Aldiones vel Aldianes eâ lege vivant in Italiâ, in servitute dominorum
suorum, quâ fiscalini vel liddi vivunt in Franciâ.
“_Of the public Aldions, belonging to the public estate._
“The Aldions, or Aldians, shall in Italy exist upon the same principle
in the service of their masters that the fiscals and lids do exist in
France.”
The Aldions were bond-men or bond-women, whose persons were not at the
disposal of their masters, nor did they pass with the land as colonists
did, but their masters or patrons had certain claims upon stated
services from them. They were generally either freed persons or the
descendants of those who had been manumitted upon the condition of
performing stipulated services; and if they failed to perform these,
they were liable to be reduced to slavery. The _lidus_ or _liddus_ or
_litus_ of the Saxon was so called from being spared in the conquest,
and left on the land, with the obligation of paying the master, who
owned it and himself, a certain portion of its produce, and doing him
other fixed services. Thus neither of them was an absolute slave whose
person and property were at the owner’s disposal. The slave was
manumitted, but this latter description of servants were generally
released by deed or charter: hence, when so freed, they were called
_chartulani_, _chartellani_, or “chartered.” The transition from slavery
to this latter kind of servitude was, at the commencement of the ninth
century, greatly on the increase.