32 THE GREEN RISING 



protest against them, many peasant village commu- 

 nities were able to force the granting of charters 

 from their overlords. The final result of the Hun- 

 dred Years' War, therefore, was the decrease in the 

 powers of the landlords and the increase in the in- 

 dependence of the village communities. 



War, famine, and disease increased the dependence 

 of the central governmental authorities throughout 

 the fifteenth century, which resulted in greater free- 

 dom of action on the part of the producing class. 

 The French kings adopted the policy of ignoring 

 the landlords and extending favor to the peasants. 

 This situation was in marked contrast to the situa- 

 tion in England, where the lords and the Crown 

 usually stood together in all matters affecting the 

 rights of the peasants. Henry IV, Louis XIII, and 

 Louis XIV were notable examples of French kings 

 who interceded in behalf of the peasants. They 

 took an active interest in securing common rights for 

 the peasants in the forests, and in more than one 

 instance they forbade landlords to impose arbitrary 

 aids and tolls and issued decrees denying them the 

 right to shoot and hunt on sown land. Louis XIV 

 severely punished landlords who inflicted arbitrary 

 punishment on some of their tenants. 



After the close of the Middle Ages absentee land- 

 lordism increased in France. Absenteeism was gen- 

 erally advantageous to the peasant farmer. Most 

 of the landlords who remained on their estates were 

 far too poor to be a menace to their tenants. a Ab- 



