Those awful "Dark Ages"...

Someone alluded to the ruthlessness by the landlords of the "Dark Ages". It was the revival of Roman law in the 16th century, thus after the Middle Ages had ended, which put an end to the legal rights that medieval serfs and feudal lords had enjoyed. It was also the time that slavery was reintroduced, women were again be subjected, workers were beginning to be exploited, and absolutist states began to take off.

The bond of serfdom had acted as a benefit for the peasant. Unlike the land of some of our 21st-century drought-stricken Aussie farmers, it could not be sold from under the serfs' feet by absentee financiers, as can be experienced by 'free' farmers in our 'enlightened' country.

The medieval serfs were anything but slaves. It was during the post-medieval period that fellow human beings in the West's colonies were treated by ruthless landlords like things that could be bought and sold, shipped as cargo, and treated as non-persons.