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selves in disdain of their Frankish serfs . The oppressed peasantry of Normand y > during the latter part of the tenth and the beginning of the eleventh centuries , were goaded into frequent insurrections . One occurred in 997 , very general , and skillfully organised . The
insurgents demanded complete exemption from servitude , but were defeated by the nobles and punished with horrible atrocities . Another , equally unsuccessful , occurred in Brittany , in 1024 . The gradual establishment of the feudal government , which began at an earlier period on the Continent than in England , rendered still more miserable the condition of the serfs .
The Norman barons carried their hatred and contempt for the peasantry into England , in the latter half of the eleventh century . They acted as the Eranks had done towards the Roman coloni , enforcing with harshness the Anglo-Saxon laws which were in their own favour , and throwing aside and infringing those made for the protection of the miserable serf ; reducing all alike to a condition of poverty , and diminishing if not destroying the security of the theow for his personal goods . The Normans , the lords of the soil , looked upon the Saxons , the tillers of it , with contempt ; and despised their language , which was nearly that of their forefathers , though in Normandy they had quitted their own language to adopt that of their slaves .
In Domesday Book there are various names applied to different portions of the servile ^ class , as bordarii , cosciti , cottarii , and there is an apparent distinction between the servi , or serfs , and the mllani , or villans . All were probably relative names arising from residence or employment , and included under the general term villani , introduced from the language of Erance by the Normans ; the old definition of
mllani answers to that of the Roman coloni , villas et gleb & adscripts Little difference can be traced in legal character between the Anglo-Norman villan and the Anglo-Saxon theow . The most remarkable change in the law was that which made the child under the Norman law follow the caste of the father , and not that of the mother . This was the law of the Roman colonus . The laws of
Henry I . punished severely the lord who slew his serf , because " he was a serf to serve and not to kill . " By the same law the lord is made answerable for the punishment of his serf when accused of stealing . "When a serf and free man stole together , the latter alone was punishable ; and when several serfs stole in company , one was chosen by lot to receive punishment .
In the charters of sale and manumission of villans ( showing their legal position through several centuries after the Norman Conquest ) , the peasants appear attached to the land , and were sold with it . It appears further from these charters , that even the goods and chattels of the peasant were legally the property of their lords . In 1317 , Roger de Eelton gave to Geoffrey Eoune certain lands , tenements , & c . in the town and territory of Glanton , " with all his villans in the
same town , and with their chattels and offspring . " Similarly , Adam Tholi sold to Sir Robert le Noreys , for sixteen shillings sterling , " Wil-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
selves in disdain of their Frankish serfs . The oppressed peasantry of Normand y > during the latter part of the tenth and the beginning of the eleventh centuries , were goaded into frequent insurrections . One occurred in 997 , very general , and skillfully organised . The
insurgents demanded complete exemption from servitude , but were defeated by the nobles and punished with horrible atrocities . Another , equally unsuccessful , occurred in Brittany , in 1024 . The gradual establishment of the feudal government , which began at an earlier period on the Continent than in England , rendered still more miserable the condition of the serfs .
The Norman barons carried their hatred and contempt for the peasantry into England , in the latter half of the eleventh century . They acted as the Eranks had done towards the Roman coloni , enforcing with harshness the Anglo-Saxon laws which were in their own favour , and throwing aside and infringing those made for the protection of the miserable serf ; reducing all alike to a condition of poverty , and diminishing if not destroying the security of the theow for his personal goods . The Normans , the lords of the soil , looked upon the Saxons , the tillers of it , with contempt ; and despised their language , which was nearly that of their forefathers , though in Normandy they had quitted their own language to adopt that of their slaves .
In Domesday Book there are various names applied to different portions of the servile ^ class , as bordarii , cosciti , cottarii , and there is an apparent distinction between the servi , or serfs , and the mllani , or villans . All were probably relative names arising from residence or employment , and included under the general term villani , introduced from the language of Erance by the Normans ; the old definition of
mllani answers to that of the Roman coloni , villas et gleb & adscripts Little difference can be traced in legal character between the Anglo-Norman villan and the Anglo-Saxon theow . The most remarkable change in the law was that which made the child under the Norman law follow the caste of the father , and not that of the mother . This was the law of the Roman colonus . The laws of
Henry I . punished severely the lord who slew his serf , because " he was a serf to serve and not to kill . " By the same law the lord is made answerable for the punishment of his serf when accused of stealing . "When a serf and free man stole together , the latter alone was punishable ; and when several serfs stole in company , one was chosen by lot to receive punishment .
In the charters of sale and manumission of villans ( showing their legal position through several centuries after the Norman Conquest ) , the peasants appear attached to the land , and were sold with it . It appears further from these charters , that even the goods and chattels of the peasant were legally the property of their lords . In 1317 , Roger de Eelton gave to Geoffrey Eoune certain lands , tenements , & c . in the town and territory of Glanton , " with all his villans in the
same town , and with their chattels and offspring . " Similarly , Adam Tholi sold to Sir Robert le Noreys , for sixteen shillings sterling , " Wil-