs was not slavery, but a different sort of thing governed by a sort of contract in which the serfs and the lords each had obligations to the other. The serfs had to pay rent in some form, labor, part of the crop, or money. For his part the lord had to provide a place to live, fields to farm, and protection in such difficult times as war or famine. The serfs were not allowed to leave the land, and the lords were not allowed to force them off of it. The serfs had reeves to organize them. The reeves were also serfs and were often elected by the serfs on a manor. The reeves decided how the serfs would be organized for their common labor, what fields would be tilled and what crops planted, and what parcels would go to which family for their own use.
The relationship between lords and serfs was not the same as the relationship between owners and slaves. The lords and the serfs had duties and obligations to each other. That being the case, there were times, such as when there were too many serfs for the lands the manor had, when it was in a lord's economic best interest to free serfs who wanted to be freed. Some of the serfs would be likely to want to leave and others want to stay and not have to deal with the insecurity of not having a place to live. At other times, such as after the Black Death, lords who did not have enough serfs would try to entice those of other lords away from them. In such a case they offered a better deal, which might have included their not being serfs any more. Serfs who wanted to could sometimes make themselves free by leaving the manor and staying away for over a year. Strangely enough this was the law in some places.
set serfs free and gave them land
Catherine the Great's decision to free the serfs had a significant impact on Russian society during her reign. It led to some improvements in the lives of the serfs, but also caused economic and social upheaval as the landowners lost their labor force and power. Overall, the emancipation of the serfs contributed to the modernization and transformation of Russian society.
If you are refering to Russian serfdom. Russian serfs were free in the emacipation reform of 1861. Over 20 million serfs were given their freedom. They were also granted the right to get married with out haveing to seek consent.
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