Roman Taxation To Mediaeval Seigneurie PART II

Medieval Academy of America
From Roman Taxation to Mediaeval Seigneurie: Three Notes (Part II)

Author(s): Walter Goffart
Source: Speculum, Vol. 47, No. 3 (Jul., 1972), pp. 373-394
Published by: Medieval Academy of America
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A JOURNAL OF MEDIAEVAL STUDIES
Vol. XLVII JULY 1972 No. 3
FROM ROMAN TAXATION TO MEDIAEVAL

SEIGNEIJRIE: THREE NOTES (PART II)*
BY WALTER GOFFART
3. FLODOARD AND THE FRANKISH POLYPrYCHS
NEITIIEI the iugumnor the condoma,which this study began by considering,
bringsus close to the Carolingianseigneurie,withits neat divisionintodemesne
and peasant tenures;forthe dependenttenure(mansus)or the dependenttenant
himselfhas no necessaryrelationto a bi-partiteseigneurialstructure.Provided
arable land was abundant,the masterof a familyof serfswithits peculiumwas
assured of some revenue.Eighth-century governmentsestimatedwealth by the
numbersofthese"households"thatwerepossessedby theirsubjects- a reason-
able procedurebut one that indicatesnothingmorethan that these households
were tributarysubjects yieldingsome revenueto theirmasters.108 It took more
* ADDENDA to notes 1-107 ofPart I (SPECULum April1972,pp. 165-187).
n. 3: See also A. Deleage, La vieruraleen Bourgogne,i (Macon, 1941),305-60.
n. 8: Deleage, Vie rurale,i, 354-60, triedto demonstrateBloch's proposition.
n. 53: Partial iugesare tallied in perticaein Schiaparelli,Codice,II, 80, no. 155.
n. 67: The plural verb "una condomna ... qui faciunt"is as interesting as the masculineadjective
"singuloscondoinas" (n. 68).
n. 73: The probablesourceof Niermeyer'sdefinitionof condaminais Deleage, Vie rurale,i, 452-6.
n. 81: Fabre and othersstressedthe definitionof condumasupplied by the mid-eleventh-century
Papias glossary:"donius cum curia et ceterisnecessariis."This is of no authority,sincethe wordhad
long ceased to be current.
n. 91: A simnilarly curioususage of mancipiumoccursin Hinemar,Epist. 63*, in MGH, Epistolae,
vIII, 35: "ne ... census ipse depereat et ipsa villa in alodem vertaturet ecclesiasticamancipia in
servoset ancillas dispertiantur."
n. 98: The wide rangeof personalconditionsrepresentedby the documentedcondomaesuggestsa
solutionto the long debated question wlhetheror not settled barbarians were tax exempt. If one
focusseson the governmuiental originof the term condomaand recalls that the Roman concept of
functiopublica covered militaryserviceas well as taxes and othermunera,then it followsthat the
questionhas been distortedby a nmodern notionof taxation. In the perspectiveof Roman adminis-
trativeconcepts,a householdowinigmilitaryservicewas also tributary;it differed froma household
of cultivatorsonly in the natureof its servitium.
108 Conc. in Franciam habitum(779-80): "vassus dominicusde casatis 200 mediam libram [in
elemosinamdoneti,de casatis 100 solidos 5, de casatis 50 vel 30 unciamunam" (MGII, Legur sect.
III, Concilia,ii, 109); Capit. Liptin.(743), in MGH, Capit.,i, 28; Capit. Heriut.13 (779), in ibid.p. 50;
373

374 FromRoman Taxationto MediaevalSeigneurie
than householdsof dependentpeasants to constitutea bi-partiteseigneurie.109

In the thirdof thesenotes,we directlyattain estate structuresof thiskind,as
well as the type of documentthroughwhose pages such seigneuriesare chiefly
knownto us, namelythe polyptychs.What is to be presentedis a set of passages
on thedraftingofpolyptychsthathave hithertogone unnoticed,eventhoughthe
sourcethat containsthemis wellknown.Afterthisevidenceis introduced,it will
be appropriateto examinethe otherearlytestimonyon polyptychs,particularly
that stemmingfromRoman times,and to reconsiderthe relationsof such docu-
mentsto the earlymediaeval seigneurie.
Flodoard's History oftheChurch ofReims,thoughwrittenon the eve of the
Capetian period,is based on an unusuallyrichcollectionofarchivaland narrative
sourcesfromthe Frankishpast.1"0Flodoard seldomtranscribedchartersin full,
but he supplied summaryupon summary,constitutinga remarkablerecord.A
particularlyinterestingfeatureof Flodoard's collectionis that it allows us to
establishchronologicalstrataof documents,indicatingthe old typesthat disap-
pear fromusage and thenew typesmakingtheirfirstappearance;we are enabled
to comparethe tenth-century archivesof Reims withthe miscellaneousarchival
remainsthat have otherwisecome downto us, and to acquire an idea of therela-
tive importanceofwhat we have withinthe collectionsfromwhichthe surviving
pieces descend.
The typesof charterssummarizedby Flodoard fromthe sixthcenturyto the
ninthare generallyfamiliarto us: purchases,exchanges,and giftsof land; epis-
copal wills;royalprivilegesof immunity;noticesofjudgmentdecidingcontested
claims to property.The documentspossessedby Reims are well representedin
thesurvivingremainsfromotherchurches.On theotherhand,thefirstexemplars
available to Flodoard considerablyantedatedthoseavailable to us. For example,
Flodoard like ourselveshad access to severalseventh-centuryepiscopalwills,but
he also had thewillsofSt. Remigiusand his predecessor,offifth-and earlysixth-
centurydate."' Similarly,the earliestprivilegesof immunitywe have date from
635, whereasthe firstone mentionedby Flodoard musthave been grantedbefore
590; otherindirectevidenceconfirms that immunityprivilegeswerebeingissued
at that time.112
Boniface,Epist. 87 (Pope Zachary, 751), ed. M. Tangl, MGH, Epistolae selectae,i, 199. Casata is
glossedas coniugiumservorum in Bonif.,Epist. 60, ed. cit.,p. 123. Cf. also Conc. Tolet.xvi (693), c. 5,
in ConciliosVisig6ticos, ed. J. Vives (Barcelona-Madrid,1963), p. 502, prescribing that onlya church
withten mancipia may have a priestofits own.
109 Ganshof,"Quelques aspects," and Verhulst,"Gen6se" (both cited above n. 9) are rightto be
exactingin the criteriatheyset for"classic" seigneuries.
110Flodoard, Eistoria Remensisecclesiae,edd. J. Heller and G. Waitz, MGH, Scriptoresin folio,
xiii, 405-599. For a troublesomeproblemaffecting the sectionsof Flodoard's Historythat interestus,
see the AdditionalNote.
"I Hiat. 1. 9 (brieflymentioned),18 (transcribed).On the latter,A. H. M. Jones,P. Grierson,and
J. A. Crook,"The Authenticity ofthe Testamentum 8. Remigii,"Revuebeigede philologie etd'histoire,
xxxv (1957), 356-73. It may be worthobservingthat Flodoard's collectionofwillsdoes not resume
untilabout a centuryafterRemigius(2. 4).
112 Hist. 2. 2; indirectevidencein a charterof 692, referring to one of King Guntram(d. 592), in

FromRoman.Taxationto MediaevalSeigneurie w375
In no othercase does Flodoard so faranticipatethesourcesdirectlytransmitted

to us than in a type of documentthat mightbe called an ordinatioservitiorum.
From Bishop Sonnatius in the early seventh centuryuntil the great Ifinemar
(845-82), Flodoard notes this type of documnent eigbt times:
coloniasetiamvillarum
[Sonnatius] ordinavit
episcopiidispositis
quarundam servitiis.
resetiamquasdamecclesiaeordinatis
[Leudegiselus] coloniis.
disposuit
nonnullas
Disposuitetiam[Nivardus] coloniisvillasepiscopii.
ordinatis
nonnullas
[Rigobertus] etiamepiscopiivillas,descriptis rite
eorumcoloniisservitiisque,
disposuit.
nonnullarum
[Tilpinus] quoqueiuravillarum
dispositis coloniis[reperitur].
ordinasse
villasecclesiaeRemensis
quasdampraeterea
[Wulfarius] ritedistribultis
atquedescriptis
ordinavit
coloniis.
[Ebo]coloniasverononnullas viroscoloniseorumque
perstreniuos
ecclesiae,descriptis
ordinavit.
servitiis,
[Hinemarus]res pretereaet villas episcopiipene omnes,ordinatisrationabiliter
coloniis,
describifecit.113
Flodoard's language assures us of the homogeneouschalracterof these docu-
ments; the verbs ordinare, disponere, describere,and distribuereare all treated as
synonymous, and a clear distinction is made between the partial ordinationes
carried out by the earlier bishops and Hinemar's effortsto embrace nearly all the
estates of the bishopric. What were these documents? Even if Flodoard's lan-
guage were less clear, the surviving evidence of Hinemar's activity of this kind --
in behalf of the Reims monastery of St. Reiny - would leave us in no doubt: the
bishops of Reims were drawing up polyptvchs.114On the evidence of Flodoard,
the firstbislhopof Reims to draw up a polyptych belonged to the opening quarter
of the seventh century.115Like his successors for a long time, Sonnatius did not
strive for completeness; he addressed himself to "some" of the episcopal estates.
This was not a. passive inventory of the status quo; it was awnordinatio, no doubt
respectful of existing custoin but nevertheless placing the organization of these
estates on a new and presumably a permanent footing.
JulienIlavet, Oeuvres(Paris, 1896), i, 16Q,an(l Chlotharii11 Praeceptio11, in NIGH, Capit., i, 19

The privilegeof635 occur's in iMI arculf,Form.1. 4. Cf. F.-L. Ganshof,"L'iinrnunite(dansla monarchie
franque,"SocieteJean I?odin,Recueils,i, 2Inded. (1958), 187-8, whloentertainsthe idea that such
chartersmayreachback as fatas Clovis; I doubt this.See furtherbelown. 199.
M
Hist. 2. 5-7, 11, 17-19; 3. 10, ed. cit.,pp. 454, 455, 459, 46$, 466, 467, 484.
"4 Benjanmin Giu6rard, ed., Polyptychc de Iabbayede St. Rermi de Reimrs (Paris, 1853). On the date of
this text, which survives only in an eighteenth-century copy, see H. Leclereq, "Polyptyche," in
Dictionnaired'archeologie chrRtienne et de liturgie,xiv (Paris, 1939), coll. 1393-5; some parts belong
to Hinemar'spoiitificate, othersto as late as 919. Leclercq's articlecointainsa usefullist of the pub-
lishedpolyptychs(coll. 1387-9).
115The dates of the bishops in question are as follows:Soinnatius, c10.01-3:0; Leudegisel, ca. 6:3J--
40; Nivard, ca, 655-73; Rigobert, ca. 690-73; Tilpin, 748-94; Wulfar,803-16; Ebo 816-35/40;
Ilinemar, 845-82 (Louis Duchesine,Fastes episcopaux de 1'anuienne Gaule, in [PaIris, 1915j,8 -P8).
Only fourbishopsbetweenSonnatiusand Hinemarare niotcreditedwithan urdinatio.

Flodoardtestifies to a formofepiscopalactivitythatbegan in theearlyseventh

centuryand continuedthereafter frompontificateto pontificateuntilthe days of
Hincmar.The bishopsof Reims regulatedthe vills of theirbishopric,a fewat a
time,and consignedthe resultsto writtenform,in documentsrecognizableto us
as polyptychs.To be sure,no detailsare givenabout the specificcharacterof the
reorganization;we can onlyguess at it. But, whateverits nature,the reorganiza-
tion coincidedwiththe draftingof a writtenrecord.
The word "polyptych"inevitablybringsto our mindsthe greatestpolyptych
of all, the one draftedin the early ninthcenturyon the instructionsof Abbot
IrminoofSt. Germaindes Pres. The associationarisesnot onlyfromthe breadth
and excellenceof the St. Germainrecorditself,but also fromthe magnificent
edition of it, with invaluable prolegomena,by Benjamin Guerard,which con-
tinuesto be a pillarofearlymediaevaleconomichistory.16 Justas the admiration
of Renaissance humanistsforCarolingianminusculeled themto call that script
Romaln,so have modernhistorianslong tended to read Irminointo the Roman
past. Fustel de Coulanges said: "We may perhapsnot be too rash in imagining
that the Roman tax registerslookedlike the registersofAbbot Irminoand Arch-
bishop Hincmar."' 17 The suggestionwas modestlyphrasedbut Fustel utilizedit
thereafteras thoughit were a rigorouslyestablishedfact. Othersfollowedsuit,
withmoreor less conviction."8WhenTjaidercommentedon thewordspolyptychis
publicisin a Ravenna papyrusof 489, he describedthemas "registersof landed
propertythat,foreach property,containedthe name of the owner,the extentof
the property,and the taxes to be paid on its account.""19This description,whose
thirdelementis roughlytrueoftheSt. Germainpolyptychbut alien to theknown
Roman records,'20 typifiesthe tendencyto interpretearlier conditionson the
basis of ninth-century evidence.
When seen in its Roman setting,"polyptych"is a word exemplifying how an
objectmay acquirethename ofthat in whichit is contained,muchas "envelope"
mightsupersede"letter"but has not. In the Britisharmy,personnelrecordsare
kept in "jackets," that is, filefolders;hence commendationsor reprimandsare
said to be "put in one's jacket." In thecase ofpolyptychs,the originalobject was
quite simplythemunicipal"census" or censualespaginae - the recordof persons
116 Cited above n. 11. Leclercq, "Polyptyche,"col. 1389,was equally emphaticon Guerard'srole.
117
"Le colonat romain," Recherchessur quelquesproblemesd'histoire(Paris, 1885), p. 84: "Peut-
etre ne seronsnous pas trop temerairesen nous figurantles registresromainsde l'imp6td'apres les
registresde l'abbe Irminonou de l'archevequeHinemar." Also p. 175, "our polyptychs,thoughthey
come onlyfromCharlemagne'stime,have the same value forus as iftheyhad been writtenseveral
centuriesearlier" (citingwhatturnsout to be a post-Irminoadditionto the St. Germainpolyptych).
118 Cf. Lot, Impotfoncier, p. 82. The moremisleadingconsequenceofthisviewwas the importation
into the late Roman period of institutionsattested only by the polyptychs,such as the bi-partite
seigneurie,servileand freemansi,etc. Fustel was categoricalon this point,"Colonat," p. 183: "The
colonatealways correspondsto a divisionofthe domainintotwo parts . . . " For an example outside
France, see Max Weber,"Die soziale Griindedes Untergangsder antikenKultur" (1896), in Gesam-
melteAufsatzezur Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte (Tubingen, 1924), pp. 300-S. The anachronistic
use of the polyptychshas confusedthe studyoflate Roman social history.
"I J.-O.Tjader, Die nichtliterarische lateinischePapyri Italiensaus derZeit 445-700,1 (Lund, 1955),
442.
120 Priorto the sixthcentury;forthe reason,below at n. 148.

FromRoman Taxationto Mediaeval Seigneurie 377
subjectto publicburdensand the official declarations(professiones)of their

It cannotbe knownwhenmulti-leaved
property.'2' codices,polyptychs,beganto
be usedforkeepingtheserecords.At sometimein thefourth century,several
municipalitiesin thedioceseofAsianahad the idea of carvingtheircensuson
polyptychs
But Vegetius(ca. 390) regarded
stone.'22 termfor
as thecharacteristic
municipal "The accountsofthewholelegion- whether
registers: offatiguesor
militarydutiesormoney- aredailywritten downin the records(acta)almost
withgreatercarethantaxesand publicduties(resannonariavelcivilis)are set
downin polyptychs."'23 The firstlaw in theTheodosianCode wheretheword
polyptychaunmistakably refers tothecensusdatesfrom 422124Someyearsearlier,
polyptychamakesitsfirst appearanceintheCode,inreference tomunicipal regis-
terswheretax receiptscouldbe enrolledforpermanent safekeeping.125
Whatis apparentfromthetextsjust cited,andcontinues tobe trueinRoman
evidence,is thatpolyptychawerenotsynonymous with"census"narrowly under-
stoodas a rolloftaxpayers We wouldbe wrongto conclude
and theirproperty.
that,in Romansources,suchwordsas polyptycha, publicilibriorfasces,chartae
publicae,or vasariapublica- whichare all synonymous - specifically
referred
to a register theSt. Germain
resembling record.Polyptycha, almostalwayswrit-
tenin theplural,werevariedin content;theyincludeddeclarations ofproperty
tax receipts,
transfers,126 accounts,127 in thebroadestsenseresan-
immunities,128
121 The widespreadpracticeof applyingthe term"cadaster" to these recordsis inaccurateand an
invitationto anachronism.As shownby AndreDeleage, "Les cadastresantiquesjusqu', Diocletien,"

Etudesde papyrologie, ii (1933), 73, a cadasteris a "census oflanded property by the state." The late
Roman censualisprofessio, however,was not a state censusofland; it was a taxpayer'sdeclarationof
property-somethingaltogetherdifferent.(Incidentally,Deleage indicated,pp. 74-9, that even in
modernstates thoroughcadastration.is the exceptionratherthan the rule.) The close associationof
cadaster, centuriation,aiid fiscalitymade by Robert Fossier in his admirablestudy,La terreet les
hommesen Picardie, Publication-s de la Faculte des Lettrese-tScienceshumainesde Paris-Sorbonne,
serie"Recherches,"LXVIII (Paris-Louvain,1968), i, 138-9, is equally misleading.Centuriationserved
inoneof the purposes of moderncadastration (Deleage, pp. 201-2), a conclusionunalteredby the
importantrecentwork on centuriation;see R. Chevallier,"La centuriationet les problkneesde la
colonisatiornoromaine," rtudesrurales,no. 3 (1961), 73-5 (Chevallierdid not sufficiently distinguish
state rentotipublicland frompropertaxation). The case ofAfrica,wlherethe centuriaplayed the role
elsewhereassignedto the iugumor millena,proves only what is otherwisewell klnown,namelythe
profoundimprintofcenturiationon the Africancountryside.
Cli. E. Perrin,Recherches surla seigneurieruraleen Lorraine(Paris, 1935), p. 593 n. 5, foundit par-
ticularlyindicativeof Roman originsthat medievalcensierswere giventhe name polyptychum "qui,
sous le Bas-Empire, etait reserveaux livres du cadastre." As will be seen, this narrowdefinition
of "polyptych"was not reallylate Imperial.The word was a mediaevaltechnicaltermratherthan a
Roman one, as suggestedbelow ii. 142.
122 See Deleage, Capitation, pp. 163-96.
123 Epitomareimilitaris 2. 19, ed. C. Lang (Leipzig, 1885), p. 53. The workis mostbroadlydated to
0383-450,mostnarrowlyto 388-91: OxfordClassical Dictionary,2nd ed. (Oxford,1970), pp. 1110-11.
124
CTh 11. 28. 13, actuallyspelledpolyptychi; chartaepublicaeappears in the law as a synonym.
125 400 CTh 11. 26. 2 (ratiociniapublica).
126 391 CTh 11. 3. 5 (censualespaginae).

127 Both itemsas above n. 125.
128 383 CTh 13. 10. 8 (libripublici,civitatum ac provinciarum encautaria).The need forprovinces
to have recordsofthiskindarose fromthe privilegeof certainlandownersto pay theirtaxes directly
to the provinicialgovernirneiit.

nonaria generalto supposethatwhenone

velcvili.129 It maynotbe excessively
appearedbeforethe citycouncilto make a declarationto themunicipalge8ta,the
declarationwas enteredin the polyptychs.130 Under the pen of Pope Pelagius II
(585-6), polyptycha refersto a registerof letterson theologicalmatters,"'and
Gregorythe Greatuniquelyused thewordin the singular,as thetermfora book
wherethe rosterof the Roman clergywas set down togetherwith the salaries
theywerepaid.'32
In spite of the diversityof materialsthat mightbe enteredintomany-leaved
books, polyptychaand its synonymsneverthelessretaineda special affinity to
''census,'"perhapsbecause theregisterofcontributors and theirpropertywas the
municipal recordpar excellence.When Theodoric ordereda tax inspectionof
Savia, the resultswereto be consignedto polyptychs.'33 Much the same kind of
transaction may be inferredfrom a pair offifth-century laws wherean adjustment
(peraequatio) of taxable property resultsin changes in the local va8ariapublicaor
polyptycha.134 It is attested that tax adjusters (peraequatores) regularlyhanded
over to the local authoritiesthe codex in which the resultsof their inspectionwere
129 As Vegetiusput it (n. 123). It appears to followfromhis military parallelthat the recordsad-
dressedthemselvesto public services(muneracivilia) as well as taxes in the narrowersense of the
term(looselyqualifiedby the name of one ofthem,the annona).
130 This was denied by Harold Steinacker,Die antikenGrundlagen Privat-
derfriUhmittelalterlichen
urkunden(A. Meister,ed., Grundrissder Geschichtswissenschaft, Erganzungsbandi; Leipzig-Berlin,
1927), p. 104 n. 1, who maintainedthat the gestawere"completelydifferent" fromthe Steuerkataster
(his termforpolyptychsin the narrowsense), even thoughboth typesofbooks werein the hands of
the same authorities.Whilethisdistinctionhas some support(chieflyin P. Dipl. 115-16), it cannot
be categoricallymade, forit is apparent,first,that "polyptycb"was not a narrowlytechnicalterm
and, secondly,that the mostcommontypesofdocumentsenteredapud gesta(namely,recordsofreal
propertytransactions)wereofspecialinterestto taxation(see, e.g., CJ 8. 53. 30-32; Cassiod., Variae
1. 19). On gestamunicipalia,Oswald Redlich,Die Privaturkunden des Mittelaltera(Munich-Berlin,
1911) pp. 8-12. It is worthstressingthatthesearchivalactivitieswereonlyjust acquiringimportance
in thelaterEmpire;cf.theniceremarkofAndrePiganiol,L'Empirechrtien(Paris, 1946),pp. 409-10.
131 Jaff&Ewald,Regestapontificum Romanorum,no. 1055; MGH, Epist., ii, 446: "Propter quod
praesentiumportitoribus,quos fraternitasvestra direxit,et ex codicibuset ex antiquis polypticis
scriniisanctae sedis apostolicaerelectasunt aliqua, quibus evidenterostenditurnihileorumquae in
vestraposuistisepistolacausae triumcapitulorumconvenireullatenusaut verisimiliter coaptari."
132 Regist.2. 38, ed. cit.,i, 135 (to Peter,rectoroftheSicilianpatrimony, about themonkCyriacus):
"Quod ego credidi,moxque eum in gratiamfamiliariter recepi,coram clerumpolypticumdeduxi,
presbiterium[i.e., a salary]ei auxi, in loco eum superioriinterdefensoresposui . . . " Cf. Johannes
Diaconus, Vita GregoriiMagni 2.30: "Extat usque hodie in sacratissimoLateranensispalatii scrinio
huius confectumtemporibuschartaceumpraegrandovolumen,in quo communissexus cunctarum
aetatum ac professionumnomina tam Romae quam per suburbana civitatesvevicinas, necnon
longinquas maritimasurbes degentiumcum suis cognominibus,temporibus,et remunerationibus
expressiuscontinentur"(Pat. Lat., Lxxv, 98). Johnwrotein the pontificateof JohnVIII (872-82).
The polyptychin questionremindsone somewhatof the imperialnotitiaor laterculiof dignitaries.
Redlich, Privaturkunden, p. 18, was mistakenin identifying it with a land register,and Leclercq,
"Polyptyche,"col. 1382,in callingit a registerofthe revenuesofthe churchofRome.
133 Cassiod., Variae 5. 44. Wherethese polyptychswereto be kept or whomthey were to be en-
trustedto is not stated.

134Respectively,4192CTh 13. 11. 13 and 422 CTh 11. 28. 13.

FromRoman Taxationto Medwaeval
Seigneurne 379
recorded."'A characteristic signofadministrative disorganization was thattaxes

wereno longercollectedin accordancewiththe polyptychs.136 On theotherhand,
Justiniantreateddemosiaiapographaias documentsthat wereoccasionallycon-
sultedbut notconstantlyhandled;their"custodians"wereto producethemwhen
a taxpayerchallengedthe amount he was chargedor the propertyon whose ac-
count he was taxed.'37Polyptychaare mentionedwhen propertychangedhands
with transferof liabilityto public chargesor without,and when the amountof
taxationwas altered.'38Visigothicand Frankishevidenceshowsthat theusage of
the termwas by no means confinedto territories whereRoman practiceswere
mostuninterruptedly maintained.In Spain, one consequenceof a slave's libera-
tionwas his entryin polipticispublicisas payingtaxes in proportionto his pecu-
ium;139similarly,a Frankishsubject proved that he was beneingenuusby not
appearingin the polipticipublici.'40Gregoryof Tours avoided the term,but his
seventh-century epitomator,Fredegar,wrotepolepticus(accusativeplural)where
Gregoryhad said "assessmentbooks" (libris descriptionibus).14' Fredegar also
substitutedpolepticisforchartisin a passagefromthe ChronicleofJeromestating
that the emperorHadrian burnedtax records.141 It is not surprising,
therefore,
thatthe Carolingiankingdomshouldhave used "polyptych"in the sensethatwe
inferfromthe St. Germainrecord.
The historyofthe word"polyptych"does not explainthe passage ofsuch rec-
ordsfromlate Antiquityto the Middle Ages. Guerardsimplytooktheircontinu-
ityforgranted:the recordsused to serveforpurposesof taxation;then,Roman
taxation died out, but the recordswere retainedforpurposesof domainialad-
ministrationby kings,churches,and otherlargelandowners.143 The task of prov-
ingan evolutionofthissortwas laterundertakenby JosefSusta,but withinsuffi-
cient attentionto the difference betweenconjectureand evidence.Inevitably,
his conclusioncloselyresembledthat of Guerard:
Theretentionofthese[Romancensus]forms is notremarkableinviewofthestabilityof
135393 CTh 13.11.5.
1311Cassiod., Variae 5. 39, about the Visigothickingdomafterit became an Ostrogothicprotec-
torate.This letterand the one citedabove n. 133 are the mostcomprehensive documentsabout taxa-
tion in the Variae.
137 545 NJust 128. 4.
138 P. Ital. 10-11 (a. 489), ed. J.-O.Tjader, as above n. 119; P. Dipl. 115 and 116 (a. 540; P. Dipl.
116 uses documentis where115 writespolypticis);Cassiod., Variae 7. 45.

139LVisig 12.2. 13.
140Marculf,Form.1. 19, ed. Zeumer,p. 55-6. The variantin puleticopointsto the Frenchderiva-
tive "pouille": Leclercq, "Polyptyche,"col. 1382.
141Fredegar,Chron.3. 80, ed. B. Krusch,MGH, Script.rer.Merov.,ii, 115, summarizingGreg.,
Hist. 5. 28, and cheerfully killingthe assessorwhose escape fromlynchingGregoryrelated.
142 Chron.2. 37, ed. cit.,p. 62. These two interpolationsby Fredegarmay wellmarkthe pointwhen
"polyptych"came ofage as a technicalterm.(In his excellentsurveyofpolyptychsin late Antiquity,
Gu6rard,Polyp. Irminon,i, 18 n. 4, citedFredegar2. 37 fromCanisius,Lectionesantiquae,notknow-
ing that it is fromFredegar.Leclercq, "Polyptyche,"col. 1384, used the same passage ratherten-
dentiously.)
"I' Guerard,Polyp. Irminon,I, 17-18; he did not attemptto arguethe relationship.

of latifundia.
the administration the Frankishmonarchy
Untilthe seventhcentury,
madeuse oftheRomantax lists.Afterthedownfall thetax
ofthewholetax system,
in thebandsofbishopsand abbots,whousedthemforpurposesoflarge
rollsremained
landownershipand turnedthemintoprivatelandregisters
(Urbarien).144
What Susta overlookedwas that his convictionsabout the structureand stability
of latifundiaand theirowners'usurpatoryuse of tax recordsrestedon the state-
mentsof Schultenand Fustel de Coulanges,and not on primarysources.145 The
consequentweaknessof the case was well observedby CharlesHolt Taylor,who
raiseda seriesof objections;he regardedthe continuityfromRoman tax records
to ecclesiasticalpolyptychsas highlydoubtfuland problematic,and urgeda more
penetratingexamination.148
Susta had notablyfailedto perceivethat the traceswe have ofRoman censuses
omit one of the salienttraitsof Carolingianrecords,namelythe detailed listing
ofdues and services.147Nothingofthe kindis mentionedby Ulpian or appears on
the inscriptionsfromAsiana, and forgood reason. The census was a recordof
declarations(professiones, apographai);it servedas the assessmentbase forlocal
leviesthat variedfromyear to year,as announcedby the annual imperialdelega-
tio. On no account, therefore, was the inventoryof ownersand theirproperty
coupled with a fixedtax charge.148
When did this situationchange?Traditionwould say, when the Roman tax
systembrokedown,that is, underbarbarianrule.The evidenceforthe usage of
the wordpolyptycha has oftenbeen taken as an ipsofactoindicationthat Roman
taxationcontinuallyoperatedalong fourth-century lines.149But such an inference
is quite unwarranted.As earlyas 412, a Westernlaw states: "We orderthatplaces
(loca) thatcannotfulfiltheirpayment(praestatio)be equalized so thatwhat they
are able to pay is writtendown withfulland completefaith,whilethat whichis
impossibleis removedfromthe vasaria publica."150 The law plainlyimpliesthat,
144 "Zur Geschichte und Kritik der Urbarialaufzeichnungen," Sitzungsberichteder kaiserlichen

Akademieder Wissenschaften (zu Wien), philol.-hist.Classe, cxxxviii (1897), 30. His conclusions
werecloselyfollowedby Redlich,Privaturkunden, pp. 12-14. The portionsof Susta's studyrelating
to eighth-and ninth-century German territorieshave been completelyrevisedby WolfgangMetz,
"Zur Geschichteund Kritikder friihmittelalterlichen Guiterverzeichnisse Deutschlands," Archivfur
Diplomatik,iv (1958), 183-206. Metz regardedthe polyptychsas strictlyWest Frankish (pp. 203-4)
and called forrenewedstudyof theirrelationsto late Roman practices(p. 206).
"I This is apparentsimplyfromconsultinghis footnotes;Fustel and Schultenin turnbased their
conclusionson the polyptychs(above nn. 117-18).
146"Note on the Originsof the Polyptychs,"M61angesHenri Pirenne,ii, 475-81. I have not been
able to consult ProfessorTaylor's more extensive"Studies in the Relations between the Roman
Cadaster and the FrankishPolyptychs" (diss. Harvard University,1927). The charge of Leclereq,
"Polyptyche,"col. 1382, that Susta and Taylor muddleda "sufficiently clear" subject resultedfrom
his suppositionthat Guerard'saccount was definitive.
147 The problemposed by thisdifference was stressedby Perrin,Recherches, 593-4, withn. 1, p. 594.
148Digest.50. 14. 4 (Ulpian); forthe inscriptions,
as above n. 122. The fourth-century papyrusdis-
cussed by Deleage, Capitation,pp. 73-4, illustratesthe accommodationof assessment(in Egyptian
arurae)totheyear'sdelegatio.Cf. belown. 201.
149 E.g., by Guerard,gusta, and Lot, Impotfoncier, pp. 83-90. Leclereq, "Polyptyche,"col. 1884,
spoke of "la suppressiondu syst6medes impositionsrornairies,"iiiiplicitlyoccurringat some tinme
afterMarcuilf;but this supprcssionis an undocunentedevenIt.
'IO C(7h 13. 11. 13.

FromRomnanTaxationlto MediaevalSeigneure 381
by thistime,recordsof paymentsdue wereby no means foreignto the tax regis-

ters; as much is suggestedby the law of 400 that mentionsthe registryof tax
receipts.151Wherea law of 391 about changesin ownershipspeaks of "tax liabil-
ity" (capitatio), its fifth-centuryInterpretatiosubstitutes"payment" (solutio).152
In the days of Cassiodorus,an entryof paymentsin the polyptycha was perfectly
standard; his "formulaby whicl tLaxliability(censuts) is relievedforhim who
possesses an overburdenedcasa" authorizesthe petitioner"ut, si ita est, tot
[i.e., the amount of relief]solidlostributarios. . . faciatis de v(asariispublicis
(liligenterabradi."'53In short,the technicalcontrastbetweenthleRoman recor(ds
knownto us and that of St. Geriniainwas overcomne well bclckin Romnantimes,
probablyin the later fourthcenltury. The changeimatty testifyto a brea-lkdown of
some sort, but not onieattributableto the clumsinessof the governmentsof
barbariankings.154
An equtallyimportantdifference has been thoughtto exist in the contrastbe-
tween polyptycha maintainedby "public" municipalitiesand those utilized by
"private" ecclesiasticallandlrords. In Sutsta'saccount, the continuityof polyp-
tychs into the Middle Ages was due to the (whollyimaginary)usurpationsof
who appropriatedthe pnublicilibriforthe purposesof theirprivalte
latifundia,ries,
administrations.155 Ilere again, thoughthe evidenceis not so clear-cuttasin the
case of payments,we are betteradvised to seek in the Roman period for the
transformations in question,ratherthan to assume a change broughtacboutby
the incap-acity of barbariankings.
Perhapsthemostsignificant evidenceon thissubjectis suppliedby thereading
of a law of 400 given by the Interpretatio. Where the originalphraseologyis
"qualndo insertaesecuritatesratiociniispublicis continentur,"the Interpretatio
says, "si securitates ratiociniis publicis vel in polyptycisexactorurncontinen-
tur."l56The reference to "tlhepolyptychsof the collectors"wCas ad(led in orderto
supply an expression that was bettersuited to current circumstances than ratio-
cinia publica. The books in question were the ones where receipts were registered;
in the eyes of the Interpretatio,these were normally in the hclndsof the exactores,
the men mnostimmediatelyresponsiblefor tax collection.Justinianportrayed
demosiai a(pographai as having been in the possession. of "custodians" (phylakes),
( non-teclnic.llterinthat mightrefer--sreadilyto a landowner'scigentas to ai
in 385 CJ 1. 55. 4 is also interestijig.
As above n. 1.25.I'lle phrasedelegatio80olita
152 Int. to CTh 11. 3. 5. That the invariablemeaningof capitatiois "tax liability"will be shownin
my study"Caput and Colonate" (above n. 12).
153 Variae 7. 45 (above n. 138).
154 Furtherresearchis needed in orderto establishwhat thischangeentailed.A schemeby whicha
fixedtax chargeis set upon land is less advantageousto the governument than one by whichproperty
assessmentserves simplyas the yardstickforthe apportionmentof levies that may vary fromyear
to year.
150 Susta, "Zur Geschichte,"pp. 8-9, 12. Redlich,Privaturkunden, pp. 12-13,and Perrin,Recherches,
pp. 593-4, agreedwithIhimin locatinguponiprivateestates (fundiexcepti,theysaid, in a phrasethat
is alien to late Roman sources) the developmentthat would be significant forthe Middle Ages. This
settledtheproblembeforeit was evenraised.
156 Int. to 0Th 11. 26. i. On thedate and natureofthe Interpretatio, see JeanGaudemet,Institutions
de l'Antiquith(Pa.ris,1967), pp. 749--50;the interpreters introduced"des solutionsqui repondentAla
pratiqucoccidentaledu Ve si&lc."

publicofficial.167In thefirstyearsoftheseventhcentury,therectoroftheAppian
patrimonyof the Roman churchwas ordered"to delete and removefromhis
letters(breves)"the estate complexpreviouslydescribedand "to hand over the
whole of it to the title (nomen)of the aforesaidchurchof Blessed Paul the
Apostle."I"8AnotherletterofGregorytheGreatsuggeststhatthese"briefs"were
the estate records- polypticaexactorum - for which each administrator was
personallyresponsible.The defensor Romanus had delayed carrying out a dona-
tion that Gregoryhad orderedhim to make, on the grounds"that the notitiaof
the same donationhad not been deletedde pollyptychis"; Gregoryrejectedthe
excuse "since the pagina of our command[i.e., previousletter]could amply
a
sufficeforyour defense."'59The pollyptycha in questionwere the accounts Ro-
manus was personallyresponsiblefor; he claimed that, as long as the donated
propertywas "on his books," he could not carryout the pope's orderto transfer
it to anotherowner.
As recentresearchhas shown,it is erroneousto supposethat the categoriesof
"public" and "private"remainedneatlydistinguished in thelaterRoman Empire
untilMerovingiancruditybrokethemdown.160 The earliestItalian papyruswe
have containsthe recordof the accountingmade in 445 or 446 to the praepositu8
sacr cubiculiLaurencius by his personal estate agent in Sicily, the tribunu*
Pyrrhus.One of the itemsPyrrhushad been responsibleforconsistedof 75 solidi
" ***one titricisive hordei, quod ante barbarico fisco praestabatur."16'Here,
evidently,was a titulu*oftaxationthat formerely weighedon one ofLaurencius'
estates; it had beenworthone poundofgold to thegovernment, plus one-twenty-
fourthforthe collector.In one way or another- no doubt quite legitimately-
Laurenciushad obtainedthat thispublictax be convertedintoan itemofprivate
rent.A papyrusof 489 relatesto a donationby King Odoacer to the virinluter
Pierius.Odoacer had "vowed" to conferrevenuesof 690 solidi upon Pierius; he
had alreadygivenhim a Sicilian massa paying450 sol. and a Dalmatian island
paying200,and nowgave himvariouspropertiesin Sicilyto coverthebalance of
167As above n. 187.

us Greg.Magn., Regist.14. 14 (a. 604), ed. cit., iI, 482.
15 Ibid. 9. 199 (a.599), ed. cit.,II, 188; thepreviousletteris 9. 49 (p. 75).
160P. W. A. Imminkand H1.J. Scheltema,AttheRoots ofMedieval Society (Instituttetforsammen-
lignendeKulturforskning, ser. A, 24; Oslo, 1958), esp. pp. 45-77, 87, 137-51; Immink,"Proprieteou
seigneurie?A propos des 'baux perpetuels'des formulesd'Angers et de Tours," Tijdschrift voor
Rechtsgeschiedenis, =xxx(1961), 416-31. Both these worksaddress themselvesvery directlyto the
problemsmoderncommentatorshave with these categoriesin the later Empire. What our studies
badly need is a historicalmanual of late Roman public law; the workson "vulgar" law (e.g., Ernst
Levy, WestRomanVulgarLaw: TheLaw ofProperty, Philadelphia,1951), importantthoughtheyare,
leave one at sea regardingthe most importantsource oflegal change,namelygovernmentalregula-
tions.
161P. Ital. 1; the mutilatedwordendingin -onemightbe praestatione, but the available space seems
too small and quod does not agree. Cf. Hardy, Large Estates,pp. 51-3; the papyrifromthe Apion
estates show that what the peasantspaid was distinguished on collectionas tax or rent,but that ac-
tual paymentoftaxesto thestateproceededfromthe centralestate bureaux.This was nota "private"
abuse but normalpractice.Underthe circumstances, there need not have been any correspondence
betweenpeasant "tax" paymentsand actual state income.

FromRoman Taxationto MediaevalSeigneurie 383
40 8ol. in annual revenues.'62 Althoughthese lands mightbe supposed to come

fromtheex-imperial, nowroyalpatrimonium, to see howtherevenues
it is difficult
in question,when on the state's books,had differed fromreceiptsof taxation.163
To be sure,whenthe agentsof Pieriustook possessionof the royalgift,theyde-
claredto the magistratesof Syracusethat theywerereadyto make annual pay-
mentofthefiscaliaconpetentia fortheselands; but we have no assurancethatany
such paymentswere called forby the municipality.The declaration,whichalso
entailed "the deletionof the formerdominiumfromthe polypthicapublica and
the insertionof our dominium,"may well have been the formalitynecessaryto
entitlethe new ownerto assume the role of public collectorof taxation (exactor)
vis a vis the cultivatorsofhis land.1'4In anyevent,thestatementof"readinessto
pay fiscalia conpetentia" had disappearedfromthe formulary by 540.16'
Althougha numberof authorshave spokenweightilyabout large landowner-
ship in the late Roman state,'16hardlyany subject continuesto be moreobscure
in its practical details. A few passages in Procopius' GothicWars allow us to
glimpsean Italian countrysidewheretitle to revenueswas sharedbetweenthe
monarch,on whose behalftaxes were collected,and a handfulof proprietors-
fewenoughto be all detained in the king's company- who were in receiptof
rents.When the monarchchose, the total revenuefell into his hands; the tax
collectorswere capable of cleanlyintercepting the landlords'rents.'67
Moreover,
when pressedto do so by the king,the landlordswere able, merelyby sending
word,to divestthemselvesof theirlands in favorof the tenants.'68 The situation
Procopius outlinesis characterizedby extremeabsenteeismon the part of the
owners,by the liquidityof theirrevenues,and by the apparentindependenceof
the tenants,who could be transformed into ownersat a nod. For all practical
purposes,therewas only a singleflowof revenuefromthe lands in question:
162P. Ital. 10-11.

163On the patrimonium, Stein,Baa-Empire,II, 51-2, 206, whose distinctionbetweenimperialand
state revenuesdeservesto be questioned.As a departmentof domainial administration, the patri-
moniumcame intoexistencemoreorless simultaneously in West and East duringthelast yearsofthe
fifthcentury,and (as appears fromthe Variae) was a much morevigorousand responsivebranch
thantheold resprivata.On thepublicuse ofdomainialreceipts,431 CTh 11. 1. 36.
164 The transfer of tax liabilitysimultaneouslywith ownershipwas prescribedby 391 CTh 11. 3.
5 (itselfa remarkablybelated amplification of Constantine'slaw on land sales, Fragm.Vatic. 85, in
FIRA2 iI, 469-71). Owingto the obligatorycharacterofthe formulary, thatthe
it cannotbe inferred
proprietorwas necessarilytaxed, especiallywhen one knows that the royal patrimonium was the
formerowner;cf.Var. 8. 93, also a giftfromthepatrimonium.
165P. Dipl. 115-16 (a. 540). A strikingtrait in the formulary of the post-Reconquestsales is the
declarationthat the propertiesare "liberas inlivatasab omninexu fiscipopuli privatiut et ab aere
alieno ceterisquehoneribussed et a titulodotali aut tutellarionominealienas" (P. Dipl. 118; also
114, 190-3). Does the fiscalpart ofthisdeclarationmean thatthe lands are tax free?Cf. Var. 8. 925.
168 For a recentexampleof what is generallysaid, see A. H. M. Jones,"Rome," in ThirdInterna-
tionalConference ofEconomicHi8tory,Munich1965 (Paris, 1969), pp. 100-1; cf.Max Weber,op. cit.

(n. 118), who said muchthe same.
167 Procopius,Wars (Loeb edition)7. 6. t-7, 7. 18. 1.
168 Ibid. 7. 22. 20-21, cf. 7. 18. 920-9.3.
These proceedingswere reversedby Justinian'sPragmatic
Sanctionof 554, c. 2 (ed. cit. [n. 27], p. 799), entitlingownersto recovertheirpropertiesand coloni.

384 Fromn
Roman Taxationto MediaevalSeigneurie
undernormalcircumstances, thelandlordsand thegovernment sharedit between

themselves;extraordinarily, the governmentkept it all.
The testimonyofProcopiusis incompatiblewiththemodernview accordingto
whichgreat private landownersin the late Roman Empire turnedtheirbacks
upon the state and prosperedin theiregoistic,fortified latifundia.On the con-
trary,Procopiusmakes it evident that, in sixth-century Italy, the revenuesof
greatmen wereso intimatelybound up withthoseof the state that,at the blink
of an eye, the state could swallow them whole. Far fromthere having been
antagonismbetweenlarge landownersand the later Roman state, the two went
hand in hand. One may even venturethat this was so because such ownership
had long ceased to be "private" in any sense that classical Roman law would
have recognized.169 A church,a vir inluster,or any otherlarge landownerwas,
in all likelihood,a public institution,whose supportby the proceedsof taxation
was endorsedby the state as a sacred obligation.170
In such a perspective,the questionhow "public" tax rollsturnedinto the rec-
ords of "private" estates becomes a comparativelyminorpart of the broader
problemof the transformations undergoneby ownershipand rentsin the late
Roman state, underthe pressureof tax legislation.That this problemrelatesto
the Roman Empire, and not to the barbariankingdoms,is beyond doubt. The
evidence on polyptychs,though scant, amply proves the point. The earliest
private" polyptychwe hear of- admittedlyfroma ninth-century source
is a registerof the patrimoniesand estatesof the Roman churchthat was associ-
ated withthename ofPope Gelasius (492-6) and utilizedby GregorytheGreat.7'
More importantthan this is the preservedfragmentof a polytychof the church
of Ravenna (P. Ital. 3), whichdeservesclose scrutiny.172
169 Cf. Ilardy, Large Estates,pp. 67-71, discussing"private" prisonsin sixth-century Egypt. He
regardedthe abundant evidence for their existenceas odd in view of the laws forbiddingthem;
thelaws wouldseem to have been easily flouted.Anotherview ofthe mattermightrecognizethat we
have no clear idea ofwhat the legislatormeaiitby "private." As a result,the papyrineed not testify
to violationsof the law; they would siniplydocumentprisonsthat were "public," no matterhow
"private" they look to us. The same reasoninig mightbe applied to the conitrastbetweenlaw and
practicein the matterof bucellarii.
170 In a case lie wouldlose Symmacliuspleaded (Relatio16. 19): "Seimel... delata compendiadesi-
nuntesse tribuentium, et quod a principiobeneficiumfuit,usu atque aetate fitdebitum." A century
later this doctrinewas officially endorsedby Theodoric: (Variae 3.39) "praestante temporemuni-
ficentiasit pro lege," and (4.20) "illud conscientiaenostrae reponitur,quod de fiscosub antiqua
solemnitatepraestetur."Also, compare468 N Anth3 with326 CTh 10. S. 3. In a settingwhereland-
owvners (above nn. 161-2) and churches(above n. 20) directlybenefitedfromtax proceeds,such utter-
ances acquire special significance.See also Immink,At theRoots,pp. 54-7, 66-77, and "Propriete
ou seigneurie,"pp. 424-9.
171 JoaiIIl. Diac., V. Greg. Magn. 2.24, "cuiictorumpatrimoniorum praediorumquereditus ex
Gelasiano polyptyclho, cuius nimirumstudiosissimusvidebatur pedissequus, adaeravit" (Pat. Lat.
LXXV, 96-7). This ninith-century text is the oiily evidence we have on the Gelasian polyptych;as
was seen (n. 13i2),anotherpolyptychhandledby Gregorywas ofa different kind. A letterof Gelasius
usingthe language of tax inspections,and reminiscent of Gregory'slettersabout domainial adminis-
tration,was publishedby Paul Ewald, "Die Papstbriefender BrittischenSammlung,"Neues Archiv,
v (1880), 510 n. 2.
172 P. Ital. 3 = P. Dipl. 137.

FromRoman Taxationto MediaevalSeigneurwe 385
The papyrusin questionhas no indicationsof provenanceor date; but all the

Italian papyridescendfromthe churchofRavenna, and the documenthas been
dated to the mid-sixthcenturyon palaeographicgrounds.Tjaiderplausiblysug-
gested that, "like the foregoingP. 92and the followingP. 4-5 it has to do with
the reorganization of the church'spropertiesafterthe GothicWar."'73The docu-
mentis not a "polyptych"in one respect:the fragmentcomesnot froma codex,
but froma roll,horizontallydisposed,with the ends at rightangles to the lines
ofwriting.Anotherformaltraitis ofexceptionalinterest.The last lineofthe text,
whichextendsacrosstherolland statesthetotalofdues owedby thelands earlier
listed ("hens 888, chickens266, eggs 8880, etc.") is writtenin the "lengthened"
scriptcharacteristically used forthefinallinesofextractsfromgestamunicipalia,
whereasthe body of the texthas littlein commonwiththe scriptof the gesta.'74
The fragnment is such that we cannotbe completelysure that any entryis com-
pletein itself.The textbeginswitha list ofdues lackingthenames ofthe proper-
ties and the peasants responsiblefrom them; for example, "praestat solidos
numeroGII [= 8], siliquas GII, in xeniislardi pondo CLX, anseres II, gallinas
XG [= 16], ova CLX, per ebdomada operas III." The second miainportionis in-
troducedby thewords,"In the territory ofPadua"; it names a numberofplaces,
mostlycalled colonia,and the men responsibleforthem (forexample,"Colonia
Valeriaca per Quintulumet Sabinionem"); and goes on to an inventoryof pay-
mentsowed in moneyand produce,similarto the first.The secondset ofentries,
however,does not mentionlabor service,eitherbecause the finalcolumnis lost
or because none was exacted- we cannot tell.'75
Almosteveryproblemofseigneurialoriginsis encounteredin P. Ital. 3, a docu-
ment that unquestionablystems froma "Roman" ratherthan a "barbarian"
land. The shortlist of properties"in the territoryof Padua" excludesthe pos-
sibilitythat the papyrus shares with the inscriptionsfromAsiana the trait of
being a municipalrecord;this is a partial register,most likelya "private" one.
On the otherhand, the finalline in gesta-script impartsto it an officialflavor;
Tjaidercalls the papyrus"moglicherweise zu einemGestaprotokollgeh6rend."'76
The contents,whichomitdetails about the consistencyof the coloniaeand insist
ratherupon the paymentsowed, are very suggestiveof the polypticaexactorum
mentionedin the Interpretatio to CTh. 11. 26. 2.177This line of reasoningleads to
the conclusionthat P. Ital. 3 was some sortofextractfrompublicilibri,officially
deliveredto the agentsof the churchofRavenna to assist the church'scollection
fromits tenants.If, as has been suggested,the state regardedthe revenuesof
landlordsas being as "solemn" an obligationas the taxes owed to itself,such a
measure of cooperationbetween "public" and "private" agencies would have
173 Tjiider,Nichtlit.Pap., i, 185. On the provenanceof the papyri,i, 18-23.
174 Ibid., pp. 185, 124-6.
175 In his attemptto fillthe gaps ofthis text,Guerard,Polyp. Irminon,i, 921, proceededsomewhat
freely.E.g., he suggestedthat (on the model of Irmino) the firstline should read "[Brevis de] terri-
[torio]Patavino," but Marini's facsimileshowsthat "Brevis de" cannotbe added unlessone assumes
that an upperline has been cut away.
176 Nichtlit.Pap., i, 184.
177 Above at nn. 156-9.

been entirelynormal.In effect,all revenuesthat flowedupward fromthe land

would have been "public"; the distinctionbetweentax and rent,whichwe take
seriouslybut theirvocabulary ignored,'78 would have depended only upon the
identityof the recipient.
Two further pointsarisefromP.Ital. 3: first,thelistingoflabor servicesand its
implicationforthestructureofestates;secondly,thelargeplace accordedto pay-
mentsin money.Currenthistoriansrightlystressthe importanceof the question
when landlordsbegan to develop theirdemesnes,the mansus indominicatusof
the Carolingianpolyptyclis;they reject the unprovedassumptionof Fustel de
Coulangesand othersthat Roman estate structureswereidenticalto thoseofbi-
partiteCarolingianseigneurieswheredemesnecultivationwas carriedout by the
labor serviceof the dependenttenantsholdingmansi.'79 It is worthemphasizing
that P.Ital. 3, Roman thoughit is, neverthelessbelongsto the sixthcentury;the
conditionsit portrayscannot be projectedinto the fourth-century past. On the
otherhand, the documentunquestionablytestifiesthat severalcoloniae,or their
cultivators,owed labor serviceeveryweek,some of it at the high (slave's) rate of
threedays.'80If that servicewas to profitthe landlord,it had to be performed
somewhere.The same fragment,moreover,containsthe words in domnicoin a
mutilaltedcontext.Tjiader interpreted"to the fisc,"that is, the government;181
this is a possible reading,perhaps the preferableone, but the alternativethat
domnicorefersto the landlordcannotbe summarilyexcluded.
While labor serviceanticipatesthe dues of Carolingianseigneuries,the large
place accordedto maoney rentsin P.Ital. 3 - an average ofmorethan foursolidi
each foreighteentenancies(excludingfractionsof solidi) - is indicativeof the
Italian conditionsearlierinferredfromProcopius,namelythe liquidityof reve-
nues. The geese,hens,bacon, and so forth,numerousas theyare, are uniformly
listedas xenia, "gifts."The ninth-century biographerof Gregorythe Great tells
us what the pope did with this produce as it came in: he gave it away to the
poor.'82What is more,the same authorsuggeststhat Gregorymade an effortto
', The confusioilextendedparticularlyto such termsas pensio,census,reditus,whichindifferently

applied to privateand public contexts;tributum mightalso be used forprivaterevenue.For a parallel
situation,see W. C. Neale, "Reciprocityand Redistributionin the Indian Village," in K. Polanyi
et al., edd., Trade and Marketin theEarly Empires (Glencoe, Ill., 1957), pp. 231-2, discussingthe
perplexityofBritishadministrators in attemptingto imposea firmdistinctionbetweenrentand tax.
Oinemightarguefrom529 CJ 11. 48. 20 that the categorieswerewell differentiated, but that would
avoid theproblem.
179 Ganshof,"Quelques aspects," pp. 73-91; Verhulst,"Geiise," pp. 140, 144-7. For Fustel's as-
sumption,above n. 118. Fossier,La terreetles hommesen Picardie,i, 137, illustratesthe persistence

of the view that the second-century estates documentedby the famousAfricaninscriptiorns (FIRA2
i, 484-98) had bi-partitestructures.It has long been pointed out that the trivial amount of labor
servicedemandedofAfricantenantsexcludestheidea oftheirhavingparticipatedin demesnecultiva-
tion;failingthis,thereis no clearbasis forinferring a bi-partitestructure.
1'l For threedays as the slave's rate,Lex Baiuuar. I, 13 (belown. 200) and the St. Germainpolyp-
tych.
81 Nichtlit.Pap., i, 187 linie 10.
19' Joann.Diac., V. Greg.Magn. 2.26; the moredelicate commoditiesenteringthe church's store-
houseswentto the jnrimores. Cf. Ilardy, Large Estates,pp. 5-2,100,on the Apionpreferenceformoney
incoule.

commute tocashtherevenues ofalltheRomanestablishments hewasresponsible

for:"cunctorum patrimoniorum praediorumque reditusex Gelasianopolyptycho
to see a commonmeasurebetweenpracticesof
. . . adaeravit."'"It is difficult
thiskindand thestructure ofCarolingian estatemanagement. The transforma-
tionthatmustbe conjectured between theformofmanagement portrayed bythe
Italiansourcesand thatattestedbytheFrankishpolyptychs consistsin a com-
mutation fromrentsin moneyto rentsin kind,thatis, one thatoperatedin a
direction whollyoppositeto thatofGregory theGreat.But theproblem has a
moreprofound dimension thatcanonlybe suggested here.Italianestates,whether
answering to thegovernment or to otherlandlords,wereoverlaidby a complex
structure ofleases,inwhichtenantsholding onfavorable terms, contractors (con-
ductores) posting bondforcashrents, andstillotherintermediariesstoodbetween
thelandlordand thepeasantsactuallycultivating theground.'"Complexities of
thiskindcan evenbe documented in Poitouin theearlyeighthcentury.", Be-
tweenlandlords demanding moneyrentsandtheproducethatthelandwillyield,
an elementofmarketing has to existthatCarolingian seigneuriesalmostcom-
pletelyavoided.In a mannerthatremainsto be discovered, thechainofinter-
mediaries interposed betweenthelandlordand his cultivators appearsto have
beentheprincipal "market"bywhichthelaborofthousands ofcultivators, often
locatedhundreds ofmilesawayfrommasterstheyneversaw,was turnedinto
goldin thelandlord'schests.-'
183As above n. 171. Gregory's contemporary, theemperorMaurice,apparentlycommutedEgyptian
wheatforgold: Johnsonand West,ByzantineEgypt,p. 238 (on the basis ofJohnofNikiu). The ten-
dency toward commutationto gold, whichis stronglymarkedfromthe fourthcenturyonward,is
usuallyrepresentedwithsatisfactionby modernauthorsas a salutaryreturnto normality(e.g.,Jones
in ThirdInt. Conf.,p. 104). Its economicconsequencesdeserveto be studiedwithoutsuch precon-
ceptions.
184See Mommsen, "Bewirtschaftung"(above n. 81); A. H. M. Jones,"Church Finance in the
Fifthand SixthCenturies,"Journalof TheologicalStudies,N.S. xi (1960), 84-94. Additionalevidence
occursin Variae 2. 24-5, 5. 31, 39. 6; Justinian'slegislation,especiallyon churchproperty;the Codex
Bavarus,ed. M. Fantuzzi, MonumentiRavennati,I (Venice, 1801), 1-84; and elsewhere.The main
problemof interpretation residesin the confusionof public and privatelegal themes,as well as the
imprecision ofterminology (e.g.,whowas a possessr?).
"5 An astonishing epistolacaucionisof 721,in Actuspont.Cenom.(above n. 68), pp. 240-1. It shows
that the pagensesofArdinhad eightconductores above them,who werethemselvesthe iunioresofthe
bishopric'sagent forthat vill and answered(directly,it seems) to the episcopal vicedominus;the
conductores owed unequal sharesof a total paymentof 400 sol.,representing the annual inferenda(a,
or the, tax) ofArdingrantedby ChildericII to Le Mans (cf. a charterof 669 in Actus,pp. 219-20).
The charterfurthersuggests- thoughthe point is not clear-that the churchofLe Mans held in-
dividual brevesindicatingthe serviciumof each tribute-paying pagensis.The commentaryof these
chartersby F. Lot, "Un grand domaine A l'epoque franque:Ardinen Poitou," Cinquantenairede
l'cole pratiquedes 8lautes-etudes,BEHE, fasc. 231 (Paris, 1922), pp. 118-25,is not exhaustive.
186It was presumablythe task of the conductores of Ardin (n. 185) to convertthe serviciumof the
pagensesof Ardininto a moneypaymentto Le Mans cathedral.Note also Greg.Turon., Hist. 7. 23,
wherepublicofficials avail themselvesofa moneylenderin orderto covertheirpaymentsto theking,
and 5. 26, in whichWaroc theBretonasks to farmthetributaofVannes "nullo admonente"(a phrase
fromtax terminology that needs interpretation).Withits warrantsforgold (delegatoria, above n. 40)
and officialschedulesstatinggold equivalences for commoditieswith a view to coemptio(Variae
12. 4. 3, 22), Italy offeredconsiderablescope forthe existenceof "paper" gold in the formof tax
debits and credits.The role of negotiatores in the tax machinerydeservesspecial attention(Edict.

388 to MediaevalSeigneurie
FromRoman 7Taxation
These observationslead to themostdelicate,and possiblythemostimportant,

contrastbetweenCarolingianpolyptychsand theearliertextsthathave just been
discussed,whichretaina close relationshipto Roman taxation.While the latter,
regardlessofwhethertheirprovenanceis governmentalor "private,"have a dis-
tinctlyadministrativecharacter,the Carolingianpolyptychsare unmistakably
agrarian; though draftedby and for ecclesiastical landowners,they have an
intimateand obvious relationshipto practicalagriculture.One recallsthe justly
famouspassage fromCharles the Bald's Edict of Pitres (864) in whichpeasants
weretold that theyhad to cart mnarl whetherthey wantedto or not,because the
obligation was contained in the polyptychs.187 How different this is fromthe
Roman records!The professiones describedby Ulpian and survivingin the Asian
inscriptions;the polyptycareferredto by Vegetius and the laws; the Gelasian
polyptychof the Roman church; the ones orderedto be draftedin Savia by
Theo(loric;P. Ital. 3; thelibridescriptionumdrawnup forKing Chilperic;and the
polepticamentionedby Marculf's Formularyand the Leges Visigothorum:188all
these mightserve to establish ownership,liabilityto public charges,and ulti-
matelythe actual paymentof taxes or rents.But theywerenot the recordsof a
landlorddirectlyinterestedin regularizingthe labor of his men and, possibly,
improvingthe cultivationof his lands. The contrast,therefore, betweenthe Ro-
man and the laterFrankishrecordsis not one of diplomaticsor even oflaw. The
formalelementsof Frankishpolyptychshave Roman sources;189 the inclusionof
payments in census records,and the possessionof "public" by "private"
registers
landlords,werethresholdsthat had been crossedbeforethe barbarianepoch.The
chaingein whichthe birthof the seigneuriemay lie consistsin the contrastbe-
tween a landlord like Gregorythe Great, whose commutationsincreased the
distancebetweenhimselfand his peasants, and one like his near-contemporary,
Bishop Sonnatiusof Reims, who directly"organizedthe coloniaeof certainvills
of the bishopric,by establishingtheirservices."190
Aftera long detour,we have returnedto the extractsfromFlodoard with
whichwe began. What has been attemptedup to now has been to set these ex-
tractsin the contextof the historyof polyptychs.An equally relevantcontextis
the historyof the seigneurie,a subject that recenthistorianshave treatedvery
differently fromFustel de Coulangesand thosedependingupon him.Theirobject,
in the wordsof Verhulst,is to establishthat "the 'classic' domainialregime[that
is, the one documentedby the Carolingianpolyptychs]... was onlythemomen-
taryend-pointof an essentiallymediaeval evolution,""19 and not thecontinuation
Theod.149; Variae 2. 26, 30, 38, 5. 35; Just.,Sanct. Pragm.18, 26). We are stillfarfrommakingsense
ofthisevidence,whichputs in questionhow, in effect,the sixth-century economyworked.
187Capit. Pist. 29, in MGH, Capit. ii, 323.
188 Respectively,above nn. 148; 123-6, 128, 134-5; 171; 133; 172-81; 50 and 141; 139-40. The list
is in chronologicalorder.
189 Taylor, "Note on the Origins"(above n. 146), deniedthis,but he was comparingfourth-century
documentswithninth-century ones; cf.Perrin,Recherches,p. 593, n. 6.

190As above n. 118.
191"Gen&Se," p. 138.

FromRoman Taxationto Mediaeval Seigneurie 389
of age-old,or at least Roman, practicesof large landownership.Consequently,
theyhave stressedthat the word mansus in the sense of a dependenttenureis
firstattestedtowardsthe middle of the seventhcentury;192 that the seigneurial
dues specifiedby ninth-century recordscan be directlyrelated to Merovingian
laws, preservedin Lex Baiuuariorum,that prescribedthe obligationsin tribute
and labor serviceowed by royaland ecclesiasticalcoloniand slaves;'93and finally
that when the geographicalzone wherethe "classic" Frankishseigneurieflour-
ishedis distinguishedfromzones whereothertypesprevailed,the formeris found
to coincide with the territoriesmost intimatelyassociated with the Frankish
kings.'94In slhort, the conclusionwhosecontoursare beginningto emergeis that
the seigneuriewas governmeIntalin originand that it constituteda Merovingian
adaptation of Roman fiscality.195
Althoughit is prematureto considerthis conclusionas being securelyestab-
lished,one cannothelp observingthat it suppliesa highlysuitablesettingforthe
interpretation of our passages fromFlodoard. For what these passages implyis
that the "ordaining"of an estatewas not a passive registry
of the statusquo but a
positivereorganization, the sortof momentwhen,on a given vill, diversityand
incoherencein the size ofpeasant tenuresand in the amountoftheirserviceswere
supersededby roughlyuniformcoloniae(or mansi) owinguniformservicesand
dues.196However the vill had been managed untilthen,the ordinatioto whichit
was subjected providedit with the structuresthat we associate with the rural
seigneurie.
If we are to understandwhy the bishops of Reims reorganizedonly a few of
theirvillsat a time,and whytheyset about doingso in theearlyseventhcentury,
we should begin by realizingthat the propertiesowned by a bishopricwere a
variablemass. The rule againstthe alienationof churchpropertywas well estab-
lished,but it was not so construedas to excludetransfers fromone churchcom-
plex to anotherwithina bishopric.'97 Moreover,the patrimonywas continually
increasingfromgifts,bequests, and purchases;and the normalcircumstancesof
lifeguaranteedthat,at any giventime,a church'stitleto a certainproportionof
192 Ganshof,"Quelques aspects," pp. 82-5. I do not knowwhythe occurrence ofthe termin Form.
Arvern.6, ed. Zeumer,p. 31, is not mentioned;this is the oldestofthe formularies, dated to the mid-
sixth centuryby Franz Beyerle, "Die stiddeutschenLeges und die merowingischeGesetzgebung
(Volksrechtliche der Savigny-Stiftung
Studien,II)," Zeitschrift fur Rechtsgeschichte,Germ.Abt. XLIX
(1929), pp. 397-8.
193Below nn. 200-1.
19 Verhulst,"Genese," pp. 149-60.
195 This is also the argumentof AlexanderBergengruen, Adel und Grundherrschaft im Merowin-
gerreich(Wiesbaden, 1958), esp. pp. 86-101, against the weaklysupportedthesisof continuityfrom
Roman to Frankishfiscstated,e.g., by H. Pirenne,"Le fiscroyal de Tournai," Me-langes. . . F. Lot,
pp. 641-8.
196 The questionhow theseuniformities originatedis a good one (above n. 24). The extentto which
theyremainvisible in the ninth-century polyptychsis a strongpoint against a directdescentfrom
Roman registry.
197 Inalienability,J. Gaudemet,L'eglise dans l'Empireromain(Paris, n.d.), pp. 302, 808-11; C. de
Clercq, La Legislationreligieusefranque,i (Louvain-Paris, 1936), pp. 29, 34, 60, 64. Transfersof
cathedralpropertyto new foundations:Actuspont.Cenom.,pp. 84-8 (a. 571, 581) 105-6 (a. 616).

its lands would be in dispute.'98Consequently,the vills securelyin a bishopric's

possessionconstitutedonly a part of its whole property.Ever since the closing
decades of the sixthcentury,the Frankishkingshad taken to grantingchurches
privilegesof immunity,surrendering to them all royal profitsfromtheirlands
and excludingroyalofficials fromtheirconfines.The churchof Reims had bene-
fitedfroma privilegeof this sortin the pontificateof Egidius (deposed 590).199
Moreover,at a timewe can onlyguess at, the Merovingiansissued one or more
laws prescribing the servicesof royaland ecclesiasticalpeasantsin elaborateand
circumstantialdetail.200 These royallaws were,quite simply,permanentdelega-
tiones,thelinealdescendantsoftheannualdelegatioissuedlongago by theRoman
emperors,as adjusted in formto theneedsoftheworldoftributarysubjectsthat
had supersededthe Empire of tributarycities.20'The one example of such a
18 Flodoard, Mist. 2. 3, 2, 4-7, 10, continuallydocumentspurchases,gifts,and exchanges. We
simultaneously hearofevindicationes, endinglawsuits(2.4-6, 10). Naturally,not all such

successfully
decisionscould have gone in the church'sfavor,but failuresrarelylefttracesin the archives.
199AlthoughFrankishimmunityis not a neglectedsubject (fora recentmiseau point,Ganshof,as
above n. 112), its beginningsand its relationsto Roman practicesdeservereconsideration,especially
in the lightof Cassiod., Variae 1. 26, 2. 80, 4. 26, 7. 45, 10. 26 (also 4. 14, cf. 5. 14. 6). The current
view that churchlands were taxed in Roman (or Byzantine) lands requiresqualification;too little
account has been taken of the fact that, even when churchesenjoyed extensivetax exemption,the
continuedinflowof tax-burdenedpropertyby giftand bequest had the resultof keepingthem in-
volved in taxpaying.The Merovingianprivileges,thoughmeantinteralia to obviate this disadvan-
tage, still needed surveillance(e.g. Desiderius of Cahors,Epist. 2. 17, in Corp. Christ.,ser. Lat.,
cxvii, 381).
200 The onlysurvivingtraces of these ordinancesare in Lex Baiuuariorumi, 13 and (considerably
altered) Lex Alamannorum21-2 (22-3), on whose derivationsee Beyerle, "SiiddeutschenLeges,"
pp. 318-19, 426-32, developingBrunner'sideas. For a Carolingiantext imustrating the same prac-
tice,i.e., royalenactmentof peasant services,see Capitulumin pago Cenomannicodatum(a. 800), in
MGH, Capit.,i, 81-2. Boutruche,SeigneurieetfiodalitM, I, 97-8, stated that theseedicts"ont impose
aux mansesdes chargesvariables"; theyare in factaddressedto persons(condomaewithoutbeingso
called), and not to mansi.
The valuable accountsof Felix Dahn, "Zum merowingische Finanzrecht,"Germanistische Abhand-
lungen. . . Konrad von Maurer (Gottingen,1898), pp. 363-4, and G. Waitz, DeutscheVerfassungs-
geschichte, ii, part 2, 2nd ed. (Berlin,1882), pp. 279-82 stressedthat the agrariaand pascuaria (men-
tionedin ChlothariiII Praeceptio11, in MGH, Capit.,i, 19) werechargesofa privatecharacter,quite
distinctfromland taxes. This would take the rules of LBaiuu. out of the tax category,since what
theybeginby prescribing is preciselyagrariumand pascuarium;cf. Greg.Turon., Virt.s. Iuliani 17.
They had the impressionthat acceptingthese as taxes would implythat the kingshad titleto the
land (Bodenregal),somethingthey stronglydenied. Provided the personalcharacterof taxation is
recognized,no such consequencesneed follow.Cf. Var. 5. 14. 6, whichis relevant.
201To my knowledge,the identification of theselaws withdelegationes has not been made hitherto.
Unfortunately, we have no directevidenceon the appearance of imperialdelegationes, on which,in
general,J. Karayannopoulos,Das Finanzwesendesfriihbyzantinischen Staat (Munich, 1958), pp. 87-
90. The transitionfromannuallychangingdelegationes(above n. 148) to largelypermanentones is
presupposedby the practiceofpermanenttax chargeson land (above at un. 150-54).
Perrin,Recherches, p. 594 n. 1, concludedthatmediaevalpolyptychs originatedfromthecombination
oftwopreviouslydistinctdocuments,theRoman cadaster (above n. 121) and thelexsaltus,or custom
of the estate. This suggestionencounterstwo objections.Lex saltusalludes to the famous African
inscriptions(above n. 179), whichare oftoo earlya date to be relevant.Secondly,the listingofdues
and servicesin polyptychsneed not have joined the censusdeclarationin a singlestep. Step one was

Frankislordinance thatwe possesscan be relatedbackwardto lawsof382 and

390,as wellas forward to thepolyptych ofPrUm.210Whentakentogether, these
variouselements did nothaveto resultin thebi-partite Carolingianseigneurie.
Theessential thingis that,occasionally,theycouldanddid.Armedwithsecurity
ofownership, a privilegeofimmunity, andthesanctionofa permanent delegatio,
BishopSonnatius andhissuccessors setouttoorganize thevillsoftheirbishopric
and to recordtheresults.
It is notas though something so rudimentary had beeninvolvedas thesettle-
mentof peasantson familyplots.Discussionsof theman8u8ofteninvokethe
Germanicpracticedescribed by Tacitusas thoughit werea pre-mediaeval ex-
ampleofsuchholdings: "Slavesin generalarenotallotted,as we allotthem,to
specialdutiesin the establishment. Each has controlof his own house and
home."203 ThisGermanpreference forhousingslaveswouldbe oneofthedistant
anticipations ofthemansusas a "single-family farm."2204
Thecuriousthingis that
Tacitus'sentencescan be relatedto theman8usin theentirely oppositeway,
provided theman8u8 is envisagedfrom thestandpointofthelandlord ratherthan
fromthatof the tenant,as a formof seigneurial management ratherthanof
peasantsettlement. Tacituswrote:"Ceterisservisnoninnostrum morem, descrip-
tisperfamiliam mini8terii-,
utuntur." The preciseimplications
ofthisforRoman
management inTacitus'dayneednotdetainus.205 Forourpurposes, theessential
is that ministerium is a closerelativeofthewordservitium in itsmediaevalac-
ception.20 We readin FlodoardthatRigobertofReimsorganizedquitea few
villsof thebishopric by regulatingits coloniaeand 8ervitia:
"Nonnullasetiam
episcopiivillas,descriptis earumcoloniisservitiisque,ritedisposuit."207Tacitus'
phrasewas ministeria perfamiliamdescribere. The eighth-century bishopmight
wellhavesaid thatthiswasprecisely whathe haddoneto theepiscopalestates;
he had organized thefamiliaofhischurchalongRomanlines.
the appearance of tax paymentsin the declaration(already done in the fifthcentury),while step
two was the transformation of these taxes into somethingresemblinig what we encounterin the
Frankishtexts.Perrin,who was not primarilyinterestedin thissubject,generallywenttoo farwith
Susta in emphasizingdevelopmentsin "private" estates.On the otherhand, his workis indispensable
forseveral aspects not touchedupon here,such as the inquestson whichpolyptychswerebased.
202 See CTh 11. 16. 15 and 18, whose list of munerasordidaappears to be closely related to the
delegatio;threeof the muneraappear in the extractfromLBaiuu. For legatisatqueallectis sumptus,

cf. CoUectioSangallensis834-5,ed. Zeumer,pp. 418-19; forpontiumvel viarumconstructio, cf. MGH,
Dipl. Karol., i, 132, no. 92 (a. 775). The principalitemin the extractnot accountedforby Roman
regulationsconsistsof andecingaslegitimas,on whichsee Ch. E. Perrin, "De la conditiondes terres
ditesancingae,"Mel6anges . . . F. Lot,pp. 619-40, who,however,did not speculateon its origins.For
relationswiththe polyptychof Prtim,W. Metz, "Die hofrechtlichen Bestimmungender Lex Baiu-
uariorumi, 18 und die frainkische Reichsgutverwaltung," DeutschesArchiv,xii (1956), 187-96.
203 Germania25, tr. Harold Mattingly(Penguin,1948), p. 121.
204 Herlihy,"Carol. Mansus," p. 85 withn. 4.
205 On the subject,see K. D. White,RomanFarming(Ithaca, N. Y., 1970), pp. 852-6, 408-4; the
senseis a divisionoflaboramongtheslaves,withno idea ofhousingthemon individualplots.

206 Cf. Bloch, Md1.Hist., I, 333, notingthat servitium lost its intimatelinkwithslavery.The term
familiaalso was less precisein a mediaevalcontext.
207 As above n. 113. The remarksofPerrin,Recherches, p. 605 withn. 8, on the termdewriptioleave
out of accountitslong past in the vocabularyof taxation.

392 From Roman Taxationto MediaevalSeigneurie
The importantpoint here is not ideological; it hardlymatteredwhetherthe

action was "Roman" or somethingelse. The utilityof Tacitus lies in reminding
us that housed slaves cultivatingtheirown plots- mansi in the guise of single-
family farms- are a quite primitiveform of management. The "classic"
Frankishseigneurie,withits organicbond betweentenuresand demesne,was far
fromprimitive.It was an act of creativeadaptation withina countrysidewhose
economiclifecontinuedto be pervaded by Roman tax law. That law burdened
the peasant householdswiththeirobligations;it entitledthe churchto a shareof
theirwork;and it suppliedthe documentaryformsforsystematicinventoryand
enrolment.What was done with these inheritedassets was not predetermined.
One mightsimplifythe relationshipby long-termlease and commutation,ac-
ceptinga loss ofgrossrevenueprovidedthe returnsin gold wereincreased,as was
the practiceon the Mediterraneanshores.Whetherfromnecessityor by choice,
thosewho drewup theFrankishpolyptychstookthecourseoflookingupon them-
selves as estate managersratherthan collectorsof treasure.208
They drewnearer
to their peasants, proportionedthe size of the coloniaewhich the slaves and
tributariesheld to that of the servitiathey owed, and not only maintainedthe
dues in kindbut also providedforthe productiveuse oflabor services.The struc-
turetheycreatedin thisway set a patternforthefuture.WithFlodoard in hand,
we may be entitledto concludethat thissynthesiswas firstachievedin the open-
ing quarterof the seventhcentury.
* * *
Whetheror notfutureresearchwillconfirm thesuggestionjust made about the

birthof the "classic" seigneurieis not a matterof vital importance.The interest
thatthesepages have shownin themansusand theseigneuriehas been secondary
to theirconcernwith a much more obscuresubject, namelysixth-century taxa-
tion.It has been shownthat the iugumdid not prefigure the mansus; rather,its
use by Cassiodorusillustratesthe wide extentto whichpersonsand institutions
directlybenefitedfromtax proceeds.In thewordcondoma,moreover,the govern-
menthad alreadycoineda termdescribingits subject households,slave and free;
the termcould be used when householdswere a chargeupon the state or when
they carriedout theirduties of cultivatingthe land or performing some other
publicservice.The conclusionappears to followthat peasant householdswerenot
taxed on theirland; rather,theyfulfilled theirpersonaltax obligationto the state
by cultivatingthe soil, if that is what theywere called on to do. Finally, it has
been seen that sixth-century polyptychslisted chargesalongside the names of
propertiesand that,withoutlosingtheir"public" character,theywere available
to such landownersas the churchesof Rome and Ravenna.
Althoughtheseobservationsbear on themediaevalfuture,the area wherethey
208 For the possibilitythat necessitywas the cause, see Ptienne Fournial, lIistoiremonetaire
de
'Occidentmgdieval(Paris, 1970), p. 592:"Ces trouvailles[of the seventh century]administrentla
preuvedu repligeneralde l'economiefranque.Le commercea longuedistancetend a lui echapper.
D'une economie encore ouverte aux 6changes,on est passe aux alentoursde 650 a une economie
regionalede subsistance."

requiremostofall to be complementedis thesixthcenturyitself.The phenomena
thathave been encounteredallow us to glimpsea countryside wheretheeveryday
roundofeconomiclifewas intimatelyrelatedto tax law, but what we can see is a
trifleby comparisonwiththe remainingshadows. In a similarcontext,Immink
recoflamen(led "d'abandonner une fois pour toutes l'habitude d'appliquer les
doctrinesromanistesaux situationsqui ne s'y pretentapparemmentpas."209This
is sensible;in severalencounterswiththe orthodoxdistinctionbetween"public"
and "priv-ate"we have had occasion to confirmthe wisdom of this view. One
cannot long remaincontent,however,with simplydescribingindividualsitua-
tions. There was systemin the sixth-century countrysideand in the laws that
largelydeterminedits workings,even thoughRomanistdoctrinesare of no help
in formulating hypothesesabout what that systemwas. Side by side with re-
searchintotheoperationsof sixth-century taxes,continuedattemptswillhave to
be made to supply a widerand coherentsettingforsuch findingsas those that
have just been offered.
ADDITIONAL NOTE
The Compositionof the Episcopal Historyof Reims
In the foregoingpages, Flodoard has been spokenof as the authorof the pas-
s.agesoftheHistorythat interestus. He used archivalsources,but the summaries
are his work;it was he who had person-allyconsultedthe charters.On the whole,
this is the currentlyaccepted doctrine,enshrinedfora long time already in the
criticaledition of Heller and Waitz.210It may be correct,but one observation
forcesthis doctrineto be at least questioned.
The eightpassages quoted earlierself-evidentlyreflecta homogeneousmanner
of summarizinga certaintype of document.The paragraphsin whichthesesen-
tencesare embeddedhave the same homogeneityof style,suggestingidentityof
authorship.As a result,one cannot help being surprisedto discover that one
paragraph- one only- is copied word forword fromthe Life of Bishop St
Nivardus by Altmanof Hautvilliers.21' The attributionto Altmanof the anony-
mous Vita was made by Sigibertof Gembloux; Altmanwas a contemporaryof
Hincmar,who wrotehim a letter.212 Hence the oddityofFlodoard's History:the
eight paragraphs are homogeneous,presumablyrepresentativeof Flodoard's
mannerof summarizingthe archivesof Reims, but one of them- whollyindis-
tinguishablein style-flowed verbatimfroma hagiographywrittenabout a
centurvbeforehim.
209 "Proprieteou seigiieurie"(n. 160), p. 419

210 MGH, Scriptoresin folio,xiii, 406.
211 Flod., Hist. 2. 7, ed. cit., p. 455-6, wherethe borrowings are indicatedby smallertype; they
extenidto othersubjectsthan summariesofcharters.Vita s. Nivardi6, ed. XV.Levison, MGH, Scrip-
toresrerumMerov.,v, 163-4. Levison simplynoteditsuse by Flodoard (p. 159).
212 Sigibertof Gernbloux, De scriptoribbusecclesiasticis98, in Pat. Lat., CLX, 569. Hincmar'sletterto
Altman,summinarized by Flodoard, [lIist.3. p28,ed. cit., p. 552. We cannot be certainthat this is the
saitieAltuiarn, but the identification appears highlyprobable; apparently,Altman"aspirare velle ad
b)eieficiaet iiegociasecularia,quae noniconvenirernt eius professiorniet saluti."

Such an anomaly as thismay be explainedin severalways. The stylisticcri-

terionmay be an insufficient basis fordenyingthat Flodoard simplycopied Alt-
man and elsewherewrotelike him. Yet, in a parallelpassage concerninga period
closerto Flodoard's lifetime,the sentencesused to describeanalogous achieve-
mentshave a different sound.213 Anothercourseis to attackSigibert'sattribution
of the VitaNivardior to supposethat the Vitawe have is an augmentedversion
intowhichpassagesfromFlodoard's History wereinterpolated.Whilesuch views
shouldnot be rejectedbeforeexamination,theyhave no immediatelycompelling
force.The finalpossibilityis thatAltmanand Flodoard used a commonsource-
namelya ninth-century summaryofthearchivesofReims,or even a firstversion
ofthe episcopalhistoryof thediocese.If thisweretrue,a completelynew theory
would have to be devised regardingthe compositionof Flodoard's History. De-
velopingsuch a theoryfrominternalevidencealone would be an arduoustask.
For the purposeof discussingpolyptychs,the problemof compositionis not a
vital matter.The archivesof Reims are no less valuable if summarizedin the
ninthcenturythan in the tenth.The only dangeris that a ninth-century sum-
marizer,such as Hincmar or his clerics,mighthave been less impartialthan
Flodoard; but, at least in thiscase, a chargeofdishonestyor forgerywould have
to be laid beforeit need be considered.Flodoard's Historyis an exceptionallyin-
terestingsource and well worthfurtherstudy. The problemof its composition
awaits a solution.
CENTRE FOR MEDIEVAL STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
213 Hist. 4. 11, ed. cit., p. 576, "Replenturigiturecclesiaediversabonis uberrimistam horreaquam
promptuaria,disponunturcuncta tum rationabiliter, tum misericorditer predia,sed et quaedam re-
paranturab eo vel instituunturmunicipia." Compare the last clause with the sentencesquoted at
n. 113.


Roman Taxation To Mediaeval Seigneurie PART II

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Roman Taxation To Mediaeval Seigneurie PART II

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Medieval Academy of America

From Roman Taxation to Mediaeval Seigneurie: Three Notes (Part II)

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FROM ROMAN TAXATION TO MEDIAEVAL

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than householdsof dependentpeasants to constitutea bi-partiteseigneurie.109

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In no othercase does Flodoard so faranticipatethesourcesdirectlytransmitted

JulienIlavet, Oeuvres(Paris, 1896), i, 16Q,an(l Chlotharii11 Praeceptio11, in NIGH, Capit., i, 19

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Flodoardtestifies to a formofepiscopalactivitythatbegan in theearlyseventh

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subjectto publicburdensand the official declarations(professiones)of their

invitationto anachronism.As shownby AndreDeleage, "Les cadastresantiquesjusqu', Diocletien,"

126 391 CTh 11. 3. 5 (censualespaginae).

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nonaria generalto supposethatwhenone

trustedto is not stated.

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recorded."'A characteristic signofadministrative disorganization was thattaxes

116 uses documentis where115 writespolypticis);Cassiod., Variae 7. 45.

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144 "Zur Geschichte und Kritik der Urbarialaufzeichnungen," Sitzungsberichteder kaiserlichen

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by thistime,recordsof paymentsdue wereby no means foreignto the tax regis-

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167As above n. 187.

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40 8ol. in annual revenues.'62 Althoughthese lands mightbe supposed to come

162P. Ital. 10-11.

tionalConference ofEconomicHi8tory,Munich1965 (Paris, 1969), pp. 100-1; cf.Max Weber,op. cit.

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undernormalcircumstances, thelandlordsand thegovernment sharedit between

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The papyrusin questionhas no indicationsof provenanceor date; but all the

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been entirelynormal.In effect,all revenuesthat flowedupward fromthe land

', The confusioilextendedparticularlyto such termsas pensio,census,reditus,whichindifferently

sumption,above n. 118. Fossier,La terreetles hommesen Picardie,i, 137, illustratesthe persistence

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commute tocashtherevenues ofalltheRomanestablishments hewasresponsible

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These observationslead to themostdelicate,and possiblythemostimportant,

documentswithninth-century ones; cf.Perrin,Recherches,p. 593, n. 6.

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its lands would be in dispute.'98Consequently,the vills securelyin a bishopric's

18 Flodoard, Mist. 2. 3, 2, 4-7, 10, continuallydocumentspurchases,gifts,and exchanges. We

simultaneously hearofevindicationes, endinglawsuits(2.4-6, 10). Naturally,not all such

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Frankislordinance thatwe possesscan be relatedbackwardto lawsof382 and

delegatio;threeof the muneraappear in the extractfromLBaiuu. For legatisatqueallectis sumptus,

senseis a divisionoflaboramongtheslaves,withno idea ofhousingthemon individualplots.

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The importantpoint here is not ideological; it hardlymatteredwhetherthe

Whetheror notfutureresearchwillconfirm thesuggestionjust made about the

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209 "Proprieteou seigiieurie"(n. 160), p. 419

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Such an anomaly as thismay be explainedin severalways. The stylisticcri-

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