ABSTRACT
EVERY study of the seigneurie must have its point of departure in the early Middle Ages. This is not to deny that the institution is not in fact much older; we shall try to explore its deepest roots in the appropriate place. But it is only in the eighth and ninth centuries, when documents (charters, laws, and above all the invaluable seigneurial inventories known as polyptiques) become relatively plentiful, that a comprehensive picture begins to emerge with a clarity unattainable for centuries more remote.
