the person making the surrender to a lord, the right of inheritance
was lost to his children. The holding became, on the surrender, a
'præcarium'--a tenancy at the will of the lord by way of usufruct
only. This being so, any actual succession to the holding must
naturally have been, not by inheritance, but, in theory at all
events, by regrant from the lord to the successor--generally a
single successor--for, under the circumstances, the rule of single
succession would be likely to be adopted as most convenient to the
landlord.
«The later coloni 'usufructuarii.'»
The tenants produced by commendation were, however, hardly a class
by themselves. They most likely sank into the ordinary condition of
the large class of 'coloni,' &c., on the great provincial estates.
And there is a passage in the 'Institutes of Justinian' which
incidentally seems to imply that the ordinary 'colonus' of the later
empire was very nearly in the position of the 'usufructuarius,'
and held a holding which, in legal theory at least, ended with his
life.[458] [p310] And if this was the generally received theory
of the status of semi-servile tenants on the great estates, the
probability is that the practice of single succession by regrant may
have followed as a matter of convenience and as an all but universal
usage.
Further, if we may suppose this to have been the case on the private
estates of provincial landowners, the question remains whether the
semi-servile classes of tenants on the imperial domains may not have
been subject to the same customary rules.
«Tenants on public lands in theory 'usufructuarii.'»
«Probable prevalence of the rule of single succession.»
Now it must be remembered that the legal theory as regards that part
of the provincial land which was not centuriated and allotted to
the soldiers of the conquering Roman army as a 'colonia,' but left
in the possession of the old barbarian inhabitants, was that the
latter were merely usufructuary tenants, paying tribute for the use
of the land which belonged now to the conquerors.[459] And although
_quasi_-rights of inheritance, founded perhaps more upon barbarian
usage than direct Roman law, probably grew up generally in the more
settled districts of Gaul and the two Germanies, yet there may well
have been grades of tenants, some with rights of inheritance and
some without them. It may well be questioned whether, in the case of
the 'læti' and other semi-servile tenants, hereditary rights were
generally recognised. If we take into account the tendency we have
noticed in the management of the provincial domains towards manorial
methods and usages, it seems at least probable that the semi-servile
classes of tenants under [p311] the imperial military and fiscal
officers were placed much in the same position as the coloni on
private villas; that, in fact, their tenure was only a usufruct for
life or at will--a tenure to which, by custom, the single succession
would be a natural incident.
«The Romans adapted themselves to existing usages.»
Passing now specially to the tenants on the 'Agri Decumates' and
other tithe lands north of the Alps, and asking what were their rules
of succession and methods of husbandry, perhaps sufficient stress has
not always been laid upon the elasticity with which Roman provincial
management adopted local customs and adapted itself to the local
circumstances of a widely extended empire. We know little of the
methods and rules adopted in the management of the 'tithe lands,' but
if the foregoing considerations be sound, it may be that but little
change was needful to convert their tenants into serfs on a manorial
estate. They may have had but little to gain or to lose, or even to
alter in their habits, in exchanging the rule of the imperial fiscal
officers for the lordship of the later manorial lord.
«Management of tithe lands. Modern Eastern example.»
It is much to be hoped that more light may ere long be thrown upon
this obscure subject by students of provincial law and the barbarian
codes. In the meantime it may be possible, perhaps--so slowly do
things change in the East--that an actual modern example taken from
thence of the customary mode of managing public tithe lands at the
present moment in what was once a Roman province might be a better
guide to a correct conception of what went on 1,500 years ago on the
'Agri Decumates' than we could easily get in any other way.
«The Syrian code of fifth century.»
The Roman province of Syria is peculiarly [p312] interesting,
because the Roman code[460] applying to it in the fifth century
happens to remain, and to afford interesting evidence of adaptation
to local customs in a district unique in the advantage that its
usages, little altered by the lapse of time, can be studied as well
in the parables of the New Testament as on its actual fields to-day.
«The 'Pflicht-theil' in Syria and in Bavaria of Roman
origin.»
Sir Henry S. Maine[461] has recently referred to the parable of the
'Prodigal Son' as illustrating the custom still followed in Turkey
of sons taking their portions during the parent's lifetime, leaving
one home-staying son to become the single successor to the remainder,
including the family homestead and land.
The Syrian code,[462] following Roman Law,[463] insisted upon
three-twelfths of a man's property going to his children equally, and
left him at liberty to dispose of the remaining nine-twelfths among
them at his pleasure. But an _emancipated_ son had no claim to a
share in the _three_-twelfths.[464] These local or Roman usages have
an interesting connexion with the permission which, as we shall see
in the next section, was given by the Bavarian code of the seventh
century, to free possessors of land '_after they had made division
with their sons_' to surrender their '_own portion_,' by way of
commendation, to the Church.[465] [p313]
It is remarkable that, to the present day, in those districts of
Bavaria where the Code Napoléon has not superseded ancient custom
and law, the 'Pflicht-theil' of not less than one-half or one-third,
as fixed by the later Roman law, still remains inalienable from
the heirs, whilst a custom for the father to hand over the whole
or a part of the family holding to a son during his lifetime also
occurs.[466]
These coincidences between customs of Syria and Bavaria--both once
Roman provinces--refer to land of inheritance. But there were also
in Syria as elsewhere in the fifth century, between the freeholders
and the slaves, a class of semi-servile tenants--_adscriptitii_--who
were, in a sense, the property of a lord.[467] And besides these,
again, from the time of the New Testament[468] to the present, there
have been tenants paying a tithe or other portion of the produce in
return for a usufruct only of public or private lands.
There is no direct reference to public tithe lands in the Syrian
code, but the following description of present customs as regards
such lands may be valuable in the absence of earlier evidence. It
describes the tenants of the Crown tithe lands in Palestine as having
only a usufruct, expiring at their death, and as conducting their
husbandry upon an open-field system, which being so widely spread is
no doubt very ancient, and likely enough to resemble [p314] more or
less closely local methods followed on the 'Agri Decumates' under
Roman rule.[469]
«Land system in Palestine.»
Land tenure in Palestine is of three kinds:--
I. _Ard miri_,[470] or taxed Crown land.
In this class are included nearly all the large and fruitful
plains like those of Jaffa, Ramleh, and Esdraelon. These
lands are leased by the Government to various individuals, or
_sometimes to a whole village_. The lessee pays a _tenth_ of
the produce of the soil for his right of cultivation. _Miri_
land, therefore, cannot be sold by the lessee, nor has he
the power to transfer it; he merely possesses the right of
cultivation for a given time, and this only holds good during
the lifetime of the lessee. In the event of his death, the
contract he has made becomes null and void, even though its
term be not expired.
II. _Ard wakûf_, or glebe-land. . . .
III. _Ard mulk,_ or freehold, is chiefly composed of small
pieces of ground in the neighbourhood of the villages, such as
fig and olive plantations, gardens, and vineyards. . . .
«Tithe lands let to villages, and worked under the
open-field system.»
It has been already mentioned that by far the greater part of
the cultivated land is not private, but Government property,
either _miri_ or _wakûf_, and that the cultivator is merely
the holder. Each district has certain tracts of such lands,
and after the rains they are let to the different inhabitants
in separate plots. The division is decided by lottery. Herr
Schick has given an account of the manner in which this lottery
takes place. All those who are desirous of land assemble in
the _sāha_ (an open place generally in front of the inns).
The Imam, or _khatib_, who is writer, accountant, and general
archivist to the whole village, presides over this meeting.
The would-be cultivators notify how many ploughs they can
muster. If a man has only a half-share in one, he joins another
man with a like share. Then the whole number is divided into
classes. Supposing the total number of ploughs to be forty,
these would be divided into four classes of ten, and each class
would choose a Sheikh to represent them. The land of course
varies in quality, and this division into classes makes the
distribution simpler. Say there are four classes, the land is
divided into four equal portions, so that each class may have
good as well as bad. When the Sheikhs have agreed that the
division is fair, the lots are drawn. Each of the Sheikhs puts
some little thing into the _khatib's_ bag. Then the _khatib_
calls out the name of one of the divisions, and some passing
child is [p315] made to draw out one of the things from the
bag, and to whichever Sheikh it belongs, to this class belongs
the division named by the _khatib_. This decided, the Sheikhs
have to determine the individual distribution of the land. In
the case of ten ploughs to a class, _they do not each receive a
tenth piece of the whole, but, in order to make it as fair as
possible, the land is divided into strips, so that each portion
consists of a collection of strips in different parts of the
village lands_. The boundaries are marked by _furrows_ or
stones, and to move a neighbour's landmark is still accounted
an 'accursed deed,' as in the days of ancient Israel (Deut.
xix. 4). . . .
_The measure by which the Fellahin divide their land is the
feddân. It is decided by the amount which a man with a yoke
of oxen can plough per day, and is therefore a most uncertain
measure._
«Was it so on the Roman tithe lands?»
This description of the mode in which public land in Palestine is
often let to individual tenants or to whole villages at a rent of
a tenth of the produce, and further, the picture it gives of the
cultivation of the land let to a village by those villagers who
supply oxen for the ploughing on an open-field system so like that of
Western Europe, at least may suggest the possibility of a somewhat
similar system having been adopted in the management of the tithe
lands of the 'Agri Decumates.'
The allusion to the division of the fields into strips, and to the
unit of land measurement being the day's work of a pair of oxen,
and, we may add, the use of the same unit of measurement throughout
the Turkish Empire,[471] may at least prepare us to find [p316]
indications of a somewhat similar system of cultivation on the tithe
lands on the Danube and the Rhine when we come to examine their
conditions under the early Alamannic and Bavarian laws.
And, lastly, this Eastern illustration of the modern management of
'tithe lands' may help us to give due weight to the suggestion of Sir
H. S. Maine[472] that not only on the 'ager publicus,' but even on
the Roman provincial villa itself, in the organisation of the mostly
barbarian and servile tenants, and of the husbandry, many features
may well have been borrowed from ordinary and wide-spread customs
of barbarian communities, thus partially explaining what must again
and again strike us in this investigation, viz., the ease with which
Roman and barbarian elements combined during the later Roman rule
of the provinces and afterwards in producing a complex and joint
result--the typical manorial estate.
X. THE TRANSITION FROM THE ROMAN TO THE LATER MANORIAL SYSTEM.
«Laws of the Alamanni, A.D. 622.»
The Alamannic conquest of the province of _Germania Prima_, including
what is now Elsass and the western part of the 'Agri Decumates,'
may be described as almost a passive one. The population had long
been partly German, and Roman provincial usages can hardly have been
altogether supplanted in the fifth century. It was not till the
Alamanni were themselves [p317] conquered by the Franks (who had
in the meantime become nominally Christian) that their laws were
codified. When this took place in the year 622 it was with special
reference to the interests of the Church that the laws were framed,
just as in the case of the first codification of Anglo-Saxon laws on
King Ethelbert becoming a Christian.
«Permission to surrender to the Church.»
The very first provision of the Alamannic laws was a direct
permission to any freeman, without hindrance from 'Dux' or 'Comes,'
to surrender his property and himself to the Church by charter
executed before six or seven witnesses; and it provided further that
if he should surrender his land, to receive the usufruct of it back
again during life as a benefice charged with a certain tribute or
census, his heir should not dispute the surrender.[473]
In the Bavarian laws of slightly later date there is a similar
permission to any freeman, _from his own share, after he has made
division with his sons_, to surrender to the Church _villas_,
_lands_, _slaves_, or other property, to be received back as a
_beneficium_ in the same way,[474] and neither 'rex,' 'dux,' nor 'any
other person' is to prevent it. [p318]
Who are the people thus permitted to surrender their possessions to
the Church? Clearly they are the free possessores or tenants on the
public lands, now become '_terra regis_,' under the fiscal officers
who are still called _duces_ and _comites_.
Here, then, is still going on, but in the interest of the Church,
precisely the process described by Salvian, and with precisely the
same results.
Further, these results can be traced with remarkable exactness; for
in the charters of _St. Gall_ and _Lorsch_ and _Wizenburg_ there are
numerous instances of surrenders made under this law.
«Instances of surrender in the St. Gall charters.»
In the 'Urkundenbuch' of the Abbey of St. Gall, under date A.D.
754,[475] there is a charter by which a possessor of land in certain
'villas' in the neighbourhood of St. Gall hands over to the monastery
all that he possesses therein, with the cattle, slaves, houses,
fields, woods, waters, &c., thereon, together with two servi and all
their belongings; and (it proceeds) 'for these things I am willing
to render service every year as follows:--viz. xxx. seglas of beer
(cervesa), xl. loaves and a sound spring pig (frischenga), and xxx.
mannas, and to plough 2 jugera[476] (jochos) per [p319] annum, and
to gather and carry the produce to the yard, also to do post service
(_angaria_) when required.'
Here we have not only the public _tributum_ converted into a manorial
census or 'gafol,' but also the _sordida munera_ transformed into
manorial services.
In another charter, A.D. 759, is a surrender of all a man's
possessions in the place called _Heidolviswilare_, to the Abbey, 'in
this wise that I may receive it back from you _per precariam_, and
yearly I will pay thence _census_, _i.e._ xxx. siclas of beer, xl.
loaves, a sound spring frisginga, 3 day-works (operæ) of one man in
the course of the year; and my son Hacco, if he survive me, shall do
so during his life.'[477]
In another, A.D. 761,[478] the monks of St. Gall regrant a '_villa_'
called '_Zozinvilare_' to the original maker of the surrender at
the following _census_, viz. xxx. siclas of beer and xl. loaves,
a friscinga, and two hens, with this addition--'_In quisqua
sicione_[479] thou shalt plough _saigata una_ (one selion?) and reap
this and carry it into [the yard], and in one day (jurno)[480] thou
shalt cut it, and in another gather it and carry it, as aforesaid.'
In the surrender of a holding 'in villa qui dicitur _Wicohaim_,[481]
the census is . . . siclas of beer, xx. maldra of bread and a
frisginga, and work at the stated time at harvest and at hay-time,
two days in reaping the harvest and cutting the hay, and in early
spring one "_jurnalis_" at ploughing, and in the month of June to
break up [brachan] another, [p320] and in autumn to plough and sow
it--this is the census for that villa.'
«Like those described by Salvian.»
These grants were clearly surrenders by freemen like those described
by Salvian, which carried with them whatever coloni or servi there
were upon the land.
Thus, under date 771,[482] a priest gives to the monks all his
property _in villa Ailingas_ and another place, except two servi and
five yokes of land; and in another place he gives '_servum unum cum
hoba sua et filiis suis et cum uxore sua_.' The _hoba_ was clearly
the 'hub' or yard-land of the serf, and it, he and his wife and
children were all granted over by their lord to the abbey.
In the same year 771[483] a man named _Chunibertus_ and his wife
surrendered an estate called _Chuniberteswilari_, and it is
described as including just what a Roman villa would include,
_i.e._ the _villa_ itself (_casa_), surrounded by its court (_curte
circumclausa_), together with buildings, slaves, arable land,
meadows, fields, &c., &c. And yet in this case also he retains
possession '_sub usu fructuario_' during his life, paying the same
kind of census as in the other cases--xx. siclas of beer, a maldra of
bread, and a _frisking_.
«Likeness of the census and services to the Saxon 'gafol'
and 'gafolyrth.'»
Now, it will at once be seen how like is the census described in
these charters to the Saxon gafol of the 'Rectitudines,' and of the
manors of Tidenham or Hysseburne. There is distinctly the _gafol_,
and in many cases the _gafolyrth_ also, but no mention of the
_week-work_. Add this, and there would be an almost exact likeness to
Saxon serfdom.
But it will be remembered that even under the [p321] laws of Ine the
_week-work_ was not added to the _gafol_ unless the lord provided
not only the yard-land, but also the homestead. These surrenders
were surrenders by freemen of their own land and homesteads. It was
hardly likely that the more servile week-work should be added to
their census. How it would fare with their children when they sought
to succeed their parents in the now servile holding is quite another
thing.
«New serf created and 'week work' added.»
There is, indeed, apparently an instance, under date 787,[484] of the
settlement of a new serf--the grant of a fresh holding in villenage
from the Abbot of St. Gall to the new tenant. The holding, if we may
use the Saxon terms, is 'set' both 'to _gafol_ and to _week-work_;'
for the tenant binds himself (1) to pay to the abbey as _census_
(_i.e._ as _gafol_) yearly vii. maldra of grain and a sound spring
frisking, to be delivered at the granary of the monastery; and (2) to
plough _every week_ (_i.e._ as week-work)[485] at their nearest manor
(_curtem_) a '_jurnal_' (or acre strip) in every _zelga_[486] (_i.e._
in each of the three fields); and also six days in a year when work
out of doors is needed, whether in harvest or hay-mowing, to send two
'_mancipii_' for the work: also, when work is wanted in building or
repairing bridges, to send one man with food to the work, who is to
stop at it as long as required. And to these payments and services
the new tenant bound 'himself, his heirs, and all their descendants
lawfully begotten.' [p322]
This surely is a distinct case of the settlement of a new serf upon
the land, rendering in Saxon phrase both _gafol_ and _week-work_; and
the serfdom created is as nearly as possible identical with that of
an English manor of the same date.
«Surrender of whole villas or of holdings on villas.»
But to return to the surrenders. It is clear from the instances
quoted that some of these owners who surrendered their holdings were
holders of whole _villas or heims_, some of them of _portions of
villas or heims_. And yet they placed themselves by the surrender,
as Salvian described it, in a servile position, _lower_, as he says,
_than that of the coloni of the rich_, for they merely retained the
usufruct during their life. The inheritance was lost. And they still
had a tribute to pay to their lord, though free from tribute to
the public purse. The Frankish kings now stood in the place of the
Roman Emperor. The old Roman _tributum_ apparently remained, but was
payable to the Frankish king. When under the Alamannic laws these
surrenders were made to the Church, the tribute also was transferred
from the king to the Church.
We have seen that when such a surrender had been made under Roman
rule to a rich Roman landowner, the latter became responsible to the
public exchequer for the tributum, but he exacted tribute in his
turn from his tenant, who thus, as Salvian said, though parting with
his inheritance, still paid tribute to his lord. But this tribute
can hardly have been the full _tributum_ at which the holding was
assessed to the _jugatio_. It seems to have been rather a fixed and
typical _gafol_ or census, marking a servile condition. For in the
Alamannic laws there are clauses making the following remarkable
provisions:-- [p323]
«Tribute, services, and three days' 'week-work' under the
Alamannic law.»
_Leges Alamannorum Illotharii_[487] (A.D. 622).
XXII.
(1) Servi enim ecclesiæ tributa sua legitime reddant, quindecim
siclas de cervisa, porco valente [al. porcum valentem] tremisse
uno, pane [al. panem] modia dua, pullos quinque, ova viginti.
(2) Ancillæ autem opera inposita sine neglecto faciant.
(3) Servi dimidiam partem sibi et dimidiam [al. dimidium] in
dominico arativum reddant. Et si super hæc est, sicut servi
ecclesiastici ita faciant, tres dies sibi et tres in dominico.
XXIII.
De liberis autem ecclesiasticis, quod [al. quos] colonos
vocant, omnes sicut coloni regis ita reddant ad ecclesiam.
XXII.
(1) Let servi of the Church pay their tribute rightly, viz.,
15 siclæ of beer, with a sound spring pig, of bread two modia,
five fowls, twenty eggs.
(2) Let female servi do services required without neglect.
(3) Let servi do ploughing, half for themselves and half in the
demesne. And if there be other services, let them do as the
servi of the Church--three days for themselves and three days
in the demesne.
XXIII.
Concerning the freemen of the Church who are called 'coloni,'
let all pay to the Church just as the coloni of the king.
These clauses seem to establish clearly three facts:--
(1) That the slavery of the slaves or _servi_ on the ecclesiastical
estates had already, in A.D. 622, become modified and restricted as a
matter of general ecclesiastical custom to a _three days' week-work_.
(2) That the proper tribute (or _gafol_) of persons becoming servi
of the Church by surrender under this edict was to be as stated; the
resemblance of the details of this tribute with those mentioned in
the St. Gall surrenders showing the servile nature of the status into
which those making the surrender placed themselves thereby.
(3) Freemen of the Church called '_coloni_' were [p324] to pay to
the Church as the _coloni_ on the _terra regis_ did to the king.
In other words, a _whole villa_ or _manor_, with the village
community of 'free coloni' and the 'servi' upon it, might be handed
over _as a whole_ to the Church: in which case the free coloni were
to remain free and pay tribute to the Church as they would have done
to the king if they had been 'coloni' on the _terra regis_.
After thus becoming 'free coloni' of the Church they might, if they
chose, by a second act surrender their freedom and become _servi_ of
the Church, just as 'free coloni' on royal villas or on the _terra
regis_ might do under this edict.
This evidence relates, it will be remembered, to the district on
the left bank of the Rhine, which so abounded with '_heims_' and
'_villas_,' as well as to that portion of the 'Agri Decumates' which
was included in the province of Germania Prima.
There is still clearer evidence for the district to the east of the
'Agri Decumates,' comprehended in the Roman province of Rhætia.
Rhætia, it will be remembered, was the province, in edicts relating
to which the '_sordida munera_' were most clearly defined. We
have seen traces of some of these 'base services,' especially the
_boon-work_ and the '_angariæ_,' in the St. Gall charters. Still
clearer traces of them are found in the services described in the
early 'Bavarian laws' of the seventh century. These laws, as has been
seen, expressly allowed 'surrenders' by freemen of their property
to the Church, and the services of the _servi_ and _coloni_ of the
Church are described with remarkable clearness. [p325]
The section is headed--
«Tribute services and three days' 'week-work' under the
Bavarian laws.»
_Lex Baiuwariorum, textus legis primus._[488]
13.
_De colonis vel servis ecclesiæ, qualiter serviant vel quale_
[_al. qualia_] _tributa reddant._
Hoc est agrario secundum estimationem iudicis; provideat hoc
iudex secundum quod habet donet: de 30 modiis 3 modios donet,
et pascuario dissolvat secundum usum provinciæ.[489] Andecenas
legitimas, hoc est pertica [al. perticam] 10 pedes habentem, 4
perticas in transverso, 40 in longo arare, seminare, claudere,
colligere, trahere et recondere. A tremisse unusquisque
_accola_[490] ad duo modia sationis excolligere, seminare,
colligere et recondere debeat; et vineas plantare, fodere,
propaginare, præcidere, vindemiare. Reddant fasce [al. fascem]
de lino [al. ligno]; de apibus 10 vasa [al. decimum vas];
pullos 4, ova 15 reddant. _Parafretos_ [al. palafredos] donent,
aut ipsi vadant, ubi eis iniunctum fuerit. _Angarias_ cum carra
faciant usque 50 lewas [al. leugas]; amplius non minentur.
Ad casas dominicas stabilire [al. stabiliendas], fenile,
granica vel tunino recuperanda, pedituras rationabiles
accipiant, et quando necesse fuerit, omnino componant. Calce
furno [al. calcefurno], ubi prope fuerit, ligna aut petra [al.
petras] 50 homines faciant, ubi longe fuerat [al. fuerit], 100
homines debeant expetiri, et ad civitatem vel ad villam, ubi
necesse fuerit, ipsa calce trahantur [al. ipsam calcem trahant].
13.
_Concerning the coloni or servi of the Church, what services
and tributes they are to render._
This is the tribute _for arable_, according to the estimation
of the judge. The judge must look to it that according to what
a man has he must give; for 30 modia he must give 3 modia.
And for _pasturage_ he must pay according to the custom of
the province. Legal andecenæ (the perches being of 10 feet),
4 perches in breadth and 40 in length, [he is] to plough, to
sow, to fence, to gather, to carry, and to store. For spring
crops every cultivator to prepare for two modia of seed, and
sow, gather, and store it. And to plant vines, tend, graft, and
prune them, and gather the grapes. Let them render a bundle of
flax, of honey the tenth vessel, 4 fowls, and 15 eggs. Let them
give post-horses, or go themselves wherever they are told. Let
them do carrying service with waggons as far as 50 leugæ. They
cannot be compelled to go farther.
In keeping up the buildings in the demesne, in repairing the
hayloft, the granary, or the 'tun,' let them take reasonable
portions, and when needful let them compound together. To the
limekiln when near let 50 men, and when it is far let 100 men
be found to supply wood or [lime-]stone, and where needful let
the lime itself be carried to city or villa.
These are the services of the _coloni_ or _accolæ_ of the Church.
Next as to the _servi_:--
Servi autem ecclesiæ secundum possessionem suam reddant
tributa. Opera vero 3 dies in ebdomada in dominico operent
[al. operentur], 3 vero sibi faciant. Si vero dominus eius
[al. eorum] dederit eis boves aut alias res quod habet [al.
quas habent], tantum serviant, quantum eis per possibilitatem
impositum fuerit; tamen iniuste neminem obpremas [al. opprimas].
Let the servi of the Church pay tribute according to their
holdings. Let them work 3 days a week in the demesne, and 3
days for themselves. But if their lord give them oxen or other
things they have, let them do as much service as can be put
upon them, yet thou shalt oppress no one unjustly.
«Gafol-yrth or ploughing of _andecenæ_ or acre strips,
probably for the tenths on the 'tithe-lands.'»
In the face of this evidence it seems impossible to ignore either the
continuity of the tribute and services under Roman and German rule on
the one hand, or their identity with the _gafol_, the _gafol-yrth_,
and the _week-work_ of the English manor on the other hand. There
is first the tenth of the chief produce due as of old from these
occupants of the 'Agri Decumates' of Tacitus, closely connected with
the tribute of ploughing--the Saxon _gafol-yrth_ noticed above in the
St. Gall charters. This is to be rendered in _lawful andecenæ_, and
this measure of the plough-work is reckoned by the Roman rod of ten
feet, and takes the precise form, four rods by forty, which belongs
to the English acre of four roods;[491] and this is the [p327] strip
to be sown, gathered, and stored, just as in the case of the Saxon
'_gafol-yrth_.'
The tending of vines is peculiar to the country. The tenth bundle
of flax, the tenth vessel of honey, and the fowls and eggs are also
familiar items of the _census_ or _gafol_, both in the charters of
St. Gall and in the services of Saxon manors.
«'Sordida munera.'»
Then there are the pack-horse services (_parafreti_) and the carrying
services ('_angariæ cum carra_'), the keeping up of buildings, supply
of the limekiln, and the carriage of lime to the villa--all which
once public services ('_sordida munera_'), due to the Roman Emperor
on whose tithe lands the coloni were settled, were now the manorial
services of 'coloni' of the Church. They were called in the Codex
Theodosianus '_obsequia_,' and are almost identical with the Saxon
'_precariæ_' or boon-works.
Lastly, it has been observed that the coloni or _accolæ_ did not give
'_week-work_.' This was, as has been seen, the distinctive mark of
serfdom here in Rhætia, as for centuries afterwards throughout the
manors of mediæval Europe.
In other words, in the seventh century there are two classes of
tenants on ecclesiastical manors--(1) the _coloni_ or _accolæ_, to
use the Saxon terms of King Ine's laws, _set to gafol_; and (2) the
_servi_, _set to gafol and to week-work_.
Throw the two classes together, or let the remaining Roman coloni
sink, as the result of conquest or otherwise, down into the condition
up to which the slaves have risen in becoming serfs, and the serfdom
of the mediæval manorial estate is the natural result. At the same
time an explanation is given of the [p328] persistently double
character of the later services, which apparently was a survival of
their double origin in the union of the public tribute and _sordida
munera_ of the Roman _colonus_ with the servile work of the Roman
slave.
«Transition from slavery to serfdom.»
On the estates of the Church in the early years of the seventh
century the humanising power of Christian feeling had silently raised
the status of the slave. It had dignified labour, and given to him
a property in his labour, securing to him not only one day in seven
for rest to his weary and heavy-laden limbs, but also _three days in
the week_ wherein his labour was _his own_. From slavery he had risen
into serfdom. And this serfdom of the _quondam_ slave had become, in
the eyes of the still more weary and heavy-laden free labourers on
their own land, so light a burden compared with their own--such was
the lawless oppression of the age--that they went to the Church and
took upon them willingly the yoke of her serfdom, in order that they
might find rest under her temporal as well as spiritual protection.
Such an impulse did this rush for safety into serfdom on
ecclesiastical or monastic estates receive from the unsettlement and
lawlessness of the period of the Teutonic invasions, that by the time
of Charles the Great a large proportion of the land in these once
Roman provinces had become included in the manorial estates of the
monasteries.
«Scores of free-tenants on a single manor make surrenders
to the Abbey of Lorsch.»
In the thickly peopled Romano-German lands on both sides of the
Rhine, including the present Elsass on the one side, and the district
between the Rhine and the Maine (the present Baden and Wirtemberg)
on the other, so strong was the current in this direction that we
find in the _Traditiones_ of the monasteries [p329] of '_Lorsch_'
and '_Wizenburg_' scores of surrenders taking place sometimes in a
single village. And these cases are of peculiar interest because
_G. L. von Maurer_ relies almost solely upon them as the earliest
examples available in support of his theory of the original German
_mark_ and _free village community_. His _only_ early instances are
taken from the Lorsch Cartulary.[492] He cites 107 surrenders to the
Abbey of Lorsch in '_Hantscuhesheim_' alone,[493] and concludes that
there must have been at least as many free holders resident there in
earlier times. In _Loeheim_ there were eight surrenders; in other
heims thirty-five, five, twenty-three, ten, forty, five, and so on.
These must, he concludes, have formed part of originally free village
communities on the German mark system.[494]
Now these surrenders to the abbey go back to the reign of Pepin; and
the question is, What were these freemen who made these surrenders?
Were they indeed members of _German free village communities_?
In the first place, they lived in a district which for many
centuries had been a Roman province. The manners of the people
had long been Romanised. Even across the Maine for generations
the homesteads had been built in Roman fashion.[495] And it is
significant that the fragments surrendered in this district, which
since the time of Probus had become devoted to the vine culture,
were mostly little _vineyards_; e.g. '_rem meam, hoc est vineam, i.
in Hantscuhesheim_,'[496] and so [p330] on. These vineyards were
often composed of so many '_scamelli_,' or little _scamni_--ridges or
strips marked out by the Roman _Agrimensores_. All this is thoroughly
Roman. What looks at first sight so much like a German free village
community, was once a little Roman 'vicus' full of people, with their
vineyards on the hills around it. They look like German settlers or
'free coloni' on the public domains, who had become appendant to the
villa of the fiscal officer of the district, which had in fact by
this time become to all intents and purposes a manor.
A little further examination will confirm this view.
«The _villas_ were _manors_.»
Turning to the record of the earliest donation to the abbey, in A.D.
763,[497] we find a description of a whole villa or _heim_--'_Hoc
est, villam nostram quæ dicitur Hagenheim, cum omni integritate sua,
terris domibus ædificiis campis pratis vineis silvis aquis aquarumve
decursibus farinariis litis libertis conlibertis mancipiis mobilibus
et immobilibus, &c._'
Here there clearly is a villa or manor, and the tenants of this manor
are _liti_, _liberti_, _coliberti_,[498] and _mancipii_ or slaves.
There are charters of other estates which are just as clearly manors
with servile tenements and slaves upon them.
In the similar records of surrenders to the Abbey of St. Gall, as
we have seen, there are also donations of little free properties in
'_heims_' and '_villares_,' but by far the greater number of the
earliest donations are distinctly of whole manors or parts of manors,
with _coloni_ and _mancipii_ upon them. [p331]
The heims of this Romano-German district were therefore distinctly
manors. They were also '_marks_.'
«Another instance.»
In 773 Charles the Great gave to the Abbey of Lauresham the 'villa'
called 'Hephenheim,' '_in pago Rinense, cum omni merito et soliditate
sua cum terris domibus ædificiis accolis mancipiis vineis sylvis
campis pratis, &c._'--that is, the _whole manor_--'_cum omnibus
terminis et marchis suis_.' And then follow the _marchæ sive terminus
silvæ_, which pertained to the same villa of Hephenheim, 'as it had
always been held _sub ducibus et regibus ex tempore antiquo_.' It was
then a 'villa' or manor belonging to the Royal domain, and it was
then held as a benefice by a 'comes,' whose predecessor had also held
it, and his father before him, of the king.[499]
This is clearly a grant of a whole manor with the tenants and slaves
upon it, and a manor of long standing; and the word _mark_ is simply
the base Latin word for boundary, like the Saxon word 'gemære.'
Further, the boundaries are given exactly as in the Saxon charters,
in the form described in the writings of the Roman _Agrimensores_.
In 774,[500] Charles the Great made a similar grant to the abbey in
almost identical terms of the 'villa' called '_Obbenheim_,' in the
district of Worms, '_cum omni merito et soliditate sua, &c., accolis,
mancipiis, &c._,' just as before. This was another whole royal manor
granted with its tenants and slaves to the abbey. Yet in 788[501] the
holder of a vineyard ('_j petiam de vinea_') in this same Obbenheim
surrenders it to the abbey. In 782[502] [p332] there is another
grant. In 793[503] there is a similar grant of five vineyards, and
another[504] of three vineyards; and scores of other donations of
vineyards occur in the reigns of Charles and of his predecessor
Pepin.[505]
«The 'free coloni' were manorial tenants.»
«Surrenders by 'free coloni.'»
It is obvious, then, that these surrenders or donations, which
were exactly like those of _Hantscuhesheim_, were made by 'free
coloni' of the manor, who in the time of Pepin, while the lordship
remained in the king, as well as afterwards when the manor had been
transferred to the abbey, surrendered their holdings to the abbey,
thus converting them either into tenancies on the demesne land, or
into servile holdings under the lordship of the abbey. They were not
members of a German free village community, for they were tenants
of a manor when they made their surrenders. Nor were they slaves
(_mancipii_). The only other class mentioned in the charter was that
of the _accolæ_, the word used for 'free coloni' in the Bavarian
laws. These _accolæ_, it seems, then, were 'coloni' or free tenants
upon a royal manor, part of the old _ager publicus_, now '_terra
regis_.' And as such under the Frankish law it seems that they had
power to transfer themselves from the lordship of the king to that
of the Church. The Alamannic laws were enacted or at least confirmed
after the Frankish conquest, and probably were in force over this
particular district at the date of these surrenders. These laws, as
we have seen, expressly forbade the _comes_ under whom they lived
[p333] to prevent free tenants from making such surrenders for the
good of their souls.
Indeed, among the St. Gall charters there is one exactly in point.
«Example.»
It is dated A.D. 766,[506] and by it the sons of a person who had
surrendered his land to the Abbey under these laws by this charter
renewed the arrangement, 'in this wise, that so as we used to do
service to the king and the comes, so we shall do service for that
land to the monastery, receiving it as a benefice of the same monks
_per cartulam precariam_.'
This view of the case may be still further confirmed. In the Lorsch
records are contained in some cases descriptions of the services of
the two kinds of tenants on the manors surrendered to the Abbey.
There are free tenants and servile tenants, and it is a strong
confirmation of the continuity of the services from Roman to mediæval
times to find some of them so closely identical with the '_sordida
munera_' of the Theodosian Code and the services described in the
Bavarian laws.
To take an example: In _Nersten_ the services of each _mansus
ingenualis_ may be thus classified:[507]--
(1) _As census_, 5 modii of barley, 1 pound of flax, at Easter
4d., 1 fowl, 10 eggs, 2 loads of wood.
(2) _As work_, 4 weeks a year whenever required.
(3) _As_ '_gafolyrth_,' to plough 1 acre in each of the [three]
fields (_sationes_), and to gather and store it.
(4) _As_ '_precariæ_,' or _sordida munera_--
3 days' work at reaping
2 days' work at mowing. [p334]
2 days' work at binding and 2 loads of carrying.
The tenant gives a _parafredum_.
Attends in the host.
Carts 5 loads of lime to the kiln.
Carts 5 loads of wood.
Goes messages 'infra regnum' whenever required.
Each _mansus servilis_ rendered, on the other hand--
(1) _As census_, 1 uncia, 1 fowl, 10 eggs, a frisking worth 4d.
(2) _As boon work_, 'facit moaticum et bracem et picturas in
sepe et in grania.' In addition the tenant:--
Ploughs 4 days, and all demesne land.
Feeds for the winter 5 pigs and 1 cow.
(3) _As week-work_, 3 days a week whenever required.
For women's work, 1 uncia, 1 load of wood, 1 of grass, 10 eggs.
In total there were eighty-seven '_mansi et sortes_.'
«Their Roman connexion.»
It is evident that these _mansi_ and _sortes_ were not _allodial
lots_ in the common mark of a free village community, but the
holdings of two grades of _semi-servile_ and _servile_ tenants _on a
manor_; and it is evident that some of the services were survivals of
the _sordida munera_ exacted under Roman law. Surely the continuity
in the mode of surrender and in the services and tribute on these
South German manors, traced from the Theodosian Code to the Alamannic
and Bavarian laws, and found again in the surrenders (identical
with those described by Salvian) made under those laws, and also in
the later surveys of the monastic estates, excludes the probability
of their having been original settlements of German free village
communities on the German mark system, such as G. L. von Maurer
assumes that they were.
«Manorial tendency of the Roman land-system.»
These curious and numerous instances on which this writer relied
as evidence of the mark-system, and as remains of a once free
German village community, turn out in fact to be further instances
of [p335] the progress under Frankish rule, within a once Roman
province, of the practice described by Salvian--a practice which
continued from century to century, helping on the threefold tendency
(1) in the villa to become more and more manorial, _i.e._ more and
more an estate of a lord with a village community in serfdom upon
it; (2) for all land to fall under some manorial lordship or other,
whether royal, ecclesiastical, monastic or private, and so to become
part of a manorial estate; (3) for the originally distinct classes of
'free coloni' on the one hand, and _slaves_ or _servi_ on the other
hand, to become merged in the one common class of mediæval serfs.
We have yet, however, to examine the German side of this continental
economic history as carefully as we have examined the Roman side of
it, before we shall be in a position to use continental analogies as
the key to the solution of the English economic problem.
It may be that direct and important German elements also entered as
factors in the manorial system, both during the period of Roman rule
in the German provinces, and also after their final conquest by the
German tribes.
FOOTNOTES:
[339] _Liber de Hyda_, p. 63.
[340] _Liber de Hyda_, pp. 67 _et seq._
[341] The per-centage is under-estimated, owing to the repetition of
various forms of the same name having been excluded in counting those
ending in _ham_, but not in counting the _total_ number of places.
[342] In Essex the _h_ is often dropped, and the suffix becomes
'_am_.'
[343] _Chartularium Sithiense_, p. 97.
[344] _Traditiones et Antiquitates Fuldenses._ Dronke, Fulda, 1844.
[345] _Traditiones Corbeienses._ Wigand, 1843.
[346] _Urkundenbuch der Abtei St. Gallen_, A.D. 700–840. Wartmann,
Zurich, 1863.
[347] _Historia Frisingensis_, Meichelbeck, 1729.
[348] _Traditiones possessionesqne Wizenburgenses._ Spiræ, 1842.
[349] _Codex Laureshamensis Diplomaticus_, 1768.
[350] The following are examples of the interchange of villa and
heim in the names of places mentioned in the charters of the Abbey
of Wizenburg in the district of Spires. The numbers refer to the
charters in the _Traditiones Wizenburgenses_.
Batanandouilla (9).
Batanantesheim (28).
Hariolfesuilla (4).
Hariolueshaim (55).
Lorencenheim (141).
Lorenzenuillare (275).
Modenesheim (2).
Moduinouilare (52).
Moresuuilari (189).
Moresheim (181).
Munifridesheim (118).
Munifridouilla (52).
Radolfeshamomarca (90).
Ratolfesham, p. 241.
Radolfouuilari, Radulfo villa (71 and 73).
So also, among the manors of the Abbey of St. Bertin, 'Tattinga Villa'
granted to the abbey in A.D. 648 (_Chart. Sithiense_, p. 18), called
afterwards 'Tattingaheim' (p. 158). See also _Codex Dip._ ii. p. 227,
'Oswaldingvillare' interchangeable with 'Oswaldingtune,' in England.
See also _Codex Laureshamensis_, iii. preface.
[351] See _Traditiones Wizenburgenses_, pp. 269 _et seq._ _Codex
Laureshamensis_, iii. pp. 175 _et seq._
[352] See among the Lorsch charters that of _Hephenheim_ (A.D. 773).
'Hanc villam cum sylva habuerunt in beneficio Wegelenzo, pater
Warini, et post eum Warinus Comes filius ejus in ministerium habuit
ad opus regis et post eum Bougolfus Comes quousque eam Carolus rex
Sancto Nazario tradidit' (I. p. 16).
[353] See again the case of _Hephenheim_. 'Limites. Inprimis incipit
a loco ubi Gernesheim marcha adjungitur ad Hephenheim marcham,' &c.
[354] 'Villam aliquam nuncupatam Hephenheim sitam in Pago Renense,
cum omni merito et soliditate sua, et quicquid ad eandem villam
legitime aspicere vel pertinere videtur.' See also the case of the
Manor of 'Sitdiu,' with its twelve sub-estates upon it, granted to
the Abbot of St. Bertin A.D. 648. _Chartularium Sithiense_, p. 18.
[355] _Lex Salica_, xxxix. (cod. ii.), 4. 'Nomina hominum et
_villarum_ semper debeat nominare.'
xlv. (De Migrantibus). When any one wants to move from one '_villa_'
to another, he cannot do so without the licence of those 'qui in
villa consistunt;' but if he has removed and stayed in another
'villa' twelve months, 'securus sicut et _alii vicini_ maneat.'
xiv. 'Si quis _villa_ aliena adsalierit. . . .'
xlii. v. 'Si quis _villam_ alienam expugnaverit. . . .'
_Capitulare Ludovici Primi_, ix. 'De eo qui villam alterius
occupaverit' (Hessels and Kern's edition, p. 419).
_Chlodovechi Regis Capitula_ (id. p. 408), A.D. 500–1. 'De hominem
inter duas _villas_ occisum.'
[356] _Lex Salica_, xlv.
[357] _Id._ xiv.
[358] This inference is drawn by Dr. P. Roth, _Geschichte des
Beneficialwesens_, p. 74. See also _Waitz_, V. G. ii. 31.
[359] Hessels and Kern's edition, pp. 422–3.
[360] By the authors of the _Lex Emendata_. Note 39, p. 451.
[361] Note 216, p. 528.
[362] Tit. xxvi. (1) 'Si quis lidum alienum extra consilium domini
sui ante Regem per denarium ingenuum dimiserit IIIIM. den. qui
faciunt sol. c. culp. judicetur, et capitate domino ipsius restituat.
(2) Res vero ipsius lidi legitimo domino restituantur. (3) Si quis
servum alienum,' &c. &c. (H. and K. 136–144).
There were also Roman tributarii, Tit. xli. 'Si quis Romanum
tributarium occiderit,' &c. (s. 7).
[363] See on this point Roth, pp. 83 _et seq._
[364] Varro. i. 13.
[365] Cato, _R. R._ 2. Columella, _R. R._ i. 6–8. M. Guerard says
of the 'villicus,' 'Cet officier est le même que nous retrouvons au
moyen âge sous son ancien nom de _villicus_, ou sous le nom nouveau
de _major_.' _Polyptique d'Irminon_, i. 442.
[366] Columella, _De Re Rustica_, i. 8.
[367] Plutarch, _Cato_, c. 21. See _Cod. Theod._ IX. xii.
[368] 'Classes etiam non majores quam denum hominum faciundæ, quas
_decurias_ appellaverunt antiqui et maxime probaverunt.'--Columella,
i. 9.
[369] Fragment Jur. Rom. Vatic. 272. Huschke, p. 774.
[370] _Polyptique d'Irminon_, i. pp. 45 and 456.
[371] Bede, III. c. xxiv. 'Singulæ possessiones decem erant
familiarum.'
[372] See also the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, anno 777, where mention is
made of '10 bonde lands' given to the monks at Medeshampstede.
[373] Varro, i. xvii.
[374] Columella, i. vii.
[375] 'Si quis colonus _originalis vel inquilinus_ ante hos triginta
annos de possessione discessit,' &c.--_Cod. Theod._ v. tit. x. 1.
[376] _Cod. Just._ xi. tit. xlvii. 22.
[377] _Cod. Just._ xi. tit. xlix. 1.
[378] Frontini, Lib. ii. _De controversiis Agrorum._ Lachmann, p.
53. 'Frequenter in provinciis . . . . habent autem in saltibus
privati non exiguum populum plebeium et vicos circa villam in modum
munitionum.'
[379] _Cod. Theod._ v. tit. iv. 3, A.D. 409. By this edict liberty is
given for landowners to settle upon their property, as free _coloni_,
people of the recently conquered 'Scyras' (a tribe inhabiting the
present 'Moravia').
[380] Sid. Apol. _Epist._ ii. xii. He complains that a governor
partial to barbarians '_implet villas hospitibus_.'
[381] _Cod. Theod._ lib. vii. tit. viii. 5. Compare as regards the
_Burgundian_ settlement the passages in the _Burgundian Laws_,
carefully commented upon in Binding's '_Das Burgundisch-Romanische
Königreich, von 443 bis 532_ A.D.,' 1, c. i. s. ii. _et seq._
[382] Binding, p. 36. And they called them _villas_. _Leges Burg._ T.
38–9.
[383] Roth's _Geschichte des Beneficialwesens_, p. 81.
[384] _Hist. Francorum_, f. 344.
[385] _Hist. Francorum_, f. 295.
[386] _Polyptique d'Irminon._ Large donations were made to the abbey
as early as A.D. 558 by the Frankish King Hildebert. See M. Guerard's
Introduction, p. 35.
[387] _Chartularium Sithiense_, pp. 18 and 158.
[388] Mr. Coote has pointed out many remains of this centuriation in
Britain; and the inscriptions on many centurial stones are given in
_Hübner's_ collection.
[389] Siculus Flaccus, Lachmann and Rudorff, i. pp. 136–8.
[390] _Cod. Theod._ lib. vii. tit. xx. 3. A.D. 320. 'Constantinus ad
universos veteranos.' 'Let veterans according to our command receive
vacant lands, and hold them "immunes" for ever; and for the needful
improvement of the country let them have also 25 thousand _folles_, a
pair of oxen (_boum quoque par_), and 100 modii of different kinds of
grain, &c. (_frugum_).'
Ib. s. 8. 'Valentinianus et Valens ad universos provinciales,'
A.D. 364. 'To all deserving veterans we give what dwelling-place
(_patriam_) they wish, and promise perpetual "immunity."
'Let them have vacant or other lands where they chose, free from
stipendium and annual "præstatio." Further, we grant them for the
cultivation of these lands both animals and seed, so that those who
have been protectores (body-guards) should receive two pairs of oxen
(_duo boum paria_) and 100 modii, of each of the two kinds of corn
(_fruges_)--others after faithful service a single pair of oxen
(_singula paria boum_) and 50 modii of each of the two kinds of corn,
&c. If they bring male or female slaves on to the land, let them
possess them "immunes" for ever.'
[391] _In Verrem_, Actio 2, lib. iii. 27.
[392] Varro, _De Re Rustica_, i. 44. Columella, ii. 9. Guerard,
_Irminon_, i. 1.
[393] Siculus Flaccus, _De Condicionibus Agrorum_. Lachmann and
Rudorff, i. pp. 154–6.
[394] In the division of the land between the Romans and Visigoths
the amount allotted '_per singula aratra_' was to be 50 aripennes
(i.e. 25 jugera). _Lex Visigothorum_, x. 1, 14 (A.D. 650 or
thereabouts).
The _Liber Coloniarum I._ describes the 'ager _jugarius_' as 'in
quinquagenis jugeribus,' the 'ager _meridianus_ in xxv. jugeribus.'
Lachmann, i. 247. Here we have the normal divisions of the centuria
of 200 jugera into holdings of 25 and 50 jugera. On the other hand,
the _Lex Thoria_, B.C. 111, fixed 30 jugera as the largest holding to
be recognised on the public lands. Rudorff, p. 213 (_Corp. Jur. Lat._
200, 1. 14).
[395] P. 142. 'Quam maxime secundum consuetudinem regionum omnia
intuenda sunt.'
[396] P. 143. See also Frontinus, p. 43, and Hyginus, p. 115, and p.
128 on the same point.
[397] P. 152.
[398] Siculus Flaccus, Lachmann, p. 152. 'Præterea et in multis
regionibus comperimus quosdam possessores non continuas habere
terras, sed particulas quasdam in diversis locis, intervenientibus
complurium possessionibus: propter quod etiam complures vicinales
viæ sint, ut unusquisque possit ad particulas suas jure pervenire.
Sed et de viarum conditionibus locuti sumus. Quorundam agri
servitutem possessoribus ad particulas suas eundi redeundique
præstant. Quorundam etiam vicinorum aliquas silvas quasi publicas,
immo proprias quasi vicinorum, esse comperimus, nec quemquam in eis
cedendi pascendique jus habere nisi vicinos quorum sint: ad quas
itinera sæpe, ut supra diximus, per alienos agros dantur.'
[399] Teams of six and of eight oxen in the plough are mentioned in
the Vedas. '_Altindisches Leben_,' H. Zimmer. Berlin, 1879, p. 237.
[400] Hyginus, Lachmann and Rudorff, i. 113.
[401] See _Codex Theodosianus_, vii. tit. xx. s. 9, A.D. 366.
[402] In _Cod. Theod._ vii. xx. s. 10, A.D. 369, 'læti' are
mentioned; and in s. 12, A.D. 400, 'lætus Alamannus Sarmata, vagus,
vel filius veterani,' are mentioned together.
[403] Compare the Welsh _aillt_, or _alltud_ (Saxon _althud_,
foreigner), and the _Aldiones_ of the Lombardic laws, with the _Læti_.
[404] B. iv. c. iii. s. 4.
[405] _Germania_, 28.
[406] The importance of the _Limes_ or _Pfahlgraben_ as marking the
extent of Roman rule to the east of the Rhine, has recently been
fully realised. See Wilhelm Arnold's _Deutsche Urzeit_, c. iii. '_Der
Pfahlgraben und seine Bedeutung._' See also '_Allgemeine Geschichte
in Einzeldarstellungen_' (Berlin, 1882), Abth. 48, c. viii. And Mr.
Hodgkin's interesting paper on 'The _Pfahlgraben_' in _Archæologia
Æliana_, pt. 25, vol. ix. new series. Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1882.
[407] Gibbon, c. ix., quoting _Dion. Cas._, lxxi. and lxxii.
[408] Zosimus, i. p. 68. Excerpta, _Mon. Brit._ lxxv.
[409] Wietersheim's _Geschichte der Völkerwanderung_ (Dahn), i. 245.
Guerard's _Polypt. d'Irminon_, i. p. 252.
[410] 'Tuo, Maximiane Auguste, nutu, Nerviorum et Treverorum arva
jacentia Lætus postliminio restitutus et receptus in leges Francus
excoluit.' _Eumen. Panegyr. Constantio Cæs._, c. 21. Guerard, i. 250.
[411] _Eumen. Paneg. Constantio_, 9. Guerard, i. 252.
[412] Zeuss, _Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstämme_, pp. 582–4,
quoting the will of _St. Widrad_, Abbot of Flavigny in the eighth
century: 'In pago _Commavorum_,' 'in pago '_Ammaviorum_.' In the
_Notitia Occidentis_, cxl., there is mention of _Læti_ from this
district--_Præfectus Lætorum Lingonensium_. Boeking, p. 120.
[413] _Kaiser Diocletian und seine Zeit_, von Theodor Preuss,
Leipzig, 1869 (pp. 54–5).
[414] 'Quo [Constantio] mortuo, cunctis qui aderunt adnitentibus, sed
præcipue Eroco Alamannorum rege, auxilii gratia Constantium comitato,
imperium capit.' _Mon. Brit._ Excerpta. Ex Sexti Aurelii Victoris
_Epitome_ (p. lxxii.).
[415] Ammianus Marcellinus, bk. xvii. c. i. 7.
[416] Am. Marc. bk. xviii. c. ii. s. 3.
[417] _Id._ xxix. c. iv. 7.
[418] _Id._ bk. xx. c. viii. 13.
[419] Among the '_Præfecti Lætorum et Gentilium_' there is mention of
the Præfectus Lætorum _Teutonicianorum_, _Batavorum_, _Francorum_,
_Lingonensium_, _Nerviorum_, and _Lagensium_. _Notitia Occ._ cxl.
Böcking, p. 120. See also the valuable annotation '_De Lætis._'
Böcking, 1044 _et seq._
[420] _Cod. Theod._ vii. 6, 3. _Per viginti juga seu capita conferant
vestem. . ._
_Id._ xi. 16, 6. _Pro capitibus seu jugis suis. . ._
[421] _Cod. Theol._ xi. 17, 4. 'Universi pro portione suæ
possessionis jugationis que ad hæc munia coarctentur.'
[422] _Cod. Theod._ lib. vii. tit. xx. 4.
[423] See _Syrisch-Römisches Rechtsbuch aus dem Fünften Jahrhundert_
(Bruns und Sachan), Leipzig, 1880, p. 37; and Marquardt's
_Staatsverwaltung_, ii. 220. See also Hyginus, _De Limitibus
Constituendis_, Lachmann, &c., p. 205, where there is mention of
'_arvum primum, secundum_,' &c., in _Pannonia_.
[424] Marquardt, ii. 237.
[425] Not that the Roman jugerum was equal in area to the Saxon acre.
It was much smaller, and of quite a different shape, at least in
Italy. The acreage of the jugum no doubt varied very much, as did
also the acreage of the yard-land.
[426] It is even possible and probable that the Gallic coinage
in Roman times, mentioned in the _Pauca de Mensuris_ (Lachmann
and Rudorff, p. 373), 'Juxta Galios vigesima pars unciæ denarius
est . . . duodecies unciæ libram xx. solidos continentem efficiunt,
sed veteres _solidum_ qui nunc _aureus_ dicitur nuncupabant,'--the
division of the pound of silver into 12 ounces, and these into 20
pennyweights--with which we found the Welsh _tunc pound_ to be
connected, may also have had something to do with the contents of the
centuria and jugum. At all events, the division of the pound into
240 pence was very conveniently arranged for the division of a tax
imposed upon holdings of 240 acres, or 120 acres, or 60 acres, or 30
acres, or the 10 acres in each field. In other words, the coinage and
the land divisions were remarkably _parallel_ in their arrangement,
as we found was also the case with the _scutage_ of the Hundred
Rolls, and the _scatt penny_ of the villani in the Boldon Book.
[427] Eumenius, _Pan. Constantini_, Marquardt, S. V., ii. 222.
[428] _Cod. Theod._ lib. xi. tit. i. 14.
[429] See also Ammianus. xxvii. 8, 7. Coote, 131.
[430] _Cod. Theod._ lib. xi. tit. vii. 2. Idem A ad _Pacatianum
Vicarium Britanniarum_. Unusquisque decurio pro ea portione
conveniatur, in qua vel ipse vel colonus vel tributarius ejus
convenitur et colligit; neque omnino pro alio decurione vel
territorio conveniatur. Id enim prohibitum esse manifestum est et
observandum deinceps, quo[d] juxta hanc nostram provisionem nullus
pro alio patiatur injuriam. Dat. xii. Kal. Dec. Constantino A. et
Licinio C. Coss. (319).
[431] Hyginus. Lachmann, &c., i. 205.
[432] _Cod. Theod._ lib. xi. tit. xvi. _De Extraordinariis sive
Sordidis Muneribus_. See also Godefroy's notes.
[433] Lib. xi. t. xvi. 4. 'Ea forma servata, ut primo a potioribus,
deinde a mediocribus atque infimis, quæ sunt danda, præstentur.'
'Manu autem sua rectores scribere debebunt, quid opus sit, et in
qua necessitate, per singula capita, vel quantæ angariæ vel quantæ
operæ, vel quæ aut in quanto modo præbendæ sint, ut recognovisse se
scribant; exactionis, prædicto ordine inter ditiores, mediocres,
atque infimos observando.'
[434] _Germania_, xli.
[435] _Cod. Theod._ xi. 16, and 18.
[436] From _angarius_ = ἄγγαρος, a messenger or courier. The word is
probably of Persian origin.
'Nothing mortal travels so fast as these Persian messengers. The
entire plan is a Persian invention. . . . The Persians give the
riding post the name of "_angarum_."'--_Herodotus_, bk. viii. 98.
See also the _Cyropædia_, bk. viii. c. 17, where the origin of the
post-horse system is ascribed to Cyrus.
[437] From the Latin _veredus_, a post-horse.
[438] _Cod. Theod._ lib. viii. t. v.
[439] The '_veredus_' or post-horse, from which the _paraveredus_
or extra post-horse, sometimes _parhippus_ (all these words occur
in the _Codex Justin._ xii. l. [li.], 2 and 4, _De Cursu Publico_),
may have been equivalent to the later 'averius' or 'affrus' by which
the _averagium_ was performed. Cf. '_Parhippus_ vel Avertarius'
(_Cod. Theod._ VIII. v. xxii.) and see Id. xlvii., '_avertarius_'
= a horse carrying 'averta' or saddlebags. Hence, perhaps, the
base Latin _avera, averiæ, averii, affri_, beasts of burden, oxen,
or farm horses, and the verb '_averiare_' (Saxon of 10th century
'_averian_'), and lastly the noun 'averagium' for the service. See
also the Gallic _Ep-o-rediæ_ (men of the horse-course) mentioned by
Pliny iii. 21 (Dr. Guest's _Origines Celticæ_, i. 381), and compare
this word with _paraveredi_. In modern Welsh 'Rhed' = a running, a
course.
[440] Compare the careful paragraphs on these words in M. Guerard's
Introduction to the _Polyptique de l'Abbé Irminon_, pp. 793 _et seq._
The sense of the word as implying a compulsory service is shown in
the Vulgate of Matt. v. 4: 'Et quicunque te _angariaverit_ mille
passus: vade cum illo et alia duo.'
The same word is used in Matt. xxvii. 32, and Mark xv., where Simon
is _compelled_ to bear the cross.
[441] _Supra_, p. 154.
[442] There were probably _servi_ on the 'ager publicus' as there
were on the Frankish public lands, called '_servi fisci_.' See
_Decretio Chlotharii regis_, A.D. 511, 55S. _Mon. Germ. Hist. Legum
Sectio_, ii. p. 6
[443] Compare Dr. J. N. Madvig's _Die Verfassung und Verwaltung des
Römischen Staates_ (Leipzig, 1882), ii. p. 408.
[444] Madvig, ii. p. 573; and _Cod. Just._ xii. 8–14, and _Cod.
Theod._ xii. i. 38. See also the _Notitia Dignitatum_, passim.
[445] With regard to the _procuratores_, _ducenarii_, and
_centenarii_ see Madvig, ii. p. 411. See also _Cod. Just._, xii.
20 (De agentibus in rebus), where a certain 'magister officiorum'
is forbidden to have under him more than 48 _ducenarii_ and 200
_centenarii_. Also _Cod. Just._, xii. 23 (24). Mr. Coote (_Romans
in England_, p. 317 et seq.), identifies the 'centenarii' with the
'stationarii,' or police of the later provincial rule. Compare
this with the distinctly police duties of the 'centenarii'
of the '_Decretio Clotharii_' (A.D. 511–558), _Mon. Germ.
Hist._--Capitularia, p. 7.
[446] Madvig, ii. 432, and the authorities there quoted.
[447] _Cod. Theod._, xi. tit. 11. i. 'Si quis eorum qui provinciarum
Rectoribus exequuntur, quique in diversis agunt officiis principatus,
et qui sub quocumque prætextu muneris publici possunt esse
terribiles, rusticano cuipiam necessitatem obsequii, _quasi mancipio
sui juris_, imponat, aut servum ejus aut bovem in usus proprios
necessitatisque converterit. . . ultimo subjugatur exitio.' Quoting
the above Lehuërou observes:--'Les ducs, les comtes, les recteurs
des provinces, institués pour résister aux puissants et aux forts,
n'usèrent plus de l'autorité de leur charge que pour se rendre
redoutables aux petits et aux faibles, et se firent un honteux
revenue de la terreur qu'ils répandaient autour d'eux. Ils enlevaient
sans scrupule, tantôt le bœuf, tantôt l'esclave du pauvre, et
quelquefois le malheureux lui-même avec sa femme et ses enfants, pour
les employer tous ensemble à la culture de leurs _villæ_' (p. 140).
See also _Cod. Theod._ viii. t. v. 7 and 15.
[448] _Cod. Theod._, xi. tit. 24, _De Patrociniis vicorum_.
'Quicumque ex tuo officio, vel ex quocumque hominum ordine, _vicos_
in suum detecti fuerint patrocinium suscepisse, constitutas luent
pœnas. . . . Quoscumque autem vicos aut defensionis potentia, aut
multitudine sua fretos, publicis muneribus constiterit obviari,
ultioni quam ratio ipsa dictabit, conveniet subjugari.'
'Censemus ut qui rusticis patrocinia præbere temptaverit,
cujuslibet ille fuerit dignitatis, sive MAGISTRI UTRIUSQUE MILITIÆ,
sive COMITIS, sive ex _pro-consulibus_, vel _vicariis_, vel
_augustalibus_, vel _tribunis_ (_C. J._ xii. 17, 2), sive ex ordine
_curiali_, vel _cujuslibet alterius dignitatis_, quadraginta librarum
auri se sciat dispendium pro singulorum fundorum præbito patrocinio
subiturum, nisi ab hac postea temeritate discesserit. Omnes ergo
sciant, non modo eos memorata multa ferendos, qui clientelam
susceperint rusticorum, sed eos quoque qui fraudandorum tributorum
causa ad patrocinia solita fraude confugerint, duplum definitæ multæ
dispendium subituros.' (Dat. vi. Id. Mart. Constantinop., Theodoro v.
c. Coss. 399). See also _Lehuërou_, p. 136 139, and _Cod. Just._, xi.
54.
[449] Madvig, ii. 432. 'Wie lange die Ackersleute auf den
Kaiserlichen Grundstücken (_Coloni Cæsaris Dig._ vi. 6, s. 11,
i. 19, 3) eine grössere persönliche Freiheit bewahrten, und seit
welcher Zeit das spätere Kolonatsverhältniss galt, lässt sich nicht
bestimmen, da der Uebergang schrittweise vor sich ging.'
[450] In the _Ripuarium Laws_, tit. li. (53) 'Grafio' = '_comes_'
= '_judex fiscalis_,' and the _mallus_ was sometimes held 'ante
centenarium vel comitem, sen ante Ducem Patricium vel Regem,' tit.
1. (52). So in the _Salic Laws_, tit. lxxv. 'debet _judex_, hoc est,
_comes aut grafio_,' &c., but this occurs in one of the additions to
the '_Lex Antiqua_.' Compare the 'centenarius' in his relation to his
superior, the 'comes,' and in his position of 'judex' in the mallus
with the 'centenarius' under _Cod. Just._, vii. 20, 4.
[451] M. Lehuërou observes, 'Il y a déjà des _seigneurs_, cachés
encore sous l'ancienne et familière dénomination de _patrons_. Cela
est si vrai que, non seulement la chose, mais le mot se trouve dans
Libanius:--Περὶ τῶν προστασιῶν εἴσι κῶμαι μεγάλαι, πολλῶν ἑκαστη
δεσποτὢν.
[452] _De Bello Gallico_, vi. c. xiii.–xv. 'In omni Galliâ eorum
hominum qui aliquo sunt numero atque honore genera sunt duo. Nam
plebes pœne servorum habetur loco, quæ per se nihil audet et nulli
adhibetur consilio. Plerique, quum aut ære alieno aut magnitudine
tributorum aut injuriâ potentiorum premuntur, sese in servitutem
dicant nobilibus. In hos eadem omnia sunt jura quæ dominis in
servos. . . . Alterum genus est _Equitum_. Hi, quum est usus, atque
aliquod bellum incidit (quod ante Cæsaris adventum fere quotannis
accidere solebat, uti aut ipsi injurias inferrent aut illatas
propulsarent), omnes in bello versantur: atque eorum ut quisque
est genere copiisque amplissimus, ita plurimos circum se ambactos
clientesque habet. Hanc unam gratiam potentiamque noverunt.'
[453] Tacitus, _Annals_, iv. 72. 'In the course of the year the
Frisians, a people dwelling beyond the Rhine, broke out into open
acts of hostility. The cause of the insurrection was not the restless
spirit of a nation impatient of the yoke; they were driven to despair
by Roman avarice. A moderate tribute, such as suited the poverty
of the people, consisting of raw hides for the use of the legions,
had been formerly imposed by Drusus. To specify the exact size and
quality of the hide was an idea that never entered into the head
of any man till Olennius, the first centurion of a legion, being
appointed governor over the Frisians, collected a quantity of the
hides of forest bulls, and made them the standard both of weight
and dimensions. To any other nation this would have been a grievous
burden, but was altogether impracticable in Germany, where the cattle
running wild in large tracts of forest are of prodigious size, while
the breed for domestic uses is remarkably small. The Frisians groaned
under this oppressive demand. They gave up first their cattle, next
their lands; and finally were obliged to see their wives and children
carried into slavery by way of commutation. Discontent arose, and
they rebelled,' &c.
[454] _Hist._, f. 369.
[455] Salvian, _De Gubernatione Dei_, ib. v. s. vi.–viii.
[456] 'Hoc enim pacto aliquid parentibus temporarie attribuitur, ut
in futuro totum filiis auferatur'--Salvian, s. viii.
[457] The above is only an abridged summary of the lengthy
declamation of Salvian. See Gregory of Tours, '_De Miraculis S.
Martini_,' iv. xi. (1122), where a surrender is mentioned. 'Tradidit
ei omnem possessionem suam, dicens: "Sint hæc omnia penes S^{ti.}
Martini ditionem quæ habere videor, et hoc tantum exinde utar, ut de
his dum vixero alar."'
[458] Lib. ii. Tit. i. 36. 'Is ad quem ususfructus fundi pertinet,
non aliter fructuum dominus efficitur, quam si ipse eos perceperit;
et ideo, licet maturis fructibus nondum tamen perceptis decesserit,
ad heredem ejus non pertinent, sed domino proprietatis adquiruntur.
_Eadem fere et de colono_ dicuntur.
[459] Rudorff, ii. 317.
[460] _Syrisch-Römisches Rechtsbuch._ Aus dem fünften Jahrhundert.
Leipzig, 1880.
[461] _Early Law and Customs_, p. 260.
[462] S. 1, s. 9, and s. 27.
[463] _Inst. Just._ ii. xviii. 53, and
compare Sandars' note on this passage.
[464] _Syrian Code_, s. 3.
[465] See also _Lex Burgundiorum_, i. 2, 'Si cum filiis deviserit
et portionem suam tulerit, . . .' and id. xxiv. 5 and li. 1 and 2.
Also 'Urkunden' of St. Gall, No. 360. 'Quicquid contra filios meos
in portionem et in meam swascaram accepi.' See also Sir H. Maine's
_Ancient Law_, pp. 198, 224, 228.
[466] _Reports on Tenure of Land_, 1869–70, p. 226. Just. Nov. 18.
[467] See _Syrian Code_, s. 50.
[468] See the parable of 'The unjust steward,' and _supra_, p. 145.
[469] _Journal of the Palestine Exploration Society_, January 1883.
'Life, Habits, and Customs of the Fellahin of Palestine,' by the
Rev. F. A. Klein. From the _Zeitschrift_ of the German Palestine
Exploration Society.
[470] Shortened form of _ard emiri_--land of the Emir.
[471] The standard measure of land throughout the Turkish Empire
is called a _deunum_, and is the area which one pair of oxen can
plough in a single day; it is equal to a quarter of an acre, or a
square of forty _arshuns_ (nearly 100 feet). There seems to be but
one allusion to this fact in the Scriptures; it is found in 1 Sam.
xiv. 14, where the exploit of Jonathan and his armour-bearer is
described: twenty of the enemy are stated to have fallen within a
space of '_a half-acre of land_' of '_a yoke of oxen_,' an expression
better rendered 'within the space of half a _deunum_ of land.' This
measure is referred to in ancient profane writers, so that no change
has occurred in this respect. Van Lenner's _Bible Customs in Bible
Lands_, i. 75.
[472] _Early Law and Custom_, p. 332.
[473] _Lex Alamannorum_ Chlotharii. 1. 'Ut si quis liber res suas vel
semetipsum ad ecclesiam tradere voluerit, nullus habeat licentiam
contradicere ei, non dux, non comes, nec ulla persona, sed spontanea
voluntate liceat christiano homine Deo servire et de proprias res
suas semetipsum redemere. . . .
2. Si quis liber, qui res suas ad ecclesiam dederit et per cartam
firmitatem fecerit, sicut superius dictum est, et post hæc ad
pastorem ecclesiæ ad beneficium susceperit ad victualem necessitatem
conquirendam diebus vitæ suæ: et quod spondit persolvat ad ecclesiam
censum de illa terra, et hoc per epistulam firmitatis fiat, ut post
ejus discessum nullus de heredibus non contradicat.'--Pertz, _Legum_,
t. iii. pp. 45–6.
[474] _Lex Baiuwariorum._ Textus Legis primus.
1. 'Ut si quis liber persona voluerit et dederit res suas ad
ecclesiam pro redemptione animæ suæ, licentiam habeat de portione
sua, postquam cum filiis suis partivit. Nullus eum prohibeat, non
rex, non dux, nec ulla persona habeat potestatem prohibendi ei. Et
quicquid donaverit, villas, terras, mancipia, vel aliqua pecunia,
omnia quæcumque donaverit pro redemptione animæ suæ, hoc per
epistolam confirmet propria manu sua ipse. . . .
'Et post hæc nullam habeat potestatem nec ipse nec posteri ejus, nisi
defensor ecclesiæ ipsius _beneficium_ præstare voluerit ei.'--Pertz,
_Legum_, t. iii. pp. 269–70.
[475] _Urkundenbuch der Abtei St. Gallen_, i. p. 22.
[476] Compare with the Kentish 'yokes' and 'ioclets.' The yoke here
is, however, evidently the _juger_, not the _jugum_.
[477] _Urkundenbuch_, pp. 27–8.
[478] _Id._ p. 33.
[479] See also _id._ pp. 76 and 90.
[480] Hence '_jurnal_' for _acre_.
[481] _Id._ p. 41.
[482] _Urkundenbuch_, p. 59.
[483] _Id._ p. 60.
[484] _Urkundenbuch_, p. 106.
[485] "Et ad proximam curtem vestram in unaquaque zelga ebdomedarii
jurnalem arare debeamus" (p. 107).
[486] Waitz speaks of the three great fields under the
'_Dreifelderwirthschaft_' as 'Zelgen.'--_Verfassung der Deutschen
Völker_, i. 120. And see _infra_, chap. x. s. iii.
[487] Pertz, _Legum_, iii. pp. 51, 52.
[488] Pertz, _Legum_, t. iii. pp. 278–280.
[489] Compare _Chlotharii II. Præceptio_ (584–628) s. 11. 'Agraria,
pascuaria vel decimas porcorum ecclesiæ pro fidei nostræ devotione
concedimus, ita ut actor aut decimator in rebus ecclesiæ nullus
accedat.'--_Mon. Germ. Hist. Capitularia_, I. i. p. 19.
[490] This word '_accola_' is often used in charters for '_free
coloni_.'
[491] In the Glosses this andecena is called a '_sharwork_.'
[492] _Geschichte der Dorfverfassung in Deutschland_, i. pp. 6 _et
seq._
[493] _Traditiones in Pago Rhinensi. Codex Lauresham._ pp. 357 _et
seq._
[494] _Dorfverfassung_, pp. 15 _et seq._
[495] Ammianus Marcellinus, bk. xvii. c. i., A.D. 357.
[496] _Codex Lauresham._ pp. 326, 362, 369, 375 and _passim_.
[497] _Codex Lauresham._ p. 3.
[498] It is curious to notice that 'coliberti' appear also in the
_western_ counties of England in the Domesday Survey.
[499] _Codex Lauresham._ i. pp. 15–16.
[500] _Id._ i. pp. 18 and 19.
[501] _Id._ i. p. 297.
[502] _Id._ i. p. 303.
[503] _Codex Lauresham._ i. p. 347.
[504] _Id._ i. pp. 349–350.
[505] _Id._ ii. pp. 232 _et seq._
[506] _Urkundenbuch_ of St. Gall, i. p. 50.
[507] _Codex Laureshamensis_, iii. 212. See also the services at
_Winenheim_ (iii. 205), a manor near Heppenheim.
[p336]