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Due to a tied serfdom decree by Emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305 CE), villein is derived from villanus, meaning a man employed by a man of power at a Roman villa rustica, which was preferable to being a landless labourer (such as a cotter), a vagabond (and likely to wander to another land unit). In 1500, England, the villeinage system largely died out (at the end of the High Middle Ages the Black Death had reduced the rural population and the bargaining power of workers had improved). Villeinage continued in France until the revolution in 1789.