Kmety

a term with various meanings that was widely used in the Middle Ages among the Slavic peoples. Initially the free members of the commune or tribe were apparently called kmety. In the literary monuments of Ancient Rus’ (such as The Tale of Igor’s Campaign), they were knights, members of the prince’s armed retinue. In feudal Bulgaria and Serbia, kmety were the village elders; in Bosnia and the Czech lands they were officials at some times and separate categories of the peasantry at others; and in Poland they were dependent peasants who had full allotments. In Croatia, kmety occasionally was used to mean vassals and usually dependent peasants, including serfs.