2'«i S. VIII. Oct. 2d. '59.} 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



361 



1601, in a crown grant, I find amongst the general 

 VTords following the specific description of the 

 manors granted, the terms " natives, nativas, ac 

 villanos, cum eorum sequela." In 1684, a writer 

 states that " villeins in gross are now quite worn 

 out, and in process of time became like other 

 men." Yet it is asserted that, to a very recent date, 

 many of the labourers in collieries in Scotland 

 continued to be glebce adscripti, and not at liberty 

 to hire elsewhere without the owner's consent. 



M. (1.) 



The power of the master over his slave, the 

 slave's property and progeny, was absolute and 

 uncontrolled. The spirit of the old English law 

 on this subject is thus expressed by Glanville, 

 lib. v. c. 5. : — 



" Notandum est, quod non potest aliquis in Villenagio 

 positus libertatem suana propriis denariis suis quserere. 

 Posset enim tunc a domino suo secundum jus et consue- 

 tudinem Kegni ad Villenagium revocari, quia omnia ca- 

 talla cujuslibet Nativi ita intelliguntur esse in potestate 

 domini sui, quod propriis denariis suis versus dominum 

 snum a villenagio se redimere non poterit." 



The same principle of the absolute dominion of 

 the master over the property of his slaves is illus- 

 trated in this provision of the law of the Bavarians, 

 Tit. XV. chap. vii. : — 



" Si quis servus de peculi« suo fuerit redemptus, et hoc 

 dominus ejus forte nescierit, de domini potestate non 

 exeat, quia non pretium, sed res servi sui, dum ignorat, 

 accepit," 



The preceding passages are quoted from Pot- 

 giesser, De Statu Servorum, p. 534. 



From p. 533. I take the following extract : — 



"... Servis nihil juris in rebus fuisse suis, sed omnia 

 ad dominum pertinuisse. Id quod porro ex eo consequi- 

 tur, quod servi cum omni supellectile et jumentis suis in 

 alios alienarentur. Exempla prostant in Traditionibus 

 Fuldensibus, ubi in Charta anni dcclxxix. duo itiancipia 

 cum eorum supellectile traduntur, et in alia anni Dccxcvi. 

 Ernustus donatEcclesiseFuldensi haereditatem suum cum 

 mancipiis, eorumque supellectile, jumentis et animalibus. 

 In alia charta anni dcccxx. Reinfriht transfert manci- 

 pia cum filiis, pecoribus, domibus, et cum omnibus uten- 

 silibus." 



I refrain from making farther extracts in reply 

 to the Queries of A. A. ; but can assure him he 

 will find much that will interest him in the fol- 

 lowing chapters of Potgiesser : "De potestate do- 

 minorum in servorum conjugia;" "De potestate 

 dominorum permutandi servos;" "De potestate 

 dominorum vendendi servos;" "De jure domin- 

 orum in bona servorum viventium;" " De jure 

 dominorum in bona servorum demortuorum ;" 

 lib. ii. chaps, ii. iiL iv. x. and xi. 



W. B. Mac Cabe. 



Yorkshire, Cotton MS., Vitell. C. vi., written 

 1396-7. : 



" Walterus filius Petri de Spineto dedit nobis, cmn 

 corpore suo apud nos sepeliendo, uuuani boratum terre in 

 Hornsburtone, et Henricum filiura Symonis ipsum te- 

 nenteni cum sequela sua." 



One of the De Thornes was a leader against 

 the Scots, temp. Edward I. Senex. 



In reference to serfdom in " N, & Q." of 1 Oct., 

 the following occurs sixteen years later. In a 

 list of persons who gave lands to Meaux Abbey, 



d&tjflitS to ;^mar <l^utrUi. 



Seal Inscription (2"* S, viii. 311.) — I agree with 

 the editor that it can be referred to none other 

 church than that of Menigoutte. The usual in- 

 dication of the omission of a former s would be a 

 circumflex — Menigoute ; but the present mode of 

 spelling it with a double t indicates, I think, the 

 same. Still the difficulty remains — how can so 

 insignificant a church be supposed to have had a 

 treasurer and a Chapter and a corporate seal ? It 

 never was a place of any consequence. At pre- 

 sent, indeed, though it is the chef -lieu of a canton, 

 it has but 850 inhabitants ; and the church is not 

 even a mere eglise ; it is a succursale, or, as we 

 should call it, a chapel of ease to the church of 

 Vasles. John Williams. 



Arno's Court, 



[We acknowledge the difficnitj' suggested by our cor- 

 respondent, and can offer only a conjectural solution. 

 Menigouste, Menigoute, or Menigoutte, is placed by 

 Expilly in the domain (chatellenie) of S. Maixant, from 

 which place it is distant about 2^ leagues. Now, ac- 

 cording to Valesius {Notit. Gall.) there was formerly in 

 Poitou a Monastery called " S. Maxentii Monasterium," 

 or " Cellula Maxentii ; " and the exact position of this 

 monastery, though it seems to have been, like Meni- 

 gouste itself, not very far from S. Maixant, is undeter- 

 mined. " Nomen proprinm loci in quo Monasterium 

 Maxentius exstruxit, Gregorius scire nos noluit : cujus 

 hsec verba sunt. ' Erat in his diebus vir laudabilis 

 sanctitatis Maxentius Abbas, redusus in Monasterio suo 

 . . . cujus Monasterii nomen lectioni non indidimus, quia 

 locus ille usque hodie Cellula S. Maxentii vocatur.'" 

 There is of course no difficulty in supposing that this 

 monastery of unknown site would have both a " trea- 

 surer," a" " Chapter," and a " corporate seal." Can it, 

 then, have been in its day that identical capitular " Ec- 

 clesia de Manigouste," which we find recorded on the 

 seal, and which Manigouste does not appear in more re- 

 cent times to have possessed? This idea is merely thrown 

 out for consideration. Let us, however, bear in mind that 

 a monastery was frequently called a church {Ecclesia). 

 Thus the monastery at Abingdon, " Monasterium de 

 Abingdon," was also termed " Ecclesia de Abbendona," 

 " Ecclesia de Abbendonia," &c. {Chron. 3Ion. de Ab. 

 II. 95. 85.) In like manner a monastery at Menigouste 

 might be called (as in the inscription) " Ecclesia de 

 Menigouste." — But no question of this kind can be satis- 

 factorily determined without local knowledge, and we 

 shall be glad to receive farther information on the sub- 

 ject.] 



Ahdias Ashton : Robert Hill (2"^^ S. viii. 336.)— 

 Abdias Asheton (no doubt the chaplain of the 

 Earl of Essex) became a Fellow of St. John's 

 College in 1589. Lewis's authority (for the state- 



