From the eleventh to the sixteenth century, slavery may be said to have been universal in Russia.  Absolutely every man but the monarch was a slave.  The highest nobles and princes avowed themselves the slaves of the monarch.  There was no law but the will of the sovereign.  He could deprive any one of property and of life, and there was no power to call him to account but the poignard of the assassin or the sword of rebellion.  In like manner the peasant serfs were slaves of the nobles, with no privileges whatever, except such as the humanity or the selfishness of their lords might grant But gradually custom, controlling public opinion, assumed almost the form of law.  The kings established certain rules for the promotion of industry and the regulation of commerce.  Merchants and scholars attained a degree of practical independence which was based on indulgence rather than any constitutional right, and, during the reign of Vassili, the law alone could doom the serf to death, and he began to be regarded as a man, as a citizen protected by the laws.[8] From this time we begin to see the progress of humanity and of higher conceptions of social life.  It is, perhaps, worthy of record that anciently the peasants or serfs were universally designated by the name smerdi, which simply means smelling offensively.  Is the exhalation of an offensive odor the necessary property of a people imbruted by poverty and filth?  In America that unpleasant effluvium has generally been considered a peculiarity pertaining to the colored race.  Philosophic observation may show that it is a disease, the result of uncleanliness, but, like other diseases, often transmitted from the guilty parent to the unoffending child.  We have known white people who were exceedingly offensive in this respect, and colored people who were not so at all.

[Footnote 8:  Karamsin, tome vii., page 265.]

The pride of illustrious birth was carried to the greatest extreme, and a noble would blush to enter into any friendly relations whatever with a plebeian.  The nobles considered all business degrading excepting war, and spent the weary months, when not under arms, in indolence in their castles.  The young women of the higher families were in a deplorable state of captivity.  Etiquette did not allow them to mingle with society, or even to be seen except by their parents, and they had no employment except sewing or knitting, no mental culture and no sources of amusement.  It was not the custom for the young men to choose their wives, but the father of the maiden selected some eligible match for his daughter, and made propositions to the family of his contemplated son-in-law, stating the dowry he would confer upon the bride, and the parties were frequently married without ever having previously seen each other.