CHAP. XXV.: THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF THE HUMILIATION OF THE SECOND RACE. Changes in the Allodia.

CHARLEMAIGN, in the partition In the year 806, between Charles, Pepin, and Lewis; it is quoted by Goldast, and by Baluzius, tom. 1. p. 439. ^†1273, mentioned in the preceding chapter, ordained, that after his death, the vassals belonging to each king, should be permitted to receive benefices in their own sovereign’s dominion, and not in those Art. 9. page 443. which is agreeable to the treaty of Andely in Gregory of Tours, book ix. ^†1274 of another; whereas they Art. 10. and there is no mention made of this in the treaty of Andely. ^†1275 might keep their allodial estates in any of their dominions. But he adds In Baluzius, tom. i. p. 574. Licentiam habeat unusquisque liber homo qui seniorem non habuerit, cuicumque ex his tribus sratribus voluerit, se commendandi, art. 9. See also the division made by the same emperor in the year 837. art. 6. Baluzius’s edition, page 686. ^†1276, that every freeman might, after the death of his lord, do homage in any of the three kingdoms to whom he pleased, as well as he that never had been subject to a lord. We find the same regulations in the partition which Lewis the Debonnaire made among his children in the year 817.

But though the freemen had done homage for a fief, yet the count’s militia was not thereby weakened: the freeman was still obliged to contribute for his allodium, and to get people ready for the service belonging to it, at the proportion of one man to four manors: or else to procure a man that should do the duty of the fief in his stead. And when some abuses had been introduced upon this head, they were redressed,

as appears by the constitutions In the year 811. Baluzius’s edition, tom. 1. page 486. art. 7. and 8. and that of the year 812. ibid. page 490. art. 1. Ut omnis liber homo qui quatuor mansos vestitos de proprio suo, sive de alicujus beneficio, habet, ipse se præparet, & ipse in hostem pergat sive cum seniore suo, &c. See also the capitulary of the year 807. Baluzius’s edition, tom. 1. page 458. ^†1277 of Charlemaign, and by that In the year 793. inserted in the law of the Lombards, book iii. tit. 9. chap. 9. ^†1278 of Pepin king of Italy, which explain each other.

The remark made by historians, that the battle of Fontenay was the ruin of the monarchy, is very true: but I beg leave to cast an eye on the unhappy consequences of that day.

Some time after that battle, the three brothers, Lotharius, Lewis, and Charles, made a treaty In the year 847. quoted by Aubert Le Mire, and Baluzius, tom. ii. p. 42. Conventus apud Marsnam. ^†1279, wherein I find some clauses which must have altered the whole political system of the French government.

In the declaration Adnunciato. ^†1280, which Charles made to the people, of that part of the treaty relating to them, he says, that Ut unusquisque liber homo in nostro regno seniorem quem voluerit in nobis & in nostris fidelibus accipiat, art. 2. of the Declaration of Charles. ^†1281 every freeman might chuse whom he pleased for his lord, whether the king or any of the nobility. Before this treaty the freemen might do homage for a fief; but his allodium still continued under the immediate power of the king, that is, under the count’s jurisdiction; and he depended on the lord to whom he vowed fealty, only on account of the fief which he had obtained. After that treaty, every freeman had a right to subject his allodium to the king, or to any other lord, as he thought proper. The question is not in regard to those who put themselves under the protection of another for a fief, but to such as changed their allodial into a feudal land, and withdrew themselves, as it were, from the civil

jurisdiction, to enter under the power of the king, or of the lord whom they thought proper to chuse.

Thus it was that those who formerly were only under the king’s power, as freemen under the count, became insensibly vassals one of another, since every freeman might chuse whom he pleased for his lord, the king, or any of the nobility.

2. If a man changed an estate, which he possessed in perpetuity into a fief, this new fief could no longer be only for life. Hence we see, a short time after, a Capitulary of the year 877. tit. 53. art. 9. and 10. apud Carisiacum, similiter & de nostris vassallis faciendum est, &c. This capitulary relates to another of the same year, and of the same place, art. 3. ^†1282 general law for giving the fiefs to the children of the present possessor: it was made by Charles the Bald, one of the three contracting princes.

What has been said concerning the liberty every freeman had in the monarchy, after the treaty of the three brothers, of chusing whom he pleased for his lord, the king or any of the nobility, is confirmed by the acts subsequent to that time.

In the reign Capitulary of Aix la Chapelle, in the year 813. art. 16. quod nullus seniorem suum dimittat postquam ab eo acceperit valente solidum unum; and the capitulary of Pepin, in the year 783. art. 5. ^†1283 of Charlemaign, when the vassal had received a present of a lord, were it worth only a sol, he could not afterwards quit him. But under Charles the Bald, the vassals See the capitulary de Cansiaco, in the year 856. art. 10. and 13. Baluzius’s edition, tom, 2. page 83. in which the king, together with the lords spiritual and temporal, agreed to this; Et si aliquis de vobis sit cui suus senioratus non placet, & illi simulat ad alium seniorem meliùs quam ad illum acaptare possit, veniat ad illum, & ipse tranquille & pacifico animo donat illi commeatum . . . & quod Deus illi cupierit ad alium seniorem acaptare potuerit, pacificè habeat. ^†1284 might follow what was agreeable to their interests, or their inclination, with intire safety; and so strongly does this prince explain himself on this subject, that he seems rather to encourage

them in the enjoyment of this liberty, than to restrain it. In Charlemaign’s time, benefices were rather personal than real; afterwards they became rather real than personal.