[261] The first three quarters of the tenth century -- when family-controlled principalities and political institutions were disintegrating, the Church was growing in power and influence, and a new military system based on castles and milites was making its appearance -- was a difficult period of transition for the society of Southern France and Catalonia. This society found itself caught between a dying Carolingian world and a new, harsher age in the process of being born. How did it react to these changes, and in what form did it emerge by the year 975?

We might begin by reiterating that during this period land was still the basic form of wealth and power for every element on the scene, whether it was the old ruling families of this region, the Church, or the milites in the newly arising castles, or even the humbler peasant who dwelt on the soil and tilled it for himself and his betters. It was still a rural world of villages and farms covering a landscape which possessed only an occasional abbey, walled civitas, or newly built castle to break the monotony of the agrarian scene. In a few regions like the Spanish March or the Limousin castles were more numerous than elsewhere, but they were not yet the dominant feature of the landscape which they were to be later on.

Life was local and the economy had to be self-sufficient, even more so than in the late ninth century, for the slow growth of trade and commerce, which was beginning to affect Italy and other parts of Western Europe, had not yet reached this region. It remained an economic backwater with little close connection with the outside world, even though by 950 some such contacts were beginning.

In these rural, relatively isolated regions the prevailing system of landholding was still the allod, as far as secular society was concerned. Due to a larger volume of evidence, this can be said with even more assurance in [262] this period than earlier. For in analyzing over 1,600 charters from every part of the Midi and Catalonia, representing transfer of land from individual landowners to Church establishments and other individuals, we discover an interesting fact. Only 4 per cent of such transfers represent land which was other than that owned outright as allods, a figure not appreciably greater than the 2 or 3 per cent which we found for the late ninth century. Let us examine our evidence as to how land was owned and held, however, in a little more detail to show exactly what emerges from a study of each part of Southern France and Catalonia.

We might begin by considering Aquitaine, the Toulousain, and Septimania. From Auvergne we have some 560 charters, which represent 287 transfers of property of small size (a field, a mansus, or the equivalent), some 94 transfers of medium-sized property, and some 62 representing large estates (a villa, a church, or the equivalent), with the rest indeterminable. Of these, 543 show us property which is allodial and only 17 land which is held in whole or in part conditionally or feudally -- a ratio of nonallod to allod of 4 per cent.⁽¹⁾ For the Limousin-Quercy region we have a record of some 126 such transfers of land of which 37 seem to be small holdings, 26 property of medium size, 55 large holdings, and the rest indeterminate. All but 8, or some 6 per cent, are clearly allods.⁽²⁾ For Angoulême-Périgord our information is less extensive, but we do have evidence of some 14 land transfers; 6 of which are small holdings, 2 medium-sized, and 6 large. All seem to be allods.⁽³⁾ So are some 16 from Saintonge, Aunis, and lower Poitou which represent gifts of land made during this period to the abbey of Saint-Jean d'Angély.⁽⁴⁾

When we turn to the Rouergue-Albigeois region we find charters which refer to some 91 transfers of property, of which 42 represent large estates or holdings, 22 medium-sized, 24 smaller ones, and the rest indeterminate. Of these only 3 can be considered to be anything but allodial, or 3 per cent of the land in question.⁽⁵⁾ For the Toulousain proper we have only [263] 8 examples of such gifts of land, and only one of them is anything but an allod.⁽⁶⁾ For eastern Septimania, from the Rhone to Béziers, we have more information. In examining charters which refer to some 95 transfers of land we find that 34 small, 32 medium-sized, and 24 large pieces of property are described, and the rest are indeterminate. Some 5 of these, or about 5 per cent, may represent nonallodial holdings. The rest are allods.⁽⁷⁾ For the Narbonne-Carcassonne region the figures are 38 property transfers of which 18 are large estates, 12 medium-sized, and 5 smaller pieces of land with only 3, or 8 per cent, nonallodial.⁽⁸⁾

One of our best checks on the proportion of allodial to nonallodial land, however, comes from examination of property owned by members of the House of Toulouse, as shown in the wills of Count Raymond of Rouergue, Countess Garsinde of Toulouse, and Bishop Hugh of Toulouse. One would expect that in these wills a large proportion of the land referred to was feudal and was granted out as fiefs or precaria to their supporters. But what do we find? Of the 125 pieces of property which can be distinguished by an examination of these wills only 15, or 12 per cent, seem to be feudally held, and one of these is a fief or feus which, it is stated, is soon to become an allod.⁽⁹⁾ The House of Toulouse, then, like other landowners of the Midi, is shown to have based its power and authority in this period on its allods and not on fiefs.

When we turn to the Valley of the Rhone and contiguous areas under the influence of the kingdom of Provence and its successor, the kingdom of Burgundy, we discover the same pattern of landholding. Examination of the record of some 44 transfers of land from the Lyonnais and Forez, of which 11 are of large-sized property, 16 medium-sized, and 13 small holdings, shows us only 4, or 9 per cent, are nonallodial.⁽¹⁰⁾ For the region near Vienne we have charters describing the transfers of 41 small-sized, 9 medium-sized, and 15 large-sized pieces of land, and the rest indeterminate. [264] Of these some 8, or 11 per cent, seem nonallodial.⁽¹¹⁾ For Dauphiny and Valence, out of some 45 properties which our records show were transferred -- of which 16 seem to be small holdings, 12 medium-sized, and 14 large-sized -- only 3, or 6 per cent, appear to be allodial.⁽¹²⁾ The figure for nearby Velay and Vivarais is 77 transfers of land, 17 large, 24 medium-sized, and 35 small in size, with only one case which seems to be other than allodial.⁽¹³⁾ For Provence during this period our information is scantier, but an examination of some 18 Provençal charters, most of them referring to transfers of large estates, reveals only allods.⁽¹⁴⁾ For the Valley of the Rhone as a whole then, our figure is 6 per cent of the land nonallodial and 94 per cent allodial, which seems very close to the 5 per cent figure for the rest of the Midi.

Two other regions, Gascony and the Spanish March, still need to be examined. It is during this period that we get detailed information for the first time from charters on Gascony and its landholding system. These show us some 10 transfers of property taking place -- all of property in Eastern Gascony near the Toulousain and Carcassonne-Razès. All concern allods only.⁽¹⁵⁾ We have much more information concerning Pallars and Ribagorça and Catalonia proper. The exact figures for the former areas are not included here, but charters show us that 95 per cent of the land in these two counties was allodial.⁽¹⁶⁾ For Catalonia an analysis of some 274 such transfers shows us 156 represent small holdings, 59 medium-sized ones, and 50 larger estates. Of these only 9, or some 3 per cent, can be considered other than allods⁽¹⁷⁾ -- a figure even less than that for the Midi as a whole.

Down to 975, then, despite the building of castles and the attempts of [265] some leading noble families to transform Carolingian benefices and allodial property into land carrying a feudal obligation, it seems clear from this analysis of privately held land that the allod still held its own and that the society of the Midi resisted all efforts to substitute for it other systems of landholding.

But the information about these land transfers is not the only evidence available to us about how the lay population held land. We have still another source of information which emphasizes the predominance of allodial ownership -- contemporary reiteration in these same land-transfer charters that a man has a right by law to dispose of his property as he wishes. This strong statement seems to be found in charters coming from those regions where we have the most evidence of efforts to curb or modify allodial holdings. Thus in 931, at the height of the period when Raymond Pons was intervening in the Narbonnaise, a landowner in giving property to Saint-Hilaire states that the law allows a man to do with his property -- "de res suas proprias" -- what he wishes.⁽¹⁸⁾ In 949 Arnald, who founded the House of Commignes, in a charter appeals to Roman and Salic law in the same fashion as giving him a right to turn over to the abbey of Montolieu land which he says he acquired from Count Hugh of the Toulousain house.⁽¹⁹⁾ In 970, in giving away property which they owned in the Toulousam, Count Roger of Carcassonne and his wife reiterate this statement.⁽²⁰⁾ Nearby at Nîmes a certain Bligare in 956 similarly invokes his right by law to sell or exchange his property as he wishes -- land which seems to have been originally a fief belonging to Viscount Bernard of Nîmes and his wife.⁽²¹⁾ In 909 it is Roman law which is referred to by another landowner, Foucher, in giving to his wife a number of villas in Provence and elsewhere.⁽²²⁾

We find the same resistence to nonallodial land in the very region of the Toulousain, Rouergue, and the Albigeois in which we find the House of Toulouse making use of fiefs. In 910, for instance, Senegunde and her son, Abbot Rudolf of Conques, state in a charter in which they give some land and some churches to the abbey of Conques that Roman law allows one to freely give away one's own property.⁽²³⁾ In 942 another charter from the Albigeois tells us how Raymond and Aimery make a grant to the [266] bishopric of Albi and give as their right to do so the authority of Roman, Gothic, and Salic law.⁽²⁴⁾ In 943 a charter from Vabres dealing with another such gift is prefaced with the statement that the law of the emperors and the Church allows a man "ex nobilis ortus" to dispose of his property freely.⁽²⁵⁾ Still another charter dating from 970, in which land is given to the church of Saint-Sernin of Toulouse, mentions rights derived from Roman and Salic law.⁽²⁶⁾

Documents originating from Auvergne contain similar declarations. One of them, dating from 944, at about the period of Toulousain intervention in this region, shows us a certain Arlulf giving an allod to his brother and stating that law gives him a right to dispose of his property as he wishes.⁽²⁷⁾ Another from about 970 contains a similar statement as regards a grant made to the abbey of Sauxillanges.⁽²⁸⁾ In the Limousin, where precaria and fiefs were relatively numerous, three charters which mention land given to Saint-Etienne of Limoges in 950, 968, and 970⁽²⁹⁾ invoke Roman law in exactly the same way. Though it is clear that by this period any accurate knowledge of the provisions of Roman law and Visigothic law had disappeared in most of the Midi, their memory was still effective and, along with Salic law, they were still being invoked as a protection of allodial rights in regions in which the fief, the benefice, and the precarium were gaining a foothold.

Sometimes we find this opposition to a use of the fief even more clearly expressed, however, in charters of this period which contain a proviso that land given a particular Church establishment cannot be alienated or given out as a fief. Such statements are found in charters of 920 and 926⁽³⁰⁾ from the Limousin; of 908 and 948-950⁽³¹⁾ from Dauphiny; of 927 and 970⁽³²⁾ from the Viennois; of 916 and 961⁽³³⁾ from Rouergue; of 943 from Nîmes;⁽³⁴⁾ and 922 from Melgueil;⁽³⁵⁾ most of these are regions where we [267] have evidence of disorders, and change, and of some elements of feudalism being introduced. Thus directly and specifically as well as indirectly, by invoking law which protected allodial rights, the society of Southern France seems to have resisted feudalization of its land and to have maintained its traditions of property controlled without limitations by its landowners.

If we come to the conclusion that fiefs and benefices were rare in Southern France and Catalonia, and that where they are found we have evidence of resistence to them on the part of a society which believes land should be allodially owned, there still remains a question to be answered. That is the nature of the fiefs and benefices which existed by grant of the secular landowners of these regions. We do not have too much specific information on this point. But enough evidence is available to show that the grant of a fief could involve any type of property or even any sort of right which an allodial landowner wished to give to an individual in this manner. Often such a fief seems to have been a large tract of land, a castle, or a villa, as seems to have been the case frequently in the Limousin, or with much of the property distributed a feo by the members of the House of Tou1ouse-Rouergue.⁽³⁶⁾ Or it could be a small bit of land, a field, or a mansus, such as we find in Auvergne or the Valley of the Rhone.⁽³⁷⁾ It could even be a large tract of frontier land, which seems frequently to have been the case in Catalonia.⁽³⁸⁾ Or it could be the simple right to a cens, which we find about 936 in regard to the land and eight "denarii ad fevum" which Bernard Calvinus and his brother had from the church of Sainte-Marie of Nîmes.⁽³⁹⁾ It was often, perhaps generally, a grant restricted to one lifetime, which thus reverted to the donor upon the death of the recipient, at least in theory.⁽⁴⁰⁾ A fief, then, in this period, was the possession or use of land or of a right over land held for a lifetime or lifetimes as specified by the allodial owner of this property.

Did the receiving of such a fief carry with it duties on the part of the recipient to him who granted it? It certainly implied dependence, a dependence which in some cases probably meant military service owed. This is certainly true for those fiefs connected with the castles of Saint-Martin, [268] Mirabels, and Queralt on the Catalan frontier in 954 where we find such service of "hostem et cavalcadem" definitely specified.⁽⁴¹⁾ Where formal courts still existed a fief may have required attendance at the court of the grantor of such a benefice, -- this seems to have been the case in Auvergne in 961, where some fideles of Bishop Etienne II definitely attended his court.⁽⁴²⁾ But there does not yet seem to have been any rule in these matters. One could be a fidelis without holding a fief,⁽⁴³⁾ and one could hold a fief without this automatically establishing a tie of fidelitas.⁽⁴⁴⁾ Land granted as a fief or benefice and fidelitas were not in this period linked together as they tended to be in Northern France.⁽⁴⁵⁾ The fief was still tentative, often unpopular, and limited in its application and scope. So it was to remain in these regions into the next century and even later. [269] In examining benefices and fiefs in the above paragraphs we have concentrated most of our attention on those which originated with secular landowners and officials. But there remains still another category of such grants which needs to be considered -- those precaria, beneficia, and fiefs given from Church lands to laymen or members of the Church. These grants were, in this period, probably more extensive than those which were the result of the action of secular landowners, and are found in every section of the Midi during this period. Our documents, for instance, mention fourteen such grants of precaria in the region of the Limousin and Quercy, fourteen from Auvergne, six from Rouergue-Albigeois, and ten from Septimania.⁽⁴⁶⁾ In the Lyonnais-Forez region we find mention of some twenty-two of them⁽⁴⁷⁾ and they seem relatively common in the rest of the Valley of the Rhone where we find three from Vienne, four from Dauphiny, two from Provence, and two from Velay.⁽⁴⁸⁾ We do not find them in Catalonia, however, unless we consider that certain gifts of land to the abbey of San-Cugat near Barcelona between 953 and 973, in which a number of landowners specify that these lands are to be held as permanent precaria by their posterity, established them here too.⁽⁴⁹⁾

Careful examination of such precaria granted by abbeys, churches, and churchmen shows us some interesting things. In the first place in this period, as in earlier ones, these precaria almost always consist of land or rights over land, a castle, a villa, a mansus, or even a smaller bit of property which belonged to the opus or domain of an abbey or church. Secondly, few precaria were granted for an unlimited period of time. The general rule during this period remained what it had been earlier, to grant [270] them for one lifetime only, though occasionally two, or even three, lifetimes seem to have been allowed.⁽⁵⁰⁾ Third and most important, a payment of a cens seems almost always demanded by the donor from the recipient, a cens which was always on a yearly basis. True this cens in money or kind was often so small that its value was strictly symbolical, but it was seldom omitted. Thus we see that in theory a grant ad fevum or as a precarium from a church establishment in these regions did not differ much from an ordinary censive except in the nominal nature of cens required.⁽⁵¹⁾ The recipient seems to have clearly understood that while he had the use of this property or right, he was to pay a cens as a recognition of the fact that the dominio or allod of it still remained in the hands of the religious establishment which gave it to him. In precaria granted by churches and abbeys in the Midi, then, again we find an ingrained respect for allodial property and the limited rights, at least in theory, of him who possessed such precaria, beneficia, or feva.

Is there any evidence that in the case of such grants by religious establishments any responsibilities were expected of the recipient more extensive than the payment of the specified cens? Was a precaria holder expected to render court service or military service upon call of the bishop or abbot who granted him his holding? It is difficult to be sure. If such a holding represented a payment to an individual who held office from a church or abbey, a prepositus, a portarius, or a judex servus, we know he was expected to swear fidelitas in a special ceremony.⁽⁵²⁾ He then held such land "in obedientia" to use a current term in use.⁽⁵³⁾ In some cases this probably meant that he was expected to assist at the court, formal or informal, of the bishop or abbot in question. His duties, however, in this case, did not include military service unless they were specifically mentioned, as might be the case if the holding given him as a fief or precarium was a castle belonging to the church or abbey.⁽⁵⁴⁾ Sometimes indeed, as in [271] the case of the judices servum of the abbey of Beaulieu in the Limousin, the profession of arms by such fideles was specifically forbidden.⁽⁵⁵⁾

Many precaria given by church establishments in this period, though, did not go to laymen who held offices from the Church at all. They went to important neighboring landowning families. This seems particularly true of the Limousin and Lyonnais⁽⁵⁶⁾ and may be true of Septimania also. On what basis were they given? The best answer which we can give to this question is to say that such precaria represented the establishment of no reciprocal duties and responsibilities on the part of grantor and grantee, but rather of a vague but no less real bond of clientage without formal contract. The families who received such grants were no doubt expected in a general way to protect the churches or religious houses in question, but their duties down to 975 were still unspecified and amorphous in nature. Probably in some regions, especially in the Limousin, such vague responsibilities of protection were being transformed into rights of domination.⁽⁵⁷⁾ But in most of the Midi this trend was still not too far advanced. It was to become a problem in the next century.

We might sum up our conclusions as follows. Until about 975 the Midi and Catalonia were regions in which allodial land predominated and represented a right that was jealously guarded by lay and church proprietors. Despite this fact, use was made of conditional grants of land and rights over land by both lay and ecclesiastical proprietors in the form of precaria, beneficia, and feva. Such grants were generally limited in their duration and almost always specified the payment of a definite cens by the recipient as a recognition of the owner's real ownership of such property and of the temporary nature of the recipient's rights. In a few cases we have evidence of military service or attendance at court in return for such grants -- particularly in Catalonia and other parts of the Midi where castles are to be found in large numbers. Elsewhere, however, such grants merely set up a patron-client relationship not unlike that found in the late Roman Empire or pre-Carolingian times. Instinctively the Midi and Catalonia between 900 and 975 seem to have rejected the Northern Frankish [272] system of the Carolingians, and returned to earlier principles which made conditional grants of land to supporters, neighbors, and friends a way to increase Church and family influence, but which did not disturb or change the basic allodial landholding system that still prevailed.

Having considered use of precaria, feos, and benefices, as well as the prevailing allod, we now need to consider that other landholding system which was introduced by the Carolingians, the aprisio. The aprisio, judging from our sources, seems to have been relatively rare in the Midi during this period. We do find a few references to its use, though. We find such aprisio land, called attracto, in a charter from Rouergue dating from 916⁽⁵⁸⁾ and in two others from the Albigeois and Auvergne from 920.⁽⁵⁹⁾ It is mentioned in 908 in the Carcassonne region.⁽⁶⁰⁾ Much later a document of 965 mentions it near the abbey of Lézat⁽⁶¹⁾ and not far from the city of Toulouse a year later it is found as well.⁽⁶²⁾ All these aprisiones seem to have been allodial in character and to have gradually merged into the prevailing system of allods in the Midi.

In Catalonia and Pallars and Ribagorça, however, the aprisio system did not disappear at all as it did elsewhere in Southern France. Rather it continued important. In Pallars and Ribagorça charters which date from these years reveal that both large and small landholders owned a surprising amount of land which they got "ex aprisione" or "de ruptura" -- land which probably represented a steady expansion of the line of settlement along the Moslem frontiers.⁽⁶³⁾ The same thing seems to be true of Catalonia, especially in Ausona and Berga, and south of Barcelona where colonization of frontier regions was active. In some thirty-nine charters dating from 904 to 975 we find, therefore, references to aprisiones.⁽⁶⁴⁾ These documents make clear that land acquired by aprisio tended to be allodial, though perhaps the smaller landholders owed some dues to those who had originally granted them their land and were also expected to [273] answer the call to military service if the need arose.⁽⁶⁵⁾ Even after 975 along the frontiers of Moslem Spain the aprisio remained important to Catalan society.

Finally we have everywhere in Southern France and Catalonia proof of an expanded use of that system we have called the medium plantum, whereby an allodial owner gave land, which was uncultivated, to an individual or individuals who held it as a precarium until it was put into cultivation. Then this property was divided between cultivator and original allodial owner, with the provisio that the cultivator could not sell or dispose of his one half, after division, without the permission of the proprietor who granted it. We will be examining this system in more detail a little later in this chapter, but here we must note it as another system of precaria, though a very specialized one indeed.

So far our attention has been fixed on the various methods of landholding which are to be found in the Midi and Catalonia during these years -- the allod, the precarium, benefice or fief, the aprisio, and the medium plantum -- and their relative incidence and popularity, judging from our documents. But let us now consider another aspect of the landholding system of the period: the size of holdings. Our records show that large estates, smaller ones, and those of medium size continued to exist side by side in every part of our regions. In Auvergne, the Rouergue, and the Spanish March the small holding seems to have been the more usual one in contrast to the Limousin, Western Aquitaine, Gascony, and the Valley of the Rhone where larger estates seem relatively numerous. But this is only true to a limited extent. Everywhere villas continue to exist -- even in Provence -- and everywhere we also find small and medium-sized landowners, too, who jealously guard their right to their allodial property from rapacious neighbors. The beginnings of mandamenta, which already were to be found around the castles of the Midi and Catalonia, had not yet managed to engulf the small holder or to change the prevailing landholding system which had been inherited from Carolingian times.

One fact indeed even makes one feel that this period saw a certain increase in the number of independent allodial owners of small-sized property. I refer to the evidence of a decline of serfdom in many parts of the Midi and Catalonia. Not that we do not find evidence of serfs in many [274] regions. We do. Charters dating from 904, 916, 920, 923, 941, 943-948, and 971 show them in the Limousin and Quercy.⁽⁶⁶⁾ Another dating from 930 mentions them in Rouergue,⁽⁶⁷⁾ and two from 940 and 952 in Angoulême.⁽⁶⁸⁾ Nearby Saintonge-Aunis had them too according to documents dating from 914 and 975.⁽⁶⁹⁾ So did Auvergne, judging from charters mentioning them found in 917, 926, 927, 928, and 949.⁽⁷⁰⁾ We find serfs referred to also in a Toulousain charter of 972,⁽⁷¹⁾ and two from Roussillon of 927 and 967.⁽⁷²⁾ In the Valley of the Rhone they are found in many regions: near Substantion in 960,⁽⁷³⁾ and in Provence in 903, 909, 950, and 960,⁽⁷⁴⁾ as well as in Dauphiny in 928, 932, and 956,⁽⁷⁵⁾ in the Viennois in 904 and 927-948,⁽⁷⁶⁾ in the Lyonnais in 945,⁽⁷⁷⁾ and in Forez in 927-942 and 960.⁽⁷⁸⁾ But we find none at all in certain regions like Septimania, Velay, and the Spanish March, and even where we do find them they seem more numerous in documents dating from the early part of the tenth century than they are in those from the later part.

Why was the old serfdom becoming less important during this period? One notes first of all that it seems to have survived in greatest strength in just those regions where the villa remained an important element in the landholding system; in the Limousin and Western Aquitaine and in the Valley of the Rhone, while it was weakest or non-existent where villas were less important, as in Auvergne and Septimania and the Spanish March. Even more important, serfs seem to be disappearing in the same areas where our documents show that aprisiones and medium plantum were making new land available for cultivation by the peasant population. All of which suggests that the gradual disappearance of villas and the availability of free land for colonization lies behind the gradual disappearance [275] of serfdom, which by 975 had ceased to be an important factor in the Midi or the Spanish March. After this date it was not the older system of serfdom, but the new burdens laid on the peasant population by the castellans and milites of the fortresses of the Midi which concern us and which have real importance.

In this Midi and Spanish March of allodial propriety, some fiefs, and medium plantum, and of declining serfdom, the status of women remained very important indeed. All that has been said of their power and authority as landholders in their own right and as heads of families in the late ninth century can be reiterated with even greater force in this period too. A Countess Garsinde of Toulouse⁽⁷⁹⁾ or a Countess Bertha of Rouergue,⁽⁸⁰⁾ who freely disposed of their property and gave fiefs to leading noble families of the Midi, were certainly equal to other magnates whom we find during this period. So were the great ladies of Carcassonne and Catalonia -- a Countess Arsinde,⁽⁸¹⁾ a Countess Adelaise,⁽⁸²⁾ or an Abbess Ranlo.⁽⁸³⁾ A charter tells us that it was Queen Matilda, rather than her ineffective husband King Conrad, who destroyed the castle of Mont Burton near Vienne.⁽⁸⁴⁾ We can find reference in our documents too to women of humbler status who seem to be able to dispose freely of their property: like Emeldis or Widberga who lived near the abbey of Aniane;⁽⁸⁵⁾ or the wife of Foucher, whose husband gave to her in 909 villas scattered over the Midi from Provence to Rodez;⁽⁸⁶⁾ or Dida, who in 920 gave a large estate to Saint-Etienne of Limoges.⁽⁸⁷⁾ Of the same stripe was Lady Aya of Auvergne who in 941 gave a number of villas she got by conquest to Cluny, while reserving the life usufruct of them for her husband Abbo.⁽⁸⁸⁾ In such a society we seem already to be setting the stage for remarkable women like Countess Ermissende and Countess Almodis in the next century, [276] and, a little later, such a figure as Eleanor of Aquitaine. Troubadours had not yet appeared to sing the praises of the ladies of our regions, but women already occupied positions powerful enough to make such praise natural and even advisable.

This leads us to a final consideration -- the economic basis of this society in the Midi and Catalonia. Here we notice a paradox. In many respects the lands which lay south of Poitou and Burgundy were even more agrarian in character and more isolated from the main currents of commerce and trade of the Mediterranean and Atlantic in this period, than they were earlier. Many of the mints which had existed down to 900, for instance, did not re-open during the first three quarters of the tenth century. In fact we can list the existing mints of the Midi during these decades very easily. They were Melle in Poitou, Limoges in the Limousin⁽⁸⁹⁾ Clermont in Auvergne,⁽⁹⁰⁾ LePuy in Velay,⁽⁹¹⁾ Toulouse in the Toulousain,⁽⁹²⁾ Carcassonne and Narbonne in Western Septimania,⁽⁹³⁾ and Vienne and perhaps Arles in the Valley of the Rhône.⁽⁹⁴⁾ Though Barcelona, Gerona, and perhaps Ampurias had the right to coin money in their mints,⁽⁹⁵⁾ they rarely did so in this period. In many regions of Southern France and the Spanish March -- such as Gascony, Eastern Languedoc, Western Aquitaine, and Alpine regions east of the Rhône -- no mints at all seem to have existed.

Examination of coin hoards dating from this period in Northern France seems to point up this same economic isolation for the Midi, since even those found closest to our regions contain almost no coins from existing Southern French and Catalan mints.⁽⁹⁶⁾ Our records show an equally limited amount of outside trade and commerce, except perhaps [277] that which proceeded from Catalonia into Moslem Spain.⁽⁹⁷⁾ An occasional ship seems to have reached Arles from Italy.⁽⁹⁸⁾ Some Jewish merchants from Verdun carried slaves down the Valley of the Rhone to the Iberian peninsula.⁽⁹⁹⁾ And ships from Bordeaux and Western Aquitaine still reached Asturias, Ireland, and Western Britain.⁽¹⁰⁰⁾ That is all. Economic localism seems to have become the order of the day, despite the presence of the colonies of Jews at Vienne, Narbonne, and elsewhere.⁽¹⁰¹⁾

On the other hand, despite this localism, a money economy remained in force in most parts of the Midi and the Spanish March. True we do find the phrase "in rem valentem" in many charters, especially in remoter regions like Pallars and Ribagorça.⁽¹⁰²⁾ But a surprising amount of coin and even of gold was available for use, like that given the abbey of Conques by Countess Garsinde of Toulouse⁽¹⁰³⁾ or that which was probably minted into gold solidi in Uzès during this period.⁽¹⁰⁴⁾ Mancusi were in use in Catalonia,⁽¹⁰⁵⁾ and in 920 a bishop could afford to pay Count Hugh of Arles thirty pounds of silver for a villa⁽¹⁰⁶⁾ Many cens payments were [278] required to be rendered in coin rather than in kind, and Jews at Vienne seem to have carried on a rather active moneylending business.⁽¹⁰⁷⁾ In Narbonne Countess Arsinde could borrow 1,000 solidi from two such Jewish moneylenders and another 300 solidi from a certain Gero, giving family allods as security.⁽¹⁰⁸⁾ Southern France and Catalonia were still agrarian and remote in many ways from more advanced economic regions, but a basis already existed for the economic growth and expansion which was to take place soon after 975.

Even more important to note is a fact made clear by our documents, that this was a period of agrarian growth and of expansion of the land which was under cultivation. This was not a completely new development. We have already noted how in the late ninth century in Auvergne, in Rouergue, in the Albigeois and the Toulousain a good deal of new land was cleared for cultivation in regions which were little affected by Moslem and Viking raids. What we find now is an expansion of the areas in which this development took place and an intensification of this movement.

Let us first consider regions north of the Pyrenees. In some cases the purpose seems to have been one of putting back into cultivation land which, for various reasons, was deserted by those who had cultivated it. Such seems to have been the case of that "mansus apsitus" in the Cantal mentioned in a charter of Brioude of 903,⁽¹⁰⁹⁾ or the villa with a "vinea deserta" which the abbot of Saint-Chaff re gave as a precarium to a certain Richard in 909,⁽¹¹⁰⁾ or a similar deserted vineyard near Clermont given out as a precarium by Sauxillanges in 972.⁽¹¹¹⁾ More important than such tracts which were temporarily without cultivators, however, was new land, not cultivated at all, which needed to be broken to the plough, whether it be a villa called "illos ermos" mentioned in Rouergue in a charter of 916,⁽¹¹²⁾ or land called "culturos ermos" given to a priest near Auch in 950,⁽¹¹³⁾ vacant lands which a landowner acquired from Saint-Marie of Nîmes in 973,⁽¹¹⁴⁾ or that property lying between two villages, which Bishop [279] Etienne II of Auvergne in this period gave to Sauxillanges to make fields and vineyards.⁽¹¹⁵⁾ Once such new or vacant land had been put into cultivation it seems to have been called a plantada or a plantaric, terms found especially in charters from the Limousin dating from 922 to 948,⁽¹¹⁶⁾ as well as in Auvergne in 925 and 926-929⁽¹¹⁷⁾ and in Rouergue in 959,⁽¹¹⁸⁾ The individuals who put them into cultivation are frequently called plantadores.⁽¹¹⁹⁾

Equally interesting is an analysis of the ways in which this system of developing land operated. In every example which we find referred to in our sources the allodial owner of the vacant land in question seems to have made a definite agreement or contract with the cultivator who did the work, that is the plantador or plantadores. A document from Angouléme shows that such contracts could be relatively simple affairs. About 918 the bishop and canons of this city, with the consent of the leading lay magnates, issued a charter which provided that anyone who wished to take up lands within two miles of the city and plant vineyards could do so providing they paid an annual modest cens to its owners.⁽¹²⁰⁾ In Rouergue some three examples show us the abbey of Conques granting out such lands as precaria on the basis of a cens which was one quarter of the crop -- a contract similar to the common métayage ones of later periods.⁽¹²¹⁾ In one case the contract was more specific and provided that the cultivator was to pay a definite amount in grain for use of the abbey's land. Such seems to have been the case too in regard to that precarium contract which Saint-Chaffre gave to a landowner in Velay in 909.⁽¹²²⁾

More usual, however, seems to have been that system we have called the medium plantum, which is mentioned by name in a number of charters of this period from Auvergne, Rouergue, Velay, Carcassonne, Vivarais, the Lyonnais, Dauphiny, and Provence. We find a number of [280] charters from Auvergne which describe this system in some detail. They show that in this region the allodial owner gave vacant land to a plantador as a benefice for a period of five years, during which time the cultivator paid nothing to the owner. During this period he was to put the property into cultivation. Then the land, which was now producing as a vineyard or as fields, was divided equally between the original owner and the plantador or plantadores, with a panel of boni homines of the region supervising the division to make sure it was a fair one. Henceforth the plantador was the possessor of his half. He could will it to his heirs and hold it as a permanent precarium, but he could not sell it or dispose of it without the permission of the original owner. He had what amounted to a sort of quasi-proprietorship over it.⁽¹²³⁾ Charters reveal that an exactly similar system was used for getting vacant land into cultivation in Provence in 970⁽¹²⁴⁾ and in Dauphiny in 976,⁽¹²⁵⁾ showing us that this system had a rather wide distribution in the Midi.

In certain cases from the Lyonnais, the Avergnat type of contract for medium plantum was modified in one respect. Here charters show us that the time before division of newly cultivated land between allodial owner and plantador was often three instead of five years.⁽¹²⁶⁾ Otherwise things proceeded in the same manner. In the nearby Limousin, however, we notice a certain variation in the method used. Some eleven charters dating from the period 926-948 show us land being put into cultivation in various locations -- one called Vetus Silvia, an apt phrase. But when the land is divided between the original owner and the cultivator we find that it is not on a 50-50 basis. Instead the plantador gets only one-third of it, the allodial owner.two-thirds.⁽¹²⁷⁾

It seems probable that the success of this system of putting into cultivation new land was such that it established a certain pattern which was [281] used for more than purely agricultural purposes. Thus a charter of 970 from the abbey of Sauxillanges tells us how a certain Gausbert, called a plantario, made an agreement to rebuild the houses of the village of Brioude which had been destroyed by a fire. He was to have a precarium for life or the usufruct of one half of these houses in return for rebuilding all of them.⁽¹²⁸⁾ This agreement helps to explain, it seems, how Bishop Isarn and Count William proceeded to resettle Dauphiny and parts of Provence. We are told that Bishop Isarn gave castles and land to various types of colonists -- "nobiles, mediores et pauperes," says the charter.⁽¹²⁹⁾ But we have a record of only one such agreement between the bishop and such a settler which, dating from 976, seems to refer to a plot of land given on a medium plantum basis.⁽¹³⁰⁾ It seems probable that a similar method was used in granting the right to build castles or to settle larger tracts of land. Indeed, later charters of this region, showing us castles which were half owned by the bishop and half by those who occupied them, seem to make clear that this was the method used.⁽¹³¹⁾ Similarly from Provence we have a charter of 970 which tells us of land near Fréjus which Count William of Provence gave to a certain Ugo Blavia to put under cultivation and to build edifices on. Once this was done this property was to be divided on a medium plantum basis between the count and Ugo.⁽¹³²⁾ By 975 then the medium plantum system seems to have developed into a method which could be used to settle important tracts of land and to establish castles in regions like Dauphiny and Provence which were being newly organized by their rulers.

Which brings us to Catalonia. Here too we find several references to plantarias also in 930⁽¹³³⁾ and 961,⁽¹³⁴⁾ and at least one charter, dating from 966, which seems to be the record of a medium plantum contract between a certain Lobela and the church of Santa Maria de Arampuña.⁽¹³⁵⁾ Despite [282] all this, however, as we have noted, it was the aprisio rather than the medium plantum which seems to have been the usual method of colonization and settlement of land in this region during this period. When one begins to examine examples of such large and small aprisiones in the charters of the period, however, one begins to realize that there was not a great deal of difference in practice between the average aprisio as found in Catalonia and the average medium plantum as found elsewhere in the Midi. Some such charters, dating from the period 965-966, mention specifically aprisiones which seem to be one-half of certain property which is described.⁽¹³⁶⁾ In one case we even have a mention of boni homines who set a price of 2,000 solidi for a large tract of aprisio land which is sold to Bishop Arnulf of Gerona.⁽¹³⁷⁾ One must, of course, be careful not to draw too many conclusions from these facts. But at least it seems fair to point out that, judging from these examples, Catalan aprisiones were, like medium plantum, agreements to put into cultivation new land, which then was divided between the plantador or aprisio holder and the original proprietor on a 50-50 basis. The difference seems to have been that in Catalonia the original allodial owner had to buy his half from the cultivator, and that which remained was the outright allodial possession of the cultivator or colonist. By the tenth century, then, it seems probable that in Catalonia the aprisio had become a sort of medium plantum, but one which gave more benefits and rights to the cultivator or colonist who put it into production than was true of the parts of the Midi north of the Pyrenees.

Our evidence, then, which concerns agrarian developments south of Poitou and Burgundy seems to show the following. In most parts of the Midi and Catalonia, with the possible exception of Gascony, this period saw new land put into cultivation and a colonization movement, particularly in regions where this movement had continued through the late ninth century, as in the Massif Central region and the Spanish March. It took the form of grants, by lay and ecclesiastical allodial landholders, of vacant land as precaria or aprisiones to those who wished to cultivate or settle them. Much of this land became the all but allodial possession of those who received it on a medium plantum or aprisio basis. [283] Even more important, this proved to be such a successful method that it was extended, until it became a system which assured settlement and colonization by nobles and other of frontier regions like the Spanish March, or of areas which needed to be organized anew, like Dauphiny and Provence. In addition to all of this, by providing a method whereby a simple cultivator could take up vacant land of his own, it probably helped to destroy the older serfdom and to allow serfs to rise to at least the status of tenants. It provided free land which made for free men, and by increasing agricultural productivity helped to lay the basis for a revival of the Midi's economic life which became noticeable about the year 1000.

Our examination of various aspects of the society of Southern France and Catalonia during this period, then, helps us to form some conclusions of importance. We can see that this society was a remarkably healthy and vigorous one, despite the failure of attempts to form principalities, and despite the growth of castles and a new military class which dominated them. It supported an active Church and an expanding monasticism. Even more important its family system, dominated in many cases by able women, protected and even expanded the tradition of allodial ownership of most of its property. Abbeys and churches, as well as individual allodial proprietors, made use of precaria, benefices, and fiefs in handling some of their property, but grants of this nature, when found, generally seem to call for a money payment or cens instead of special military service or attendance at courts by the recipients. Or such precaria and the related aprisiones were used to put new land into cultivation in older settled regions or to expand the Midi's frontiers through colonization. The feudal system of the Midi and Catalonia, such as it was, except near newly built castles, was still a limited one which resembled that of pre-Carolingian times much more than it did that which Charlemagne and his house had tried to establish south of Poitou and Burgundy. The allodial landowner, large or small, was still the master of his fate.

Things, however, were beginning to change. Abbeys and churches had begun to accumulate large domains, often made up of the land of small proprietors who had placed themselves under the mild seigneurial control and protection of these establishments. Castellans were beginning a new and harsher domination of regions within reach of the milites who lived in their fortresses. And secular lords were beginning to impose a more ruthless and unsympathetic type of control over churches and abbeys which they found nearby. A new and dangerous trend had appeared which was to lead to a certain crisis for this society about the year 1000 -- a crisis [284] which neither agrarian progress nor general peace could affect or disguise. By 975 the Midi and Catalonia, though they had made remarkable progress in the face of their governmental failure, were forced to face a difficult period in which the new milites and their allies were to threaten Church and lay society alike and lay the basis of a new and different society.

1. These are from the Cart. de Brioude, the Grand Cart. de Brioude, Hist. Gén. de Lang., Cart. de Sauxillanges, Cart. de Saint-Egidius, Cart. de Beaulieu, Cart. de Saint-Flour, Chartes de Cluny, and Cart. de Conques.

2. Represented are charters from the Cart. de Tulle, the Cart. de Beaulieu, Cart. de Vigeois, Cart. d'Uzerche, Hist. Gén. de Lang., Cart. de Saint-Etienne de Limoges, and Ademar de Chabannes.

3. These come from the Cart. d'Angoulême, Gaula Christiana, Cart. de Vigeois, and Cart. de Paunat.

4. All from the Cart. de Saint-Jean d'Angély.

5. Represented are charters from the Cart. de Conques, the Cart. de Vabres, and Hist. Gén. de Lang.

6. From the Hist. Gén. de Lang., the Cart. de Saint-Sernin, the "Cartulaire de Lézat" (unprinted), and the Cart. de Carcassonne.

7. These charters are from the Cart. de Nîmes, Cart. de Gellone, "Cart. de Psalmodi" (unprinted), Cart. d'Aniane, Cart. de Maguelonne, Cart. de Béziers, "Cart. de l'Évêché d'Agde" (unprinted), Cart. d'Agde, and Hist. Gén. de Lang.

8. Included are charters from the Cart roussillonnais; Hist. Gén. de Lang; Marca hispanica; Cart. de Carcassonne; Cros-Meyrévielle, Documents; G. Catel, Histoire des comtes de Toulouse; and Cart. de Fontjoncouse.

9. Hist. Gén. de Lang., V. nos. 111, 126 and Cart. de Saint-Sernin, no. 280.

10. From the Cart. de Savigny, "Cart. d'Ainay," in Cart. de Savigny, Cart. de Saint-Chaffre, Chartes de Cluny, and Cart. Lyonnais.

11. From the Cart. de Saint-André-le-bas, Cart. de Vienne, Chartes de Cluny, and Cart. de Saint-Chaffre.

12. From the Cart, de Saint-André-le-bas, Cart. de Saint-Barnard de Romans, Cart. de Grenoble, Chartes de Cluny, and Chartes de Maurienne.

13. From the Cart. de Saint-Chaffre, Cart. de Saint-Egidius, Chartes de Cluny, Hist. Gén. de Lang., Cart. de Saint-Barnard de Romans, and L. Albanes-Chevalier, Gallia Christiana Novissima.

14. From the Hist. Gén. de Lang., Chartes de Cluny, Cart. de Saint-Victor, and Albanes-Chevalier, Gallia Christiana Novissima.

15. From the Cart. d'Auch, "Cart. de Lézat" (unprinted), Cart. de la Réolle, and Hist. Gén. de Lang.

16. See charters in Abadal, Els Comtats de Pallars I Ribagorça.

17. These charters are from the Hist. Gén. de Lang.; El Archivo Condal de Barcelona; Cart. de San Cugat; Marca hispanica; J. Villanueva, Viaje literario a las iglesias de Espana; Liber Feudorum; Cart. roussillonnais; and Archivo Catedral de Barcelona.

18. Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 53.

19. Ibid., no. 89.

20. Cros-Meyrévielle, Documents, no. 29.

21. Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 100.

22. Chartes de Cluny, I, no. 105.

23. Cart. de Conques, no. 7.

24. Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 78.

25. Ibid., no. 79.

26. Cart. de Saint-Sernin, no. 236.

27. Cart. de Sauxillanges, no. 68.

28. Ibid., no. 376.

29. Cart. de Saint-Etienne de Limoges, nos. 17 (950), 14 (968), 26 (970).

30. Ibid., no. 16 (920); Cart. de Beaulieu, no. 38 (926).

31. Cart. de Saint-Barnard de Romans, nos. 6 (908), 23 (948-950).

32. Cart. de Vienne, nos. 20 (927), 30 (970).

33. Cart. de Conques, nos. 262 (916), 340 (961).

34. Cart. de Nîmes, no. 44. See somewhat similar prohibitions in charters dating from 936 and 939 in ibid., nos. 39, 41.

35. Cart. de Maguelonne, I, no. 2, and Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 48.

36. Hist. Gén. de Lang., V. nos. 111, 126, and Cart. de Saint-Sernin, no. 280.

37. See for examples charters of 913, 922, and 929 in Cart. de Brioude, nos. 84, 76, 261, or one of 927-928 in Cart. de Saint-André-le-bas, no. 128.

38. On such feudally held land see Cart. de San Cugat, no. 17.

39. Cart. de Nîmes, no. 51.

40. For an example of a grant for two lifetimes see a charter of 975 which describes a grant given by King Conrad to a nobleman, Artald, perhaps later on the count of Lyon (Cart. de Vienne, no. 229).

41. Hist. Gén. de Lang., II, no. 209.

42. Cart. de Sauxillanges, no. 86.

43. In Auvergne note that Duke Acfred, before 926, gave land as an outright gift, not a fief, to his fidelis Bertrand (Cart. de Brioude, no. 315). Again in 927 in giving his lands to a group of noblemen whom he calls "fidelos et amicos meos," Duke Acfred gives lands as allodial gifts not fiefs (Grand Cart. de Brioude, no. CCCCXXXIII). In the Valley of the Rhone we find similar gifts of allodial land to individuals called fideles. See for instance a gift in 902 to Berilon, a fidelis of King Louis of Provence (Cart. de Vienne, no. 11); or to Gerald, called a fidelis, in 915 (ibid., no. 16); or to Ingelbert, called a fidelis, in 923 (Chartes de Cluny, I, no. 237). In Aquitaine, writing a little later on in the eleventh century, Ademar de Chabannes tells of a gift of a church made by Count William Taillefer of Angoulême to "Iterio fidelio suo" Ademar de Chabannes, III, 24, p. 146. This seems an outright gift, not a fief. In Catalonia in 961 we find Count Borell II of Barcelona selling a large tract of land as an allod to his fidelis Ansulfo (El Archivo Condal de Barcelona, no. 159). In this period then it seems that it was the oath of fidelitas which made one a fidelis, not the land which was bestowed by an overlord.

44. Note how a charter in Auvergne dating from 913 mentions land, which is obviously a fief, given to a man who is called not a fidelis, but a friend (Cart. de Brioude, no. 84). We find charters of 922 and 926 that repeat this situation (ibid., nos. 76, 291). In the Limousin a charter of the same period mentions land given as a benefice or precarium by the abbot of Tulle to Viscount Foucher, but speaks of the latter only as "familiari nostro" (Cart. de Tulle, no. 317). In this period then such grants did not automatically establish a tie of fidelitas or vassalage. Sometimes they did, however, it must be admitted, as when Joseph, prepositus of Brioude, in 945 gives a gift of a villa to a certain Salicus "propter amorem et servicium" (Grand Cart. de Brioude, no. CCLXXXIII).

45. Note the differences between the situation described in notes no. 43 and 44 and that found elsewhere by Ganshof (F. Ganshof, "Notes sur les origines de l'union du bénéfice avec la vassalité," in Études d'histoire dédiées a la mémoire de Henri Pirenne).

46. For the Limousin and Quercy regions see Cart. de Tulle, nos. 12, 126, 184, 226, 262, 283, 290, 304, 317, 565-568; Cart. de Beaulieu, nos. 49, 75; Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 122. For Auvergne see Cart. de Brioude, nos. 37, 46, 51, 58, 86, 140, 141, 177, 228, 261, 327; and Grand. Cart. de Brioude, nos. CCCXLIX, CCLXXXIII. See Cart. de Conques, nos. 29, 161, 177, 302, 306, 321, for Rouergue-Albigeois. And Cart. de Béziers, nos. 18, 24, 27, 28, 36; Cart. d'Aniane, no. 316; Cros-Meyrévielle, Documents, no. 22; Cart. de Fontjoncouse, no. 6; Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 117; Cart. de Carcassonne, II, 222-223, for Septimania.

47. Cart. de Savigny, nos. 6, 7, 11, 12, 15, 17, 22, 29, 31, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 49, 51, 55, 59, 63, 73; Chartes de Cluny, I, no. 642; Cart. Lyonnais, no. 6.

48. Cart. de Vienne, nos. 18, 23, 26 (Vienne); Cart. de Saint-Barnard de Romans, nos. 6, 20, 21, and Cart. de Grenoble, no. 11 (Dauphiny); Cart. de Saint-Victor, no. 1040, and Chartes de Cluny, II, no. 1071 (Provence); Cart. de Saint-Chaffre, no. 299, and Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 70 (Velay).

49. Cart. de San Cugat, nos. 34, 35, 38, 41, 43, 48, 50, 54, 55, 61, 63, 64, 75, 76, 82, 86, 88, 92, 99, 100, 109.

50. There is even one precarium mentioned in a charter from the Lyonnais which seems to be a permanent one (Cart. de Savigny, no. 22).

51. In most cases the cens paid in return for a precarium seems to have been in natural products. Sometimes, however, money was used, but then in amounts so small as to be strictly nominal. What the cens seems to represent is a recognition by the possessor that allodial ownership was in another's hands.

52. See for instance the oath required of the judices servum at Beaulieu in 971 (Cart. de Beaulieu, no. 50).

53. In addition to those examples of obedientia mentioned in the previous chapter note land given out by Lagrasse in 943 and held "ad obedíentiam" (Cart. de Carcassonne, II, 222-223).

54. This seems probable as far as the castle of Moncieux was concerned, a castle which the abbey of Tulle gave to a number of lords during the period (Cart. de Tulle, no. 290). In this charter only a cens is mentioned, even though some of these lords are called the abbey's defensores.

55. Cart. de Beaulieu, no. 50.

56. See note 47 on a number of precaria or prestaria which the abbey of Savigny gave to neighboring landholders. Most seem to be simply powerful neighbors of this monastery.

57. See note 46 on similar precaria given out by the abbey of Tulle.

58. Cart. de Conques, no. 262.

59. Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 45, and Cart. de Brioude, no. 129.

60. Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 33.

61. Ibid., no. 116.

62. Cart. de Saint-Sernin, no. 336.

63. Over a hundred charters which mention such land are to be found in Abadal, Els Comtats de Pallars i Ribagorça.

64. El Archivo Condal de Barcelona, nos. 14, 16, 17, 19, 21-52, 55, 58, 60, 67, 70-71,75, 78, 81, 84-86, 88, 96, 107, 110, 114, 116, 119, 124, 151, 154, 160; Cart. de San Cugat, nos. 4, 5, 7, 9, 14, 41, 47, 69; Liber Feudorum, no. 395; and Archivo Catedral de Barcelona, no. 24.

65. See mention of allods "cam beneficios et tascas" which were part of the canonica of Vich in 957 (El Archivo Condal de Barcelona, no. 131). And also the agreement made by the bishop of Barcelona with the "homines" or inhabitants of the castle of Montmell in 974 which freed them of certain dues and services (El Archivo Catedral de Barcelona, no. 24).

66. Cart. de Beaulieu, nos. 28, 50, 60, 72, 94; Cart. de Saint-Etienne de Limoges, no. 10; Cart. de Tulle, nos. 529, 537.

67. Cart. de Conques, no. 6.

68. Cart. d'Angoulême, nos. 29, 3.

69. Cart. de Saint-Jean d'Angély, nos. 203, 250.

70. Cart. de Brioude, nos. 318, 315; Grand Cart. de Brioude, no. CCCCXXXIII; and Cart. de Sauxillanges, nos. 13, 428.

71. These are the serfs whom Countess Garsinde freed in her will of 972 (Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 126).

72. El Archivo Condal de Barcelona, no. 92, and Cart. roussillonnais, no. 12.

73. Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 107.

74. Ibid., nos. 9, 107, and Chartes de Cluny, I, no. 105.

75. Cart. de Saint-Barnard de Romans, nos. 11, 13, 30.

76. Cart. de Vienne, nos. 111, 114.

77. Cart. de Savigny, no. 45.

78. Chartes de Cluny, I, no. 342; II, no. 1005.

79. See gifts of Countess Garsinde referred to in charters in Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, nos. 125, 126. See her power also as reflected in a charter of 969 (ibid., no. 117).

80. Cart. de Nîmes, nos. 61, 66, and Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 107, mention large gifts of land by Countess Bertha of Rouergue.

81. See Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 106.

82. On her control of a castle held as an allod see El Archivo Condal de Barcelona, no. 130. See also the mention of Countess Elo in 955 and her ownership of much property along the borders of Ausona and Roussillon (ibid., no. 132).

83. On Abbess Ranlo see ibid., nos. 132, 150.

84. Cart. de Vienne, no. 28.

85. Cart. d'Aniane, nos. 42, 218.

86. Chartes de Cluny, I, no. 105.

87. Cart. de Saint-Etienne de Limoges, no. 10.

88. Chartes de Cluny, I, no. 532.

89. A. Blanchet and A. Dieudonné, Manuel de Numismatique, IV, 336-372.

90. Ibid.

91. See the right to coin money given to the bishop of LePuy by King Raoul in 924 and King Louis V in 955 (Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, nos. 49, 70).

92. Blanchet and Dieudonné, Manuel de Numismatique, IV, 234-235.

93. Ibid., pp. 239-243.

94. L. Rambault, "La Numismatique Provençale," in Bouches du Rhône: Encyclopédia départmentale, II, 944-952.

95. J. Botet y Siso, Les monedes catalanes, I, 17-30, 90-110, 136-145. See also a charter of 967 which mentions solidi of Guitard (Barcelona), of Sunifred (Ampurias), or Oliba (Vich) (Cart. roussillonnais, no. 12). Or the charter of 911 which gave the counts of Barcelona and the bishops of Gerona a right to coin money (El Archivo Condal de Barcelona, no. 33).

96. See references to such coin hoards in A. Lewis, The Northern Seas A.D. 300-1100, pp. 82-88.

97. Especially after peaceful relations were established about 950 with the caliphate of Cordova. R. de Abadal i de Vinyals, Els Primers Comtes Catalans, pp. 317-321.

98. Lewis, The Northern Seas, p. 345.

99. See F. Ganshof, "Notes sur les ports de Provence du VIII^e au X^e siècle," in Revue Historique, CLXXXIII (1938).

100. On trade which reached England and Ireland from Southwestern France see Lewis, The Northern Seas, pp. 333-334, 338. On trade with Northwestern Spain see ibid., pp. 388-389, and "Bibliothèque Nationale: Mélanges Colbert" (unprinted), XLVI, 97.

101. A charter of 959 mentions Jews at Narbonne and money which Countess Arsinde borrowed from them (Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 106). On them see also J. Régné, Etude sur la condition des Juifs de Narbonne du V^e au XIV^e siècle, pp. 12-106. See also mention in charters of Jews of Vienne who also served as money lenders (Cart. de Saint-André-le-bas, nos. 5, 100, 105, 111).

102. At times in this period even important lords like the counts of Barcelona had little ready cash. See for instance how Count Borell II in 957 purchased a large tract from the abbey of Ripoll for 2,000 "solidi in rem valentem" (Liber Feudorum, no. 447). Or note how this same noble in 961 sold land to his fidelis Ansulfo for 100 "solidi in rem valentem" (El Archivo Condal de Barcelona, no. 159).

103. This was in the form of actual gold objects, however, rather than gold coin. See R. Latouche, "Saint-Foy-de-Conques et le problème d'or aux temps Carolingiens," in Annales du Midi, XLVII (1956).

104. P. Grierson, "Le sou d'or d'Uzès," in Le Moyen Age, LX (1954).

105. Botet y Siso, Les monedes catalanes, I, 70-89.

106. Cart. de Saint André-le-bas, no. 124. Note also the charter of 932 which mentions a fine of 100 pounds of silver levied on the nobleman Sylvius for his destruction of the abbey of Saint-Barnard de Romans (Cart. de Saint-Barnard de Romans, no. 13). Or see land which Archbishop Amblard of Lyon purchased in 961 for 400 solidi (Chartes de Cluny, II, 1115).

107. See note 101.

108. Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 106.

109. Cart. de Brioude, no. 275.

110. Cart. de Saint-Chaffre, no. 299.

111. Cart. de Sauxillanges, nos. 22, 112.

112. Cart. de Conquer, no. 262.

113. Cart. d'Auch, no. 47.

114. Cart. de Nîmes, no. 76.

115. Cart. de Sauxillanges, no. 145.

116. Cart. de Beaulieu, nos. 28, 49, 56, 144, 174; Cart. de Tulle, nos. 12, 14, 537, 285-286.

117. Cart. de Brioude, nos. 112, 115.

118. Cart. de Conquer, no. 405. See mention in a charter of 933 of such plantadas at Conques (ibid., no. 9).

119. See for instance a charter dating from 944 (Cart. de Sauxillanges, no. 218), and of a later one of about 975 (ibid., no. 90).

120. Cart. d'Angoulême, no. 2.

121. Cart. de Conques, nos. 100, 177, 405. See also a charter of 910 which mentions a wood "in medio planto," and another mentioning a forest "in medio planto" in 932 (ibid., nos. 7, 208). On land newly put into cultivation according to charters of 924 and 929 see ibid., nos. 92, 306.

122. Cart. de Saint-Chaffre, no. 299.

123. Three charters, dating from 922, 944, and 955, give a clear picture of how this system worked-especially that of 944 (Cart. de Brioude, no. 233 [922]; Cart. de Sauxillanges, nos. 218 [944], 372 [955]). For other references to medium plantum see Grand Cart. de Brioude, no. CCXXXVI; Cart. de Brioude, no. 234; Charter de Cluny, I, no. 501; and Cart. de Sauxillanges, nos. 31, 67, 70, 73, 90, 175, 190, 225, 242, 373, 639.

124. Cart, de Saint-Victor, no. 598.

125. Cart. de Grenoble, no. 10.

126. "Cart. d'Ainay," in Cart. de Savigny, no. 129. This charter dates from 970. See another charter of 932 which refers to land "ex medio planto" (ibid., no. 2). For information on a large field divided into such medium plantum about 950 in Velay see Cart. de Saint-Chaffre, no. 294.

127. Cart. de Saint-Etienne de Limoges, nos. 41-45, 104, 144, 148, 150-153.

128. Cart. de Sauxillanges, no. 90.

129. Cart. de Grenoble, no. 16.

130. Ibid., no. 10.

131. See reference in a later charter of 996 to one-half of the castle of Visalia owned by Bishop Humbert of Grenoble (Chartes de Cluny, III, no. 2307). And also note one-half of a castle near Vienne given to the same bishop and others by King Rudolf in 1009 (Cart. de Vienne, no. 38).

132. Cart. de Saint-Victor, no. 598.

133. El Archivo Condal de Barcelona, no. 98.

134. Ibid., no. 152.

135. See reference to a medium plantum near Carcassonne in 920 (Cart. de Carcassonne, I, 253-254), and what appears to be a medium plantum contract in a 966 charter from Catalonia (Cart. de San Cugat, no. 85).

136. El Archivo Condal de Barcelona, nos. 17, 58, 63, 75, 76, 79, 86, 93, 94, 104, 110, 118; Cart. de San Cugat, nos. 5, 6, 8, 85; Liber Feudorum, no. 191; Hist. Gén. de Lang., V, no. 76.

137. El Archivo Condal de Barcelona, no. 139.