The Colonate in the Roman Empire

The fourth and fifth centuries AD gave rise to a particular phenomenon in the Roman Empire: the colonate. The colonate involved the fiscal regulation of a relationship of surety between landowners and farmers in the later Roman Empire and played a major role in agrarian and social relations, with implications for these farmers' freedom of movement and transmission of status. This study provides a clear and comprehensive reassessment of the legal aspects of the phenomenon, embedding them as ...