CAROLINGIAN CROWN ESTATES AND THEIR
HOUSES, IN THE LIGHT OF
CONTEMPORARY ADMINISTRATIVE ORDINANCES
AND PROPERTY DESCRIPTIONS
In contradistinction to the Alammanic and Bajuvarian law,
the law of the Franks (Lex Salica)[80]
is a disappointingly
unrewarding source of architectural information. It does
not include a special chapter on arson, nor does it otherwise
define the fines imposed upon the demolition of the whole
or any part of the Frankish house. But this deficiency is
compensated for, to some extent, by the survival of two
administrative ordinances of the Frankish court which give
us some insight into the architectural layout of a royal
crown estate, the Capitulare de villis and the so-called
Brevium exempla.
CAPITULARE DE VILLIS
The Capitulare de villis,[81]
an ordinance formerly assumed
to have been drawn up in 794 or 795 by the young Louis
the Pious in order to correct certain abuses that had
arisen in the administration of the royal estates of Aquitania,
is now believed to have been issued by Charlemagne
shortly before 800 as a directive to the entire empire
(except Italy) in part to curtail mismanagement, in part to
set a program for the future. Among the seventy-odd
articles of which it is comprised, there are some that refer
to architecture. They read like a description of some of the
guest and service structures of the Plan of St. Gall, and
exhibit with vivid distinctness the basic similarity of the
architectural layout of a secular and a monastic Carolingian
manor. In fact, being laid down for the specific purpose of
defining what buildings are considered to be indispensable
components of a royal estate, they form literary counterparts
to the agricultural service structures of the Plan of
St. Gall. While providing us with a comprehensive picture
of the diversity of buildings associated with Carolingian
crown estates, they unfortunately do not tell us anything
about their design or construction.
I am extracting from these articles whatever appears to
have a bearing on architecture, without regard to the order
in which this material appears in the original.
Article 27 prescribes: "At all times our houses [casae
nostrae] shall be provided with fireplaces and fire[?]guards
[foca et wactas habeant] so that they do not suffer any
damage."[82]
Article 42 specifies the household equipment of the
royal supply room (camera). It stipulates that it be provided
at all times with its full complement of bedding,
tableware, cutlery, cooking equipment, and all other kind
of utensils, so that one will never be in need of sending for
them or borrowing them from outside. It contains nothing
further that would shed any light on the layout of the
royal mansion itself.[83]
Article 41 provides, "that the buildings in our estates
[intra curtes nostras], and the surrounding fences [sepes] be
well guarded and that the stables [stabulae], the kitchens
[coquinae], the bakehouse [pistrina], and the presses [torcularia]
be planned with care, so that our men [ministeriales
nostri] can perform their functions properly and with
cleanliness."[84]
[ILLUSTRATION]
289.A HOUSE OF THE LEX BAJUVARIORUM. 8TH CENTURY
PERSPECTIVE WITH ROOFING REMOVED, SHOWING STRUCTURAL SCHEME
AUTHOR'S INTERPRETATION
The relative severity of the penalties imposed by the Lex Bajuvariorum to compensate a householder for willful damage done to his dwelling
(see fig. 289.B) is clearly related to the size and structural importance of the particular timber involved. The preoccupation of the text with
penalties for "pulling down" house timbers presumes that in general the overall framework of the typical house was sufficiently light, and its
key timbers sufficiently accessible, to make this mode of revenge an attractive nuisance.
Timbered early medieval houses with a central row of posts supporting the ridge parlins have, since this chapter was written, appeared in
excavations in Manching and Kirchheim, near Munich (see Schubert, Germania, L (1972), 110ff, and Dannheimer, IBID., L1 (1973), 168ff.
For sporadic Bronze and Iron Age antecedents see Zippelius, 1953, 19, fig. 2; Reinerth, I, 1940, 16, fig. 4b; Pl. 6 opposite p. 26; 28, fig. 7;
139, figs. 60-62; 198, fig. 85.)
I am not aware of the existence of any Central European Bronze and Iron Age houses with three parallel rows of roof-supporting posts. The
connection of the house of the Lex Bajuvariorum with those of the Banded Pottery People suggested in fig. 289.X must therefore be treated
with caution.
In West and North Germanic territory, houses with a row of center posts for carrying ridge purlins are a great rarity. Notable exceptions are
the two Iron Age houses of Wijchen, shown below, figs. 300 and 301.
Article 23 prescribes: "Our superintendents shall see to
it that each of our estates be provided with its dairy
[vaccaritia], its piggery [porcaritia], its facilities for raising
sheep [berbicaritia], its facilities for raising goats [capraritias],
and its facilities for raising billy goats [hircaritias];
and of all this they shall have as much as they can handle;
and none of our estates shall be without these installations."[85]
Article 46 prescribes, "that the enclosures for animals
commonly referred to as brogli lucos nostros, quos vulgus
brogilos vocat be well guarded, and always kept in good
repair, and that one should not wait until it is necessary to
rebuild them anew; and the same applies to all of the buildings."[86]
Article 50 prescribes, that each superintendent determine
the number of chickens that should be kept in each stable
(stabulo) and the number of caretakers to be stationed with
them. (In Article 19 it had already been established "that
not less than 100 chickens and 30 geese shall be kept in the
barns of our main estates [ad scuras nostras in villis capitaneis]
and not less than 50 chickens and 12 chickens and
12 geese in our outlying settlements [ad mansioles].")[87]
Article 45 prescribes, "that each of our superintendents
see to it that he have skillful craftsmen [artifices] in his
district [in suo ministerio], that is: blacksmiths [fabros ferrarios],
goldsmiths [aurifices], silversmiths [argentarios], shoemakers
[sutores], lathe workers [tornatores], carpenters [carpentarios],
shieldmakers [scutarios], fishermen [piscatores],
falconers [
aucipites id est ancellatores], soapmakers [
saponarios],
brewers [
siceratores], that is, those who know how to
make beer [
cerevisam], apple cider [
pomatium], pear cider
[
piratium], and any other kind of drink; the bakers [
pistores],
who make pastry for our table, the netmakers
[
retiatores] who know the art of making nets for the hunt,
as well as for fishing and for the catching of birds; and all
such other craftsmen [
reliquos ministeriales] which it would
be too long to enumerate."
[88]
BREVIUM EXEMPLA
The Brevium exempla ad describendas res ecclesiasticas et
fiscules consist of three specimen descriptions of property,
more or less fiscal in character, and were presumably
drawn up for the guidance of the royal agents who assessed
the produce of the domain.[89]
The first description is of the
possessions of the see of Augsburg on an island in Staffelsee
in Bavaria, the second is part of a register of the possessions
of the Abbey of Weissenburg in Alsace, and the third is
the survey of five royal fiscs directly belonging to the crown.
Two of these are listed by name, viz., the estates of
Asnapium (Anappes in France, dép. Nord, arr. Lille,
cant. Lannoy), and the estate of Treola (no longer identifiable,
probably in Alamannia); three others are left anonymous
(perhaps the hamlets of Vitry, Cysoing, and the
Soumain near Anappes). The date of the Brevium exempla
is uncertain, but the prevailing view is that they were
written about 812.
Considerably less interesting from a general historical
point of view than the Capitulare de villis, the Brevium
exempla have the virtue of being more detailed and factual
in their reference to architectural conditions. Here we are
given a precise account not only of the number and type of
buildings found on each of the five aforementioned
estates, but also of the construction materials, and in the
case of the royal mansions, even the number and type of
rooms. The following passages from the Brevium exempla
describe portions of the crown estates of Anappes and its
outlying settlements, Treola, and three holdings ("anonymous
estates") not cited by name.
The crown estate of Anappes and its outlying
settlements
Invenimus in Asnapio fisco dominico salam regalem ex lapide factam
optime, cameras III; solariis totam casam circumdatam, cum pisilibus
XI; infra cellarium I; porticus II, alias casas infra curtem ex ligno
factas XVII cum totidem cameris et ceteris appendiciis bene compositis;
stabolum I, coquinam I, pistrinum I, spicaria II, scuras III. Curtem
tunimo strenue munitam, cum porta lapidea, et desuper solarium ad
dispensandum. Curticulam silimiter tunimo interclausam, ordinabiliter
dispositam, diversique generis plantatum arborum.[90]
[ILLUSTRATION]
292.A ÞÓRSÁRDALUR VALLEY, ICELAND. HALL STÖNG
PLAN OF HOUSE [after A. Roussel in Stenberger, 1943, 78, fig. 137]
I. Fore room, Jorskáli
II. Sleeping house, skáli, divided by transverse partition into room for men,
karlskáli, and room for women, kvennaskáli
III. Living house, stofa
IV. Dairy, mjólkrbûr
V. Room for cold storage, kjátlari
The house had only one entrance and no windows; it received light and air through a lantern-surmounted opening in the roof. Its turf walls were raised on a stone
foundation two courses high; the roof likewise was covered with turves. The center floor of the main house (II) was of stamped clay and contained a fireplace. Two rows
of posts divided this space into three aisles, the two side aisles being raised and boarded, and partitioned transversely into men's and women's sleeping quarters. A
square area boarded off at the inner end of the south aisle probably formed a sleeping alcove for the farmer and his wife.
The living room (III) contained a hearth for cooking, a stone box 50cm deep. The dairy (IV) was accessible only from inside the house and contained three round
impressions in the floor, presumably from large vats. Its walls were lined with lava stones to a height of 1.1m. A room presumably for cold storage (V) was accessible
only from the fore room (I).
The photograph (fig. 292.B) taken from the door of the living room shows the excavation of the main hall, and reveals with great clarity how the aisles and floor of
the fore room were raised above the level of the center floor. The banked earth of these side aisles was retained by staked boards. Large flat stones at 2-meter intervals
provided footing for the roof posts. Smaller stones set along the walls, pieces of wood still attached, show the house was wainscotted. Absence of personal effects indicates
the residents were forewarned of the eruption of Mt. Hekla, in 1300, that destroyed the house and converted the fertile valley into a wasteland of lava and ash.
The reconstruction (fig. 291.C) portrays the ingenious simplicity with which man could, in a harsh Atlantic climate, make a dwelling not only secure against attack, but
warm and homely as well. The compact top-growth of Iceland terrain is well suited to turf-cutting. For timber the chieftains of the Saga Period relied on wood
imported from Norway, or on driftwood swept in by Atlantic storms from distant North American coasts. The only locally available building material was a dwarf
birch whose fine branches were used as matting for the roof turves.
[ILLUSTRATION]
292.C INTERIOR VIEW OF HOUSE. REDRAWN FROM ROUSSEL, 1943, 211, fig. 144
[ILLUSTRATION]
292.B FOUNDATIONS OF HALL AFTER EXCAVATION. PHOTO COURTESY OF A. ROUSSEL
We found on the royal estate of Anappes the royal hall built in
stone, in the best manner, three chambers, the entire house surrounded
by solaria; with eleven heatable rooms[91]
and below one cellar;
two porches; seventeen other houses within the main yard,[92]
built
in timber, with the same number of chambers, and other appendices,
all well constructed; one stable, one kitchen, one bakehouse, two
grain barns, three other barns. The main yard well protected with
a fence,[93]
with a masonry gate, and above this, a solarium. The
smaller yard likewise enclosed with a fence built in the usual
fashion and planted with various types of trees.
The document subsequently lists the dead and live stock
at Anappes down to the smallest detail, and then turns to
the inventory of the outlying settlements:
In Grisione villa invenimus mansioniles dominicatas, ubi habet scuras
III et curtem sepe circumdatam. . . .
In alia villa repperimus mansioniles dominicatas et curtem sepe
munitam, et infra scuras III. . . .
In villa illa mansioniles dominicatas. Habet scuras II, spicarium I,
ortum I, curtem sepe bene munitam.
In the estate of Gruson[94]
we came upon the outlying settlements.
There are three barns, and the yard is surrounded by a fence. . . .
On another estate we found the outlying settlements and the
yard protected with a fence, and inside three barns. . . .
On a third estate [literally, on "that estate"] we found the
outlying settlement to be comprised of two barns, one granary, one
garden and the yard well protected with a fence. . . .
The crown estate of Treola
Invenimus in Treola fisco dominico casam dominicatem ex lapide optime
factam cameras II cum totidem caminatis, porticum I, cellarium I, torcolarium
I, mansiones virorum ex ligno factas III, solarium cum pisile
I; alia tecta ex maceria III, spicarium I, scuras II, curtem muro
circumdatam cum porta ex lapide facta. . . .[95]
We found on the crown estate of Treola the royal mansion built
excellently in stone, two chambers with the same number of heatable
rooms, one porch, one cellar, one press-shed, three houses for
men, built in timber, a solar with one heatable room, three other
houses [literally, "roofs"] in masonry, one granary, two barns,
the yard surrounded with a wall and [provided] with a stone-built
gate. . . .
The first anonymous estate
Repperimus in illo fisco dominico domum regalem, exterius ex lapide et
interius ex ligno bene constructam; cameras II, solaria II. Alias casas,
infra curtem ex ligno factas VIII: pisile cum camera I, ordinabiliter
constructum; stabolum I. Coquina et pistrinum in unum tenentur.
Spicaria quinque, granecas III. Curtem tunimo circumdatam, desuperque
spinis munitam cum porta lignea. Habet desuper solarium. Curticulam
similiter tunimo interclusam. . . .[96]
We found on that crown estate the royal house, externally built in
stone and inside well constructed in timber; two chambers, two
solars. Within the main yard eight other houses built in timber; a
heatable room with one chamber built in the usual fashion, one
stable. Kitchen and bakehouse built together, five grain barns,
three granaries. The court surrounded with a fence, above provided
with spines, with a wooden gate. It has above a solar. The smaller
yard likewise enclosed by a fence. . . .
[ILLUSTRATION]
295. EZINGE (GRONINGEN), THE NETHERLANDS
EXTERIOR VIEW OF SETTLEMENT, 4th CENTURY B.C.
[redrawn from reconstruction by H. Reinerth, 1940, 88, fig. 25]
The discovery of this Iron Age village in 1931-34 was a great landmark in the history of premedieval house construction in transalpine Europe.
The find showed that a house well portrayed by Albrecht Dürer (fig. 335) and Peter Bruegel the Elder (fig. 336) was already fully developed
and in common use for close to 2,000 years.
Later excavations brought the even more startling discovery that this same house type was a standard construction form as early as 1250 B.C.,
and perhaps even in the 14th century B.C. (fig. 323). In the lowlands of Holland and Northern Germany, the same house is used even today
with only minor modifications, for the same purposes for which it was originally conceived (Frisian Los-hus, Lower Saxon Wohnstallhaus).
Its life span is at least 3,300 years, and does not yet appear to have entered its terminal phase.
The most distinctive trait of this type of structure is that it offers, with only a minimum of materials, an ingeniously simple method of covering
large spaces beneath a vast roof carried by a frame of light timbers; these divide the interior of the house lengthwise into nave and two aisles
(figs. 297, 298) and crosswise into a multitude of separable yet transparent bays.
The building type owes its longevity to its ability simultaneously to offer spatial
unity and spatial divisibility. In pre- and protohistorical times almost exclusively
confined to dwelling, sheltering of animals, and harvest storage, the structure entered,
in response to growing complexities of medieval life and social organization, a
virtually explosive phase of functional variety, and came to fill many diverse needs.
On the highest of society, it appeared as residential and administrative seat for
feudal lords and their retainers (figs. 339, 340, and 344-348), including the king
himself. It was used as church (Horn, 1958, 4, figs. 3-8) and Horn, 1962); as
hospital for the sick and infirm (figs. 341-343); as meeting and council hall for the
guilds. And from the 12th century onward in response to the rise of international
trade it became, in Paris and countless smaller towns of France, the standard form
for urban market halls, under whose sheltering roofs the local peasants and traders
from distant places could rent stalls from which to sell produce and goods (Horn
1958, 15ff; Horn and Born, 1961, Horn, 1963).
The second anonymous estate
Invenimus in illo fisco dominico casam regalem cum cameris II totidemque
caminatis, cellarium I, porticus II, curticulam interclusam
cum tunimo strenue munitam; infra cameras II, cum totidem pisilibus,
mansiones feminarum III, capellam ex lapide bene constructam; alias
intra curtem casas ligneas II, spicaria IV, horrea II, stabolum I,
coquinam I, pistrinum I; curtem sepe munitam cum portis ligneis II et
desuper solaria.[97]
We found on that crown estate the royal house with two chambers
and the same number of heatable rooms, one cellar, two porches,
the smaller yard enclosed by a well-built fence; inside, two chambers
with the same number of heatable rooms, three houses for women,
a chapel well constructed in stone, two other timber houses in the
court, four grain barns, two hay barns, one stable, one kitchen, one
bakehouse. The main yard protected with a fence with two wooden
gates and solaria above.
The third anonymous estate
Repperimus in illo fisco dominico domum regalem ex ligno ordinabiliter
constructam, cameram I, cellarium I, stabolum I, mansiones III,
spicaria II, coqinam I, pistrinum I, scuras III, Curtem tunimo circumdatam
et desuper sepe munita. . . Portas ligneas II. . . .[98]
We found in that crown estate the royal house constructed in timber
in the usual fashion, one chamber, one cellar, one stable, three
dwellings, two grain barns, one kitchen, one bakehouse, three
barns. The yard surrounded with a wall, protected above by a
fence . . . two wooden gates. . . .
While failing to reveal anything about the architectural
design of the enumerated structures, the Brevium exempla
are of particular value because they offer concrete information
about the relative use of stone and timber in the architecture
of a Carolingian crown estate. The account of the
sala regalis at Anappes—as we had occasion to point out in
an earlier chapter—[99]
with its open solariums, heatable
rooms, and two galleried porches reads like a description
of the Abbot's House on the Plan of St. Gall. Like the
latter, it was composed of several stories and built in
stone. The Brevium exempla, however, make it equally
clear that stone was not considered to be the ordinary
material. With the exception of the chapel of the second
anonymous estate and the two gate houses at Anappes and
Treola, stone appears to be the exclusive prerogative of the
royal mansion, and the superlative form of the epithets
associated with the use of this material (ex lapdie optime
factam) is indicative of the high esteem in which this
material was held. However, only two out of five royal
mansions recorded in the document were entirely stone
structures, those of Anappes and Treola. The domus regalis
of the first anonymous estate had its outer walls constructed
in stone, but everything else inside is in timber (exterius
ex lapide et interius ex ligno bene constructam.) The domus
regalis of the third anonymous estate was built entirely in
wood (ex ligno ordinabiliter constructam). Timber, we will
also have to assume, was used where no specific reference
to any material is made for the casa regalis of the second
anonymous estate. All the other structures of the five
estates either are explicitly said to be built in timber or
must be assumed to be built in timber because of the
absence of any statement to the contrary. And the timbered
buildings formed, of course, an overwhelming majority.
