SPECIAL ARTICLE.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18479, 5 September 1925, Page 11

SPECIAL ARTICLE.

: "BYWAYS OF ! HISTORY. ♦ / IN THE NINTH CENTURY. ygttxra ron "nr. aW) Acton once said: "The v nowaday. takes his 4 Acton was % great historian, but one <*s? j»agn>« bixn taking his ■biirfl. It# remained to Ufo a perfect tjpe of Olympic of Queen Vicwhom the kitcnen and vasts Tfer< ' M ttlx!aloWn as itf hewed out theiT eoaL jtby this rather cryptic-iip-n—that the school of his- - be belonged who c,ash ot Ujj deeds and misdeeds of 0 f the earth was yicldtfcOM who approached his-NrV-Wanoßomic 6 P ent ** rniravelliag the details of 001,1111011 mcn *SwV» Teragß TOader Gnd f tbo economists more inter- ■ Pas® 1 of Macaulay rffS I e* 1 " 104 8375 but il cer " that the modern his-WIJ-epDoeting, translating, and contemporary material rfWjTjTpMOble for tha average* if to realL<,e i nito ac"tlhhairtto average man lived and JjJJfe almost any period of past |£dant documents which < -iLhiltorv of the ninth cen!s••SST**o v* s™* i ™p ortaiicc Wvitww lieht jErtm different angles wbjeot-the conditions of fcZTW fc Lnnto & 68481:0 the w tLt so* to OVCT a thou " •5 JJ- jjm, 90 detailed aTe these w0 noi only know the JSwlfcoowha worked on the farm Td tb# and children, but daily life and wvrik of the >'earijww®6ll^B pres crve s for *£m by CharleJ Stewards I telling them ceglsary for i the rents :h each man ands of the dministered vaa divided ed for tho wrvioe, hut of £ 'of "the a rajjge of rfy,- various the carpenitbef aMlled '» Mwters, 9, the freeir own huts need notice wWi and •dlrisiV on.—Qharleds each to d^worlgQen, m to make tenwer, enof the pea r© wwged i as that' of raped round all. enclosed J by p bolt)wed within !he women's >ur women's rials: that is on, madder, grease, vesi ftre necepB's^qoaortere Women can ho seignorial j man which gave befell

against his master's enemies, and the right to live on his holding and nse for his own purposes whatever of the produet of his labour remained when the claims of tho Abbey bad been satisfied. Every tenant had in the first place to pay an army tar. This took the form of an ox or its equivalent in money. It is this tax which we find again and again entered first on the Abbey books as due from each tenant. "He Bhall pay to the host two shillings of silver."

The rent due from each tenant in addition to this army tax and a poll tax of fourpenco a head falls into three classes:

(1) Kent paid for special privileges granted by the Abbey. For example: every third year a sheep was due to the Abbey for the right to graze on the fields of the manse; a load of wood was carried to the big house in return for the privilege of gathering firewood; pasture for pigs was obtained by the tribute of home made wine.

(2) Yearly Tent, consisting of eggs, chickens, piglings, wine, honey, soap, wax, and even planks for repairing buildings. If the tenant were a craftsman he had to pay in kind for the privilege of exercising his craft. Even the women had to furnish a small quota of cloth or yarn. (3) In addition to this rent in kind, there was the rent of service. Tenants had to work on the land attached to the manse for three days of the week before they could begin to cultivate their own. Every man in each year was compelled to do a fixed amount of ploughing on the scienorial land, in addition to a "corvee," an unfixed amount which tho steward could demand in every week according to his discretion. Beside these formal wills on his time, the tenant was always liable to be called upon to do -repair of buildings and fences, to make ale, gather fruit, and to join in tho varied labours of tho vineyard. Every month brought its laibour, and the constant struggle in the brief hours that were his own to wring from the soil food, clothing and shelter for himself and his family. (It is interesting here to note that Charlemagne gives tho months names very similar to those with which "the Republicans in Franc© decorated their calendar—winter month, mud month, Easter month, wind month, and so on.) The lot of the mediiaval peasant was indeed a hard one, bnt it had its alleviations. The Church, which so often aifforded the peasants protection against their lords, recognised their hard lot. A kindly bishop thus instructs his priests: "When peasants fcom© to you, you must not give them as many jfasts to perform as rich men. Put upon them only half the pennance," It was from tho Church that the peasant secured his holidays—on Sundays and saints' days no servile work was to he done. This is the decree issued in 827 AJD. by Louis, tho son of Charlemagne: "Wo ordain according to the will of God, and the command of Our Father 1 of blessed memory in, His edicts, that no eervile work shall be done oil Sundays," Hero follows a long list of tho various works classed as servile. The decree then goes on: "Bnt three oarrying-seiwioes it is lawful to do on Sunday, to wit, carrying for the army, carrying food, or carrying, if need be, the body of a lord to its grave. Let the people come together from all sides to Mass in the Church."

That Sundays and saints' days were real holidays we gather from countless complaints mad© by Church Councils that after Mass the 'peasants "sangl wicked songs with a chorus of dancing •women." or "held ballads and dancings and evil wanton songs, and such like lures of the devil." From later documents we find that dancing and singing in the churchyard on holy days was a custom continued right up to the time of the

Besides this the Church, from timo to time, staged miracle plays to teach the unlettered peasants tho elements of religious doctripe. Apart from the festivals: of the Church, there was the exoitement of fairs and markets, That those were eagerly attended by the peasants we learn from the instruction which Charlemagne gives to ins stewards to "be careful that our men do properly the work which it,is lawful to exact from them, and that they do not waste their time in running about, to markets and) fairs." The tenants of the Abbey of St. Germain des Pres had tho annual Fair of St, Deny? to look forward to. This began on the ninth of October and lasted for a whole month, and was held outside the walls of Paris. All regular trade in Paris was stopped, and each merchant bought and sold at a booth within the wall which enclosed the fair ground, to .prevent any evading the toll due frpm every booth holder. To this fair gathered merchants from "Venice, from the East and of every country from the Mediterranean t<? the North Beg. And hither came mounter banks, singers, conjurers, soothsayers and quacks. Here, too, you would see the Prankish noble? renewing their wardrobes with purchases of f 'purple and silken robes with orange borders, stamped leather jerkins, and phepnis pkana (probably flamingoes)." Pesides these they purchased "pearls, scents and spices, almonds and raising, and iponJceya for their wives to play with." Once a year the of St. Denys opened to the peasant the doors of a world which to his giinple mind must have been a veritable fjiirylsnd. We mnst not omit to mention _&n excitement which from tiipa to time was afforded to the countrypide by the yisits of the King-Emperor. Charlemagne spent much of his time travelling through the Boyal estates, and visiting with much pomp and ceremony the bishops, abbots and lords who owed him homage. These visits entailed much extra work> hut this work fell chiefly on the serfs of the household. Cleaning, baking, sansagemalpng, the erection of wooden huts, and all the work that catering l&rgO 3nny of guests implies, had tp be f»ced by the worlvers of the estate. But to those who had leisure the JSjnperoT's progress offered rare moment?. To say nothing of the genei> jpllity, of the "plenty °f an^ drjnk, of the charms of the singers ana pjayers of the Emperor' 3 train, there were joyous sights to be seen. the Emperor in .his "jerkin of otter sfcin and in his plain bine cloak," a . T 1^ 1 . contrast to tho vainer apparel of is retinue. His three sons and P v daughters, followed by their ecl bodyguard, and, above all, tho ®trang monster, "Abu Lubabah," an elephan presented to the Emperor by Haro El Easchid, which always accompanied Charlemagne on his travels. Wlben Enjperpr passed on his W*yi - there must have been of the wonder of his visits. Storieß of what went on in the Great Hall are often PI e . se . I 7'Z in the Monkish Chronicles. Of mese I will give one in a shortened formis not so amusing as some, but it its point of humour. Charlemagne was visiting a fV -^1 bishop, who had entertained regally, but on the fast day occurred during the Royal ivisit unable to procure fish. He g ave King, therefore, rich creamy ene for which the district was famea. Seeing the King cutting off the stw and leaving it, the, bishop told him that he was throwing away the ®6' part. The King, eating then the sttin with the cheese, was much P'e^ 86 ' He said to the bishop, "My good hos , send me every year to Art ca loads of such cheese." Tfie bishop feared that he could not provide so great a quantity of equal merit, as l was impossible to judge of 1 . quality. "Woll," said his lordly guest, "cut your cheeses in two, is 3 ° together with a skewer those that y® And of tho - right quality them to me; the rest keep 'or J° clergy and family."