The capitulars of Charlemagne, a broad expression of the uses and customs of the eighth and ninth centuries, do not all belong to the same time, and there are clear traces of the progress of his might, and the periods, of one in another, of great her. When he is only king of the Franks, he does not explain the foresight of when he is the emperor of the West, and his precepts in the art of governing are growing together with his mayor. The time of the administrative order for him, as can be clearly seen, is since he has dressed the imperial purple, the ultimate goal of his ambition. In these broad codes, called capitulars, it has no philosophical classification; the legislative provisions are mixed together and confused, hence any division by order of matters would be substantially fallacious and arbitrary. The capitulars contain confused principles: the Church, justice, administration, common law are continually mixed with us; there is no order of matters, as if these laws had come one after the other without a design of unity, and nevertheless unity is the goal of Charlemagne’s government[22] .
[25]
In reading these capitulars applied and thoughtfully, you cannot help but ask yourself if they were removed from Roman law, from the basilicas, from the Theodosian and Justinian codes, which in those days reigned to a part of the peoples, to those of Italy, that is, and southern Gaul; but no more vestige of this legislation is found than in the edicts of the third race. Certainly, the codes of peoples always have identical provisions, since the same principles belong to all ages, neither nation has the privilege over the other, or a generation keeps them in the guise of tabernacle, universal law, such as is, written in the soul; but in the capitulars no very profound imprint of Roman law can be seen, and as for the government of the Church and of the cherics, they are canons of the councils thrown there in such a haphazard manner. As for civil provisions, they derive from Alemannic origin, are a public right proper to those nations, and come from that long concatenation of customs and habits, which starts from the first beginning of the conquest; Roman law left few traces there, the capitulars do not collect any fragments of it, reveal no gloss, no reminiscence, and keep Germanic law in its purity.
Alemagna had its customs, its laws, and it kept them up to that time, and yet it keeps them; coming from Germanic origin, the capitulars remained Germanic; there is no trace of it in French legislation; the edicts of the kings of the third lineage, not that I get anything from them, do not even mention them, and ‘son pe’ Capeti as a dead right. At the meeting, from beyond the Elbe to the Rhine, the capitulars placed their fruit in every place; they are, however, the source of more than one national legislation, and even in modern times it draws the spirit of diets from them. It is not doubtful that these deliberations were not in public meeting by the accounts and the leudi, as to the provisions referring to the military government, or by the bishops and priests, when civil and ecclesiastical law was in order. V ‘ there were some, who seemed to notice two quite distinct orders, the nobility and the clergy, already in the act of voting on two separate benches; but he has no clue to establish such distinctions: the capitulars understand in themselves the ecclesiastical and civil provisions in one order only, and it is probable that the men-at-arms were consulted only for distant expeditions, where was to gain glory and gain. Was he willing in Lombardy to tear Desire’s throne to pieces, or to move against the Saxons in that thirty-three-year war? then the opinion of the dukes, counts and leuds was indispensable, and these parties took place in the spring or autumn gatherings. The material compilation of the capitulars was essentially the work of the cherics; little the nobility and the clergy, already in the act of voting on two separate benches; but he has no clue to establish such distinctions: the capitulars understand in themselves the ecclesiastical and civil provisions in a single order, and it is probable that the men-at-arms were consulted only for distant expeditions, where was to gain glory and gain. Was he willing in Lombardy to tear Desire’s throne to pieces, or to move against the Saxons in that thirty-three-year war? then the opinion of the dukes, counts and leuds was indispensable, and these parties took place in the spring or autumn gatherings. The material compilation of the capitulars was essentially the work of the cherics; little the nobility and the clergy, already in the act of voting on two separate benches; but he has no clue to establish such distinctions: the capitulars understand in themselves the ecclesiastical and civil provisions in one order only, and it is probable that the men-at-arms were consulted only for distant expeditions, where was to gain glory and gain. Was he willing in Lombardy to tear Desire’s throne to pieces, or to move against the Saxons in that thirty-three-year war? then the opinion of the dukes, counts and leuds was indispensable, and these parties took place in the spring or autumn gatherings. The material compilation of the capitulars was essentially the work of the cherics; little the capitulars understand in themselves the ecclesiastical and civil provisions in a single order, and it is probable that the men-at-arms were consulted only for distant expeditions, where it was to acquire glory and gain. Was he willing in Lombardy to tear Desire’s throne to pieces, or to move against the Saxons in that thirty-three-year war? then the opinion of the dukes, counts and leuds was indispensable, and these parties took place in the spring or autumn gatherings. The material compilation of the capitulars was essentially the work of the cherics; little the capitulars understand in themselves the ecclesiastical and civil provisions in a single order, and it is probable that the men-at-arms were consulted only for distant expeditions, where it was to acquire glory and gain. Was he willing in Lombardy to tear Desire’s throne to pieces, or to move against the Saxons in that thirty-three-year war? then the opinion of the dukes, counts and leuds was indispensable, and these parties took place in the spring or autumn assemblies. The material compilation of the capitulars was essentially the work of the cherics; little Was he willing in Lombardy to tear Desire’s throne to pieces, or to move against the Saxons in that thirty-three-year war? then the opinion of the dukes, counts and leuds was indispensable, and these parties took place in the spring or autumn assemblies. The material compilation of the capitulars was essentially the work of the cherics; little Was he willing in Lombardy to tear Desire’s throne to pieces, or to move against the Saxons in that thirty-three-year war? then the opinion of the dukes, counts and leuds was indispensable, and these parties took place in the spring or autumn assemblies. The material compilation of the capitulars was essentially the work of the cherics; little [26]There is a gap between the ecclesiastical dispositions of the laws of Charlemagne and those of the councils, so that the Benedictines allocated several of them in the Concilia Galliae , and with reason, they did not carry the title of Charlemagne, except in that form that the councils of Byzantium they bear the name of the emperor of the East.
The most important thing above all is to make known these broad codes of laws and public administration. Much has indeed been said about the capitulars, and they were commented on, and various systems succeeded one another to explain them; but few have read them, and no one has translated them in the body, in order to bring them to everyone’s knowledge, and yet this is a work which in itself sums up the whole of Carolina history; And if the truth is true, can you have full knowledge of an epoch, if you do not know its legislation, and you do not learn about its customs, its customs and its general laws?
Charlemagne’s first capitular, given in a diet or council of the year 769, encompasses a large body of civil and ecclesiastical police provisions. «Charles, by the grace of God, king of the Franks, devoted defender of the Holy Church and support in everything of the Apostolic See. At the exhortation of our faithful and council of bishops, and other priests, we expressly prohibit any bishop and priest, servant of God, from carrying arms, fighting and following armies, or moving against the enemy, except those however, who they are called to carry out their divine ministry, sing the mass and carry the relics of the saints, for which two bishops, accompanied by the priests belonging to the chapels, will suffice. Each head will have with him a priest to confess and penitentiate his people. Priests do not shed blood neither of pagans, nor of Christians, and we also forbid them to hunt through the forests and go out with dogs, hawks and goshawks. Who among them has more women with him, or sheds the blood of Christians or pagans, or transgresses the canons, is to be deprived of the priesthood, because he is then more corrupt than a secular. We also order that the bishop use, according to the canons, all concern for the good of his diocese, in which he must be assisted by the count, who, as defender of the Church, which he is, invigilate goddesses so that the people of God do not exercise no pagan practice, no filth of the gentiles, as are the profane sacrileges of the dead, the amulets, the wishes, the spells, the sacrifices of the victims and all those pagan ceremonies, which some fools usually do in the churches, under the invocation of the saints martyrs and confessors of God. The bishop will do each year a tour in his diocese, taking care to confirm the people and administer them. The priest is, in obedience to the sacred canons, subject to the bishop of the diocese in which he dwells, and at Lent he is to give an account of the way in which he fulfilled his ministry, [27]facts from him, the conditions of the Catholic faith and the prayers and masses he said. It will also be a debt of the priests, to have an open eye on the incestuous and other guilty ones, taking care that they do not die in a state of guilt, lest Christ one day blame themselves for the loss of these souls. Also be careful not to let the sick and the contrite die, without holy oil, reconciliation and viaticum. They will observe the fast of Lent, and they will make the people observe it. ”
These purely clerical police statutes are mixed with laws of government and political order. “Everyone must attend the great hearings which are held, the first in the summer and the second in the autumn. As for the others, there is no obligation to go to them, except when one is called to it by necessity or has been ordered by the king. If the king or any of his faithful commands to pray for any reason, everyone must obey immediately. Priests should not celebrate, except in a consecrated place, when it is not for travel, and whoever does otherwise incurs the loss of the rank. Who among them does not know, according to the rites, the offices of his ministry, nor, according to the will of his bishop, place all the faculties of his mind to learn them, thus despising the canons, is to be suspended from his office, until entirely correct. Anyone who has been admonished several times by his bishop to better indoctrinate himself will not have done so, be deprived of the ministry, and lose the church, because he who ignores the law of God cannot teach it and preach it to others. No judge arrogates to harass a priest, a deacon, a cherico, for as little as his rank, and even less arrogant to condemn him against the bishop’s opinion. It is not lawful for a secular to take possession and keep the church or the particular possessions of a bishop; whoever does this must be kidnapped by universal charity and communion, until he has returned the capital and interest. ” he cannot teach it and preach it to others. No judge arrogates to harass a priest, a deacon, a cherico, for as little as his rank, and even less arrogant to condemn him against the bishop’s opinion. It is not lawful for a secular to take possession and keep the church or the particular possessions of a bishop; whoever does this must be kidnapped by universal charity and communion, until he has returned the capital and interest. ” he cannot teach it and preach it to others. No judge arrogates to harass a priest, a deacon, a cherico, for as little as his rank, and even less arrogant to condemn him against the bishop’s opinion. It is not lawful for a secular to take possession and keep the church or the particular possessions of a bishop; whoever does this must be kidnapped by universal charity and communion, until he has returned the capital and interest. ”
These statutes, I have already said, differ little from the general laws of the councils; the Church is what Charlemagne wants from the height of his might, but the Church is the principle of every rule and of every moral force. “In the eleventh year of the very happy reign of our most glorious King Charles, the month of March, the bishops, abbots, illustrious men and counts, congregating in synodal assembly with our most pious lord, made a capitulate with the will of God about opportune things and decreed that it be published [23] : The suffragan bishops will be, according to the canons, subject to their metropolitans, who will have free faculty to change and correct, whatever it seems to them must be changed and corrected in their [28]ministry. The convents of the regulars, and mainly those of the women, must strictly observe their rule, and the abbesses must live in their cloisters. Bishops are committed to correcting licentious men and widowers of their diocese. No bishop can neither receive nor ordain in any degree a cheric subject to another bishop. Everyone pays his tithe, nor can he be dispensed from it except by order of his bishop. ”
The statutes of the penal order are also confused with the disciplines of the Church; Christianity was the formula of the podestà, so that the capitular who regulates the jurisdiction of the bishops often pronounces the penalty for crimes together. «As for the murders and the other offenders condemned to death, if any of them shelter in a church, he will not be granted grace for this, but all sorts of food will be denied. The judges will present the thieves to the count’s audience, under penalty of losing the benefit and office of the transgressor; and if he has no benefit, he will pay the notice [24]. Even our vassals who lack this discipline will lose their benefits and offices. Perjurers will lose a hand. If the one who accuses another of perjury asks for a fight, and comes out victorious, the loser is to be placed on the cross; if, on the contrary, the victor is the one who has sworn, the accuser himself will suffer the penalty which he wanted to inflict on the other. The accounts cannot be harassed for having punished the evildoers, but good justice must be done. Nevertheless, if any of them have done harm to anyone out of hatred or malevolence, or have denied him justice, he will be required to pay him compensation proportionate to the damage done to him. The capitulars that our father and our lord King Pippin ruled in his councils and in his synods are preserved by us. ”
The capitulars also deal with the tax, very low in the times of the Carolingians, proceeding with the income from the tax authorities from private assets and from the compositions of fines. As for the tax itself, the capitular decides. “You pay a penny for every fifty houses [25], half a cent for thirty and a third for twenty. The licenses that grant allodii, will be renewed, or where there are none, they will be written. A difference will be made between those of such licenses which were made on our word, and those granted by free will and which refer to ecclesiastical goods. Nobody misses the royal service. Let no one take an oath to join congregations to conspire, and those who enter congregations or for alms, or for fires, or for shipwrecks, swear no oath for this. [29]It is forbidden to assault in gangs the travelers who go to the king’s palace or elsewhere; it is also forbidden for anyone to take away the hay of another in the times when this is forbidden, even when he is not on the way against the enemy, or when he is not sent by us; the transgressor will be punished. The abolished taxes are not to be levied, except in those places where they were established from ancient times. Slaves may not be sold [26] , except in the presence of the bishop, the count, the archdeacon, the captain, the vice lord or the judge of that count: nor can they be sold outside the borders; the counterfeiter will pay the ban (the fine) as many times as the slaves sold; if he has no money, he will give his person as a pledge to the count, and he will be his servant [27]until he paid. No one will be able to sell armor outside the kingdom. The count who has done some injustice in his office will receive our messengers in the house, until justice is done; if the one who committed the injustice is one of our vassals, then the count and our messenger will go to his house, to live there at his expense until reparation. If anyone is not satisfied with receiving the price assigned for a murder, send it to us and we will have him brought to a place where he will no longer be able to harm a person, and the same is true for those who do not want to pay the same price. As for thieves, they must not punish themselves with death at the first foul, but an eye will be taken out of them; have their nose cut off on the second, and if they are caught a third time without being corrected, let them die. It is forbidden for any public judge to receive money from an imprisoned thief, and if anyone does, he loses his office. Finally, whoever destroys a church, dies ».
And always this great penal code of Charlemagne gets mixed up and confused with the laws of the Church; the councils and capitulars move from one and the same concept, and according to these common dispositions, the royal council is composed of leuds, counts, bishops, abbots, men of war and men of church. Sometimes even the bishops act alone, and congregate under the same impulse. Here are other capitulars promulgated in these meetings, and which they could hold for as many canons [28] . “Each bishop will sing three masses and three psalms, one for the king, the other for the army, the other for the present tribulation [29]. The bishops, the monks, the nuns, the canons also observe fasting for two days, and so do the owners of the houses and the wealthy; each bishop and abbot or abbess will have to feed four poor servants until harvest time; those that so many feed [30]they could not, they will feed three, two, one, according to their substances [30] . The richest accounts will give a pound of silver as alms, the others half a pound. The vassals too will give half a pound for every two hundred houses, five sous for every hundred and one ounce for every fifty or thirty. They will observe fasting for two days, together with their men and all those who can do it [31] . If any of the accounts ever want to redeem himself from these fasts, pay three ounces, an ounce and a half or a penny at least, depending on his substance. All this, if it pleases God, is for the king, for the army of the Franks, and for present evils, carried out before the feast of St. John. ”
This capitulation, as we can clearly see, is a public act of penance, a vow of the army to obtain the cessation of a scourge, and counts and bishops submit to alms, to invoke the mercy of God. But Charlemagne is king who expects above all to order the police and justice, a force of which cannot be done without among a people of soldiers, so that even in his capitulars: “The counts will first listen to the causes of the wards and orphans, hunting or banquet on the days when they have to hold an audience. The oath of fidelity which they owe to us and to our children will be in this form: With these words I promise to be without fraud and without ill intention at the service of my lord King Charles and his children, faithful as I I am and will be the same for my whole life. It is forbidden for the abbesses to leave their monasteries and do anything else that is not lawful for them; their cloisters are well closed, and they do not write or send love letters. Let no one be permitted to look for predictions of the future in the psalter, in the Gospel, or to make other guesses in any other way. Let no one offend for money the rules instituted for the preservation of the law. All will compete in the church on feast days and Sundays, and no one will call priests to have Mass at home. Everyone should rigorously refrain from drunkenness, and the bishops and abbots from causing discord in both private and public houses. Monks and those who belong to the priesthood do not get involved in secular affairs. Bishops, abbots and abbesses are not allowed to keep packs of dogs,[32] . The poor lying in the streets and squares, go to the church, and confession will be administered to them. The altars will be covered with canopies and boxes in order to preserve them. Do not baptize the bells, nor be appicchino [31]short on top of poles in case of bad weather and hail [33] . Our envoys should inquire of the way in which the benefits are governed, and let us know. Finally, the lepers do not mix with the people. ”
These codes, as they are always confused in their dispositions, nevertheless make us aware of the customs of that time, the liberty of civilized man and the customs of the ecclesiastics; the criminal law is the true mirror in which a generation reflects itself, and the law represses bad deeds, which are frequently committed among society, but does not otherwise punish a complete depravity. Now here are the words of Charlemagne again in a capitular: “It is our wish that whoever wants to tower something from a place, cannot do it, except with the assistance of six or seven witnesses, since the oath of the Romans is not valid if it is not confirmed from five or six other testimonies [34]. Whoever finds a treasure buried in an ecclesiastical farm owes the third to the bishop; if he is a Lombard or anyone else who, digging of his own wits, has found it and has received the fourth part of it from the owner of the place, the three other parts are sent to us and no one dares to oppose our will. ”
Here is a solemn feudal judgment: in his revenge as chief lord, Charlemagne electrocuted the Duke Tassillone of Bavaria, the Franks gave the Bavarian lands a breakdown, and a group of men of arms and counts and bishops it has already been gathered for judgment in Frankfurt, before which Tassillone is quoted; now here are the words of the assembly: «We have made the following capitulate around Tassillone, cousin of King Charles, who was Duke of Bavaria. Tassillone went to the diet, asking forgiveness for the faults he had committed, both against King Pepin and the kingdom of the Franks, and against King Charles, our most pious lord. He had already failed in the sworn faith, but he asked us for grace for this, leaving all his anger and resentment, and forsaking all the rights that he and his children, male and female, they could have over the Duchy of Bavaria, which should have legitimately belonged to him, and to avoid any quarrel in the future, he made ample renunciation, recommending his sons and daughters to the king’s mercy. So the king and our lord, touched with compassion for him, forgave him his trespasses, restored him in his grace, and took him [32]in great affection, making him hope more for God’s mercy. Then three copies of this capitular were made, all of the same tenor, one was kept in the palace, another was delivered to Tassillone in the monastery where he is retired, and the third is religiously preserved in the holy chapel of the palace. In this same diet of Frankfurt, our most pious lord, with the consent of the Council, forbade everyone, whether ecclesiastical or layman, to sell the grains at a price higher than the publicly assigned and established tariff, either time of abundance or time of famine. . The oats will be paid one danajo the bushel, two the bushel the barley, three the rye, four the wheat [35]. If grain is sold into bread, twelve loaves of wheat, each weighing two pounds, are given for one danajo; at the same price fifteen loaves of rye, twenty of barley and twenty-five of oats, each of the same weight. The king’s grains will be sold at the price of one danajo, oats, every two buckets, and barley, two denarii for rye, three denarii for wheat. Anyone who benefits from us, must ensure that none of his slaves die of hunger, nor will he be able to sell, at the prices assigned, if not the superfluous to the house. ”
After this capitulation, which establishes a kind of tariff or goal for the price of grains, Charlemagne sets out to settle the value of the caroline denarius, because if he has fixed the price of the food, he cares to establish the value of the currency, for they are things which are given by hand [36] . After assigning the higher price of the grains and the value of the money, he establishes the rights of sellers and buyers with special laws. In fact, this absolute taxation of the price of foodstuffs is the one that in difficult times the supreme dictatorship no longer mentions.
But the broadest, most detailed act of royal solicitude, the one that shows in Charlemagne the greatest care for a good civil administration, is the capitolare de villis , around the company of the farms of the royal domain. Was he done at the behest of Charlemagne, or on a diet? This edict, Charlemagne’s favorite work, was written by his secretary or scribe. «We want, says the prince, that the villas we have established are of use to us alone and not to others [37] . Our servants will be lodged with them, and the judges will be careful not to convert them into their servants, nor will they be able to oblige them to do any service or work of fate for them. [33]none, nor receive any present from them, as would be horses, oxen, cows, boars, castrates, piglets, lambs, nor other things, such as vegetables, apples, poultry or eggs. If any of our servants commits any fraud through theft or negligence, he must pay for it with his head [38] ; for other faults he is to be whipped according to the law, except in the case of murder and fire, in which reparation can be given. Take care to do justice to each one according to his own law. As for the reparations due to us, our servants must be scourged. The Franks domiciled on our farms and in our villas, will be subject to their own laws, and how much they will give to repair their faults, will return nell’erario our [39]. Let each of our judges go to the places governed by him at the time of the works, that is to say, towards the season when sowing, plowing, reaping, hay drying and harvesting, and guarding, so that everything it is done well and properly. We also want our judges to tithe all our revenues to the churches located on our farms. [40]. They also take care of our vineyards, and make them prosper, then placing the wine in good crockery, and taking all the care that it does not go bad. And let them buy it for our valets and transport it to our villas, and when it happens that we have provided more than we need, let us know first for our orders on the subject. Let them send us our vine stocks, and let us bring the wine that is due to us in our cellars. We also want every judge to keep in the places where he exercises his justice, moggia, sestarii and measures for liquid and wheat, similar to those we keep in our own palace. Our officers, the guards of our woods and of our cellieri, our grooms and our debt collectors will guard, so that taxes are paid in our farms. Nor will any judge be able to levy tribute for himself or his dogs on our people or on foreigners. Take great care of our stallions, nor let them stay too long in the same place, so that perhaps they do not thus lose their good qualities, and if any of them die, let us know at the right time, before the season. who usually have the mares covered, and these are diligently guarded, and the foals are spoiled in their time. If there are too many stallions together, they tear apart, and a secluded herd is formed. The foals are all sent to the palace for the feast of St. Martin in the winter. We want him to fulfill whatever we or the queen have nor let them stay too long in the same place, so that perhaps they do not thus lose their good qualities, and if any of them die, let us know at the appropriate time, before the season that it is customary to have the mares covered and these are diligently guarded, and the foals are spoiled in their time. If there are too many stallions together, they tear apart, and a secluded herd is formed. The foals are all sent to the palace for the feast of St. Martin in the winter. We want him to fulfill whatever we or the queen have nor let them stay too long in the same place, so that perhaps they do not lose their good qualities in this way, and if any of them die, let us know at the appropriate time, before the season, that it is customary to have the mares covered, and these are diligently guarded, and the foals are spoiled in their time. If the stallions are too many together, they tear apart, and a secluded herd is formed. The foals are all sent to the palace for the feast of St. Martin in the winter. We want him to fulfill whatever we or the queen have and the foals were spoiled in their time. If there are too many stallions together, they tear apart, and a secluded herd is formed. The foals are all sent to the palace for the feast of St. Martin in the winter. We want him to fulfill whatever we or the queen have and the foals were spoiled in their time. If there are too many stallions together, they tear apart, and a secluded herd is formed. The foals are all sent to the palace for the feast of San Martino in winter. We want him to fulfill whatever we or the queen have [34]ordered, or that our seneschal and our cellarman will order in our name; and whoever through negligence has not fulfilled it, will refrain from drinking from the moment it is told to him, until he has come to ask forgiveness in our presence or the queen’s. If the judge who was to carry out the order was in the field, around, in message or wherever, and the order is given to his subordinates, let them come on foot to the palace, refraining from drinking and eating up to who have given the reasons why they were prevented from obeying, and have received their punishment on their backs or in any other way to please us or the queen [41] . ”
This care and this vigilance over the charioteer and the breeds under the orders of the cellarman and the seneschal, extend to all other things, to judges, jurors, leudi, free men and servants, even to the fruits of the earth ; Charlemagne brings the attentive solicitude of a tenant in the administration of his lands, knowing full well that they form his most certain income. “Our hens and geese have enough flour for them and the best, etc.” Then in his industrious solicitude, he takes thought of the sovereign’s banquets, and he wants to give his table the sumptuousness and splendor of his plenary courts. The banquet was one of the feudal conditions, the chief lord was obliged to give hospitality to his leuds, and to gather around the round table in his royal villas or in his great diets. “Every judge must buy in the domain circuit what is necessary for our table, ensuring that everything is of good quality and assorted with taste and diligence, and make fresh bread knead every day for our use, and all that is given to us, let flour be as good as wheat[42] . At the calends of September we will be informed whether our herds have been well fed or not. The butlers will not have more land to their dependence than they can visit and survive in a day. There should always be a fire lit in the houses [43] , and guards should be kept there for safety, etc. ”
It would seem to you, on reading this chapter, that you are living in the times [35]of the Iliad, and to attend those endless meals of Ajace and Diomedes, where the oxen were roasted by a burning fire. The feudal table was one of the major obligations of the high lord, and Charlemagne took particular care of it; he wants the great game dishes to be inundated with Rhine wine when he returns tired from hunting in distant forests; and the forests too are a sign to his care. “Our forests should be well guarded, and cut down when necessary, and the fields should not be allowed to expand to the detriment of the forest [45]. Take care equally of our wild beasts, and also our hawks and goshawks are used to our advantage. And if any of our judges or butlers or their men let one of his pigs go to one of our woods to fatten him, he is therefore bound to pay a tithe, for a good example of others. Keep an eye on our fields, our crops, our meadows. The judges will receive the eggs and chickens from the hands of our servants, and they will sell those who advance to our need. There will be in each villa a sufficient number of female cignals, peacocks, pheasants, water birds, partridges and turtledoves; and the buildings of our palaces, with the hedges that surround them, are well looked after. The stables, kitchens, mills and presses are kept in good condition, so that our officers may cleanly fulfill their office. In every room of our villas there are beds, mattresses, feather pillows, blankets and sheets; there must also be carpets on the counters and vases of copper, lead, iron, wood; andirons, chains, tripods, axes or axes, gimlets and all sorts of tools, so that there is no need to borrow. The judges should also have all the weapons and armor that they bring against the enemy, and keep them in good condition, then return from the field, put them back in the villas. They still try our harem of everything necessary: linen, wool, ford, lead, madder, combs, presses and all the other small items that make us need. At Lent two parts of the legumes, cheese, butter, apples, mustard, vinegar, millet, bread, dry and grass hay, turnips, chicory, fish caught in nurseries; one part for us and the other for the bishop. Each judge will have in the circuit of the lands committed to his government, skilled workers to work iron, gold and silver, and expert shoemakers, turners, carpenters, carpenters, tailors, fowlers and men skilled at making cervogia, cider of poma and pears, and all other liqueurs; and have pastry chefs to knead pies, and net makers, and so many other workers, that it would take too long to enumerate here all silver, and expert shoemakers, turners, carpenters, carpenters, tailors, fowlers and men skilled at making cervogia, poma and pear cider, and all other liqueurs; and have pastry chefs to knead pies, and net makers, and so many other workers, that it would take too long to enumerate here all silver, and expert shoemakers, turners, carpenters, carpenters, tailors, fowlers and men skilled at making cervogia, poma and pear cider, and all other liqueurs; and have pastry chefs to knead pies, and net makers, and so many other workers, that it would take too long to enumerate here all[46] . ”
[36]
Thus these villas, royal foundations, planted on such large bases, were, as they would nowadays be called, real model farms, which contained workers of all kinds, and servants and colonists under the regiment of a count or a judge, who corresponded directly with the emperor. These estates made the largest income in the crown, and together with the monasteries gave rise to hamlets and villages; hence Charlemagne took great care to keep them in good shape and condition, as can be seen in the other provisions of this same chapter, regarding their conservation. The farm, or the villa, usually lay in the middle of some spacious forest, where the sovereign came to stay in winter time in his hunts for St. Hubert, the patron saint of spirited hunters. Dog education, falcons, sparrow hawks were the object of the greatest royal concern, but the dogs were beautiful breeds of Scotland and Germany, Danish and Swabian with short hair and molossers with sharp teeth. “That judge to whom our new dogs are committed (so the capitular himself), will shepherd them of his own or will confide them to his subordinates.major , the decans , the cellarii, who will take care to feed them well; that if either we or the queen ordered them to be raised in any of our villas, the judge would then choose a man to take care of them. The judge will ensure that our servants, in the days of service, have three pounds of wax and six pounds those servants who are in the place we inhabit on the day of Saint Andrew, and the same on the day of half Lent. He will let us know every year at Christmas, by our light, everything around our cattle and boattieri, our slaves and yokels, and thus the income from him raised on the fields, on the wine and in any other way, the writings done and untied, the beasts taken from the herd in the woods, and the portrait of the fines imposed; will make us aware of what concerns the navy and the ships of free men and centurions who serve in our alloys, markets, vineyards, hay, as regards woods, woods, stones and other materials, and everything that is useful to us to know about legumes, millet, bread, wool, flax, hemp, fruit, walnuts and hazelnuts, planted or cut shrubs, gardens, pits, nurseries, leathers, skins, meats, apples, wax , tallow, drinks, such as cooked wine, mead, vinegar, cervogia, old and new wine; and they will tell us about the hens, the eggs, the geese, the ducks, and finally what the fishermen, the manufacturers, the carpenters, the shoemakers, the turners, the saddlers, the iron and lead workers and the debt collectors did. of taxes about vineyards, hay, about woods, woods, stones and other materials, and everything that we need to know about legumes, millet, bread, wool, linen, hemp , fruit, walnuts and hazelnuts, shrubs planted or cut, gardens, peccas, nurseries, leathers, skins, meats, apples, wax, tallow, drinks, as they are mulled wine, mead, vinegar, cervogia, old and new wine; and they will tell us about the hens, the eggs, the geese, the ducks, and finally what the fishermen, the manufacturers, the carpenters, the shoemakers, the turners, the saddlers, the iron and lead workers and the debt collectors did. of taxes about vineyards, hay, about woods, woods, stones and other materials, and everything that we need to know about legumes, millet, bread, wool, linen, hemp , fruit, walnuts and hazelnuts, shrubs planted or cut, vegetable gardens, peccas, nurseries, leathers, skins, meats, apples, wax, tallow, drinks, as they are mulled wine, mead, vinegar, cervogia, old and new wine; and they will tell us about the hens, the eggs, the geese, the ducks, and finally what the fishermen, the manufacturers, the carpenters, the shoemakers, the turners, the saddlers, the iron and lead workers and the debt collectors did. of taxes and of all that we need to know about legumes, millet, bread, wool, linen, hemp, fruit, nuts and hazelnuts, planted or cut shrubs, gardens, ‘nurseries, hides, skins, meats, apples, wax, tallow, drinks, such as cooked wine, mead, vinegar, cervogia, old and new wine; and they will tell us about the hens, the eggs, the geese, the ducks, and finally what the fishermen, the manufacturers, the carpenters, the shoemakers, the turners, the saddlers, the iron and lead workers and the debt collectors did. of taxes and of all that we need to know about legumes, millet, bread, wool, linen, hemp, fruit, nuts and hazelnuts, planted or cut shrubs, gardens, ‘nurseries, hides, skins, meats, apples, wax, tallow, drinks, such as cooked wine, mead, vinegar, cervogia, old and new wine; and they will tell us about the hens, the eggs, the geese, the ducks, and finally what the fishermen, the manufacturers, the carpenters, the shoemakers, the turners, the saddlers, the iron and lead workers and the debt collectors did. of taxes of peches, nurseries, hides, skins, meats, apples, wax, tallow, drinks, such as cooked wine, mead, vinegar, cervogia, old wine and new; and they will tell us about the hens, the eggs, the geese, the ducks, and finally what the fishermen, the manufacturers, the carpenters, the shoemakers, the turners, the saddlers, the iron and lead workers and the debt collectors did. of taxes of the pecchie, of the nurseries, of the leathers, of the skins, of the meats, of the apples, of the wax, of the tallow, of the drinks, such as cooked wine, mead, vinegar, cervogia, old wine and new; and they will tell us about the hens, the eggs, the geese, the ducks, and finally what the fishermen, the manufacturers, the carpenters, the shoemakers, the turners, the saddlers, the iron and lead workers and the debt collectors did. of taxes[47] . ”
[37]
Upon reading this large chapter De villis , so minute, so specified, you can do well, without any longer, the most just and very serious concept of the domestic administration of Charlemagne, since there he intends to establish his incomes and to organize his tax colonies , one of the most wonderful creations of those times. The villas were not only country farms, more or not even extensive, but formed an entire colony, and were small societies composed of workers of every trade, who, under the regiment of a delegate of the taxman, worked for the common good. and for the profit of the master, especially of traditions, thus, of the Roman family and union of slaves and freedmen. The capitular De villis it is one of the most accomplished works of Charlemagne, because it includes the administration of each of his estates, and makes us penetrate the internal life of society; the worker as well as the expert belonged to the royal tax authorities, and all contributed with their work to the improvement of the farm. These capitulars also reveal to us the state of the goods stable at that time, the condition of the servants and of the free men, the kind of cultivation of the land, that the Gauls were great farmers, and after having confused their methods with the traditions of Rome , afterwards they had more perfected him for their trade with the Arabs. The villas were the patrimony of the kings, and had settlers and other workers for the land, craftsmen who made weapons for the war or built bottame for the harvest; each man had his state, every man on the estate his job; most of the income was collected in nature; the lord received the wine of his villas, the riches of his fields, the meat of his castrati and of his pigs, which he took into account one by one, because he needed it in his feasts, when it gushed out within the feudal cup the wine of the Rhine and Moselle. So each of these farms was a body, a whole that gathered, as in a city, all the arts and crafts. when the Rhine and Moselle wine flowed into the feudal cup. So each of these farms was a body, a whole that gathered, as in a city, all the arts and crafts. when the Rhine and Moselle wine flowed into the feudal cup. So each of these farms was a body, a whole that gathered, as in a city, all the arts and crafts.
The act by which the Carlinghe villas are so admirably ordered, is not really a capitular, but yes a rule composed and given out by Charlemagne for the company of his own patrimony, and when he has this ample code compiled of administration, still it is none other than the king of the Franks, nor the imperial crown has encircled his forehead; it is the time that he takes even more thought of the organization of his estates than of his empire. Such was the custom of the Franks of the first lineage: they applied themselves to managing the income of their patrimony, so considerable at that time, as to make the general tax almost insensitive. The revenue of the tax authorities consisted mainly of levels, contributions, [38]in kind, in servitude for public roads, in fodder, wine, weapons for war and for royal courts, and in personal services. Finally, the lord’s incomes increased by a few coins or silver coins imposed on free men and obliged to maintain the splendor of the crown.