Corvee (Noun)
Meaning
Unpaid labor (as for the maintenance of roads) required by a lord of his vassals in lieu of taxes.
Classification
Nouns denoting acts or actions.
Examples
- The local lord imposed a corvee on the villagers, requiring them to work on the roads for several days a week.
- As part of their feudal obligations, the peasants were forced to provide a corvee to the lord, which meant repairing the castle walls.
- The vassals were exempt from paying taxes, but instead had to provide a corvee to the lord by working on his lands for a certain number of days each year.
- The corvee was a heavy burden on the villagers, who had to spend a significant portion of their time working on the lord's estates rather than their own.
- In exchange for protection, the vassals agreed to provide the lord with a corvee, which included maintaining the bridges and highways that crossed his territory.