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Post by Lex on Feb 23, 2007 3:06:53 GMT -5
Please do!
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Post by Lady Mage on Feb 23, 2007 15:09:13 GMT -5
Thanks to my reviewer, here is part five-
Those Who Worked—the Peasants
Although not all peasants worked on estates, some of them owning their own property, a vast majority of them did, at least part of the time. Medieval estates came in two parts: the demesne, land that remained under the direct control and possession of the person who owned the manor, and the Tenancies- land that was let out by the owner of the manor.
By the year 1000, slavery had almost completely died out, and serfdom, much more favorable, had taken it’s place. The big difference was the fact that the serf got to have a little land and a house for himself and his family. Even though this land was still owned by the lord, the peasant was allowed to grow food for himself and his family there. Slaves had lived in barracks, not being allowed to marry, and had relied solely upon the lord for a source of food. If the lord or the steward forgot, then the slave starved.
There were three forms of lordship, the mildest being landlordship, a more burdensome form being domestic lordship, and the absolute worst being banal lordship. In landlordship, the peasant agrees to farm the land of someone else. This was an economic arrangement. In domestic lordship, the peasant commends himself or herself to a lord and becomes a personal dependent of that lord. This was a more personal form of lordship. The term ‘banal lordship’ came from the Latin privilege bannum- the right to command and punish others. Theoretically, bannum belonged only to public officials, but castellans, secure in their castles, began to assume it within a day’s ride away (15-20 miles). This was more of a territorial relationship.
All lords had the prerogative to fine the peasants: for instance fines might be collected when a peasant’s daughter got married, when someone wanted to marry a peasant from another lord, when someone died and left something to an heir, when a house burned down accidentally, and when a wife committed adultery and it became public knowledge. All lords also had the prerogative to demand the hospitality from any peasant, basically descending on the peasant’s house, and eating them out of house and home, then moving on to the next house. A lord could also, at any moment, demand the tallage, which was an arbitrary amount of money that could be collected at any time by the lord. Under banal lords, they could hold monopolies over everything the peasant used, charging exorbitant prices.
By 1300, serfdom was much less common. Population Growth had caused several ‘escape valves’. There was the fact that land was being cleared, and frontiers to be settled. If a peasant escaped to a town and hid out there for a year and a day, he was considered free from all obligations to his lord. For the peasants that stayed, the lords had to offer concessions when faced with these ‘escape valves’. Peasants were also able to buy themselves out of the required three days a week they had to work on the demesne of their lord.
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Post by Lex on Feb 23, 2007 15:19:28 GMT -5
Very interesting. Always wondered what a serf was after souldrinkers
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Post by Lady Mage on Feb 23, 2007 15:22:32 GMT -5
Souldrinkers?
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Post by Lex on Feb 23, 2007 15:34:13 GMT -5
Hmmm... you know I linked you to Matt Farrer? He wrote a book called Souldrinkers. It's pretty cool.
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Post by Lady Mage on Feb 23, 2007 15:44:54 GMT -5
O, okay. I'll check it out. Thanks.
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Post by Lex on Feb 24, 2007 7:44:30 GMT -5
Your really good at this!
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