31.24. 24. That the Freemen were rendered capable of holding Fiefs.
I said that the freemen were led against the enemy by their count, and the
vassals by their lord. This was the reason that the several orders of
the state balanced each other, and though the king's vassals had other
vassals under them, yet they might be overawed by the count, who was at
the head of all the freemen of the monarchy.
The freemen were not allowed at first to do homage for a fief; but
in process of time this was permitted:
[161]
and I find that this change
was made during the period that elapsed from the reign of Gontram to
that of Charlemagne. This I prove by the comparison which may be made
between the treaty of Andelot,
[162]
by Gontram, Childebert, and Queen
Brunehault, and the partition made by Charlemagne among his children, as
well as a like partition by Louis the Debonnaire.
[163]
These three acts
contain nearly the same regulations with regard to the vassals; and as
they determine the very same points, under almost the same
circumstances, the spirit as well as the letter of those three treaties
in this respect are very much alike.
But as to what concerns the freemen, there is a vital difference.
The treaty of Andelot does not say that they might do homage for a fief;
whereas we find in the divisions of Charlemagne and Louis the Debonnaire
express clauses to empower them to do homage. This shows that a new
usage had been introduced after the treaty of Andelot, whereby the
freemen had become capable of this great privilege.
This must have happened when Charles Martel, after distributing the
church-lands to his soldiers, partly in fief, and partly as allodia,
made a kind of revolution in the feudal laws. It is very probable that
the nobility who were seized already of fiefs found a greater advantage
in receiving the new grants as allodia; and that the freemen thought
themselves happy in accepting them as fiefs.
THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF THE HUMILIATION OF THE SECOND RACE
Footnotes
[161]
See what has been said already, book xxx, last chapter, towards
the end.
[162]
In the year 587, in Gregory of Tours, book ix.
[163]
See the following chapter, where I shall speak more diffusely
of those partitions; and the notes in which they are quoted.
