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The form of productivity relations
This constituted a sort of feudal income, the amount of which depended on the manner in which the paroikos cultivated the land. If he used his own means, he would give 1/10 of the produce to the owner and would be described as a mortites (morte, "portion"). If, on the other hand, he used means offered to him by the landowner, he would give 5/10 of the produce to the owner and would be known as a hemisiastes (hemisy, "half"). The paroikos was obliged to pay taxes, to pay rent to the proprietor and to offer him a symbolic gift, the kaniskion ("small basket"). In addition, he had to perform a corvee (angareia), usually consisting of twelve days unpaid labour a year. This was an important feature of productivity relations in the rural areas, and constituted a form of exploitation of agricultural labour. Its existence, although limited as compared to the West, is suggestive of the development of forms of feudalism. After thirty years the relationship between the paroikos and the landowner would develop into a permanent one. In the late Byzantine period, therefore, farming by paroikoi was the most common form of cultivation of the land. However, direct cultivation by a few independent small farmers (or small proprietors) continued to exist, albeit to a lesser degree. These farmers, in most cases, cultivated their lands themselves, or with the help of free labourers. It should be noted that serfdom, as a form of exploitation of dependent manpower, had been abolished. However, what generally characterised productivity relations in the rural areas was the fact that, as time went by, the peasantry became increasingly poorer.
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he majority of farmers were paroikoi, tenant farmers, to whom the owner usually rented his 