Folwark (redirected from Polish serfdom)

Folwark 

the Polish name for landlord economy or, in the narrow sense of the word, a landowner’s estate. The folwark system in Poland and several other countries of Central and Eastern Europe employed the corvée as the chief form of feudal rent and was usually called the folwark-corvée system.

Landlord economy was an insignificant part of feudal economy until the 15th century, when it began to grow, causing the number of peasant land allotments, communal lands, and newly reclaimed lands to decrease. In the 16th century, the folwark produced goods for sale at local and other markets and became the main source of income for the feudal lord. With the establishment of capitalism, it became the basis of the large landlord economy. In Poland, the folwark was abolished with the establishment of people’s power and the agricultural reforms of 1944.