CHAPTER VII
THE END OF FEUDALISM
IN October 1791 the National Assembly dissolved and was replaced by the Legislative, the first — an last — Parliament to be elected under the new consti tution. It inherited the unsolved problem of agraria feudalism from its predecessor, a fact of which it was soo made aware by the new avalanche of complaints an protests that descended on it from the rural district; The peasants would seem to hâve regained hope whe the new body came into existence. It contained non of the members of the old ; it had been elected under th constitution which had been represented to them as tt greatest of benefits. From it, some relief, at least, migl be expected.
The documents forwarded to the Legislative Assembl or its feudal Committee seldom advance other argumem than those with which we are already familiar ; there no need, therefore, to analyse them in great detail, bi many contain facts and proposais for reform which ai worthy of notice. A study of them, moreover, makes clear that a concerted effort was organised in some are; to bring the pressure of opinion to bear upon the ne législature. Thus we find no less than six letters, writte between December 1791 and June 1792, by official bodii or officers of the Bouches-du-Rhône, or rather, of th; part of it which is now included in the departmei of Vaucluse, ail protesting against the Constitue] Assembly’s policy. A group of five letters had its orig
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the Moselle, but one of these is the joint production of : municipalities. In both these instances there is so jch similarity between the documents, both as regards raseology and opinions, that it is difficult to deny the istence of an organised agitation. Again, a pétition iwn up by the electors of Châteaubriant, in the ire-inférieure, reached the Legislative’s Committee on titions with an additional paragraph stating that “ the dersigned electors and inhabitants of the department theCorrèze,havingtakencognisanceof the remonstrance the district of Châteaubriant, approve the whole of its itents.” It seems clear that support had been asked -, and in this case, obtained. No estimate can at présent formed as to the extent and intensityof this agitation,
■ only a small portion of the documents has been nted ; 1 further research into the question is much to desired.
Turning to the letters and pétitions themselves, it .1 be convenient to begin our analysis with the group m the Bouches-du-Rhône. This includes six docunts forwarded by the folio wing communes : bourrin, Saint-Saturnin,* Villelaure, Puivert, La Tourdgues, and La Motte-d’Aigues.8 The inhabitants I municipal officers of ail these places are heartily in •eement as to the inadequacy of the existing laws the subject of the feudal rights ; they criticise the astituent Assembly vigorously, and put forward conte proposais for reform. “ There exists in our new rs a vice, striking but unrecognised, cursed but eluded, ich restricts the energy of the rural districts, and will an eternal cause of the slavery of their inhabitants long as they are not delivered from it. Do not hope
1 Sagnac and Caron, p. xxii.
“ An additional paragraph to this letter States that the citizens o* gas adhéré to its proposais.
* A pétition, identical in terms with this, was sent from Cabrièresigues. See Sagnac and Caron, p. 448 note.
to see liberty take root and fructify so long as feudalisr dominâtes. . . . We dare to assure you that if tb Assembly do not permit us to redeem the fixed right separately from the casual, the people subjected to th: frightful System will be dead to liberty in a thousan years from now. . . . Almost ail the constituent bod was composed of men chosen from the towns ... an the country, ravaged by tasques, champarts, agriers, lod cens, seigneurs, agents, rent-farmers, guards, was fo: gotten. No one spoke on its behalf. Legislators, it : this all-powerful cohort which still holds the countr people in chains ; it is these ex-lords, their farmers an agents, who, allied with the non-juring priests an fanatics of ail kinds . . . kill the revolutionary zeal ( the simple and ignorant peasants by making them forese and fear the return of the ancient order of things, an with it, the limitless revenge of the ci-devants on tho< who hâve taken the side of the commonwealth. . . The destruction of the feudal System will be a death-blo to the aristocrats ; it is with the hope of re-establishir it that they emigrate, conspire, and agitate in evei way.” 1 Mention of the émigrant nobles appears i other letters. “ The return of these despots, who f< two years hâve breathed the air of Germany, Sardini Spain, and Italy, so fatal to liberty, présagés vexation injustices, interminable chicanery, and ruinous la\ suits.” 2 “ We no longer hâve a seigneur, he is ;
Coblenz ; he has left behind an agent, and a f armer wl harasses and inquiets us as before the Révolution.’ The greatest emphasis, however, is laid on the insuffle ency of the decrees of 1790. “ The Constituent Assemb
. . . overthrew the monuments ôf servitude and despotis which covered the soil of the French empire ; it eut off the foot the great tree of feudalism which overshadow* the countryside, but the roots remam and mz
1 Sagnac and Caron, pp. 280-1. a Ibid. p. 279.
* Ibid. p. 296.
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row out new branches. Our descendants, when they ad in our sublime constitution that the feudal System abolished, will be surprised to find its traces everytiere. . . . The defenders of feudalism hâve established System, evidently contrary to the spirit of the law, tiich may be adopted by the tribunals and will render e feudal System indestructible. They prétend that l the clauses of a primordial title are corrélative and separably bound up with one another, and they conade that itis sufficient for a monopoly to hâve been estabhed by an act which mentions a concession of land or rights of usage for it to be an appendage of those conssions, and, as such, excepted from suppression. Whence follows that the monopoly, which is one of the most srsonal of servitudes and weighs most heavily upon the :ople, becomes indestructible, because the monopolies e ail established by primordial titles.” 1 “ We be- :ved ourselves free in our properties as in our persons ter the decree which suppressed the feudal régime ; e expérience of two years has proved to us that we are ill slaves.” 2
The principal reforms demanded by the inhabitants this group of communes are as follows : (i) Liberty redeem the annual dues, such as the tasques and chamirts, separately from the casual, such as the lods et nies ; (2) the casual dues to be purchased collectively / the communes ; (3) the proprietors of houses not to ; obliged to redeem the casual dues, but only the muai cens ; (4) in communes where the inhabitants ty tasques or similar rights, the feudal monopolies to ; suppressed without indemnity.
The group of documents from the Moselle contains /e letters which express the views of ten municipal )dies. MM. Sagnac and Caron mention the existence : two other pétitions from the same région, which brings
1 Sagnac and Caron, pp. 292-3.
* Ibid. p. 293.
the total of protesting communities to twelve.1 These protests from Lorraine do not differ fundamentally frorr those of Provence ; both groups agréé in denouncin§ the work of the Constituent as ill-done, and as havin^ deceived the expectations aroused by the decree o: 4 August ; they agréé also in the déclaration thaï rédemption is impossible on the lines laid down by the law. There is the same insistence, too, on the fact thaï unless the Legislative acts, and speedily, feudalism wil be perpetuated and the support of the peasants lost te the Révolution. But it will be best to let the communities speak for themselves.
“ The legal disputes occasioned by the law of the I5th March 1790 are innumerable,” say the inhabitant; of Guerstling ; “ they ruin ail proprietors who owee
feudal dues. These odious rights appeared to be aboi ished by the famous decree of the 4th August 1789, novs they flourish more than ever. Formerly, they were onl} doubtful, now they become certain, since the proprieto] is obliged to prove that they are not derived from c concession of land. But the proprietor, who has neve] been the holder of the lord’s titles, finds it impossible te furnish proof of the contrary. Ail verdicts are conse quently given in favour of the former seigneur. . . . The greatest disorders are the resuit ; public spirit evaporates the love of country diminishes, the payment of taxe; falls off, especially the land-tax, which, because of these rents, dues, champarts, third pennies, and other feuda rights, proven or non-proven, is so neglected that it finds msurmountable hindrances in every municipality.” “Legislators, we know no sovereign to-day but the nation which alone has the right to impose pecuniary and othei charges upon us ; its needs are ours, and we hastei zealously to supply them. Uproot by a salutary lav the remains of ancient despotism, which consist particu larly in rents and other rights not founded upon authentie 1 Sagnac and Caron, pp. 309 and 312 notes. * Ibid. p. 307.
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tles, which will always remind us of our old State of îrvitude.” 1
A document signed by the représentatives of six îunicipalities is perhaps the most interesting, certainly he most éloquent of ail. It is worth quoting at some rngth.
“ Yes, Legislators, under the reign of liberty, feudal- ;m exercises its empire and its ravages with more audacity han ever ; the law of March 1790, it is true, reserved to he vassal the right of proving that the rights with which e is charged are not the price of a concession of land. lut the means of furnishing this proof ? Hâve the yrants who for so long hâve desolated and withered the uman race ever had other titles than force and despotism ? ’ast générations were witnesses of the violence by which hese rights were established, and if they rose from the omb they would bring proofs of the feudal despotism /hose first victims they were. But we who know the yrannical origin of these rights only by tradition, we hâve .0 other titles to prove their injustice than the history f their vexations that our ancestors hâve transmitted 0 us.
“ Legislators, we hâve swom to live free or die ; we ave not taken this oath in vain. We demand complété .berty, not only for our persons but for our properties. 'ear up the roots of the feudalism that the law of the aonth of March wished to preserve ; its yoke grows more nsupportable to us every day. Increase our taxes, but ree our lands from these servitudes which wound the >ride of a free people. . . . For four years scarcely any f the dues hâve been acquitted. The enemies of our reedom witness the cultivator’s security with an evil joy ; hey see his debts accumulate, they will press for them n the circumstances they consider most favourable, and vhat neither their intrigues nor their séductions hâve >een able to accomplish up to the présent, they flatter 1 Sagnac and Caron, p. 309.
themselves his poverty or his discontent will achieve, and will lead him back to the chains he has broken.” 1
The programme of reforms put forward by these communities of the Moselle differs from that of the Bouches-du-Rhône ; there is no question of the séparation of the annual from the casual dues in the schemeof rédemption, or of the feudal monopolies. What they demand is that the law of March 1790 be amended so that the onus of producing a proper title shall be placed upon the seigneur, and that the rédemption of rights legally justified be undertaken by the State. The peasants in 1789 had, as we hâve seen, onlyenvisaged individual enfranchisements ; hard expérience had evidently converted those of Lorraine and Provence to a collective operation, whether national or communal.
From the extreme East we may tum to the West, from the Moselle to the Loire-Inférieure. The demands of the district of Châteaubriant strike a much more radical note than any we hâve heard hitherto, for they amount to nothing less than the suppression of the feudal rights en masse and without indemnity. The argument put forward is simple and sweeping. “ The feudal rents are the fruit of tyranny ” ; they were violently imposed by the strong upon the weak in an âge" of anarchy. No lapse of time can sanctify usurpation, “ an iniquitous law can never prescribe against the rights of man.” Unjust in their origin, these rights were not transmissible. If anyone has a claim to compensation, it is the unhappy vassals who hâve supported them so long. “ If these so-called lords dare to claim an indemnity, we shall reply to them : You obtained it, this indemnity, in immunity from the hearth-tax that you ought to hâve shared with us, the burden of which you threw upon us, with a most shameful perfidy, for more than a hundred years ; you obtained it in the unjust partition that you made of other public charges ; you obtained it in the privilèges 1 Sagnac and Caron, p. 31 1.
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that you arrogated to yourselves to the détriment of the people, in the pecuniary exemptions that you extorted for your persons and your properties to the oppression of :he people, in the franchises that you enjoyed, you and pour servants, in contempt of the justice and equality îstablished by Nature ; you obtained it in the Densions that burdened the people and exhausted the ïnances, in the exclusive right of possessing lucrative )fïices and employments in which we should hâve served the State much more usefully than you ; you )btained it by the sale of the woods that our fathers jlanted on the commons that you usurped, by the :xorbitant fines that you demanded when we were forced :o lease from you lands that were our own. ...”
Even if compensation were just, the peasant is unable o provide it ; if he redeemed the dues he would only nake bad worse. “ Must the unhappy vassal sell one îalf of the little héritage of his fathers to free the other rom slavery and oppression ? But to whom could he ell this portion of his patrimony ? To the so-called ords, to those ancient tyrants ; they alone, by the edemption of the feudal dues, will become the deposiories of ail the money in France, and will concentrate .11 its riches in their hands. By that means, they will reble their proud opulence ; by that means, they will xtend their possessions and render themselves masters >f ail property ; by that means, they will aggravate the roke of ancient servitude under which our fathers xoaned, and for which we still blush to-day.” 1 That hese revolutionary views found favour elsewhere than n Brittany is shown by the cordial approval given to his passionate piece of denunciation by 162 citizens and lectors of the Corrèze.
Three documents from the South- West (two from the .ot-et-Garonne and one from the Gironde) expose views ery similar to those put forward by the municipalities, 1 Sagnac and Caron, pp. 286-9.
of the Moselle. They demand, in the first place, a justification of the seigneurial rights by the exhibition of adéquate titles ; and, secondly, the collective purchase of legal rights by the nation.1 It is worth noting, in passing, that the inhabitants of Fumel (Lot-et-Garonne) déclaré that scarcely any rents hâve been paid for three years. A pétition from the Loiret sets out a much more detailed list of suggestions for reform, which seems, as we shall see in the sequel, to hâve had a very real influence on the work of the Legislative. The reforms proposed are as follows :
(1) The casual rights to be suppressed without indemnity ;
(2) ail seigneurs to be called upon to justify their rights by the production of original titles within two months, failing which, they lose ail claim to them ; (3) proprietors of rights of champ art to collect their share of the harvest themselves ; (4) until ail titles hâve been produced and verified, ail legal processes on the subject to cease ; (5) seigneurs who are found to hâve levied dues without adéquate title, to refund them for twenty-nine years.* Other documents that we possess, from the Basses- Pyrénées, the Charente, Calvados, and the Var, présent no spécial features, and need not, therefore, be examined in detail.
We find, then, in the early months of 1792, not only general discontent with the decrees of the Constituent Assembly, but a vigorous attempt to bring moral pressure to bear upon its successor. The peasants formulate their demands with increased précision, and stress the injury done to the cause of the Révolution, menaced as it is, both at home and abroad, by the continuance of agrarian unrest.
But, as in 1791, large sections of the peasants were not content with moral pressure, with pétitions and remonstrances ; of these they evidently thought there had been enough. They betook themselves to action instead. It
1 Sagnac and Caron, pp. 297, 300, and 303.
8 Ibid. p. 315.
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s a sign of the growing popular exaspération that the ieeds of violence committed at this period were more lerious in character than most of those of the two pre- :eding years ; the rioters no longer burn church benches Dut châteaux. Scenes similar to those of 1789 were macted in several provinces.
Disturbances in the Lot began again with the new /ear ; indeed, they may be said never to hâve ceased in :hat stormy région. In January, February, and March, ,ix châteaux were destroyed or pillaged ; there were, noreover, riots at Figeac, Souillac, and Lauzerte. In April, conditions seem to hâve worsened. A letter from :he Directory of the department describes the district of Figeac as a prey to fresh disorders. AU the houses of ;x-nobles hâve been burnt, pigeon-cotes hâve been orcibly destroyed, and ail the country houses of any mportance threatened. Another report from the same Dody déclarés that the inhabitants of the rural parishes lave organised, marched (with the municipal officers at the îead of them) on the houses of the former seigneurs, the ■ent-farmers or tithe-owners, and hâve “ forced them to •epay the rents and tithes of 1789 and the arrears for wenty-nine years.” The Directory was obliged to send :ommissioners to pacify the people.1 Towards the end of Vfarch, the district of Aurillac, in Auvergne, was swept Dy a band of National Guards, who passed from manorîouse to manor-house, burning and destroying as they vent. This participation in insurrection of the authorised iefenders of order was a serious sign.2 In the department )f the Gard, the war was carried on with unparaUeled dolence. On 1 April, the châteaux at Aubais, Aujirgues, and Gallargues were sacked ; at the [last-named ilace the National Guards showed sympathy with the ncendiaries. On the 2nd, seven châteaux were attacked, ind it is interesting to note that at Souvignargues the Deasants threatened to hang anyone who used the oppor- 1 Aulard, pp. 137-8. * Serres, vol. iv.
tunity to steal. On the 3rd and 4th, twelve more manorhouses went up in fiâmes. Ail this, it must be observed, was in a single district of the department. In others, similar occurrences took place ; there were many cases of forced renunciations of rights, and the National Guards were active on the side of the insurrection. In the district of Beaucaire, at Montfrin and other places, the peasants seized upon and distributed lands which belonged to former nobles.1 The movement ran like wildfire ail over the department throughout the greater part of April ; the historian of these events notes that the names of its leaders were “ generally those of the most substantial men in the neighbourhood.” 8
Harassed by pétitions, its authority threatened by insurrections which recalled by their violence the wild summer of 1789, the Legislative Assembly was at last compelled to act. Unless France, menaced as it was from without, was to fall a prey to anarchy within, some real concessions must be made to the demands of the peasant class, without the support of which the Révolution could not hope to triumph over its enemies at home and abroad. The Legislative, following the example of its predecessor, had appointed a feudal Committee, and this, through the mouth of Lautour-Duchatel, reported on 11 April 1792. This report initiated a sériés of debates which culminated in a decree, passed on 18 June. The dominant note in these discussions was struck by Dorliac, of the Haute-Garonne ; for him, the feudal rights were the fruit of usurpation, due to the sovereignty which the lords had acquired by force.3 This doctrine reversed entirely the System on which the National Assembly had based its législation ; the decrees of 1790 had assumed the legitimacy of the feudal dues, certain minor exceptions apart, and had placed on the vassal the onus of showing that they were unjustified and illégal. In the debates of
1 Rouvière, vol. ii. p. 207. 8 Ibid, vol. ii. p. 283,
8 Sagnac, p. 139.
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the Legislative this point of view found few defenders ; it was rather the practical details raised by its reversai which were in question. But above ail such issues loomed the urgent necessity for action. The national interests were in conflict with those of a privileged minority ; if the second prevailed at the expense of the first, the Révolution was lost and France with it. “ It is not a question,” cried Oudot, “ of considering the interests of a few individuals, but of the destiny of a whole people.” “ The former seigneurs will complain,” said Mailhe, “ but of what do they not complain ? You will be absolved by the bénédictions of ninety-nine hundredths of the présent génération and those of générations to corne.” 1 Driven on by such considérations, the Legislative struck first at the casual dues.
The opening article of the decree déclarés that “ ail casual rights, and ail those représentative of them, known by the names of quint, requint, treizième, lods et ventes, milods, rachats, reliefs . . . acapte, arrière-acapte . . ., which are levied because of mutations of property, or the possession of land, on the buyer, the seller, the donors, the heirs . . . are, and remain, suppressed without indemnity, unless the said rights are proved, by the primitive title of infeudation, to be the price and condition of a concession of the lands for which they were levied, in which case the said dues shall continue to be collected and to be redeemable.”
This provision made an immense breach in the édifice laboriously erected by the National Assembly in 1790. The situations of seigneur and vassal as fixed by the earlier iecrees were completely reversed. It was no longer the debtor but the creditor who was compelled to justify his rights, and to justify them by the original documents. The peasants had gained their cause at last ; récognitions, perhaps extorted by violence and chicanery, were no longer to suffice. Feudalism was put upon the
1 Sagnac, pp. 140 and 142.
défensive, thrust into a position where its ultimate extinction was inévitable.
The other articles of the decree need not detain us ; for the most part, they were devoted to regularising the position of those who had purchased land from the nation, which was burdened with casual dues. The last clause, however, is of some importance, as it put a stop to ail lawsuits actually in progress which had arisen from disputes over the class of rights now abolished without compensation.
The pressure of events prevented the Legislative from following up its work immediately. But a few days after the révolution of io August had decided the fate of the monarchy, it fell furiously to work again, and, by its decrees of 20 and 25 August, struck two more deadly blows at feudalism.
These decrees contain some fifty clauses, and only a summary analysis can be given here. That of 20 August included the following important provisions : (1) The annual rights could henceforward be redeemed separately from the casual when these had been proved legitimate, that is, as arising from a concession of land, by the exhibition of the original title. The casual rights could also be redeemed separately from one another ; (2) holders of land could call upon the proprietor of either class of rights to prove their legitimacy by producing his title. If he failed to do this within three months of the summons the holder was enfranchised from them in perpetuity ; 1 (3) proprietors of land burdened with the champart or dues similar in character, or with infeudated tithes, could demand their conversion into a fixed annual rent in corn. The amount of this was to be decided by arbitrators on the basis of the average yearly production of the land in question ; (4) ail solidarity in payments was abolished without indemnity, even for arrears of dues. Henceforward, any one of the co-debtors would be free
1 Cf. this clause with the demands of the Loiret, p. 186 above.
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o redeem himself at will, irrespective of the action of iis fellows ; (5) for the future, there would be prescripion of arrears of feudal rents of ail species after five rears ; those who owed arrears for the years 1789, 1790, ,nd 1791, could free themselves by three successive .nnual payments.
It will be seen that this decree instituted some imlortant reforms, both in regard to the feudal rights and he manner of their rédemption ; still, it cannot be said o hâve gone to the root of the matter. Had the legisitors held their hands at this point, the lot of the peasant lass as a whole would hâve been improved, and its yealthier members would hâve been helped to liberate heir lands ; but agrarian feudalism would still hâve emained a powerful influence in the économie life of 'rance. To that condition of affairs it was certain that he peasants would not submit. Having gone so far, the législative was inevitably driven to go farther.
The decree of 25 August was passed under a motion f urgency, but there is nothing vague or indefinite about ts provisions. Its very preamble strikes a revoluionary note. “ The National Assembly, considering hat the feudal System is abolished, that nevertheless it ubsists in its effects, and that nothing is more urgent han to cause to disappear from French territory hose vestiges of servitude which cover and devour proærties . . . decrees as follows.” The articles of the law lid not contradict this statement of motives ; they did or the annual dues what the measure of the previous une had done for the casual. Their principal effects nay be summarised thus : (1) Ail landed property was eputed free from feudal daims unless they could be hown to originate in a concession of land ; the effects of he maxim “ No land without a lord,” in so far as they ^ere expressed in statutes, customs, and rules, whether ;eneral or particular, were to cease to exist. As a necesary conséquence, (2) ail feudal rights were declared
abolished without indemnity unless they could be clearly proved to dérivé from a concession of land, such prooi to be the production of the original title. (3) Ail acts oi enfranchisement from mainmorte, bordelage, and quevaise , together with ail dues replacing such servitudes, were revoked and annulled without indemnity ; ail lands ceded by communities or individuals as the price of enfranchisement from such tenures still in the hands of the former lords were to revert to those who had ceded them, and no sums of money, promised for the same purpose but not actually paid at the date of the decree, could be demanded in the future ; (4) rights justified by the original titles were to remain redeemable ; (5) arrears of dues suppressed without indemnity were not to be collected and ail civil processes in progress relating to such dues were brought summarily to an end,
The wheel had swung full circle ; the policy of the first revolutionary législature was completely reversed Unless the seigneurs could produce evidence, which the mass of them probably did not possess, to justify theii rights, those rights were pitilessly swept away withoul compensation or relief. The expression "a St. BarthO' lomew of property ” has been applied to the decree o: 4 August 1789 ; it would be much more appropriai to that of 25 August 1792. In the three years which separated the two decrees, France had movec fast and far, as the provisions of the second sufficientl) prove. The Révolution had ceased to be prédominant^ political and administrative, and had become what the peasants from the first had wished it to be, namely social. In that torrid and blood-stained August, not onlj a monarchy but a social order passed definitively away.
We may, perhaps, import a touch of fancy into the history of this confüct and look at it from another stand point. The victory of the System of the Legislative— which was also the System of the peasants — over that o; the Constituent Assembly, might not unfairly be describec
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, a victory of the written, the Roman law and juris- -udence, over the feudal and customary. The decrees : 1790 were, in fact though not in words, based on the gai maxim, “ No land without a lord ” ; freedom from igneurial obligations was to be the exception, servitude the soil the rule. The legislators of 1792 abolished .at maxim and its conséquences ; the effect of their :crees was to make the counter-maxim of the written w — “ No lord without a title ”■ — the common rule. nce more Rome triumphed over the barbarians, the allo-Roman took his revenge upon the invading Frank, rance, in her hour of need, was presently to revert to .ose political forms which are as old as our civilisation -the Republic and the Dictatorship ; that reversion is already foreshadowed in the victory of the Roman risprudence.
With one subject the decrees of 20 and 25 August d not deal, that is, with the still burning question the common lands. The omission was speedily pplied. On the night of the 28th, Mailhe proposed a easure which was straightway carried.1 It was as astic as its predecessors. The article of the ordinance 1669 which had authorised the triages, as well as “ ail Licts, déclarations, Orders in Council, and lettersitent,” subsequently rendered, were repealed; if the operties of which the communes had been dispossessed ere still in the hands of the seigneurs, they could be claimed within five years without indemnity. In the me way the communes could recover any property in *hts of usage of which they had been despoiled unless e lord were able to show that he had acquired them r legal purchase. Further, even if the communes could it prove that they had formerly owned any commons, istes, or landes which might exist within their borders, ey could now claim ownership of them unless the former
1 For the history and text of this decree, see Bourgin, p. 398 et seq. ropotkin’s account, p. 418, is in error on this point.
seigneur were able to show an adéquate title, or prove that he had been in peaceable and uncontested possession of them for fort y years. The history of the application of this decree and its économie results has not yet been written ; if the village communities used the opportunity it gave them to any considérable extent, serious inroads must undoubtedly hâve been made upon seigneurial property.
The feudal System was in ruins ; M. Aulard’s estimate that a quarter of the rights remained in existence is a generous one. The drastic character of the new législation, and the real improvement that it caused in the peasant’s lot, is shown by the almost complété cessation of disturbances in the rural districts. The peace was not absloute, however ; a letter from the Directory of the district of Gourdon, dated 5 December 1792, shows that the stubborn men of the Lot were still carrying on the agrarian war. “ The woods of the former seigneur i of Vaillac and Saint -Chamerand hâve been devastated and eut clown ; those of the Sieur Durfort, in the commune of Saint -Germain, are ravaged daily, and the brigands hâve even seized the château of Sept-Fons, demolishec the barns, and threatened that when this operation is finished they will lay hands upon the houses and properties of other rich citizens of this canton. . . . We fear lest the evil go from bad to worse, and the wrong-doers, findin^ themselves in force, préparé insurrections similar to those of 1790.” 1 It seems probable from the wording 0: this document, that the peasants were attacking, oi threatening to attack, bourgeois landowners as well as ex-nobles. A letter written by Garat, the Minister o Justice, and dated 21 December, suggests that the troubles were not confined to the Lot. “ Feudalism is abolished,” it says, “ but while proscribing this odious régime, the nation has not yet destroyed ail the traces lelt behind by this monstrous abuse. A profound sensi * Aulard, pp, 139-40,
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f the injustices they hâve suffered exists in the hearts [ the rural masses, and culpable conspirators profit by îese resentments, that time alone can efface, to remind îem of the prosecutions they hâve undergone for alleged reaches of the game laws, the guns that hâve been taken om them, the fines to which they hâve been unjustly mdemned, the sums of money extorted from them . . , îe public ways invaded, a host of other usurpations immitted, in a word, of the vexations of ail kinds to hich the most precious citizens of the Republic were too ng exposed.” The agitators are stirring up the peasants » seek recompense by violent acts. “ These perfidious sinuations hâve been only too successful ; already, on Le pretext of indemnifying themselves for the wrongs Ley hâve suffered, ancient victims of feudalism are ûng and committing outrages. Already, from several irts of the Republic, complaints are heard.” 1
It is extremely likely that the peasants, being rid of e greater part of the feudal burden, were ail the more -itated against that which remained. In any case, iring the great crisis of the summer of 1793, the Con- :ntion found it necessary to make a suprême effort to lly the rural populations to the defence of the Republic, •ance was at war with ail the neighbouring powers ; reign armies were on her soil ; civil strife of a particularly rocious character was raging in La Vendée. At any st, the support of the peasants had to be obtained.
The first step was taken on 10 June 1793 in the ;cree which provided for the distribution of the comon lands among the inhabitants of the communes, ith the main provisions of this law we are not here ncerned, but we may note that it extended and made are drastic the effects of the decree of August 1792.
.1 common lands and properties of whatever description ;re declared to belong to the communes in which they ;re situated. Possession for forty years by a former
* Sagnac and Caron, p. 777,
seigneur was no longer to be a sufficient title for th« ownership of old commons, nor could a title emanating from feudal power be accepted. Only an authentic ad of purchase was to be held legitimate.
On 1 7 July, the Convention passed another decret which completed the destruction of feudalism. “ Al dues formerly seigneurial,” said the first article, “ feudal rights whether fixed or casual, even those maintainec by the decree of the 25th August last, are suppressec without indemnity.” Ail legal processes, whether civr or éliminai, arising from a question of feudal rights were summarily quashed. The very name and memorj of feudalism was to be destroyed, and to this end al persons who held documents relating to the dues wer< ordered to hand them over to the communal councils who were to hâve them burned in public. The punish ment for failure to comply with this order was to be fiv< years’ imprisonment in irons.
It is curious that little should be known of the historj of a measure so drastic and so important. It wa: scarcely mentioned in the newspapers of the time. M Aulard has recently brougbt to light the few ascertainabk facts in regard to it. On 3 June, it would appear, £ member (whose name remains unknown) proposed thaï the Convention should pass “ a general law to complété the destruction of feudalism.” The Committee or Législation agreed to make a report on the subject withir a fortnight, but failed to do so. On 15 July, Isore proposed the burning of feudal documents. Two day: after, Charlier reported on behalf of the Committee, anc introduce-d a measure which was immediately passed. O: the discussion, if any took place, no account has beer preserved. Thus, in a strange silence, the Conventior threw the last sods into the grave of a social System.1
The article which ordered the destruction of feuda documents seems to hâve been fairly generally carriec 1 Aulard, pp. 453-3.
THE END OF FEUDALISM
ut, though, fortunately for students of history, large umbers of them escaped the fiery ordeal. The Abbé rzureau published an interesting pamphlet a few years £0 which describes in detail how the work of destruction as carried out at Angers. There, in a succession of urnings, the last of which took place on 27 February 794, an immense quantity of titles, registers, and milar papers were given to the fiâmes. After that date ie municipality continued to receive such documents, ut preserved them.1 At Louhans (Saône-et-Loire) two lunicipal councillors were instructed to search the rchives for ail feudal deeds and papers '* to be burned 1 a bonfire, at a fête organised for the occasion.” On
November 1793, the citizen P. M. Guerret attended a leeting of the Société populaire and deposited “ ail the geds which he possesses concerning feudalism, such as lanor-rolls, récognitions . . . and other documents of îat kind ” ; his example was folio wed by several other grsons. When the appointed day arrived, the municiility, the members of the society, and a crowd of tizens of both sexes, marched in procession with effigies î the Pope to an open space where the fiâmes speedily msumed “ ail the deeds, papers, and rags of feudalism,” )gether with “ the vile attributes of fanaticism and sacer- Dtal playthings.” The crowd cried, “ Long live the epublic ! Long live the Mountain ! ” while men and omen danced the Carmagnole around the bonfire. imilar burnings took place in most of the communes of îe district.2 The municipality of Marolès (Auvergne) îstroyed " the titles of feudalism ” on 8 December 793, 3 and at Mirècourt (Vosges), the public executioner ilemnly burnt them at the foot of the tree of Liberty on ) April 1794. 4
There seems to be no doubt that the Convention’s
1 Uzureau (F.), Les brûlements d'archives à Angers.
8 Guillemaut, vol. ii. p. 344. * Serres, vol. iv. p. 121.
4 Bouvier, p. 222.
decree overshot the mark at which it was aimed. It had been expressly laid down that rents other than feudal were excluded from its operation, but when the law came to be put into force many ordinary leases of land were destroyed. Landlords had often been in the habit of making some charge on mutation part of the rent of a piece of land, or the same title included both feudal and ordinary rents. In such cases, the tenant suddenly found himself endowed with the ownership of a property to which he had never put forward a claim, and a good deal of hardship seems to hâve been caused in this way to innocent persons.1 The Committee on Législation vainly endeavoured to persuade the Convention to provide for such hard cases ; its project of a decree was rejected.
After July I793,feudalism was entirely dead in France. Under the Directory and the Consulate there were proposais to amend the law, but ail these efforts failed. They were only intended, in any case, to restore to the State lands belonging to it which had passed into private ownership, owing to the confusion mentioned above. Neither under Napoléon nor the Restoration was there any serious attempt to restore the seigneurs to their ancient économie privilèges. That chapter of French history was for ever closed.
Certain conclusions impose themselves on the mind as the resuit of a study of this épisode in the history of the Révolution. They are presented very briefly for the reader’s considération. First, that the primary cause of révolutions is the survival of institutions, whether political or économie, which no longer fulfil their original function. Ail institutions are created to meet some need, to answer some purpose ; when we speak of “ growth ” in this connexion, we use a dangerous and deceptive term. Institutions do not grow, they are made ; the history of any society is a record of their création, destruction, and re- 1 Sagnac, p. 147 ; Aulard, pp. 256-7.
THE END OF FEUDALISM
lacement. They are made because men feel a want, need, which demands positive satisfaction. But it is in he nature of things that ail such social créations should utlive their utility and “ linger superfluous on the tage.” Then they begin to press upon the social organ- ;ation, to impede its growth and hinder its development ; : must free itself or perish. If society has evo'lved mahinery whereby its institutions can be easily altered, and f no vested interests or préjudices are concerned in the laintenance of that which has become functionless, then 11 is well ; the work of replacement will be peaceably ccomplished. But it is also in the nature of things that uch a fortunate conjunction of circumstances seldom ccurs. Interests, whether sentimental or économie, are lmost always bound up with the life of a piece of social aachinery, and if they happen to be powerful and tenaious, a revolutionary situation is engendered. Either he forces of libération and renewal will burst the barriers /ith more or less of violence, or those of immobility will riumph, and decay will invade the whole social body.
Such was the situation in France in 1789. Feudalism ad had a long and not inglorious history. After the ollapse of the Roman dominion it had saved society from issolution. When the immense and burdensome des- •otism of the Empire had fallen of its own weight, the only •ossible bond whereby men could be held together in ny sort of co-operation was that of personal and local )yalty. But this principle inevitably engendered abuses a its turn ; after despotism came anarchy, in which the rery idea of the State, of large-scale political organisation, ended to disappear. The inonarchy rose to power on the uins of the feudalism it had been compelled to combat, >ut once its victory was complété and its authority un- [uestioned, it abandoned its task and sank into that [uiescence which is the forerunner of decay. When the Lew forces in French society had reached maturity, a onflict was inévitable ; men had outgrown the absolute
monarchy as they had outgrown the agrarian System, and both the Crown and the feudalism it had spared were shattered into utter ruin.
“ The popular sense of right may often be wiser than the opinion of statesmen.” 1 This maxim of a brilliant political thinker finds full confirmation from the history of the revolutionary législation concerning feudalism. The secular idéal of the French peasant was the libération of the land and the achievement of civil equality ; 2 to him these things were fundamentals, beside which any other reforms were of small importance. Moreover, they were, he felt, inseparably linked together. His instinct, the product of long âges of enslavement to the glebe, was profoundly right ; he could not hâve formulated Harrington ’s great first principle of political science, but he felt its truth in his bones. “ If the whole people be landlords, or hold the lands so divided among them, that no one Man or number of Men, within the compass of the Few or Aristocracy, overbalance them, the Empire (without the interposition of force) is a Comrnonwealth.” The land to him meant liberty, for he knew that without it things and men might be called by new names but would still be the same in fact. Even as to practical details of politics his ignorance was better than the wisdom of the wise. He wished to break up the monastic estâtes, but he was not concerned to turn his curé into an official ; he knew that to make rédemption of the casual, along with the annual, dues compulsory, was to render the whole scheme of enfranchisement impossible of application. But, above ail, he knew that oil and water cannot mix, that feudalism was incompatible with liberty and equality, and however limited his vision of these things might be, he understood their concrète realities much better than the earnest reformers who prescribed for him from Paris. Time, which judges ail human things, has proved him in
1 Laski (H. J.), Political Thought from Locke to Bentham, p. 266.
* Cf. Hanoteaux, work cited, p. 397.
THE END OF FEUDALISM
he right. Governments hâve corne and gone ; France îas changed from Republic to Empire, from Empire to donarchy, from Monarchy to Republic again, but two hings hâve ne ver changed : the peasant’s grip upon 7rench soil, and the rule which makes ail Frenchmen the ubjects of an equal law.
APPENDIX
0 avoid overloading the text with citations a
number of extracts from the cahiers dealing with
JL the feudal rights are brought together here. They are taken entirely from the pétitions of rural communities and small country towns in the following provinces : Angoumois, Berry, Brittany, Champagne, Languedoc, Lorraine, Normandy, Orléanais, Provence, and Quercy.
Acigné. — For the future, the seigneurs shall be forbidden to lease out any commons, and ail such leases made during the last fifteen years shall be annulled.
Aigny-sur-Marne. — The inhabitants of Aigny hâve the honour to demand :
(1) That hunting and fishing shall be permitted to any person on his own property, game and fish having been created by the author of Nature for the subsistence of ail men.
(2) That no seigneur shall be permitted to establish rabbit warrens, and that those already in existence shall be destroyed, the animais which inhabit them being infinitely injurious to agriculture and consequently to the common weal.
(3) That ail seigneurs shall be obliged to justify by the original titles the cens, rents, dues, lods et ventes, and other servitudes, whether personal or real, with which they charge their vassals, and that in the absence of such titles these objects of servitude shall be abolished.1
1 This cahier served as a model for the électoral assemblies of six other parishes.
APPENDIX
Aubigné. — Let the vassals be freed from carting the ;ones for the lords’ mills at their own expense ; let them Iso be dispensed from furnishing the wood for the millheels.
Aulnay-aux-Planches. — The suppression of the right f retrait, exercised by the seigneurs, and that the dues of hich the origin is not proved by good titles and are >unded only on custom, be of no effect, and the comumities dispensed from satisfying them.
Aunac. — Let the inhabitants be discharged from ail ues of minage, hallage, and on the sale of cattle, and freed om the monopolies of mill and oven.
Avord. — How many parishes hâve lost the commons hich they formerly possessed ! The law of the strongest is prevailed, and the villager has seen himself despoiled ithout daring to demand his rights. He has been îecked by the heavy fees he would be obliged to advance > be able to re-enter into possession. This is the cause hich, up to the présent, has prevented the parish of vord from prosecuting the heir of the usurper of its )mmon lands.
Baronville. — The pigeon-houses cause much injury to roprietors ; if a sown field be not immediately harrowed, large part of the seed is carried off by the pigeons, and re peasants find themselves without a harvest. Corn f ail kinds scarcely begins to ripen before it is devoured ; e are afraid to leave the sheaves in the fields to dry and ttain perfect maturity because these little robbers carry way as much as they can. If it please the States-General ) maintain these cotes, we demand freedom to kill the irds in prohibited seasons.
Beaune-la-Rolande. — We demand the abolition of the ûgneurial corvées, of the monopolies of mills, bakehouses, nd wine presses, of hunting rights, and other oppressive Eiarges of this description.
Bénestroff. — For many centuries France has disinguished itself above ail other realms by destroying the
tyranny of petty sovereigns and according to ail its subjects the glorious quality of free men. But, on looking closely into things, it will be seen that this is merely an empty title ; in fact, many of them are truly the serfs and slaves of the feudal lords who no longer discharge at their own expense the services attached to the benefits accorded them by the sovereigns and immensely increased by the people. Their subjects are constrained to an infinity of servitudes, both real and personal, rents, cens, dues, charges, corvées, and other similar rights over private and communal properties, without being able to plead or be heard before any tribunal. How good and consoling it would be if the bounty and wisdom of His Majesty set limits to such miseries, increased as they are every day by new inventions !
Bertrichamp. — We do not complain of the collection of the tithes which the Church is accustomed to levy on our harvests. Our ancestors conceded them to the priests who administer our parishes, and not otherwise ; yet our curés only enjoy the smallest part of these tithes, having been despolied of the rest by the greatest possible abuse. We demand that ail portions of the tithes of which our priests hâve been deprived be returned to us ; they would be employed in the building and maintenance of our churches. . . . We should use the surplus in relieving the poor of each community, and mendicity would be suppressed by the easiest and most just of methods.
B ourg-des- Comptes. — The tithe, that odious tax which deprives the peasant of the best portion of his crop, and is levied in so bizarre a fashion, shall be suppressed.
Bezange-la-Petüe. — The dues for protection, a relie of the feudal System, ought to be abolished. As the seigneurs are released from the obligation of furnishing protection, equity demands that the vassals should be relieved from the dues for this purpose, which are very heavy for this little commune.
Blanzac. — As hunting and fishing are natural rights,
APPENDIX
.nd the exclusive enjoyment of them which the seigneurs iave arrogated to themselves is only the effect of authorty, it shall be free to every one to hunt on his own land .nd to fish in the waters which are a part of his property.
Bourdenay. — It is not without pain that the comnunities see themselves deprived of their best properties m the pretext that there is no land without a lord. How nany inconveniences arise from this cause ! The poor nan cannot raise the cattle which are his only means if obtaining milk, butter, and cheese. We hâve been ssured recently that the seigneurs hâve made titles for hemselves on parchment, called charters, which, although hey are new, seem old because of the form given them.
Briel. — The inhabitants complain of the infeudated ithe collected from their fields by the seigneurs. They Lemand the suppression of this tithe . . . and that it hould retum to its true and original destination in the ands of the parish priest.
Bué. — As there was at one time an intention to estabsh a monopoly of the mill in this parish, we humbly .emand that ail monopolies shall be suppressed as odious hings ; and that ail rights of toll shall be abolished or at îast fixed in such a manner that every individual may now what he owes for his merchandise, and thus avoid rany disputes.
Butteaux. — The greater part of these rights are the onsequences of the rule of the strongest. The ignorance nd barbarism of early âges gave them birth. The sublety of the compilers of manor-rolls, who hâve mostly sold heir soûls to the seigneurs, has perpetuated and greatly icreased them, unknown to the vassals. These believe hemselves to hâve made déclaration of a free héritage a a free custom, and are not a little surprised . . . when hey find themselves pursued and constrained to the payaent of certain dues which do not date farther back than he time of their last déclaration. To hâve proof of this fïlicting truth, it is only necessary to examine the manor-
rolls made during the last fifty, or even twenty-five years. It will be seen that they were compiled with only two objects in view : to extend the rights of the lords at the expense of their vassals, and to enrich the commissioners.
Cabrerets. — We demand the abolition of ail species of tithes and casual fees ; each beneficiary should, at the same time, be given an income proportionate to his condition, and to the number and poverty of his parishioners.
Cerbois. — Among the various abuses there is one in their parish which does them the greatest wrong, namely, the swarms of pigeons belonging to the seigneurs and farmers of the neighbourhood. This abuse has been carried to such a point that the petitioners are obliged to double their sowings, and when the corn has reached maturity they are again compelled to take the greatest précautions to preserve it from the crops of these hungry birds.
The right of tithe which belongs to the seigneurs is most costly and vexatious. . . . If it be not abolished, there ought, at least, to be raies which would secure the rights of the poor from the cupidity of the lord’s agents.
Cernon. — The seigneurial rights that we owe to our lords (which were at one time our only charges) being now replaced by the taxes we pay to the King, these ancient rights should be suppressed as a double tax, save for the indemnities due to our seigneurs.
Chassy. — The rights of bordelage and retrait are odious ; thé inhabitants of this parish hope that His Majesty, to encourage his people, will suppress these rights, or at least convert the bordelage into a cens.
Châteauneuf. — The tithes are, perhaps, one of the things which most discourage agriculture ; their diversity in each canton causes an infinity of lawsuits. In this parish there are some at a tenth, and others at a twentieth ; they are levied on lambs and on flax, even in gardens. The inhabitants demand that tithes shall be made uniform in this parish, and deterrained generally at a
APPENDIX
lirtieth, as a sufficient portion in a région where cultiva- Dn is very expensive. Each household shall hâve exemp- Dn from green tithe in its garden.
In the number of seigneurial rights of which the supession or reform interests the public are, firstly, the urses of quintain for newly-married persons, the still ore singular obligations upon those who sell salted h ; these rights, which may be regarded as relies the abuses of the feudal System, yield nothing use- 1 to the seigneur, and limit liberty, marriages, and dustry ; we demand their extinction and that of ail nilar rights.1
Secondly, the obligation on a vassal to collect the les of the fief in his turn and rank ; often a vassal >ssesses only a small piece of land in a large fief, and, len his turn cornes to collect, it costs him as much or arly as much as the value of his property. . . . Thirdly, the feudal retrait has always been regarded an exorbitant right ; it prevents the circulation of operties and restricts liberty. . . . It would be very sirable to suppress it entirely, and to reduce the jht of lods et ventes, which, by an excessive usage, a sixth in this district, to the general rate of the ovince.
Cherville. — We demand that the ancient custom in gard to the tithes shall be re-established, that is, that ey shall be employed in assisting the poor of the parish, the érection and repair of churches and presbyteries, id not in maintaining the splendour of the clergy of the st order.
Coinces. — The parish charges its deputies to support . . the suppression of the ecclesiastical tithe, the right champart and the feudal dues, and to request that émission shall be given to redeem them by the least
1 On Easter Tuesday, “ ail fishmongers wlio hâve retailed fish iring Lent ” were obliged “ to leap and plungh jn the lish-ponds of lâteauneuf ” pn pain of $ Sue, Sée and késprj, vqJ. iii. p, 133,
expensive method that the National Assembly can devise.1
Condé-sur-Marne. — Demands that the local customary law which présumés the allodiality of lands shall be firmly established, and continues : But, as the rights pretended in favour of non-allodiality are derived from slavery and servitude rather than from freedom and consent, it would be désirable that ail rights which tend to enslave and humiliate humanity, and are the fruits of violence and usurpation, should be abolished . . . unless the titles of concession are exhibited to those from whoir such rights are demanded.
Corbeil. — Let the seigneurial jurisdictions be maintained.
Coulmiers. — It is not sufficient that the animais anc game which the Creator has given for the nourishmenl and support of man be reserved for the satisfaction o: the sensuality of the rich, and that it be a punishable offence for a non-noble proprietor to clear his fields or sel traps for them ; he is scarcely allowed to keep dogs foi his defence on night journeys, when he walks alon;; dangerous roads. In order to preserve the game that h< ne ver eats, it is sought to forbid him to clear the weed: from his field . . . he is not permitted, in many places to eut the stubble after harvest. . . . How many ri dieu lous ordinances hâve been made, and still more unjusi sentences inflicted, in regard to this question !
Coupetz. — The community complains of a right o terrage exercised by the seigneur on its territory ; ii does not know on what this right is founded, and evei thinks that it has been usurped. The right of levyin; terrage is not of common law ; it can only be acquired Now, we cannot fmd that this has ever been done. . . It follows that this alleged right has been wrongfulb acquired. ... In view of this the seigneur ought to provi
1 This use of the expression “ National Assembly " as early as Marc! 1789 is noteworthy.
APPENDIX
right, and if he cannot do so, abandon it. . . . The i of Coupetz also owns the river without ever having tified his possession by any title.
Ecury-sur-Coole. — Ail the feudal rights, including n the tithe, should be suppressed, or the people perted to redeem them.
Engenville. — His Majesty shall be entreated to order t the pigeon-cotes built since his ordinances be pulled ra, and their owners condemned to a fine of 300 livres the benefit of the poor, on the denunciation of two ibitants of the community.
Epiniac. — The suppression of the francs-fiefs ought also inter into the beneficent views of Your Majesty. Such ix, that we dare to call disastrous in itself, such a tax tinds us every twenty years, and at each mutation of perty, of the dégradation of the ancient serfs who ld not possess land which had belonged to a noble lout paying the rachat for it. In an enlightened âge 1 as that in which we üve, at the moment when Your esty wishes to draw us up from nothingness to ; us the status of citizens ; at a time when the eleva- 1 of our soûls permits us to take that title, you will not e us, Sire, to blush by reminding us of the humiliation ur forefathers. In this unhappy parish, three-quarters he property owned by commoners is subject to franc-
Ab I Sire, how much is the unhappy peasant vexed ! how many matters has he to demand justice from I The hunt is another of the branches of feudal inny ; in the night the peasant sees his lord’s warrens )ty themselves for the ravage of his crops and orchards ; ng the day the pigeons fall in thousands on the Is he has just sown ; the hares nibble his corn, devour few vegetables he has raised to eat with his dry id ; he must suffer ail these wrongs, abandon the sel of bread which ought to nourish himself and his appy family on the morrow, so that he does not
interrupt the pleasures of a being similar to himself bu whom Nature lias made a gentleman. A new law stronger than those which now exist, while permittin the destruction of the animais that devastate our crops could, at the same time, protect them against careles hunters.
To meet the déficit . . . we can point out to you a efficacious means : it is the total suppression or drasti reform of the religions orders which are of no utility t your people, which fulfil no pastoral fonction, and whos revenues are immense ; most frequently they serve n purpose, but to foment disorder and spread débaucher in the country ; a life-pension could be assigned to eac monk . . . and their possessions sold to meet the defici for we consider it more advantageous to the governmei to bring these into circulation than to administer them.
Ercés-en-Lamée. — The corvées which the seigneu allégé are due, and the harsh fashion in which they a: enforced, hâve become so onerous to certain of the i: habitants that they are ready to abandon their lands order to escape from them. The lords, moreover, ha1 procurators-fiscal, who play the tyrant in every cantor to obtain a penny due to the seigneur they will exact t( crowns in fees from a vassal, and will not cease to torme: him till they hâve wrung him dry. . . . When it pleases seigneur to demand an aveu, his procurator exhaus every species of chicanery to ruin the vassals, and i validâtes their aveux for mere trifles ; to avoid this i convenience, we desire that the seigneurs should supp us with an exact formula for the rendering of aveux, ai that when this form is observed they cannot be inva dated ; this will avoid the brigandage of the subalte ofhcers, who obey no law but their own cupidity.
Etrelles. — They desire . . . that the seigneurs sh; hâve no power to demand triages in the future.
Fouquebrune. — They [the deputies] will demand t] abolition of franc-fief, which is a necessary consequen
APPENDIX
; the fiscal equality between the three Orders. They ust not pass over in silence our too just complaints mching the exorbitant tax of franc-fief, wbich, against itural right, takes two years’ revenue from the proâetor, and even more in case of death.
Fournis. — We cannot pass over in silence the excessive mses of which the lords’ agents are culpable, and under hich their vassals hâve long complained. The censives, îd the lods which they demand for sales and mutations, e as exorbitant as they are unjust. What ! my necesties compel me to sell my property and I am forced to crease them to enrich the seigneur ! I take a piece of nd from a debtor in payment of what he owes me, and nust add the seigneurial dues to my loss ! In any case, l rights which bear this name ought to be abolished ; ey date from a time of slavery, and it would be worthy an âge of liberty to annihilate them.
Grigneville. — It is very désirable that there should be ily one seigneur in each parish, for if an individual .ve five or six pièces of land, depending on several lords, must furnish as many récognitions as there are seigurs, which becomes very costly to him.
Guichen. — The right of fumage which exists in some ntons of the parish of Guichen should be suppressed ; is feudal due consists of six bushels of oats and a fowl, yable annually for each chimney in which fire and loke is made, and amounts, in an average year, to livres ; although the house is often not rented 3 livres. The origin of this right is that the seigur formerly provided his vassal with firewood during ree months of the year, and even with large pièces of nber, when he wished to build. Now that the lord no îger makes this provision, it seems just to abolish so pressive a right for ever, since because of it several lages hâve fallen into ruins.
Guipel. — There shall be no more lods et ventes on atracts of exchange ; this right, being levied against
the spirit of our customary law, is absolutely injurious to proprietors and to agriculture.
Guitté. — To render aveu to a seigneur for a piece oi land rented at 40 sols has cost 15 livres ; if this be not done to the fancy of the lord and his procurator-fiscal, it is invalidated and costs three and four times as much.
Haussimont. — The said community represents that it would be very désirable to abolish the right to maintain warrens. This is a scourge for agriculture wherever it exists. The rabbits destroy ail the crops they can reach, including the woods. . . . The peasant receives nothing from his fields. He must, however, pay the tallage, the twentieths, and other taxes, as well as the dues he owes to his seigneur, which are always rigorously exacted, This right is odious and a source of ruinous disputes between the lord and his vassals.
Iffendic. — The seigneurs of fiefs . . . force theii vassals to collect the feudal rents ; the cost of this collection is often greater than the value of the propert} the vassal holds under the fief. This is an abuse whicf has survived from the ancient feudal government. . . .
La Baussaine. — Let the odious rights of quintains soûles, and others of a similar nature be for ever extinguished and suppressed, as contrary to good morals anc public order.
La Caure. — The pigeons, and the rabbits above ail cause great damage in our countryside ; we plough, we sow, we pay the taxes, the cens and the sur cens, and yel we harvest scarcely anything, which ruins us from toj to bottom ; we leave the greater part of our land fallov* because of this misfortune and scourge. . . . The righl of feudal retrait makes great and rich proprietors, diminishes the King’s revenue, discourages individuals whc wish to carry out improvements, and ends by ruining the communities where it is established. The lods et ventes are also a kind of tax. We therefore demand reform ir ali these matters ; the old days are gone for ever.
APPENDIX
La Couronne. — The said inhabitants, considering that ae seigneurial courts multiply the degrees of jurisdiction nd cause useless expense, not to mention the abuses rhich take place in them, are of opinion that it would e advantageous to the public to order the suppression of Il seigneurial juridictions. . . . Moreover, the inhabimts ask that ail persons, of whatever quality, be foridden to keep pigeons and pigeon-cotes, with the exîption of seigneurs who possess the right of high justice.
Laillé. — By the usage of the fief, the greater part of ur houses are subjected to a due called fumage ; on Dme, it consists of a somme of oats, on others, of fourfths of a somme.1 This is much more than their value, nd most of these houses are falling into ruins ; our îhabitants fly to other parishes where these feudal tiarges do not exist. Most of the fumages hâve been dablished during the last twenty or thirty years in illages which had been exempt from them ; in conîquence, we demand to be discharged from them or that ley be reduced.
La Loupière. — Endow the parish priests of each proince with a sufficient income and suppress ail the tithes.
Laverdines. — Ail bordelages and monopolies shall be xtinguished and suppressed as odious.
Les Bordes. — The inhabitants of the country districts ught to be permitted to destroy the wild boars and the irds vulgarly known as starlings, which cause great ljury to the crops, particularly at the harvest season.
Lezinnes. — The deputies of the Third Estate will emand that the rights of cens and tierce be abolished, 5 they are a heavier charge for the cultivators than the >yal taxes.
Lherm. — The desire of the community is . . . that Il the seigneurial courts should be suppressed, and that lere should be established in each community justices
1 The somme was a local measure, equal to “ the ordinary load of a Drse." Sée and Lésort, vol, ii. p. 311,
of the peace who will décidé most disputes when the} begin.
Luisetaines. — We demand and insist upon the reformation of the tithes, which hâve corne to be the most frightful of taxes . . . and are employed at présent te maint ain the idleness of most of the monks and ecclesiastics, to the great scandai of religion.
Mazargues. — The inhabitants of Mazargues are crushec by the ingratitude of the soil they cultivate, by the due; with which it is charged, and by the abusive extension; which the seigneur or his agents give to his rights. . . . They render due homage to the personal virtues of theii lord, but he cannot disabuse himself of the illusions o: self-interest, and the inhabitants of Mazargues, too feebk to protest on their own account, solicit the aid of Marseille, their mother city.
They submit that their lands are subject to the tasqui on ail grain, olives, and vegetables, at the rate of on< fourth of the crop ; that for grapes the charge is one fifth ; that each household is subject to the annual du( of a fat pullet, which the seigneur values at from 2C to 36 sols.
That the seigneurial agents and rent-farmers restrici the liberty of the inhabitants at the time of harvesl and vintage, inasmuch as they forbid them to be mad( without their permission or out of their presence, which i; an unhead-of limitation and one that cannot be sustainec by any title ; that the monopoly of the bakehouse . . leads to ail sorts of vexations, excessive charges, refusai; to cook, and négligence. To which it must be added thaï a single oven is insufficient for the place, and the inhabi tants are compelled to lack bread ; if, to procure thi: primary necessity, they address themselves to the neigh bouring bakers, severity is pushed to the point of seizin^ their bread. . . . The seigneur ought to maintain a suffi cient oven, and in default the inhabitants should b< authorised, after givingtwent y-four hours’ notice, to hav<
APPENDIX 215
aeir bread cooked where they please ; this is justice, and : it does not exist it must be established.
Mesves-sur -Loire. — Formerly, almost ail parishes had a grtain amount of land held jointly by the inhabitants, nd called commons for this reason. These lands were lost useful to the people, since they served as pastures for tie cattle ; in this way almost every household could keep cow from which it obtained a little milk. This was a reat convenience for ail, and more than a convenience ar the children. The seigneurs hâve deprived the poor of bds privilège by exploiting the commons for their own rofit ; in conséquence, no more cows, no more milk, and sarcely any food for the children. To deprive the hildren of food, or render it difficult to obtain, is to mund the people in the most grievous fashion. . . . This xplanation will show how important it is, not only for he poor but for the State itself, that the commons should <e given up by the seigneurs, who hâve done much less good iy taking them than they hâve done wrong to the people nd to the State.
There is much reason to complain of the expenses aused by the compilation of new manor-rolls . As these are nade by the lords’ orders and for their benefit, it would >e just if they alone bore the cost, and not the vassals, or whom it is sufïicient injury to be called away from heir work to make the déclarations demanded from them. ^nd yet the seigneur . . . pays nothing and the vassal . . pays for ail. If he paid but little the injustice would )e less crying, but the poor peasant, defenceless against he greed of the commissary, is obliged to pay ail that he lemands, and what he demands is sometimes equal to the /alue of the object declared. Commissaries hâve been cnown to extract 20,000 or 30,000 livres from parishes vhose taxes amounted to only 1000 crowns. Such lorrible exactions demand a reform which would compel :hose who are interested in its compilation to bear the :osts of the manor-roll.
Montgermont. — We demand that the tithe of flax and others known as lesser tithes be suppressed.
Noyal-sur-Vilaine. — We demand that the feudal jurisdictions be abolished because of the too great authority they give the seigneurs over their vassals ; the latter rarely obtain justice in them. Let courts be established in each arrondissement ; let justice be rendered in the King’s name and the officers . . . chosen from the order of plebeians, for commoners ought to judge one another.
Pléchatel. — Besides the rents that they are obliged to pay to the said seigneurs they are subjected to the corvées of mills . . . without any recompense ; and though they contribute to the repair of the mills they are defrauded daily by the millers, who retain a third of the corn brought to them. They also pay lods et ventes to the lords on each mutation of property, even for exchanges, at the eighth of the contract price. They demand to be discharged from ail rents and other seigneurial dues, and from the right of lods et ventes ; that franc-alleu be the general law ; that they be exempt from the odious corvée of mills, and permittedto grind their corn where they please, without being tied to any particular mill.
Précy. — We demand the purchase of the seigneurial rents, terrages, and champarts whether lay or ecclesiastical, at a price fixed by the States-General. They are burdensome rights, invented by feudalism, and repaid a hundred times ; they cause agriculture to languish, crush the peasant’s industry, and discourage the proprietor.
Puy-l’Evêque. — This community has only too many examples of the commerce carried on by the seigneurs in lands which they acquire by means of the feudal retrait or through the surcharges they impose upon purchasers. O august Prince ! it was reserved for you alone to destroy the préjudices which dégradé the citizen and overwhelm the poor man in his cottage ; therefore we hope that in your wisdom you will suppress this right of retrait as
APPENDIX
:ontrary to social laws ; abolish the rights of acapte which serve no purpose but to renew the tears, sighs, and regrets if families for a father who takes with him in death the aopes, the ease and very often the bread of his children.
. . You will add to these benefits by the prescrip- :ion after thirty years of ail feudal and seigneurial dues. What, in truth, can be more iniquitous than for a seigneur ,o demand, even extort, by means of a title three or four îundred years old, a rent which has perhaps been bought ip, enfranchised or modified ; nay, more, has possibly lever existed ? It is the height of tyranny, of contempt or good sense and sane reason.
Roquemaure. — The tolls should be totally abolished hroughout the realm. These odious rights ought no onger to exist, since the roads, bridges, causeways, and )anks of streams, as well as the police, hâve for centuries >een kept up at the expense of the people. The indemîity, if it be absolutely necessary to accord one to hose who enjoy these rights, would be a small matter n comparison with the advantage to be derived from their uppression. Churches which own tolls might be com- >ensated by means of a bénéfice of an équivalent revenue. rrom Le Bourg-Saint -Andéol to Arles, there are seven olls belonging to the Church.
Rouvray -Saint-Denis. — We submit that the right of ranc-fief is burdensome to the people, especially to small iroprietors ; these properties ought not to be owned by he seigneurs. And, in truth, is it not a misfortune for mall holders and poor persons, who only possess three r four mines of land, to be obliged to pay a year’s evenue, or even more, at each mutation and every wenty years ? In conséquence, we demand the abolition f this tax.
Roz-sur-Couesnon. — Ail seigneurial servitudes whatver, as well as the lods et ventes on contracts of exchange, hall be definitively and irrevocably suppressed, the grvitudes being contrary to natural right and good
order, and the lods et ventes on exchanges improper, since this species of contract cannot and ought not to be considered as an alienation.
Rugny. — The deputies will represent that, as almost ail the seigneurs farm out their feudal rights, it is to the interest of the farmers to extend them as much as they possibly can ; that very often they exact the tierce in places where only a cens is due, and the poor peasant, who trembles at the sight of a summons, prefers to pay rather than sustain a prosecution.
Sabran. — The tithe ought to be suppressed. It was accorded in the beginning to apostolic pastors who esteemed it an honour to instruct the people, who edified it by their example, assisted and consoled it in the different situations of life. To-day it passes to men who are known, most frequently, only by the orders to seize the fruits of land they hâve not cultivated that they transmit to their agents.
Saint-Amand-de-Bonnieure. — The parish is much surcharged with feudal rents due to nine or ten seigneurs, which rents absorb its revenues. Most of the properties pay more than three bushels of corn per ploughland. . . . When the proprietors hâve sown their land in the hope of gaining their living and paying their rents and taxes, the lords of the neighbourhood hunt across the fields at ail seasons, on horse and on foot, with packs of dogs, so that at ail times the harvest is destroyed.
Saint-Cernin. — The community of Saint-Cemin will end its remonstrances by a slight sketch of its sad situation. For a century its soil has been devastated by the torrents . . . it totally lacks forage and pasture ; it pays so excessive a censive that after it has paid to the titheowner, the King, and the different seigneurs, there remains for each inhabitant ’s subsistence no more than 2 sols per day.
Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand. — A thing which excites the protests and complaints of a great number of parishes in
APPENDIX
Champagne, and of the parish of Grand-Saint-Hilaire n particular, is that ail the inhabitants without distincion, and the peasants more than any others, are subected to seigneurial rights which deprive them of part )f their harvests. Several cantons of this territory are ilso charged with cens and sur cens which are injurious ;o agriculture, since these sorts of rights (the titles, uigins, and limits of which are not always known) are igorously exacted, even in bad years. The general wish )f the Third Estate is that these taxes, which are evilently relies of feudal barbarism and servitude that xmtribute nothing to the prosperity of the realm, should )e abolished if possible, or at least modified to the point )f being no longer onerous to the people ; if justice is >pposed to their suppression, at least the parishes should )e authorised to enfranchise themselves by a sum of money >aid once for ail.
Saint- Jean-de-Béré. — The tolls, rights of leude, cv&ioms, lavage, prévôté, and others of this character, levied by /arious lords on the cattle, commodities, and merchanlise carried to, and sold in, the fairs and markets of the :owns, boroughs, and villages, are so many taxes raised rom the King’s subjects ; they hâve no other foundation :han the usurpation of the seigneurs on the royal rights ; hey are contrary to the freedom of commerce, and :stablish a vexatious inquisition over merchants. For hese reasons, the inhabitants demand the abolition of ;uch rights, and that in future the King alone shall levy mpositions on the subjects of hs realm.
The seigneurs lay hands indiscriminately on the nommons, wastes, and pastures ; they lease out even the >treets and exits from villages. The unfortunates who ived on the products of one or two cows which furnished :hem with milk and gave subsistence to their children, hâve been deprived of this resource by the enclosures nade on the commons. . . . They dare not even complain ; they lack the means to sustain a lawsuit ; they
weep and give themselves over to despair. Therefore, the inhabitants demand and solicit a definitive régulation, which, without regard to the enclosures made in the last forty years, shall fix and détermine the property of the vassals in the wastes and commons, according to the infeudations, and that ail disputes which may arise out of the execution of this régulation shall be decided by the royal judges.
Saint-Loup-des-Vignes. — We demand that the manorrolls shall not be renewed oftener than every fifty years, and that the fees of the commissaries be reduced.
Saint-Père-Marc-en-Poulet. — The feudal retraits, in themselves injurious to circulation and to the good of agriculture, shall, if not suppressed, at least be reduced within the narrowest limits, that, in conséquence, the seigneurs shall not be permitted to exercise this exorbitant right of feudalism save in cases of indispensable necessity . . . and that the odious faculty the lords possess of ceding their right of retrait shall be abolished, as contrary to equity and the principles of social liberty.
Sainte-Vertu. — The community demands the abolition of the seigneurial justices and their replacement by royal judges and notariés.
Thorey. — It would be very advantageous, both to the State and the people, to abolish the cens, corvées, and tierces, which are survivais of ancient servitude and encroachments on the sovereign’s rights ; they often make it impossible for individuals to pay the royal taxes.
Tilloy. — The seigneurial corvées should be suppressed as dishonourable and degrading to the French people.
Tinténiac. — There is still at Tinténiac a charge which ought no longer to exist, namely, that of havage ; it is raised at the principal fairs on corn, butter, and other commodities exposed for sale. This due was tolerated in the days when the seigneurs were charged with the pursuit of crimes . . . but now that these same crimes
APPENDIX 221
re prosecuted at the cost of the King’s domains, the said lue ought no longer to exist.
Tivernon. — We demand that the lords shall no longer >e permitted to plant avenues of elms and other trees njurious to agriculture along the roads and on the pro- >erties of private persons, unless the latter hâve given heir consent and received compensation for the damage uch plantations may cause them.
Tonnerre. — Since ail the seigneurs are proceeding to enew their manor-rolls, the deputies will point out that he fees of the commissaries hâve been prodigiously acreased in recent years, and hâve become an over- /helming surcharge upon the people.
Tresbœuf. — The inhabitants complain . . . that as ertain lords of fiefs allow their feudal rents to fall into rrears for sometimes twenty-nine or thirty years, it appens that properties charged with heavy rents are aund to be burdened beyond their intrinsic value, which ompels the proprietors to aÜenate them to meet the rrears. For this reason it would appear to be just that eigneurs should not be allowed to demand their rents fter five years.
Vannes. — The municipality solicits : The suppresion of ail the small jurisdictions which are so burdenome to the people, above ail, in the rural districts. . . . 'he abolition of ail tithes and champarts, levied on the rarious products of agriculture.
Vasteville. — The parish of Vaste ville . . . had, as its nly resource, several heaths, downs, valleys, and cornions o ver which it enjoyed a right of pasturage ; but he seigneur has seized them by violence and leased hem out. This deprives the community of ail resources, nfeebles agriculture, and diminishes population. . . . 'he community very humbly represents that it is afîlicted, aten up, and pillaged by the rabbits and pigeons which lestroy the corn, and is unable to defend itself as firerms are absolutely prohibited. It would, therefore, be a
general benefit to ail the rural districts if these abuses were destroyed.
Villeau .■ — We submit that it would be very bénéficiai to the Third Estate to abolish the right of franc-fief which ail non-noble proprietors are obliged to pay to the King every twenty years, and at ail deaths and mutations. This charge is infinitely burdensome, since it absorbs one and a half years’ revenue of noble land ; it is, at the same time, very restrictive of the sale and alienation of this class of property.
Villeneuve-l’ Archevêque. — Another abuse in the administration of justice is the multiplicity of seigneurial courts, of which five or more are often found in a single parish ; in most of these jurisdictions it is impossible to find officers who résidé on the spot, which causes justice to languish and imposes illégal fees on the parties. . . . In most of these jurisdictions there are no prisons. For these and other reasons ail such courts should be suppressed, and replaced by royal courts in each arrondissement.
Villereau. — The inhabitants of Villereau demand that the tithe raised in their parish shall be paid in kind as in the past, and that the champ arts shall be suppressed. They offer to redeem this right at the valuation made of it.
They entreat His Majesty to permit the inhabitants of parishes which border on the forest, or where there are warrens, to kill the rabbits and other game on their own land ; also to enjoin the seigneurs who hâve pigeon-cotes to kill their pigeons.
Villers-aux-Corneilles .■ — Suppress ail the ecclesiastical lordships which, to the détriment of religion, inspire great pride in those who possess them, and employ their revenues for the good of the State.
Villier s-Louis. — The inhabitants charge their deputies : To demand the suppression of the monopolies of mills. They suffer the great est damage from this
APPENDIX
ruse by reason of the harshness of the millers and the rbitrary character of their fees, which deprive them f a portion of their corn. . . . To observe that, if the ame destroys the harvests, the multitude of pigeons is Iso very injurious, because they carry off the seed and it the crops when they corne to maturity.
INDEX
icapte, 24, 130, 135, 189 Vgenais, Feudal rights in the,
Uguillon, Duc d’, 102, 103, 106,
Ux-en-Issart, 62 Uençon, 45, 48
Ulier, Insurrections in the, 161 Usace, Feudal rights in, 10, 11, 14, 15, 22, 23
- Insurrections in, 109, 121-2,
- Landownership in, 58, 60, 63 Amiens, 62
i.mont, 80 Angers, 197
ingoumois, Feudal rights in, 18,
- Peasants of, 67 insouis, 24 Lrc-sur-Tille, 25 irgentan, 114 Lrgenteuil, 83
odes, Archbishop of, 108 Lrras, 60 Lrtigues, 66 Lrtix, 11
Lrtois, Count d’, 90
- Feudal rights in, 14, 13
- Landownership in, 58, 60 Lsnan, 162
.ttigny, 117
.ulard, A., 7, 10, 22, 38, 42, 175, 194, 196
.uvergne, Distribution of property in, 58, 60, 63
- Feudal rights in, 10, 11, 14, 15,
- Insurrections in, 109, 12 1-2,
169, 187 uxerre, 22 uxey-le-Grand, 49 veux, 19, 34, 42, 133, 159
ain, 74, 121
Balaze, 70
Banalités, 25, 77, 133-4 Bans de vendange, 32, 133 Banvins, 32, 133 Bar-sur- Seine, 49 Basses- Alpes, Insurrections in the, 118, 163
Bastille, Capture of the, 91-3 Baudoncourt, 96
Béarn, Distribution of property in, 58
Beaufremont, Princesse de, 94 Beaujolais, Industry in the, 54,
Beaulieu, 159 Beauregard, 63 Belfort, 158 Bellefond, 84 Bellegarde, 85 Bernier, Abbé, 60 Berry, Distribution of property in, 60
— Feudal rights in, 6, 16, 29 Besançon, 89 Betancourt, 94, 119 Biauzet, Gualtier de, 136 Bienvenue, 11
Birac, 24 Blandy, 171 Bleruais, 74 Boiteau, P., xviii, 55 Boitron, 87 Boncerf, 6, 7, 41, 42 Bordelage, 6, 132, 192 Bordelais, Distribution of property in the, 57
— Feudal rights in the, 36 Bouches-du-Rhône, 163 Bouillon, Duc de, 45 Bourbonnais, Feudal rights in
the, 22 Bourbriac, 37 Bourey, 37 Bourges, 66, 72 Bouron, 116
Bouteillage, 31 Bouzonville, 109 Brangues, 150 Bréhal, 37 Breuvery, 29
Bricqueville-la-Blouette, 70 Bridrey, E., 57, 71 Brienon-sur-Armançon, 28 Brittany, Cahiers of, 71, 72
— Distribution of property in,
— Enclosures in, 48, 50, 81
— Feudal rights in, 10, 14, 22-5,
— Industry in, 54
— Insurrections in, 93, 94, 1 19-21,
— Peasants of, 65, 75 Brotte, 96
Broves, 27 Burgoin, 93, 97
Burgundy, Distribution of property in, 2i, 58
— Enclosures in, 49, 50
— Feudal rights in, 5, 6, 32
— Insurrections in, 94 Bussière, G., 53, 54, 122, 124 Buxières, 161
Buzot, 105
Cabrières-d'Aigues, 27 Cahiers de doléances, 67 et seq.,
Campel, 120 Cantonnement, 48 Capet, Hugues, xv Castillon, 23 Castres, 108 Catus, 37 Caudan, 157 Caulnes, 10 Celles, 63
Cens, Censive, 12, 43, 77, 78, 135, 171, 180 Chalons, 44
Champagne, Distribution of property in, 22, 63
— Feudal rights in, n, 12, 15, 35,
— Peasants of, 63
Champart, 12-14, 44, 45, 77, 112, 130, 135, 154, 171-2, 180, 190 Champigny, 21 Champion, E., xi, 55, 66, 71 Chaon, 77 Chapelier, 105
Charente, Insurrections in the,
Charlier, 196 Chartres, Bishop of, 105 Chasset, 143 Châteaubriant, 184 Château-Thierry, 89 Châteauvillain, 162 Châtelet, Duc du, 105 Chatillon, 54 Chef-feu, 11, 133 Chevannes, 66 Cieurac, 75 Clerget, Abbé, 6 Clermont-Tonnerre, M. de, 8, 96 Club, Breton, 102 Coligny, 35 Colombe, 37 Combleux, 77 Combret, 115 Commissaires à terrier, 20 Commons. See Enclosures Conard, P., 56, 99, 117 Corrèze, Insurrections in the, 162, 163, 172 Corsage, ix
Corvées, 2, 12, 15, 34, 77, 80, 133,
Cessé, Brissac, Duc de, 175 Côte-d’Or, 25
Cotentin, Distribution of property in the, 57
— Feudal rights in the, 37 Coulonches, 98 Courceaux, 35 Cremieu, 93
Creuse, Insurrections in the, 171 Croses, 63 Cuguen, 27
Davenescourt, 162 Dauphiné, Distribution of property in, 58, 63
— Feudal rights in, 38, 56
— • Insurrections in, 93, 94, 97, 99, 100, 108, 118
Decrees, August 1789, 110, 112,
■ — March 1790, 128, 147
— April, 1790, 143
— May 1790, 128, 147
— June 1790, 174
— August 1790, 145
— September 1790, 145
— October 1790, 144
— November 1790, 174
INDEX
>ecrees, April 1791, 174
- August 1792, 190
- June 1793, 195
- July 1793, 196 eüsle, L., 1 ijon, 89
ocuments, Burning of feudal, 196-7
'omaine congéable, 59 orliac, 188 ornont, 82
ues, Feudal, in Middle Ages, 2, 12
- Feudal, in 1789, 3, 35
- Origin of feudal, 33
- See also Cens, Mainmorte, etc.
'upont, E., 19, 34
upont de Nemours, r42
bblinghem, 158
chemines, 26
dicts, 1669, 48, 137, 193
- 1779, 7, 8, no - 1786, 39
nclosures, 47 et seq., 8r, 193, 195 nfranchisements, 4, 7-10 ntragues, Count d’, 90 rbray, 23 spère, 36, 64 ssey-les-Nancy, n sténos, 62 talage, 31
airs, 31, 133 aucherais, 28 Fear, Great,” 92, 97 inot, Jules, 6 lach, Jules, 35 landers, Feudal rights in, 14 lorinage, 27 ontaine, Priory of, 7 ontenay-Bossery, 77 ontignau, 157 orcalquier, 64 ormariage, 10 ouesnel, 23 ranc-alleu, 21, 56 ranc-fief, 61, 62, 85, 134 ranche-Comté, Feudal rights in, 5. 6, 9, 10
-Insurrections in, 94, 97 -Parliament of, 8 roide-Conche, 96 'umage, 46, 133 ustel de Coulanges, xv
Gandilhon, 29, 72 Garat, rg4
Gard, Insurrections in the, 169,
Germeville, 43 Gers, 162 Giffard (A.), 35 Gimel, 57 Glanettes, 28 Godin, 166-9 Goudex, 62 Grandechamps, 32 Grimaucourt, rr6 Gua, 118 Guerstling, 182 Guithen, 15
Hainaut, Feudal rights in, 14 Hallage, 3t
Hambye, Abbey of, 12 Hammond, J. L. & B., 47 Hanotaux, G., xvi Haucourt, 116 Hautbois, 28 Haye-Dix, 28 Heiteren, ir9 Heriot, 24
Hunting, Rights of, 28, 81, ni,
Hurigny, 99, 100 Illïteracy, 65
Insurrections. See under names of Provinces and Departments Isoré, 196 Issé, 19
Jouy-sous-les-Côtes, 160 Turisdictions, Feudal, xvii, 3, 33, 83, ni, 144-5, 158
Karéiew, N., 5, 45, 56, 135 Kerengall, Le Guen de, 103 Ker-Salun, Comte de, 119 Kovalewsky, M., 23, 45, 55 Kropotkin, P., 92, 99
La Beslière, 16 La Chapelle, 96 La Ferrière-Borchard, 49 Laillé, 46
La Lande d’Airon, 70 La Marche, 9 La Molle, 45 Landres, 96
Languedoc, Feudal rights in, 20
Languedoc, Insurrections in, 163 Lanjuinais, 106 Laon, 54
Lardimalie, Foucauld de, 127 Largouet, 32
Larochefoucauld, Duc de, 41 La Rougère, 9 Launac, 66
Lautour-Duchatel, 188 Le Me le, 27 Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, 44 Lengronne, 12 Lens-Lestang, 108 Liancourt, Duc de, 108 Limousin, Distribution of property in the, 58, 60, 62
— Insurrections in the, 127 Limousis, 18, 44
Lindre, 114
Lods et ventes, 22, 23, 24, 34, 45, 61, 77, 78, 130, 135, 181, 189 Loiret, Insurrections in the, 162,
Lorraine, Fondai rights in, n, 14, 15, 22, 24, 27, 44
— Insurrections in, 109, 114— 5 Lostanges, Marquis de, 174-7 Lot, Insurrections in the, 165-9,
171-2, 187, 194 Lot-et-Garonne, 24, 115 Loubedat, 115 Louhans, 197 Louis le Gros, xvi Louis XI, xvi Louis XIV, xv, xvi Louis XVI, 7, 89, 108, 110 Loupiac, 38
Loutchisky, J., 42, 46, 54, 57, 58, 60, 62 Loyette, 50 Luchaire, A., 1
Luxeuil, Abbey of, 5, 7, 89, 96
Maçonnais, Insurrections in the, 94, 99, 100 Mailhe, 189, 193 Maillerancourt, 96 Maine, Insurrections in, 94, 98, 114, 169
Mainmorte, 4-10, 45, 78, 109, ni, I30, I3I-3, 155, !92 Malau court, 116 Malgolérian, 32 Marat, J. P., no Marche, Mainmorte in, 6, 9 Marciage, 24
Mar cillé- Robert, 70
Margerie, 77
Marion, H., 38, 40, 144
Marion, M., 36, 37, 38, 46, 57, 79
Markets, 31, 133
Marseilles, 89
Mar thon, 18
Mathieu, Cardinal, 15
Maumusson, 50
Measures, 18, 31
Mège, F., 25, 42, 46
Merlin de Douai, 128, 144, 170
Mesnil-Garnier, 37
Mesurage, 31
Mirabeau, 106
— Marquise de, 22 Mirècourt, 197
Monopolies, Feudal, 2, 3, 25, 43, 77, 80, 133-4, J55 Montaign-les-Bois, 37 Montaut, 164 Montferrat, 38, 149 Montigny, 95 Montjoye-Vaufrey, 45, 50 Montmédy, 44 Montpezat, 127
Morbihan, Insurrections in the,
Nadillac, 40
Nancy, Bishop of, 105
Necker, 7, 55, 58, 84, 89, 142
Nemours, 45
Nerac, 115
Nérondes, 79
Nimes, 85
Nitting, 160
Nivernais, Mainmorte in the, 5 Noailles, Duc de, 62
— Vicomte de, 102, 103 Noblesse, xvii, 28
Normandy, Distribution of propertyin, 57, 59
— Feudal rights in, 4, 22, 37
— Insurrections in, 94 Notables, Assembly of, 41 Nouzier, Prior of, 9 Nuisement-sur-Coole, 44
Oger, 63 Ognéviile, 160 Omelmont, 15 Oraison, 119
Orléanais, Feudal rights in the
— Industry in the, 54
INDEX
Ornacieux, 93 Oudot, 189
Paimpont, 22 Paladru, 93 Palluand, 38
Pas - de - Calais, Distribution of property in the, 21 Passage, 93
Peasants, Economie condition of, 63 et seq.
— Illiteracy of, 65, 66 Périgord, Insurrections in, 122-6
— Peasants of, 53 Peypin-d 'Aigues, 43
Picard y. Distribution of property in, 58
— Franc-fief in, 61 Pierre-Bufftère, 22 Pierre-Moraine, 12, 37 Pierreville, 73 Pigeons, 28, 81, ni Plerguer, 82 Pleumeleuc, 25 Ploërmel, 12 1 Plombières, 96 Poët-Sigillat, 118 Poitiers, 44
Poitou, Distribution of property
in, 59
— Insurrections in, 94
— Noblesse of, xviii Pons, Vicomtesse de, 93 Pont-Dauphin, 28 Ponthole, 49 Pontonnage, 31, 133 Prêlation, 23, 115, 133 Provence, Duc de, 48
— Fondai rights in, 11, 43
— Insurrections in, 93, 108, 118 Prussia, Feudalism in, 16 °ulverage, 31, 133
ihirgerot, 94 hisey, 9
Juébriac, 29
Juercy, Distribution of property in, 58
— Feudal rights in, n, 24, 25, 36
— Insurrections in, 122, 165
— Peasants of, 64-5
— Tithes in, 40 }uevaise, 10, 132, 192 îuevilloncourt, 15 juimper, 119
Quimperlé, 29 Quincerot, 160 Quint, 24, 77, 189
Rachat, 24, 130, 135, 189 Raclage, 31
Reaction, Feudal, 41 et seq., 60 Redon, 121
Reliefs, Feudal, 25, 189
Renauldon, 13
Rennes, 27, 121
Requint, 24, 77, 189
Retrait, 23, 61, 115, 133, 157
Rewbell, 109
Ricard, 106
Riez, 118
Riom, 109
Robespierre, 127, 137 Robin, 166-9
Roquépine, Marquis de, 62 Rouergue, Insurrections in the,
— Noblesse of the, xviii Roussillon, Noblesse of, 107 Rufïec, Marquis de, 67 Ruffigné, 20, 37
Sagnac, Ph., 42, 129-30, 136, 147,
Saint-Cirgues-de-Jordanc, 13 Saint-Claude, Serfs of, 7, 8 Saint-Cyr, 87 Saint-Fer jus, 150 Saint- Jean-de-Béré, 66, 82 Saint-Leger-de-Fougères, 66 Saint-Lô, 72 Saint-Lormel, 26 Saint-Maixent, 159 Saint-Martin-de-la-Brasque, 43 Saint-Martin-du-Terter, 82 Saint-Maugan, 26, 75, 12 1 Saint-Maurice-sur-Fessard, 13, 160 Sainte-Maxime, 27 Saint-Nicholas-de-Pendray, 18 Saint-Omer, 60 Saint- Péran, 17, 19 Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, 5 Saint-Simon, xvii Sainte-Solange, 26 Saint-Victor, Abbey of, 108 Saponcourt, 80, 94 Sarcelles, 66 Sauvagère, 98 Sauvegarde, 14, 133 Savignac-de-Miremont, 79 Savigny, 30
Savoy, Titlies in, 40 Sée, H., 1, 19, 23, 24, 28, 33, 34, 46, 56. 57. 59
Seigneuries, xv, 1, 3 Seignobos, C., 1 Seine-et-Marne, 172 Seine-et-Oise, Insurrections in the,
Senneçay, 70
Sens, Archbishop of, 26, 82 — Tolls at, 31, 45 Serfdom, 2-10, 130 Sergentise, 17, 158 Sieyès, Abbé, 71, 101, 106 Soissons, 60 Solidarity, 14, 29, 190 Somme, Insurrections in the, 171 Strasburg, 89
Taine, H., 36 Tallage, 133 Talleyrand, 142 Tantonville, 15 Target, 55, 102 Tasque, 44, 180 Tavannes, M. de Saulx, 25 Tawney, R. H., 47 Terrage, 12, 13, 45, 135, 138 Terriers, 20, 46 Thorouet, Abbey of, 27 Thouret, 71 Thuellius, 148 Thueyts, 90 Tierce, 12, 135, 154 Tinténiac, 16
Tithes, 38, 83, 108, 109, 112, 135, 142-4, 158
Tocqueville, A. de, xvii, 32, 55,
Tolls, Feudal, 31, 45, 133 Toulouse, 54, 58, 60 Touraine, Distribution of property in, 60 — Feudal rights in, 45 Tournau, 158 Touzac, 25, 79 Trelly, 37 Trévérien, 74
Triages, 48, 50, 51, 137, 193 Trouchet, 128, 136, 141 Turgot, 7, 32, 42, 79
Urvillers, 162 Uzureau, Abbé, 197
Vacqueville, 115 Vannes, 84 Vasselay, 65 Vélosnes, 158 Venisey, 94 Vesoul, 94 Vienne, 56, 84 Ville-d’Abray, 82 Villedebidon, 87 Villeneuve, 157
Villeneuve-1’ Archevêque, 26, 31 Virieu, Comte de, 105 Vironcourt, 96 Voltaire, 7, 8, 42
Watch and Ward, 14, 133 Weights, 31 Wolvés, 29
Yonne, Department of the, 31, 163, 172
Young, Arthur, xvii, 58, 64, 65, 89, 92, 100, 112
