High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The origins of serfdom in Russia are traced to Kievan Rus in the 11th century. Legal documents of the epoch, such as Russkaya Pravda, distinguished several degrees of feudal dependency of peasants. , the term for an unfree peasant in the Russian Empire, krepostnoi krestyanin ( ), is translated as serf. The legal code of Ivan III of Russia, Sudebnik (1497), strengthened the dependency of peasants, statewise, and restricted their mobility.... Mehr