Chapter XVII: Section II: Feudalism in France

Feudalism, as already intimated, reached its height in France, where we find it in its palmy pride, during the tenth and eleventh centuries. Had we travelled through the country at that time, we should have been especially struck with the vast number of castles scattered over the land. Within them were concentrated the elements of strength. Feudal owners were the captains, rulers, and magistrates of the age. These important personages might be divided into two classes, according to the nature of the fiefs which they held. The holders of royal fiefs formed the first class, the holders of arrière, or subordinate fiefs, formed the second class. The former comprised dukes, marquises, counts; the latter included those of the lesser barons, who were denominated châtelains, as having a right to occupy fortified houses. The latter class of nobles were dependent on the former, and stood to them in the relation of vassals; they again, in their turn, had a number of dependents, subject to their authority, and owing them military service. Each of these nobles was a sovereign in his own domain, the fountain of law, polity, and order. His superior lord did not interfere with him in his internal rule, but simply required from him certain external feudal services. Sovereignty in France had sunk, at this time, to a very low ebb, and retained but a shadow of authority. The kings of that country were then little more than nobles, holding fiefs of their own, subject to no superior; over their own territories they had complete feudal power, like other lords, but beyond that, their authority was feeble. A tie of supremacy scarcely more than a name--a memento of the past, resulting from the original grant of benefices by the crown, alone remained.

The noble, or aristocratic class, was not limited by the rank of secondary barons, who had the privilege of establishing themselves in their own castles. There were other persons deemed to be possessors of noble or gentle blood. Every knightly dependent belonged to the privileged order. "The distinct class of nobility became coextensive with the feudal tenures. For the military tenant, however poor, was subject to no tribute, no prestation, but service in the field;--he was the companion of his lord in the sports and feasting of his castle--the peer of his court: he fought on horseback--he was clad in a coat of mail--while the commonalty, if summoned at all to war, came on foot, and with no armour of defence. Every possessor of a fief was a gentleman, though he owned but a few acres of land, and furnished his slender contribution towards the equipment of a knight."[1] Members of all these noble classes were eligible to hold offices of state; but none beside them had this privilege, except the clergy. These advantages being hereditary, all marriages between the noble and the plebeian class were forbidden. Thus an immense aristocracy was formed, having no sympathies with the lower classes. Such of the latter who retained the name of freemen were chiefly the inhabitants of towns; beside these, were a few scattered allodialists and rural tenants, subject to certain pecuniary payments. The inhabitants of towns, were least dependent, and suffered least from feudal oppression; freemen in the country were quite at the mercy of their powerful military neighbours. Next to these were the villeins, or cultivators of the land, who were attached to the soil, but yet were permitted to hold property of their own; and below them came the serfs, who were in a state of abject slavery. The power of the lord over them was so absolute, that, in the language of a feudal law-book,[2] "he might take all they had, alive or dead, and imprison them when he pleased, being accountable to none but God." In this degraded class, slavery existed, in a form quite as revolting as we ever find it in the worst days of the Roman republic; though, perhaps, the power of the master was less severely exercised by the feudal lord than by the ancient patrician.

Thus, then, all power, political and civil, centred in the feudal aristocracy. They only were lords of the soil, and rulers of the state; property, military command, judicial authority, were all vested in them. The "people" had no political existence. The popular element of society, as developed in the ancient world, as seen in the Roman commonwealth, had perished in the convulsions which succeeded the fall of the empire; and the popular element of modern society had not yet appeared. Aristocracy had little or nothing to struggle with, either above or below it. The principle reigned in all its power; it exerted an unchecked influence. Yet it was not the union of the noble class that gave them strength. The feudal lords of the same rank were independent of each other, and assumed isolated positions. Entrenched within his own fortress, each stood aloof from the rest; and when they did meet, it was not unfrequently front to front, as enemies in the field. They inherited and displayed much of that spirit of proud individual independence which had burned in the bosom of their German ancestors: each one relied upon himself rather than upon his order; and thus they greatly differed from the aristocracies of ancient and modern times; in all of which we see a principle of union at work--a measure of personal importance, derived from association with others of the same class, and a measure of individual strength and influence, derived from a feeling of common interest.

In the feudal aristocracy were included the higher orders in the church--the prelates, and the abbots of large monasteries. The fiefs they held rendered them to all intents feudal lords, and the spirit and practice of the system were displayed by them in whatever related to their territorial possessions. They swore fealty to the king as the lord paramount, and divided their estates among vassals on military tenures, while at the same time they claimed and exercised in their own territory the same sort of civil jurisdiction as belonged to the temporal barons. Their sovereign demanded that they should equip a certain number of men for his service in war; and hence it was customary for an abbot to choose some baron in the character of "advocate," to lead the vassals of the monastic fiefs to battle, and generally to protect the interests of the abbey.

Having presented this brief outline of the distinctions of feudal society, we shall attempt a sketch of the forms, relations, and usages of feudal life, as exhibited in France, during the period of their most striking exemplification.

Let us, then, suppose ourselves carried back, through the interval of some eight or nine centuries, to one of the provinces of France. Let the reader's imagination supply the place of those powers of enchantment whose existence was fully believed at the time of which we treat. We land in France in the eleventh century, and fancy ourselves walking on the banks of a river skirted by hills and woods. Yonder, on the summit of the rising ground, stands a stern looking castle, just catching the beams of the setting sun. It is a building of some considerable size, constructed of stone. The outer wall is flanked by towers, and a fosse, or ditch, runs round the enclosure, and communicates with the river. The chief entrance is through a gateway in the wall, guarded on each side by a tower, and spanned by a plain semicircular arch. On entering the gate, we observe the iron points of the immense portcullis ready to fall, in case of the fortress being attacked. On entering the castle-yard, the lofty keep stands before us, appropriated as the residence of the feudal owner and his family. It is the very type of stability, but has no pretensions to architectural taste and display. Safety, not elegance, is what the lord of this rough dwelling regards. Many of the apartments in the keep are small, and all are comfortless. The windows are mere loopholes, through which the light of heaven struggles for admission. The great hall is the chief room in the baronial residence, where, seated on the dais at the upper end, the lordly owner presides at the table of his family and household, and sometimes entertains his guests with banquets and festivities, in accordance with the character of the age. Rude, for the most part, is the furniture which even the best of the apartments contain, and when the nearest approach is made to magnificence, there is little of ease or comfort associated with it. Let us ascend the battlements of the tower, and look over the surrounding country, diversified by field and flood, all of which, far as the eye can reach, and far beyond, is subject to the owner of this castle. Gazing on the prospect, we at length perceive the gleaming of lances among the trees that skirt the road up to the barbican, or entrance of the fortress; a band of horsemen, some in plain mailed armour, ride up to the gate. It is the lord and his retinue, just returned from the sovereign's court, where he has been doing homage for his barony.

It was a scene of splendour, characteristic of the times, which he witnessed there. At two seasons of the year, Easter and Christmas, the French king holds his court, when he appears robed in his regal mantle, glittering with gold, and adorned with his richly-jewelled crown. These occasions are made choice of for a display of royal magnificence before the vast crowd of barons, prelates, and state officers. The monarch entertains them with feasts, and bestows on them rich suits of raiment, (_livrées_--liveries,) suited to their rank and the season of the year. The king sits at table with his court, and is waited on by the great officers of the household: other acts of condescension and liberality are performed. Gifts are bestowed upon the royal favourites; heralds are sent among the concourse gathered together by the pageantries of the occasion, to shout the well-known "largesse;" and hanaps (cups) full of silver are scattered among the people.[3]

From such a scene has yonder baron just returned, and there, by a significant ceremony, he has sealed the feudal compact with his sovereign as liege lord. He has been doing homage and swearing fealty. His head was uncovered, his belt was ungirt, his sword and his spurs laid aside, while, kneeling, he placed his clasped hands within those of his lord, and swore to serve him with life and limb, and worldly honour, faithfully and loyally for ever. This done, the monarch, on his part, accepted the baron as his vassal, promised to protect his property and his person, and then sealed the compact with a royal kiss. Connected with all this was the act of investiture, by which the baron became possessed of his lands; it consisted in the monarch's delivering to him some type of the property, such as a stone, or the branch of a tree. A relief, as it is called--a sum equal to one year's produce of the estate--was paid at the time of the investiture. He now enters on his lordship over the surrounding domain. As we have already intimated, it is very extensive. It contains several other castles, inhabited by the holders of arriere fiefs. Over all the inhabitants of that territory, he is the ruler. His authority is real, while that of the king over him is merely nominal. He is bound by no laws which his sovereign may make, unless he give his consent; and it is very probable that he will never attend any of the royal councils, and, therefore, will not be brought under any legal obligation to regard the statutes enacted. He is subject to no taxes whatever--feudal aids, like those which we shall presently notice, as payable to himself from his vassals, are all the pecuniary tributes which he owes to his prince. Military service is the chief thing which he is required to render. The sovereign has no power over the baron's territory, either legislative or judicial; and the provinces of France are in truth separate states, among which a loose sort of federative connexion exists, at the head of which the monarch appears possessed of nominal, rather than virtual sovereignty. There are, however, certain moral obligations which ran through all the grades of the feudal relation, which he is bound by honour to observe.

He is bound not to divulge any secret with which his lord intrusts him, nor to conceal from him the traitorous designs of his enemies, nor to injure his person or property, nor to violate the honour of any of his family. Breaches of fidelity, in these respects, are deemed acts of the highest treason. Moreover, he is under obligation to give up his horse to his lord, in case he is dismounted in battle--to fight by his side to the last, and to go into captivity as a hostage for him when taken prisoner.

We have seen that the baron is supreme lord over the whole of his own territory; all the minor barons, knights, and tenants of every description are his vassals. They hold their lands of him on feudal conditions. He renders them protection, and they return allegiance and service. Without going so far as one of the castles held by the subordinate nobles in his domain, let us look a little at the relation borne to him by a neighbouring tenant, who holds what is termed a knight's fee, or such an extent of land as is sufficient to maintain a man-at-arms as well as his horse. An old vassal of that class, who has long tenanted the little estate which lies on the bank of the river, at no great distance from the castle, has lately died, and the property now comes to the eldest son; for, whatever might be the original nature of fiefs, whether revocable at pleasure or not, they have long since become, not merely estates for life, but hereditary possessions. The young man cannot enter on the enjoyment of the paternal lands without doing homage to his lord, and receiving investiture at his hands. He therefore enters the baron's presence, and passes through a ceremony similar to that which was performed a little while ago, when the baron himself became the vassal of his sovereign. Connected with the proceeding is the payment of the relief, which in this case, as in the former, amounts to one year's produce of the land. He is now in full possession of his fief, and may go his way and inherit the paternal domain.

Other pecuniary payments, in the shape of aids, as they are called, may, under certain circumstances, be exacted from the tenant. Whenever the baron's daughter, whom we saw just now walking on the parapet of the castle, her half-drawn veil blown aside by the evening breeze, shall be married to the young count, whom she was watching as he kissed and waved his hand on his prancing steed, and then vanished among the trees--whenever the eldest son, the heir of his father's estates and honours, shall be made a knight--or whenever it shall happen that the baron himself is taken captive, and a ransom is demanded for his release, the tenant will be bound to contribute pecuniary aids to his lord, which aids appear to be unfixed in their amount, and to depend much on the arbitrary will of the exactor.

Soon a quarrel breaks out between the baron and another noble, and as there is no common jurisdiction to decide the matter, in these times, when the royal authority over its vassals has sunk into utter inefficiency, an appeal is made to arms. It is one of the savage but boasted rights of the barons, that they are at liberty thus to settle their disputes by the sword. The vassals must be armed to attend their lord to the field, and, therefore, the young knight must mount his horse and follow his feudal master to the scene of conflict. Forty days' service may be demanded from all who hold a knight's fee; but the law as to the distance to which they are bound to follow their lord, is by no means fixed: according to the usage, in some baronies, the vassal is not bound to go beyond the limits of the lordship; in other cases, he must follow wherever his superior may lead, provided it be not more than a day's journey from home. Upon the knights in this barony, we will suppose, it is obligatory to attend upon their suzerain to a much greater distance. The battle has been fought--the victory gained: and now the knight returns to his home, and suspends his shield and helmet in the paternal hall.

Ere long, he receives another summons, not to perform the service of a soldier, but to discharge the functions of a judge. It has been noticed already that the baron has a legislative and judicial authority over his own territories; but it is necessary that his knightly vassals, who are peers of his court, should attend to aid his councils, and to unite with him in the decision of such cases as may be submitted to his tribunal. The assembled vassals may be seen standing about that little mound of earth in the court-yard, which is the place of justice, and there our young knight mingles among them. By this baron's court is possessed the power of life and death--or _la haute justice_, as it is called--a prerogative not confined to barons of the highest class, but extended to all châtelains, or possessors of castles, and sometimes even to the inferior nobility; an odd distinction, however, is kept up among them, in the form of the instrument of death which they employ, for the baron's gallows may have three posts, or supporters, the châtelains but two, and the inferior lord only one.

In the present instance, the court is summoned to determine a case of disputed civil right between two tenants. It is difficult to decide the point: the defendant impugns the statement of the plaintiff, declares him perjured, and, throwing down his gage, appeals to the judgment of God, and claims trial by combat. This practice has succeeded the trial by ordeal, and is of the same absurd and cruel character; for the man who, perhaps, has already been deprived of his rights, is now in danger of being deprived of life. The privilege of making this appeal extends still further, and even were the case adjudged by the baron's court, the party who conceived he had suffered wrong, might call his judges into the field, and decide the question by the sword. The wager of battle just thrown down by the defendant is accepted by his adversary, and the day of combat is appointed by the baron. They are to meet on horseback, accoutred as knights, for they are of gentle blood--were they plebeians, they would be armed with club and target. They must fight till one party is slain or cries for mercy. In the latter case the person who gives in will lose his cause, and be further subject to a fine. Women, ecclesiastics, and men above sixty years of age, may employ champions to assert their cause in the field of combat; but should the proxy yield, he is liable to have his right hand cut off.

One of the tenants of the baron wishes to part with his lands to a stranger, in other words, to alienate his fief. The assent of his lord is requisite. He has received his fief, it is supposed, for reasons relating to himself and family, at least his heart and arm are bound to his superior, and his service is not to be changed for that of another, who might be unwilling or unable to render it. By the law of France, the lord is entitled, upon every alienation made by the tenant, either to redeem the fief, by paying the purchase-money, or to claim a certain part of the value, by way of fine upon the change of tenancy.

Another event occurs. An old vassal dies, and leaves no one to inherit his lands. What becomes of his estate? It is _escheated_, to use the legal phrase, that is, it reverts to the lord. He is the fountain whence property and power emanate, and the reservoir to which, under these circumstances, they return.

The fiefs now described are regular and military; but before we leave the baron's domains we must glance at another development of the feudal principle. Among the horsemen whom we saw accompanying the baron to the castle there were certain retainers, holding land upon conditions different from those which we have just enumerated: and there are others filling domestic offices in his household, who, on that tenure, hold certain estates. Among the former, are the baron's marshal and master of the horse, who, by filling such offices, secure possession of some of the neighbouring fields. Among the latter are his cup-bearer and steward, who swell his retinue on state occasions, and receive their reward in landed property. By keeping up this kind of pomp, the baron emulates the splendour of the sovereign. Mechanical arts, also, are carried on in the castle, (coining money, for instance, which is one of the baronial rights,) and the workmen engaged in such occupations, like the rest of the baron's dependents, are repaid for their skill and toil by receiving lands on condition of their rendering these useful services.

Feudalism has also extended its influence over other persons than warriors and domestics, and over other things than landed estates. The fisherman mooring his bark on yonder bank of the river, and throwing out his nets, is a vassal of the lord, and holds as a fief the right of fishing in the stream, for which he pays certain dues; and the woodman, whose axe resounds in the neighbouring forest, possesses the right of cutting down the trees, upon condition of rendering some feudal service. The system has entered the church, and the priest of the village pays to his ecclesiastical superior an acknowledgment for the revenues he receives from baptisms, marriages, and the churching of women. In fact, society is pervaded by the spirit of feudalism. The state, the church, every thing takes a feudal form.

Such was feudalism in France, and its leading features are to be traced in the state of things prevalent in other European countries--in Germany, Spain, Italy, and England. The modifications it received, in each of these countries, we have not space to describe; but a brief account of the form which it took in our own land ought not to be omitted.

[1] Hallam, Middle Ages.

[2] Beaumanoir.

[3] Du Cange, sur Joinville, Dies. 5.