Czynsz

in feudal Polish lands, a quitrent rendered in cash or kind by feudally dependent peasants to their lord; equivalent to the German Zins, the French cens,and the English census. Peasants who paid a czynsz were called czynszownice. These peasants usually held a hereditary piece of land, in exchange for which they fulfilled certain obligations to the feudal lord; among these obligations, the cash payment of the czynsz gradually assumed the greatest importance.