g district joined the
German peasants in 1524; the revolt was in many respects like a
gigantic general strike.

[Sidenote: Emancipation of the serfs]

Great as are the ultimate advantages of freedom, the emancipation of
the serfs cannot be reckoned as {553} an immediate economic gain to
them. They were freed not because of the growth of any moral
sentiment, much less as the consequence of any social cataclysm, but
because free labor was found more profitable than unfree. It is
notable that serfs were emancipated first in those countries like
Scotland where there had been no peasants' revolt; the inference is
that they were held in bondage in other countries longer than it was
profitable to do so for political reasons. The last serf was reclaimed
in Scotland in 1365, but the serfs had not been entirely freed in
England even in the reign of Elizabeth. In France the process went on
rapidly in the 15th century, often against the wishes of the serfs
themselves. One hundred thousand peasants emigrated from Northern
France to Burgundy at that time to exchange their free for a servile
state. However, they did not enjoy their bondage for long. Serfs in
the Burgundian state, especially in the Netherlands, lost their last
chains in the sixteenth century, most rapidly between the years 1515
and 1531. In Germany serfdom remained far beyond the end of the
sixteenth century, doubtless in part because of the fears excited by
the civil war of 1525.

[Sidenote: Regulation of labor]

In place of the old serfdom under one master came a new and detailed
regulation of labor by the government. This regulation was entirely
from the point of view, and consequently all but entirely in the
interests, of the propertied classes. The form was the old form of
medieval paternalism, but the spirit was the new spirit of capitalistic
gain. The endeavor of the government to be fair to the laborer as well
as to the employer is very faint, but it is just perceptible in some
laws.

Most of the taxes and burdens of the state were loaded on the backs of
the poor. Hours of labor were fixed at from 12 to 15 according to the
season. {554} Regulation of wages was not sporadic, but was a regular
part of the work of certain magistrates, in England of the justices of
the peace. Parliament enforced with incredible severity the duty of
the poor and able-bodied man to work. Sturdy idlers were arrested and
drafted into the new proletariat needed by