Texts of the Daily Life

. Abstracts from the 'De Villis' Capitulary (end of the 8th, or Beginning of the 9th Century)
. A Report About a Domain by a Steward (ab. 800)
. Inventory of the Domain of Villeneuve-St-Georges, which Belonged to the Abbey of St-Germain-des-Prés (Abstract of the Polyptich of Irminon, ab. 800)

Abstracts from the 'De Villis' Capitulary (end of the 8th, or Beginning of the 9th Century)

The 'De Villis' capitulary is a famed royal ordnance about how the royal domains have to be managed. Those abstracts are good hints to the daily life in the Carolingian times. The domains, at the Carolingian times, are the places where about all the population of the Empire are dwelling and working. The domains are vast assemblages of lands, which belong either to the king -or emperor- to the abbeys, or to the Greats. Out of concern that his lands be appropriately managed, the king established that his domains be the object, each year, of a report by his stewards. Such reports are stating and describing all what is found there, and the ressource and duties. The economy of the Carolingian times is mostly of an agricultural one, and autarcic, leaving to trade a marginal space only

. The text is to be found at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Follow 'Carolingians', left, then 'Legal and Social Documents', and '[Tierney 29.2, Geary 19.7] Capitulary De Villis, 9th century.'

A Report About a Domain by a Steward (ab. 800)

This report is made by a steward according to the prescriptions of the 'De Villis Capitulary', about 800 A.D. as the domain of Asnapium seems to be a small one. Like any domain however it has 'villas' joined to and it may be possibly chosen by the king or emperor like a place of sojourn. Like the previous one, this text allows for fine insights into the daily life of the times. The rural system, at the Carolingian times, is based on a new way, both geographically and structurally, which is heralding the model of the classical Middle Ages. The domains which are serving like models for the rest of the kingdom, then the Empire, are those of Austrasia, on the one hand, as, they are innovating in the way the lands are cultivated, relative to the duties and rights of the owners and the tenants, on the other hand. The domain tends to be divided into a part of lands which remains under the direct supervision of the landlord, as another part is itself divived into small tracts of lands, which are called 'mansus', and which are cultivated by tenants. The tenants are cultivating their tract of land, as they owe taxes for that, and they owe, too, duties under the form of boon-work on the part of the domain which is retained by the landlord, allowing for the latter to be cultivated. The landlord's buildings, farm buildings, barns, a yard enclosed with a hedge and, often, a garden, are found at the center of the domain. The tenants of the mansi are obligated to duties in money, various products, or work. Such duties appeared with this new model of managing the domains, and the mansi are obliged to more or less function of whether they originally were hold by freemen, slaves or affranchis (freed people). At the apogee of the Carolingian era however, this link between the land and the social status is now broken, with a servile mansus possibly hold by a freeman, or reciprocally. This is leading, by the way, to a that the personal status are mixing for cause of the duties owed -a freeman may owe servile duties as a serf will owe the duties of a freeman

. The text is to be found at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Follow 'Carolingians', left, then 'Legal and Social Documents', and 'Asnapium: An Inventory of One of Charlemagne's Estates, c. 800'

Inventory of the Domain of Villeneuve-St-Georges, which Belonged to the Abbey of St-Germain-des-Prés (Abstract of the Polyptich of Irminon, ab. 800)

A 'polyptich' is the detailed inventory of the goods and resource which are found in a domain of the Carolingian era. Like the reports done by the king's stewards, such documents are fine insights into the daily life of the people in the Carolingian times. The main personal status of the time are those of freemen, 'coloni' (freemen, albeit hereditarily bonded to the land he holds), 'lides' (freed, who have an intermediary status between the freemen and the slaves), and serfs (a medieval, modified form of slavery). The 'mansus' is a tract of land on a domain, as the latter is divided into numerous such 'mansi'. A mansus superficy allows for the life of the family which is tenant for it. The Irminon polyptich is a famed inventory of the Carolingian era, describing the domain of the abbey St-Germain-des-Prés. Irminon was abott at the time and the polyptich is divided into chapters

. The text is to be found at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Follow 'Carolingians', left, then 'Legal and Social Documents', and 'Abbé Irminon: Polyptyque de Villeneuve-St. Georges, c. 800'