Thus the number of serfs fell after 1348–9, and thereafter their proportion within the general population gradually fell until there were hardly any left in the early sixteenth century.

When did serfdom start and end?

In England, the end of serfdom began with the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. It had largely died out in England by 1500 as a personal status and was fully ended when Elizabeth I freed the last remaining serfs in 1574.

When was serfdom officially abolished?

Serfdom was abolished in 1861, but its abolition was achieved on terms not always favorable to the peasants and increased revolutionary pressures. The 1861 Emancipation Manifesto proclaimed the emancipation of the serfs on private estates and by this edict more than 23 million people received their liberty.