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| Knyaz(sovereign) |
| Boyar /Szlachta(noble) |
| Druzhinnik(retainer) |
| Smerd(free tenant) |
| Kholop(slave) |
Asmerd (Old East Slavic:смердъ,romanized: smerdǔ) was a freepeasant and later afeudal-dependentserf in themedieval Slavic states ofEast Europe. Sources from the 11th and 12th centuries (such as the 12th-centuryRusskaya Pravda) mention their presence inKievan Rus' andPoland as thesmardones. Etymologically, the wordsmerd comes from a common Indo-European root meaning "ordinary man" or "dependent man".[1][disputed –discuss]
In Kievan Rus',smerdy were peasants who gradually lost their freedom (partially or completely) and whoselegal status differed from group to group. Unlikeslaves, they had their ownproperty and had to payfines for their delinquencies, legally thesmerds never possessed fullrights; killing of asmerd was punished by the same fine as killing of akholop (similarly to a slave). The property of the deceased was inherited by theknyaz (prince). TheRusskaya Pravda forbade torturingsmerds during court examination without consent of theknyaz.
During the 12th and the 13th centuries a number of sources mention thesmerdy while narrating events inHalych-Volynia and inNovgorod. It appears that during this period the termsmerd encompassed the whole rural population of a given region. Sources of the 14th and 15th centuries refer tosmerds of Novgorod andPskov as peasant-proprietors, who possessed lands collectively (communes) or individually and had the right to freely alienate their own allotments. However, their personal freedom was limited: they were forbidden to seek a new master or princelypatronage. Theknyaz could not accept complaints fromsmerds against their master. Also,smerds had to provide labor services and to pay tribute (dan') to the benefit of the city as a collective feudal master.
In Russia from the 14th century the wordsmerd as a denotation for peasants and other commonfolk was replaced with the wordkrestyanin (крестьянин), meaningpeasant. The change was connected to the dying out ofSlavic paganism by that time, as well as to theIslamization of theGolden Horde underÖz Beg Khan (ruled 1313–1341), which fostered the rise of Christian self-identification in the vassal Russian lands that were underMongol yoke.
The old wordsmerd continued to be used in a pejorative meaning, often in a situation when a lord spoke to dependent people or even to lesser nobles. Also the word acquired a meaning of "one who stinks", with the related verb 'smerdet' (смердеть orśmierdzieć, to stink).[2][disputed –discuss]
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