II. Benefice and Vassalage in the Age of Charlemagne

Abstract

A Number of important studies have been published in recent years on the subject of benefice and vassalage during the early Middle Ages, and it may consequently be worth while to re-examine some of the problems raised by the origin and early development of these two institutions. I have dealt elsewhere with, the circumstances which tended towards their union early in the eighth, century, under the early Carolingians, In this article I hope to indicate at least the principal features of the history of benefice and vassalage during the reign of Charlemagne. The Influence which Charles exercised on the public and private institutions of the Frankish state was so definite and far-reaching as fully to justify the limitation of the subject-matter of my inquiry to the space of a single reign. Unfortunately the lack of adequate sources, though less serious than for the preceding period, renders the task of tracing their history a somewhat difficult one. Although the capitularies contain a relatively large number of provisions that deal specifically with these institutions, we have very little information as to how they worked in practice. The narrative sources, with the exception of two or three texts, tell us little or nothing. We have to fall back on the evidence of charters, though even these only rarely, when dealing with a dispute or legal proceeding, throw some light on the subject. This is what we might in any case expect, for the essential feature of the entry of a person into vassalage or of the gift of a benefice was the oral act, and not any embodiment of it in writing.