A medieval peasant entirely subject to a lord or attached to a manor, similar to a serf. Both groups were part of the manorial system which dominated Europe between the 4th and 13th centuries. Villeins provided labour services to the lord (in return for tilling their own strips of land). By the 13th century villeins in England had become unfree tenants. In Europe they had fewer duties and remained essentially free peasants, creating a significant difference in rank to the serfs. By the 15th century, even in England, social and economic changes had blurred the distinctions between free and unfree peasants, leading to a single enlarged class of peasants.