900 sol.: 1st. the bishop, among the Ripuarian Franks; 2nd. the Roman, in truste regiâ, attacked and killed in his own house by an armed band, among the Salian Franks. 640 sol. the relatives of a duke, with the Barbarians. : 600 sol. 1st. every man in truste regia, with the Ripuarians; 2nd. the same, with the Salian Franks, 3rd. the count, with the Ripuarians; 4th. the priest, born free, with the Ripuarians; 5th. the priest, with the Germans; 6th. the count, with the Salian Franks; 7th. the Sagibaro (a kind of judge) free, ibid.; 8th. the priest, ibid.; the free man attacked and killed in his own house by an armed band, ibid. 500 sol. the deacon, with the Ripuarians. : 400 sol. 1st. the sub-deacon, with the Ripuarians; 2nd. the deacon, with the Germans; 3rd. the same, among the Salian Franks. : 300 sol. 1st. the Roman living with the king, with the Salian Franks; 2nd. the young man brought up in the service of the king, and those who had been enfranchised by the king, and made counts, with the Ripuarians; 3rd. the priest, among the Bavarians; 4th. the Sagibaro who had been brought up in the court of the king, with the Salian Franks; 5th. the Roman killed by an armed band in his house, ibid. 200 sol.: the free-born clerk, with the Ripuarians; 2nd. the deacon, with the Bavarians; 3rd. the free Ripuarian Frank; 4th. the German of the middle classes; 5th. the Frank or Barbarian, living under Salic law; 6th. the travelling Frank, with the Ripuarians; 7th. the man who had become enfranchised by purchase, with the Ripuarians. 160 sol.: 1st. the free man in general, among the Germans; 2nd. the same, with the Bavarians; 3rd. the Burgundian, the German, the Bavarian, the Frison, the Saxon, with the Ripuarians; 4th. the free man cultivating ecclesiastical property, with the Germans. 150 sol. 1st. the optimus, or noble Burgundian, killed by the man whom he had attacked; 2nd. the steward of a royal domain, with the Burgundians; 3rd. the slave who could work well in gold, ibid. : 100 sol. any man belonging to the middle classes (mediocris homo) with the Burgundians, killed by the person whom he had attacked; ad. the Roman possessing personal property, with the Salian Franks; 3rd. the Roman while travelling, with the Ripuarians; 4th. the man in the service of the king, or of a church, ibid.; 5th. the planter (lidus) by two charters of Charlemagne (an. 803 and 813); 6th. the steward (actor) of a domain belonging to any but the king, with the Burgundians; 7th. the slave, a worker in silver, ibid. 80 sol.: those enfranchised in presence of the church, or by a special charter, with the Germans. : 75 sol. any man of inferior condition (minor persona), with the Burgundians. 55 sol. the barbarian slave employed in the personal service of a master, or as a bearer of messages, with the Burgundians. 50 sol. the blacksmith (slave), with the Burgundians. : 45 sol. 1st. the serf of the church and the serf of the king, with the Germans; 2nd. the tributary Roman, with the Salian Franks. IMPOSSIBILITY OF CLASSIFICATION. 139 40 sol.: 1st. one merely enfranchised, with the Bavarians; 2nd. the herdsman keeping forty swine, with the Germans; 3rd. the shepherd over eighty sheep, ibid.; 4th. the seneschal of the man who has twelve companions (vassi) in his house, ibid.; 5th. the marshal who kept twelve horses, ibid.; 6th. the cook who has an assistant (junior), ibid.; 7th. the goldsmith, ibid.; 8th. the armourer, ibid.; 9th. the blacksmith, ibid.; 10th. the cartwright, with the Burgundians. 36 sol. 1st. the slave, with the Ripuarians; 2nd. the slave who had become a tributary planter, ibid. 30 sol. the keeper of swine, with the Burgundians. 20 sol. the slave, with the Bavarians. : We see by this table, that, notwithstanding the common opinion to the contrary, the wehrgeld is by no means an exact and certain indication of social conditions. It is not determined uniformly according to the origin, the quality, the position of individuals. The circumstances of the murder, the official character of the criminal, the greater or less usefulness or commonness of the man slain, all these variable elements enter into the determination of the wehrgeld. The simple fact of the murder having been committed at the court of the duke, while the victim is going to or returning from the house of the count, triples the wehrgeld of every man, whether he be a slave or a freeman, a Barbarian or a Roman. The elements of the wehrgeld are very numerous; it varies according to places and times. The Roman, the tributary, the slave, according to circumstances, may be valued at a greater or a less sum than a barbarian free man. We see many general indications which serve to show that the Roman was commonly less esteemed than a barbarian, the tributary or the slave less than the free man. This is very easily accounted for, and might have been anticipated. But it is not on this account less difficult to draw from such facts a positive indication of the state of individuals, a precise and complete classification of social conditions. There is no resource left but to renounce the idea of classifying social conditions, and of determining the condition of persons, according to any general principle, resting either on the nature of territorial properties, or in the legal appreciation of the value of different lives. We must simply inquire, by the aid of historical facts, who were the strong and powerful at the time; what common name was given to 140 TRUE TEST OF SOCIAL CONDITIONS. them; what share of influence and of liberty fell to the lot of those who were simply called free men. We shall thus arrive at clearer and more certain results. We shall often find that landed property is a great and principal source of strength, and that the wehrgeld is an indication of the amount of importance or of liberty possessed by individuals; but we shall not attribute to these two principles a general and decisive authority, and we shall not mutilate facts in order that they may harmonize with our hypotheses. THE LEUDES OR ANTRUSTIONS. 141 LECTURE XVII. Of the Leudes or Antrustions.-Men, faithful to the king and to the large proprietors.-Different means of acquiring and retaining them. -Obligations of the Leudes.-The Leudes are the origin of the nobility.-Bishops and heads of monasteries were reckoned among the leudes of the king.-Moral and material power of the bishops.Efforts of the kings to possess themselves of the right of nominating bishops. Free men.-Did they form a distinct and numerous class? -The arimanni, and rathimburgi.—Mistake of M. de Savigny.Rapid and general extension of the feudal hierachy.-The freedmen. -Different modes of enfranchisement: First, the denariales, enfranchised with respect to the king: Second, the tabularii, enfranchised with respect to the church: Third, the chartularii, enfranchised by a charter.-Different consequences resulting from these different modes of enfranchisement. THE first whom we meet with at this time occupying the highest place in the social scale are the Leudes, or Antrustions. Their name indicates their quality-trust expresses fidelity. They were men who had proved faithful, and they succeeded the associates of the German chiefs. After the conquest, each of the chiefs established himself, together with his own men, on a certain territory. The king had a larger and more considerable number of followers. Many remained with him. He had different means, which he very assiduously employed, of attaching to himself his Leudes, or of acquiring them. 1st. This was evidently the result aimed at in conferring benefices. In 587, Gontran, giving his advice to Childebert II. on his conduct to those who were about him, points out to him "those whom he ought to honour by appointments and by gifts, and those to whom he ought to refuse them." 2nd. The organization of the house, the palace, the court, borrowed in part from the traditions of the Roman empire, the passing amusements and the permanent advantages which were attached to them, induced many men of influence to become Leudes, or gave importance to the original Leudes of the king. The following are names of some of their offices; "count of the palace, referendary, seneschal, mareschal, falconer, butler, chamberlain, porter, head-porter, &c.". 142 OBLIGATIONS OF THE LEUDES. 3rd. Marculf has preserved to us the formula by which a man of importance, cum arimanniâ suâ, "with his free men, his band," was accustomed to enrol himself among the king's Leudes. Charlemagne took various precautions in order that persons who came to him in order to become his trusty followers (de truste facienda), should meet with no obstacle. 4th. It was to their Leudes that the kings were in the habit of giving important public occupations, such as belonged to dukes, counts, &c. There is reason for believing that these functions originally belonged to the principal chief who established himself in a territory. In the natural course of events these chiefs became themselves Leudes of the king or were supplanted by those who were such. 5th. The number of Leudes was the principal source of strength; accordingly they were multiplied by all kinds of devices. In 587, in the treaty of Andely, between Gontran and Childebert II, "it was agreed that neither of them should attempt to draw over to himself the Leudes of the other, or receive them if they came of their own accord." We continually find Leudes of importance threatening the king to leave his service, and enter into some other. The general obligation of the Leudes was fidelity, service in the palace, and military service. The price of this obligation was, for the Leudes, power and riches. They had also certain civil advantages, but of a more uncertain nature. Their wehrgeld was a larger amount, whatever might otherwise have been their origin. We see that their prerogatives accumulated in proportion as their power was consolidated by the long possession of benefices. Charlemagne desired that his vassals should be honoured, and should hold, after himself, the first place in esteem. There were however among the Leudes of the king some who were less powerful, and some who even were poor. Every large proprietor had his Leudes; his house was organized after the model of the king's; the same offices existed in each. It is the opinion of Montesquieu, who is in this opposed by Montlosier, that the origin of the nobility is to be found in the Leudes. Neither of them has formed, in my judgment, a just and clear idea either of the condition of the Leudes or of the character of the nobility. The rank of the Leude and |