A Source Book of Mediaeval History Part 13

[Sidenote: The churches as a place of refuge]

=2.= If any one shall have fled to a church for refuge, let no one presume to expel him from the church by violence, but he shall be left in peace until he shall be brought to the judicial a.s.semblage; and on account of the honor due to G.o.d and the saints, and the reverence due to the church itself, let his life and all his members be granted to him. Moreover, let him plead his cause as best he can and he shall be judged; and so let him be led to the presence of the lord king, and the latter shall send him where it shall seem fitting to his clemency.

=3.= If any one shall have entered a church by violence and shall have carried off anything in it by force or theft, or shall have burned the church itself, let him be punished by death.[137]

[Sidenote: Offenses against the Church]

=4.= If any one, out of contempt for Christianity, shall have despised the holy Lenten feast and shall have eaten flesh, let him be punished by death. But, nevertheless, let it be taken into consideration by a priest, lest perchance any one from necessity has been led to eat flesh.[138]

=5.= If any one shall have killed a bishop or priest or deacon let him likewise be punished capitally.

=6.= If any one, deceived by the devil, shall have believed, after the manner of the pagans, that any man or woman is a witch and eats men, and on this account shall have burned the person, or shall have given the person's flesh to others to eat, or shall have eaten it himself, let him be punished by a capital sentence.

=7.= If any one, in accordance with pagan rites, shall have caused the body of a dead man to be burned, and shall have reduced his bones to ashes, let him be punished capitally.

[Sidenote: Refusal to be baptized]

=8.= If any one of the race of the Saxons hereafter, concealed among them, shall have wished to hide himself unbaptized, and shall have scorned to come to baptism, and shall have wished to remain a pagan, let him be punished by death.

=9.= If any one shall have sacrificed a man to the devil, and, after the manner of the pagans, shall have presented him as a victim to the demons, let him be punished by death.

[Sidenote: Conspiracy against Christians]

=10.= If any one shall have formed a conspiracy with the pagans against the Christians, or shall have wished to join with them in opposition to the Christians, let him be punished by death; and whosoever shall have consented fraudulently to this same against the king and the Christian people, let him be punished by death.

=11.= If any one shall have shown himself unfaithful to the lord king, let him be punished with a capital sentence.

=13.= If any one shall have killed his lord or lady, let him be punished in a like manner.

=14.= If, indeed, for these mortal crimes secretly committed any one shall have fled of his own accord to a priest, and after confession shall have wished to do penance, let him be freed by the testimony of the priest from death....[139]

[Sidenote: Observance of the Sabbath and of festival days]

=18.= On the Lord's day no meetings or public judicial a.s.semblages shall be held, unless perchance in a case of great necessity, or when war compels it, but all shall go to church to hear the word of G.o.d, and shall be free for prayers or good works. Likewise, also, on the special festivals they shall devote themselves to G.o.d and to the services of the Church, and shall refrain from secular a.s.semblies.

[Sidenote: Baptism of infants]

=19.= Likewise, it has been pleasing to insert in these decrees that all infants shall be baptized within a year; and we have decreed this, that if any one shall have refused to bring his infant to baptism within the course of a year, without the advice or permission of the priest, if he is a n.o.ble he shall pay 120 _solidi_[140] to the treasury; if a freeman, 60; if a _litus_, 30.[141]

=20.= If any one shall have contracted a prohibited or illegal marriage, if a n.o.ble, 60 _solidi_; if a freeman, 30; if a _litus_, 15.

[Sidenote: Keeping up heathen rites]

=21.= If any one shall have made a vow at springs or trees or groves,[142] or shall have made an offering after the manner of the heathen and shall have partaken of a repast in honor of the demons, if he shall be a n.o.ble, 60 _solidi_; if a freeman, 30; if a _litus_, 15. If, indeed, they have not the means of paying at once, they shall be given into the service of the Church until the _solidi_ are paid.

=22.= We command that the bodies of Saxon Christians shall be carried to the church cemeteries, and not to the mounds of the pagans.

=23.= We have ordered that diviners and soothsayers shall be handed over to the churches and priests.

[Sidenote: Fugitive criminals]

=24.= Concerning robbers and malefactors who shall have fled from one county to another, if any one shall receive them into his protection and shall keep them with him for seven nights,[143]

except for the purpose of bringing them to justice, let him pay our ban.[144] Likewise, if a count[145] shall have concealed them, and shall be unwilling to bring them forward so that justice may be done, and is not able to excuse himself for this, let him lose his office.

=26.= No one shall presume to impede any man coming to us to seek justice; and if anyone shall have attempted to do this, he shall pay our ban.

[Sidenote: Public a.s.semblies]

=34.= We have forbidden that Saxons shall hold public a.s.semblies in general, unless perchance our _missus_[146] shall have caused them to come together in accordance with our command; but each count shall hold judicial a.s.semblies and administer justice in his jurisdiction. And this shall be cared for by the priests, lest it be done otherwise.[147]

18. The Capitulary Concerning the Royal Domains (cir. 800)

The revenues which came into Charlemagne's treasury were derived chiefly from his royal domains. There was no system of general taxation, such as modern nations maintain, and the funds realized from gifts, fines, rents, booty, and tribute money, were quite insufficient to meet the needs of the court, modest though they were. Charlemagne's interest in his villas, or private farms, was due therefore not less to his financial dependence upon them than to his personal liking for thrifty agriculture and thoroughgoing administration. The royal domains of the Frankish kingdom, already extensive at Charlemagne's accession, were considerably increased during his reign. It has been well said that Charlemagne was doubtless the greatest landed proprietor of the realm and that he "supervised the administration of these lands as a sovereign who knows that his power rests partly on his riches."[148] He gave the closest personal attention to his estates and was always watchful lest he be defrauded out of even the smallest portion of their products which was due him. The capitulary _De Villis_, from which the following pa.s.sages have been selected, is a lengthy doc.u.ment in which Charlemagne sought to prescribe clearly and minutely the manifold duties of the stewards in charge of these estates. We may regard it, however, as in the nature of an ideal catalogue of what the king would like to have on his domains rather than as a definite statement of what was always actually to be found there. From it may be gleaned many interesting facts regarding rural life in western Europe during the eighth and ninth centuries. Its date is uncertain, but it was about 800--possibly somewhat earlier.

Source--Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Leges_ (Boretius ed.), Vol. I., No. 32, pp. 82-91. Translated by Roland P. Falkner in _Univ. of Pa. Translations and Reprints_, Vol. III., No. 2, pp. 2-4.

[Sidenote: Report to be made to the king by his stewards each Christmas-tide]

=62.=[149] We desire that each steward shall make an annual statement of all our income, with an account of our lands cultivated by the oxen which our plowmen drive, and of our lands which the tenants of farms ought to plow;[150] an account of the pigs, of the rents,[151] of the obligations and fines; of the game taken in our forests without our permission; of the various compositions;[152] of the mills, of the forest, of the fields, and of the bridges and s.h.i.+ps; of the freemen and the districts under obligations to our treasury; of markets, vineyards, and those who owe wine to us; of the hay, fire-wood, torches, planks, and other kinds of lumber; of the waste-lands; of the vegetables, millet, and panic;[153] and of the wool, flax, and hemp; of the fruits of the trees; of the nut trees, larger and smaller; of the grafted trees of all kinds; of the gardens; of the turnips; of the fish-ponds; of the hides, skins, and horns; of the honey and wax; of the fat, tallow and soap; of the mulberry wine, cooked wine, mead, vinegar, beer, wine new and old; of the new grain and the old; of the hens and eggs; of the geese; of the number of fishermen, smiths, sword-makers, and shoe-makers; of the bins and boxes; of the turners and saddlers; of the forges and mines, that is iron and other mines; of the lead mines; of the colts and fillies. They shall make all these known to us, set forth separately and in order, at Christmas, in order that we may know what and how much of each thing we have.

[Sidenote: Domestic animals]

=23.= On each of our estates our stewards are to have as many cow-houses, pig-sties, sheep-folds, stables for goats, as possible, and they ought never to be without these. And let them have in addition cows furnished by our serfs[154] for performing their service, so that the cow-houses and plows shall be in no way diminished by the service on our demesne. And when they have to provide meat, let them have steers lame, but healthy, and cows and horses which are not mangy, or other beasts which are not diseased and, as we have said, our cow-houses and plows are not to be diminished for this.

[Sidenote: Cleanliness enjoined]

=34.= They must provide with the greatest care that whatever is prepared or made with the hands, that is, lard, smoked meat, salt meat, partially salted meat, wine, vinegar, mulberry wine, cooked wine, _garns_,[155] mustard, cheese, b.u.t.ter, malt, beer, mead, honey, wax, flour, all should be prepared and made with the greatest cleanliness.

=40.= That each steward on each of our domains shall always have, for the sake of ornament, swans, peac.o.c.ks, pheasants, ducks, pigeons, partridges, turtle-doves.

[Sidenote: Household furniture]

=42.= That in each of our estates, the chambers shall be provided with counterpanes, cus.h.i.+ons, pillows, bed-clothes, coverings for the tables and benches; vessels of bra.s.s, lead, iron and wood; andirons, chains, pot-hooks, adzes, axes, augers, cutla.s.ses, and all other kinds of tools, so that it shall never be necessary to go elsewhere for them, or to borrow them. And the weapons, which are carried against the enemy, shall be well-cared for, so as to keep them in good condition; and when they are brought back they shall be placed in the chamber.

=43.= For our women's work they are to give at the proper time, as has been ordered, the materials, that is the linen, wool, woad,[156] vermilion, madder,[157] wool-combs, teasels,[158] soap, grease, vessels, and the other objects which are necessary.

[Sidenote: Supplies to be furnished the king]

=44.= Of the food products other than meat, two-thirds shall be sent each year for our own use, that is of the vegetables, fish, cheese, b.u.t.ter, honey, mustard, vinegar, millet, panic, dried and green herbs, radishes, and in addition of the wax, soap and other small products; and they shall tell us how much is left by a statement, as we have said above; and they shall not neglect this as in the past; because from those two-thirds, we wish to know how much remains.

[Sidenote: Workmen on the estates]

=45.= That each steward shall have in his district good workmen, namely, blacksmiths, gold-smith, silver-smith, shoe-makers, turners, carpenters, sword-makers, fishermen, foilers, soap-makers, men who know how to make beer, cider, berry, and all the other kinds of beverages, bakers to make pastry for our table, net-makers who know how to make nets for hunting, fis.h.i.+ng and fowling, and the others who are too numerous to be designated.

19. An Inventory of One of Charlemagne's Estates

In the following inventory we have a specimen of the annual statements required by Charlemagne from the stewards on his royal domains. The location of Asnapium is unknown, but it is evident that this estate was one of the smaller sort. Like all the rest, it was liable occasionally to become the temporary abiding place of the king. The detailed character of the inventory is worthy of note, as is also the number of industries which must have been engaged in by the inhabitants of the estate and its dependent villas.