From the sources 3: Living in the Carolingian Countryside II

This illustration of Psalm 103 from the Harley Psalter, a meticulous Anglo-Saxon copy dating between 1000 and 1050 of the Utrecht Psalter, a famous Carolingian manuscript produced around 825 by the monks of Hautvilliers in Champagne. It shows the world in its right order - the angels attend on God, a peasant ploughs in the fields with his oxen while a rich man wines and dines at table and the animals engage in their natural behaviours. British Library, London, Harley MS 603, f. 51v

So, we’re back with the polyptychs as promised. As I’ve said before, there was no default set up in the Carolingian countryside, and the polyptychs actually show a lot of regional and even local diversity in how things worked. Therefore, let’s take a look at a polyptych that isn’t from Northern France, like the previous one. Let’s instead go down to the sunny Mediterranean coast, to Provence no less. From here survives a ninth century polyptych preserved in a cartulary (collection of documents recording institutional land ownership) created c.1100 for the Abbey of St Victor de Marseilles – an incredibly wealthy institution founded in 415 by John Cassian, a Church Father and one of the first pioneers of western monasticism, which at one time owned properties as far afield as Spain, Sardinia and even Syria. It was created around the time of the death of Charlemagne and the accession of his sole surviving son, Emperor Louis the Pious, so its roughly contemporary to the polyptych of Saint-Germain des Pres we explored last time. Let’s take a look at it.

Description of the Dependents of St-Mary of Marseilles from the Villa Domado of that Third Part, Made in the Time of the lord bishop Vualdus [814 – 818], from the seventh indiction [814]

1. Holding of a colonus at Nemphas. Martinus, colonus. Wife Dominica. Bertemarus, an adult son. Desideria, an adult daughter. It pays the tax: 1 pig; 1 suckling [pig]; 2 fattened hens; 10 chickens; 40 eggs. Savarildis, an adult woman. Olisirga, a daughter 10 years old. Rica, a daughter 9 years old.
2. Holding of a colonus in vineyards. Ingoaldus, a dependent. Wife Unuldis. Martinus, a son; wife Magna. Onoria, daughter, with a foreign husband. Deda, a daughter. Danobertus, an adult son. Ingolbertus, an adult son. Arubertus, an adult son.
3. Holding of a colonus at Corde: 1 lot without tenant.
4. Holding of colonus at Ruinoloas: 1 lot without tenant.
5. In total these make 4 holdings of coloni.
6. Holding of a colonus at Ursiniangas: 1 lot without tenant.

Description of the Dependents of St-Mary of Marseilles, from the Villa of Lambsico. Made in the time of the lord bishop Vualdus, from the seventh indiction

1. Holding of a colonus in Siverianis. Valerius, colonus. Wife Dominica. Ducsana, a daughter 5 years old. An infant at the breast. It pays in tax: 1 pig; 1 suckling [pig]; 2 fattened hens; 10 chickens; 20 eggs.
2. In Siverianis. Valerianus, a colonus. Wife Desiderata. Anastasia, a daughter 5 years old. Stephanus, a son 4 years old. Martinus, a son 3 years old. An infant at the breast. It pays the same in taxes.
3. Holding of a colonus in Marte. Adjutor, a colonus. Wife Natalia. Justa a daughter 1 year old. [It pays:] 1 pig; 1 fattened hen; 5 chickens; 20 eggs.
4. Holding of a colonus in the Campo Miliario. The colonus Sidonius. Wife Lia. It pays tax similarly; [plus] 1 castrated ram.
5. Holding of a colonus in Roveredo: 1 lot without tenant.
6. Holding of a colonus in Dominicio. Guntardus with his infants: information required.
7. Holding of a colonus in Siverianis. Mercorinus, a colonus. Wife Vina, with their infants: information required. It pays tax similarly: [plus] 1 castrated ram.
8. Holding of a colonus in Rovereto: 1 lot without tenant.
9. Holding of a colonus in Burbuliana: 1 lot without tenant.
10. Holding of a colonus in Campo Macuni: 1 lot without tenant.
11. Holding of a colonus in Plama. Maria, a female [serf]. Maria, a widow. Anastasia, an adult daughter. Eligia, a daughter 5 years old. An infant at the breast.
12. Holding of a colonus in Maurisca: 1 lot without tenant.
13. Holding of a colonus at Marcella, which Landefredus holds for 1 solidus.
14. Therein the holding of a colonus [at Marcella]: 1 lot without tenant.
15. In Argentia: 1 lot without tenant.
16. Holding of a colonus in Valle Quinana: 1 lot without tenant.
17. Holding of a colonus in Armellaria: 1 lot without tenant.
18. Likewise the holding of a colonus in Burbuliana: 1 lot without tenant.
19. Holdings of coloni in Seucia: 5 lots without tenants.
20. In total there are 22 holdings of coloni.
21. Juvinus and wife, with their infants; information required.
22. The wife of Julianus, with their infants: information required.

Description of the Dependents of St-Mary of Marseilles from the Villa of Betorrida. Made in the time of the lord bishop Vualdus, from the seventh indiction

1. Holding of a colonus in Cenazello. Dructaldus, tenant (accola); with his foreign wife. Dructomus, a son. Dutberta, an adult daughter. Drueterigus, a son at school. Sinderaldus, a son at school. Joannis. For pasturage: 1 denarius.
2. Holding of a colonus in Albiosco. Teodorus, colonus. Wife Eugenia. Marius, a deacon. Teobaldus, an adult son. Teodericus, a cleric. Ing … dus, a son 7 years old. Teodosia, a daughter 7 years old. For pasturage: 1 denarius.
3. Therein the holding of a colonus. 1 lot without tenant. 2 denarii.
4. Holding of a colonus in Asaler. Candidus, colonus. Wife, Dominica. Celsus, a son: information required. It pays in tax: 1 pig, 1 suckling [pig]; 2 fattened hens; 10 chickens; 40 eggs; for pasturage: 1 castrated ram; in tribute: 1 denarius.
5. Holding of a colonus without tenant in Nonticlo, which Bertarius, priest holds in benefice. It pays tax and tribute similarly; for pasturage: 1 castrated ram.
6. Holding of a colonus therein: 1 lot without tenant. Paulus and Valeriana with their infants: information required. It pays tax and tribute similarly; for pasturage: 1 castrated ram.
7. Holding of a colonus in Albiosco: information required.
8. Holding of a colonus in Curia. Calumniosus, colonus, with a foreign wife. It pays tax: 1 denarius and similarly in tribute. Saumo, with his infants: information required.
9. Holding of a colonus therein. Colonus Martinus. Wife Primovera. Felicis, an adult son. Deidonus, an adult son. Leobertga, an adult daughter. Martina, a daughter, 6 years old. An infant at the breast. It pays tax and tribute similarly; for pasturage: 1 denarius.
10. Holding of a colonus [in] Cusanulas, which Nectardus holds in benefice. It pays tax and tribute similarly.
11. Holding of a colonus in Carmillo Sancto Promacio, held by the priest of the local church. It pays for pasturage: 1 denarius.
12. Holding of a colonus in Cumbis: 1 lot without tenant, which Dructebertus has. For pasturage: 2 denarii.
13. Holding of a colonus in Massimana. Donaldus, dependent. Wife Dominica. Domnildis, daughter. Bertarius, an adult son. Saisa, an adult daughter. It pays for pasturage: 2 denarii.
14. Holding of a colonus in Asinarius: 1 lot without tenant. For pasturage: 1 castrated ram.
15. Holding of a colonus in Terciago, which Martinus holds in benefice. For pasturage: 2 denarii.
16. Holdings of coloni in Cenzellis: 2 lots without tenants. For pasturage: 1 castrated ram.
17. Holding of a colonus in Tullo: 1 lot without tenant. For pasturage: 1 castrated ram. Vuarmetrudis, with her infants: information required.
18. Holding of a colonus in Galiana. Cannidus, colonus. Wife Ingildis. An infant at the breast. It pays tax and tribute similarly. For pasturage: 2 denarii.
19. Holding of a colonus in Cleo. Aquilo, an equitarius [a serf performing messenger duty on horseback]. Wife Vumiberga. Candidus, a son 6 years old. An infant at the breast. For pasturage: 1 denarius.
20. Holding of a colonus in Gencianicus. Ursius, cleric. The dependent Lubus, son, who ought to manage that holding of a colonus … Gencuonca, an adult daughter. Teodo, an adult son.
21. Holding of a colonus in Nidis: 1 lot without tenant. Benarius, cotidianus [owing daily service to the lord]. Wife Dominica. Magnildis, daughter: information required. Dominico, son. Bernardus, son. Teodranus, son: information required. In tribute: 1 denarius. Montigla, a female [serf], with foreign husband. Cenazello, son: information required.
22. Holding of a colonus in Vencione. Ildebertus, a dependent. Wife, Luborofolia. It pays tax: 2 denarii.
23. Holding of a colonus in Cumbis: 1 without tenant. It pays for pasturage: 2 denarii.
24. Holding of a colonus in Tasseriolas: 1 lot without tenant. For pasturage: 1 denarius.
25. Holding of a colonus in Massimiana Sancto Promacio: from the charge of the local priest. Donobertus, Babilda: information required.
26. Holding of a colonus in Camarjas, which Bertaldus, priest, holds.
27. We have a holding of a colonus in Sugnone, a third part of that small village, and there are 10 holdings of coloni [there].
28. Holding of a colonus in Camarja: 1 lot without tenant.
29. We have in Salo a third part of that small village, and there are three holdings of coloni there without tenants.
30. Holding of a colonus in Puncianicus: 1 lot without tenant.
31. Holding of a colonus in Campellis: 1 lot without tenant.
32. Holding of a colonus in Rosolanis: 1 lot without tenant.
33. Holding of a colonus in Specula: 1 lot without tenant.
34. Vualdebertus, Guirbertus, Ragnebertus: information required.
35. In total that makes 49 holdings of coloni.

From “Carolingian Civilisation: A reader”, edited and translated by Paul Edward Dutton, Toronto University Press, 2009 pp 214 – 218

The fortified tower of the abbey of Saint Victor de Marseilles. It would not have been recognisable to the Carolingians - the abbey was completely rebuilt after 1020 so all of the present structure is eleventh century and later. By Hagen de Merak - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1287830

Now, we can see a lot of differences between this and the survey of Villeneuve in the polyptych of Saint Germain des Pres we saw last time. First up is of course the style – it’s a lot terser and more formulaic, and does not begin with any detailed description of the layout of the villas in question. Second up is the kind of agriculture practiced on these estates. From the payments rendered by the peasants, which unlike in the polyptych of Saint Germain des Pres are ambiguously called “tax” or “tribute” (the only specific, named type of payment here is “for pasturage”), we can tell that these villas were overwhelmingly given over to the raising of livestock. All of these “taxes”, “tributes” and payments “for pasturage” are paid in pigs, sheep, chickens and eggs i.e., a typical “tax” for the peasant couple at Nemphas reads: “1 pig; 1 suckling [pig]; 2 fattened hens; 10 chickens; 40 eggs.” The exact nature of the renders the peasants are expected to provide appears to be quite variable despite the fact they’re almost all the same status (coloni), which would seem to indicate that their renders were determined according to the value of the land and livestock showing that some kind of sophisticated assessment mechanism for tax/ rent appears to be in place. For example, on the villa of Betorrida, Candidus and Dominica pay in tax: 1 pig, 1 suckling [pig]; 2 fattened hens; 10 chickens; 40 eggs; for pasturage: 1 castrated ram, while Martinus and Primovera pay 1 denarius in tax, 1 denarius in tribute and 1 denarius for pasturage. The references to denarii here indicate that like the peasants at Villeneuve in the Seine basin, these Provencal peasants also had access to cash, presumably by selling some of their surplus produce in markets which would suggest that it was the more prosperous peasants being paying taxes and tribute in cash and the less prosperous ones making payments in live animals and eggs. There is one isolated mention of “vineyards”, but unlike at Villeneuve there is no indication of any arable farming going on at all – it must have been going on somewhere in the local area, since I struggle to believe these peasants were living off the early medieval equivalent of the keto diet. And the landlords do not seem to have been practicing any kind of demesne or plantation agriculture/ There are no mentions of peasants or slaves being obliged to plough the fields or perform any other kind of labour services on units of land owned directly by the landlord, unlike at Villeneuve. Indeed, it appears that the landlords have leased all the land in these villas out to tenants.

One of the things that’s so striking about this polyptych is that there are so many plots of land that appear to be without tenants and therefore vacant. Three out of five of the land holdings at the Villa Domado do not have tenants. Likewise, half of the 22 holdings of coloni at the villa of Lambisco are untenanted. And 19 out of 49 holdings at the villa of Betorrida lack occupants. Vacant holdings do not appear in the polyptych of Saint Germain des Pres. So, by comparison with that, it seems that in the early ninth century this was a phenomenon localised to Provence. Why might this have been? I’m veryunsure about this myself, but perhaps the long-term effects of the devastatingwarfare between the Franks and the Muslims/ native Gallo-Roman leaders likeDuke Maurontus in the 730s which we’ve talked about here before on this blog. The fairly standard business of marauding armies raiding the countryside and living off the land, combined with perhaps some more calculated devastation to bring the area into submission – coastal Provence, including Marseille, was the last to hold out against Charles Martel – might have led to long-lasting depopulation in the region as large numbers of peasants starved or became refugees elsewhere. Perhaps then church of Saint Victor in Marseilles was trying to get peasants to resettle on its lands, but three generations after this warfare still hadn’t managed to with all the peasant holdings on its rural villas.

The names we encounter among the tenants are super-interesting. Most of the tenants on the villa Domado appear to have very Frankish or more broadly Germanic sounding names like Unulda, Bertemar, Olisirga, Ingoald, Ingobert, Arubert and Danobert. In Lambisco, we see a lot more classically Roman names – Valerius, Valerianus, Desiderata, Anastasia, Sidonius etc. Likewise, at Betorrida 22 out of 61 named individuals have Roman names, very often being in the same families as people with Frankish-sounding names. This is very different to what we saw at Villeneuve in the polyptych of Saint Germain des Pres, where the names were overwhelmingly Germanic. Roman names clearly held out in the more firmly Gallo-Roman south, but clearly Frankish naming conventions had spread here too either by migration and settlement from the north following Charles Martel’s conquest of Provence or a changing sense of identity among the locals.

There are a lot of quite unique details here. It is rich in its Latin terminology – for example, it mentions Dructald as an accola, which in Classical Latin would mean neighbour but here seems to denote some kind of tenant. It actually mentions Aquilo as an equitarius, a slave/ serf who performs courier services on horseback, and Bernar as a cotidianus – literally meaning someone who owes daily service, either as a domestic or as a priest. It mentions that two of Dructald’s young sons, Dueterig and Sinderald, are at school, indicating that the attempts of Carolingian reformers to make formal schooling more accessible and increase literacy were making headway, if two peasant boys have been able to leave their village to attend school (where exactly we don’t know). It also mentions some clerics living in peasant families, indicating that the clergy here weren’t very wealthy and from humble backgrounds, and the cleric Ursius has three adult children. While there is debate as to what extent celibacy was required of the clergy in Western Europe before the eleventh century Gregorian reform movement, it clearly was not observed here. Perhaps most unique, and most exciting, this polyptych gives the ages of the children. The term baccalarius/ baccalaria, translated by Dutton as adult, probably might actually mean something more like teenaged or adolescent. The cut-off point for being designated as a baccalarius was likely at eleven, since no child older than ten has their age given.

Finally, lets turn to peasant households. Out of 33 households, 7 appear to not have children in them. In those that did, the average number was 2, but that if anything demonstrates that one should only take averages for what they are – some of these Provencal peasant parents had as many as five or six children, others just one. There are also some holdings in which there are two families, which might suggest in some cases that brothers and sisters shared households and raised their kids together. We also find not only a few single mums but also some single dads i.e. the peasant Guntardus in the hamlet of Dominico with “his infants” or Saumo with “his infants” in the hamlet of Curia, who may be the brother of Calumniosus, the other peasant listed in that holding. We also find married couples still living with their parents i.e., Martinus, husband of Magna, and Onoria, whose husband is foreign, still live with their parents Ingoald and Unulda. This is all a very far cry from the nuclear families we saw at Villeneuve in the polyptych of Saint Germain des Pres. Could this point to regional differences in family structure between northern and southern Gaul?

That's all for the polyptychs for now. You can more about them (including translations of other surviving polypychs) on this brilliant website created by the University of Leicester. We'll return to them at a future date to consider a controversial question - were they the inspiration for the Domesday Book of 1086?