ABSTRACT

The free peasants who cultivated these lands did not owe homage or guard-service for them, but they were obliged to pay a part of the revenue in the form of a fixed or variable rent, usually called a cens (German zins, Spanish pecho, Italian fitto) in the first, and a champart in the second case. They were not landowners in the strict sense of the term, but for the most part they enjoyed the perpetual usufruct of the land ; they had, in medieval terminology, property in use, in default of full or direct property. In certain countries-for instance, in Alsace-the peasant benefited by improvements (jus palre, or spade-right), which were held to belong to him. In France the complanteur shared the soil which had been planted with the landowner. Originally the villein held his land only by an inalienable life tenure, but contracts and customs soon transformed this peasant holding into a patrimonial possession like the fief. The villein was the true owner of the land, despite the services with which it was burdened. The majority of the free villeins of the West were able to hand on their holding to their children, like a real inheritance, by simply paying a succession due, called in France a double cens, relief, rachat, mortaille, in Spain luctuosa, in the Low Countries and in Germany mortuarium, besthaupt or vinicopium. This due was payable when the heirs entered upon possession. The land of the free villein could also be alienated, on the payment of other taxes (lods et ventes). The villein had the right of dividing it up as much as he desired and of cultivating it as he chose, unless his cultivation were subject to the champart. In most cases he benefited by the fixity of his dues, which could only be

levied at stated times, mostly consisted of products of the soil, and had often to be collected by the lord at his own expense. Accessory money payments were low. Once his rents in money (cens, oublies) or in kind (champarts, agriers, terrages) were acquitted, the villein remained in legitimate possession of the rest of his revenue.