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  • The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine
  • June 1, 1855
  • Page 23
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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, June 1, 1855: Page 23

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Page 23

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Untitled Article

error . ( Yet the contemptuous light in which the villan was regarded by his master , is perceived in the coarse appellations applied to the tax— -jambage , cuisage , culage , & c . In some parts of Italy it received

the still grosser name oicazzage [ cazzagium ] . ) Those to whom such terms were applied must have been looked upon almost as cattle . The brutal manner in which the tax-gatherers of Richard II . treated the daughters of the peasantry was one of the immediate causes of the subsequent insurrection .

Gratuitous manumission was less frequent with the Anglo-Normans than the Anglo-Saxons , and attempts to reclaim a freed villan appear to have been common . An instance of this tyranny occurs in a satirical Latin poem , probably of the thirteenth century : " A powerful baron in Norfolk cruelly grieved his rustics , frequently robbing them of money and beasts , & c . The villans , unable to support his

oppressions , agreed together to buy their liberty , to which their lord consented , and made them a charter with ' a noble seal of green wax . ' The rustics , overjoyed at having obtained their liberty , hastened to the tavern , and spent the remainder of the day in carousing . On the approach of night , no candles being forthcoming ,

they used as a substitute the seal of green wax . The knight , obtaining information of this , caused the astonished rustics to be brought before him , and rejected their charter , deprived of the seal , as null and void , till they had given all the money and cattle they possessed as a fine for their illegal withdrawal from servitude . "

The ecclesiastics seem to have been no more willing than the laity to restore freedom to their serfs , who appear to have been considered in the same light as other property , for when Leonne , bishop of Chalons , having received letters-patent from the king to manumit a certain number of the serfs of the church at Chalons , for the acquitting of his bishopric ( pro episcopatu suo acquitando ) , proceeded to set free some of his serfs without consulting his chapter , the dean ,

treasurer , archdeacon , and others of the church petitioned against such a step , as being " against justice , and an enormous hurt and very great exheredation " to the church of Chalons . The dispute was of long duration , and was at length decided by the Pope , who sup * ported the church against the unfortunate serfs , and revoked the

manumissions . The villans resisted this decision , and appealed to the king , who now decided against them , alleging that it was a cause which the ecclesiastical court was competent to decide ; and thus the defendants were again reduced to servitude , in spite of the manumissions which they had legally purchased .

From among the fabliaux , or metrical tales , so popular in the thirteenth century , the following , beautiful in itself , is illustrative of the condition of the oppressed peasant : A poor villan , who supported his wife and children by cutting wood in a neighbouring forest , was one day thus employed , and bemoaning his miserable condition , when a voice , issuing from the root of a tree , promised to raise him from poverty , on condition that he would be charitable when rich . The spirit told him his name was Merlin , and instructed him to dig in a

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1855-06-01, Page 23” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 30 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_01061855/page/23/.
  • List
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Title Category Page
METROPOLITAN Article 40
GRAND CONCLAVE, May 11, 1855. Article 42
MASONIC CHARITIES. Article 34
NOTES ON ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCH. Article 13
OUR PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE Article 1
PROVINCIAL Article 44
Untitled Article Article 49
ON THE POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE ENGLISH PEASANTRY DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. Article 22
SURREY ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Article 55
THE AZTECS AND THE ERDMANNIGES. Article 27
REVIEWS OF NEW BOOKS Article 30
CORRESPONDENCE Article 31
NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 33
THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. Article 59
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE Article 34
ROYAL FREEMASONS' GIRLS' SCHOOL FESTIVAL. Article 35
ANNIVERSARY MEETING OF THE STABILITY LODGE OF INSTRUCTION. Article 38
FRANCE. Article 56
COLONIAL. Article 57
AMERICA. Article 59
INDIA Article 57
METROPOLITAN LODGE MEETINGS FOR JUNE. Article 60
LODGES OF INSTRUCTION. Article 61
CHAPTERS OF INSTRUCTION. Article 62
Obituary Article 62
NOTICE. Article 63
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 63
ANIMAL AND HUMAN INSTINCT. Article 7
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Page 23

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Untitled Article

error . ( Yet the contemptuous light in which the villan was regarded by his master , is perceived in the coarse appellations applied to the tax— -jambage , cuisage , culage , & c . In some parts of Italy it received

the still grosser name oicazzage [ cazzagium ] . ) Those to whom such terms were applied must have been looked upon almost as cattle . The brutal manner in which the tax-gatherers of Richard II . treated the daughters of the peasantry was one of the immediate causes of the subsequent insurrection .

Gratuitous manumission was less frequent with the Anglo-Normans than the Anglo-Saxons , and attempts to reclaim a freed villan appear to have been common . An instance of this tyranny occurs in a satirical Latin poem , probably of the thirteenth century : " A powerful baron in Norfolk cruelly grieved his rustics , frequently robbing them of money and beasts , & c . The villans , unable to support his

oppressions , agreed together to buy their liberty , to which their lord consented , and made them a charter with ' a noble seal of green wax . ' The rustics , overjoyed at having obtained their liberty , hastened to the tavern , and spent the remainder of the day in carousing . On the approach of night , no candles being forthcoming ,

they used as a substitute the seal of green wax . The knight , obtaining information of this , caused the astonished rustics to be brought before him , and rejected their charter , deprived of the seal , as null and void , till they had given all the money and cattle they possessed as a fine for their illegal withdrawal from servitude . "

The ecclesiastics seem to have been no more willing than the laity to restore freedom to their serfs , who appear to have been considered in the same light as other property , for when Leonne , bishop of Chalons , having received letters-patent from the king to manumit a certain number of the serfs of the church at Chalons , for the acquitting of his bishopric ( pro episcopatu suo acquitando ) , proceeded to set free some of his serfs without consulting his chapter , the dean ,

treasurer , archdeacon , and others of the church petitioned against such a step , as being " against justice , and an enormous hurt and very great exheredation " to the church of Chalons . The dispute was of long duration , and was at length decided by the Pope , who sup * ported the church against the unfortunate serfs , and revoked the

manumissions . The villans resisted this decision , and appealed to the king , who now decided against them , alleging that it was a cause which the ecclesiastical court was competent to decide ; and thus the defendants were again reduced to servitude , in spite of the manumissions which they had legally purchased .

From among the fabliaux , or metrical tales , so popular in the thirteenth century , the following , beautiful in itself , is illustrative of the condition of the oppressed peasant : A poor villan , who supported his wife and children by cutting wood in a neighbouring forest , was one day thus employed , and bemoaning his miserable condition , when a voice , issuing from the root of a tree , promised to raise him from poverty , on condition that he would be charitable when rich . The spirit told him his name was Merlin , and instructed him to dig in a

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