登陆注册
5252000000092

第92章

I have divided my analysis of the condition of the feudal peasantry into two parts according to a principle forcibly suggested, as I think, by the material at hand. The records of trials in the King's Court, and the doctrines of lawyers based on them, cannot be treated in the same way as the surveys compiled for the use of manorial administration. There is a marked difference between the two sets of documents as to method and point of view. In the case of legal records a method of dialectic examination could be followed. Legal rules are always more or less connected between themselves, and the investigator has to find out, first, from the application of what principles they flow, and to find out, secondly, whether fundamental contradictions disclose a fusion of heterogeneous elements. The study of manorial documents had to proceed by way of classification, to establish in what broad classes the local variations of terms and notions arrange themselves, and what variations of daily life these groups or classes represent.

It is not strange, of course, that things should assume a somewhat different aspect according to the point of view from which they are described. Legal classification need not go into details which may be very important for purposes of manorial administration; neither the size of the holdings nor the complex variations of services have to be looked to in cases where the law of status is concerned. Still it may be taken for granted that the distinctions and rules followed by the courts had to conform in a general way with matter-of-fact conditions. Lawyers naturally disregarded minute subdivisions, but their broad classes were not invented at fancy; they took them from life as they did the few traits they chose from among many as tests for the purpose of laying down clear and convenient rules. A general conformity is apparent in every point. At the same time there is undoubtedly an opposition between the curial (if I may use that term) and the manorial treatment of status and tenure, which does not resolve itself into a difference between broad principle and details. Just because the lawyer has to keep to distinct rules, he will often be behind his age and sometimes in advance of it.

His doctrine, once established, is slow to follow the fluctuations of husbandry and politics: while in both departments new facts are ever cropping up and gathering strength, which have to fight their way against the rigidity of jurisprudence before they are accepted by it. On the other hand, notions of old standing and tenacious tradition cannot be put away at once, so soon as some new departure has been taken by jurists; and even when they die out at common law such notions persist in local habits and practical life. For these reasons, which hold good more or less everywhere, and are especially conspicuous in mediaeval history, the general relation between legal and manorial documents becomes especially important. It will widen and strengthen conclusions drawn from the analysis of legal theory. We may be sure to find in thirteenth-century documents of practical administration the foundations of a system which prevailed at law in the fifteenth. And what is much more interesting, we may be sure to find in local customaries the traces of a system which had its day long before the thirteenth century, but was still lingering in broken remains.

Bracton defines villainage as a condition of men who do not know in the evening what work and how much they will have to perform next morning. The corresponding tenure is entirely precarious and uncertain at law. But these fundamental positions of legal doctrine we find opposed in daily life to the all-controlling rule of custom. The peasant knows exactly on what days he bas to appear personally or by representative at ploughings and reapings, how many loads he is bound to carry, and how many eggs he is expected to bring at Easter;(1*) in most cases he knows also what will be required from him when he inherits from his father or marries his daughter. This customary arrangement of duties does not find any expression in common law, and vice versa the rule of common law dwindles down in daily life to a definition of power which may be exercised in exceptional cases. The opposition between our two sets of records is evidently connected in this case with their different way of treating facts.

Manorial extents and inquests give in themselves only a one-sided picture of mediaeval village life, because they describe it only from the point of view of the holding; people who do not own land are very seldom noticed, and among the population settled on the land only those persons are named who 'defend' the tenement in regard to the lord. Only the chief of the household appears; this is a matter of course. He may have many or few children, many or few women engaged on his plot: the extent will not make any difference in the description of the tenement and of its services. But although very incomplete in this important respect, manorial records allow us many a glimpse at the process which was preparing a great change in the law Hired labourers are frequently mentioned in stewards' accounts, and the 'undersette' and 'levingmen' and 'anelipemen'(2*) of the extents correspond evidently to this fluctuating population of rural workmen and squatters gathering behind the screen of recognised peasant holders.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 2018

    2018

    在2018年,人类社会拥有了可以改变基因延长寿命的技术,通过延基,人类寿命可达300年。同时,网络虚拟社会已经及其庞大,实体货币逐渐废除,虚拟货币正在兴起。不但如此,虚拟的网络国家还在提出申请加入联合国。在这种风云变幻的大背景下,人心动荡,前途未卜,男主角盗用公款准备延基,而正当他打算向女朋友坦白自己只筹集到一个人延基费用的时候,却发现女朋友早已打算利用另一项技术——冷冻,休眠到100年以后……
  • 胶东半岛鸟文化

    胶东半岛鸟文化

    城市,可以被称为是一本“可读”的历史。一个城市的文化个性,只能从地域文化的亮点中寻找。胶东文化有着自己的特性和独立性,是一支原生态独立起源的文化,胶东文化偏重于齐文化,在之后的发展过程中,与传统文化、红色文化结合得非常紧密。
  • 快穿男神求别闹

    快穿男神求别闹

    “什么?_?你说我姐跟他闹别扭了,一气之下跑去三千小世界历练了?不行不行,我得去凑凑热闹,这种情况可是太罕见了,哈哈!我终于可以不吃狗粮了。激动\(≧▽≦)/,内牛满面\^O^/”可这是怎么回事啊啊啊!!!?我怎么下去了啊?还遇到一个妖孽是怎么回事?“沃靠(#‵′),你你你,停下,别过来啊!”妖孽嘴角勾起一抹浅笑,刹那间清颜仿佛听见了内心花开的声音,呆愣的看着他,殊不知这一眼,便是万年。——【新人新书,请多关照,喜则留,厌则走,不必勉强自己。】
  • 百花女情倾天下

    百花女情倾天下

    她,一个空灵而才华横溢的女子,因还灌溉之情,下凡以泪报恩。却因种种算计,,尝尽苦楚。遭众人争夺,最终将情归何处?他,大漠的雄鹰,狂妄、唯我独尊,是女人为无物,却在见她的第一眼,相信一物克一物。他,中原的天子,后宫女人无数,朝堂威震众臣,却在见她的第一眼,才明白什么叫做爱情。她,皇商之女,自认美貌才华一身,百般算计,到头只是梦一场。还有,他,他,无数的英雄男儿为她痴迷,却终不得。
  • 帝君,我要和你生猴子

    帝君,我要和你生猴子

    魂穿千年,成为人人厌弃的废柴。渣妹算计,公主挑衅,未婚夫暗杀,母亲软弱……这些都没有关系,龙甜表示:一龟在手,天下我有!直到……某龟破开封印,变成了俊美无双的男人。龙甜捂脸,让天天和他一起泡澡的她情何以堪!“本帝会负责的!”“帝君,你要和我生猴子?”“不!是乌龟!”--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 嫡女重生之毒后风华

    嫡女重生之毒后风华

    她出身将门,身份贵重,可却因为天生经脉逆乱,成为废材,被人踩在脚下。她宁负天下人,也终究不愿负他,可却在他功成名就之后极尽羞辱,拉去喂狗。重生之后,她抛去废材头衔,重拾嫡女光环,挨个收拾那些欺辱过自己的人,重新勾引那个没良心的薄情男子。她变得上得厅堂下得厨房,指挥的了千军万马,做的了地痞流氓!当一切尽在她手中的时候,什么皇子、什么第一才女?统统滚到一边去,权倾在手,还怕你翻天?
  • 日月

    日月

    安意如用纯美散文式语言写成的一部长篇小说。一个久居北京的藏地青年三十余年人世沉浮的心灵史,讲述了主人公在西藏被收养,到北京生活和学习,融入现代大都市,求学经商,经历情感挫折,渐渐迷失自我,最终重回西藏,寻根故土的完整过程,是一个关于成长、超越、觉悟的故事。本书也是一曲融宿命与情感,历史与现实于一体的人生咏叹,故事主人公索南次仁(尹长生)的此生,恰似仓央嘉措的今世。仓央嘉措虽未在书中真实出现,但却像一个符号,贯穿了全书的始终。小说中,现代都市的浮华虚荣与雪域高原的纯洁宁静形成鲜明对比。作者亦把书中人物的命运与自己对宗教的理解和感悟相结合,使作品具有了非常深厚的哲理内涵……
  • 对门的目光

    对门的目光

    尹守国,2006年开始小说创作,发表中短篇小说70多万字,作品多次被《新华文摘》、《小说选刊》、《北京文学中篇小说月报》等选载,中国作家协会会员,辽宁省作协签约作家。
  • 新教伦理与资本主义精神

    新教伦理与资本主义精神

    马克斯·韦伯是当代西方影响最大的思想家。他的这本书,反映了韦伯思想的总趋势。被西方学术界公认为世界名著。
  • 星际成为女继承人

    星际成为女继承人

    邱澜,一个又娇又软的废宅美女,一觉穿成刚觉醒超级天赋的大家族6岁女继承人。周边人告诉她,从今天起,你要好好学习、保家卫国!邱澜:Σ(☉▽☉";)?斐林忆,一个N年前怼全星际但最后输了的直男,N年后重生成为一名身娇体弱的小可怜。周边人告诉他,从今天起,你要贤良淑德、相夫教子。斐林忆:...邱澜:我有钱有势,长得好,实力高,你为什么就是不爱我?斐林忆:滚。