Serfs and slaves owned by churches and monasteries in the early Middle Ages

In the early Middle Ages the Church received large estates, and with them the serfs who worked the land. The Catholic Encyclopedia writes that the Church thus became a "proprietor of human beings". Serfs of the Church had to hand over half of their labour or their produce. The Roman Church itself also owned serfs. In 517 a council forbade abbots to free the serfs of their monastery because they belonged to the monastic community; a slave could not become a priest without his master's consent. Clerics owned slaves and, under Roman law, could free them by a simple declaration.

Period

517-816 (299 years)

Country

Germany, France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom

Institutions

Dioceses
Monasteries
Roman Church

Category

Slavery

Level of evidence

B two independent scholarly sources · what does this mean?

Persons

Gregory the Great (Pope)

Background

Who received the assets, who profited?

1. Germanic peoples converted to Christianity endowed the Church richly with land. On these estates lived serfs who were bound to the soil; in this way, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Church became a "proprietor of human beings".
   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 14 (1912), Artikel Slavery and Christianity

   „Barbarian converts endowed it largely with real property“

   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 14 (1912), Artikel Slavery and Christianity

   „the Church became by force of circumstances a proprietor of human beings“

Response of the Church

1. The Roman Church itself also owned serfs; Pope Gregory the Great set some of them free.
   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 14 (1912), Artikel Slavery and Christianity

   „St. Gregory the Great enfranchised serfs of the Roman Church“

2. In 517 the Council of Epaon forbade abbots to free the serfs of their monastery: the monks were not to be left without labour, and the serfs belonged to the monastic community, not to the abbot.
   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 14 (1912), Artikel Slavery and Christianity

   „The canon of the Council of Epone (517) which forbids abbots to enfranchise their serfs was enacted in order that the monks might not be left to work without assistance“

   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 14 (1912), Artikel Slavery and Christianity

   „the serfs belong to the community of monks, and not to the abbot“

3. Under Western canon law, a slave could not be ordained a priest without the express consent of his master.
   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 14 (1912), Artikel Slavery and Christianity

   „the Western discipline does not permit a slave to be raised to the priesthood without the formal consent of his master“

4. In 551 the Council of Eauze obliged bishops to demand lighter services from their serfs than secular landlords did and to remit a quarter of their dues.
   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 14 (1912), Artikel Slavery and Christianity

   „enjoins upon bishops that they must exact of their serfs a lighter service than that performed by the serfs of lay proprietors“

5. Clerics owned slaves. Under late Roman law, clerics could free their slaves at any time by a simple declaration of intent.
   Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage, Bd. 25 (1911), Wikisource, Artikel Slavery, Abschnitt Rom

   „clerics could at any time by mere expression of will liberate their slaves“

6. In 816 an English council ordered that on the death of a bishop all other bishops and all abbots should each free three slaves for the salvation of his soul; bishops and abbots therefore owned slaves.
   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 14 (1912), Artikel Slavery and Christianity

   „An English council (Celchyte, 816) orders that at the death of a bishop all the other bishops and all the abbots shall enfranchise three slaves each for the repose of his soul“

Scholarly literature and reference works

1. Reference work
   The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 14 (1912): Slavery and Christianity, 1 January 1912. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 12 Oct 2026)
2. Reference work
   Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage, Bd. 25 (1911), Wikisource: Slavery, 1 January 1911. Original (retrieved 12 Oct 2026)

Last changed on 22 October 2026. Is something missing or wrong? Suggest an addition or correction.