206 



BARO N. 



1' iron. 



other with perpetual inroads and devastation, and 

 often transmitting their resentments under the name 

 of faidw or deadly feuds to succeeding generations. * 

 The history of Europe, during a period extending 

 from the seventh to the eleventh century, is little 

 more than a record of wars and excursions, under- 

 taken without a regular plan, and followed by no 

 other consequences than the declension of one great 

 family and the rise of another. In particular circum- 

 stances) too, we find the barons laying aside their 

 animosities, and mutually engaging to abstain from 

 all acts of hostility. And in these agreements, they 

 neither consulted the will of the monarch, nor were, 

 in any way, solicitous about his approbation or dis- 

 pleasure. A remarkable instance of a truce between 

 the, Earl of Gloucester and the Earl Marshall, and 

 into which Morgan, the son of Hoel, a Welsh prince, 

 was allowed to enter or not as he should think fit, is 

 given by Dr Stuart, in the Appendix to his View of 

 Society in Europe, No. 4, to which, as corrobo- 

 rative of the preceding statements, we beg leave to 

 refer our readers. 



A second privilege of the feudal lords was, that 

 of trying causes and distributing justice among their 

 vassals. This privilege seems to have belonged to 

 many of them in its fullest extent. There is a dis- 

 tinction recognised by those who have given us any 

 account of the feudal times, between what was deno- 

 ininated the high and the low justice; justice haat 

 el bus, (die el basse ; and to this distinction it is ne- 

 cessary that we attend, in order to form an accurate 

 idea of the judicial and executive powers which 

 were vested in the feudal lords. The high justice 

 comprehended offences of every description, whether 

 criminal or civil ; and especially those which were 

 punishable " ferro, fossa, et f urea," (Du Cange, voc. 

 fossa: Tacit. DeMor. German, c. 12.), while the 

 low justice was confined entirely to civil offences, and 

 even in regard to these, was limited to petty trans- 

 gressions. While all the barons claimed the right of 

 administering the low justice, some of more exten- 

 sive territory and of greater power, both claimed and 

 exercised the right of administering the high. They 

 determined causes in which the life or death of the 

 offending party was concerned. As they command- 

 ed their vassals in the field, 60 ,they settled disputes 

 and ordained punishments in the great hall of their 

 castles. It was here that the baron's court was 

 held : And as the king was often unable to interfere 

 with his nobles in the exercise of their authority, 

 and had even in some instances, as in those of rega- 

 lities and counties palatine, engaged himself never to 

 do so, the decision of that court was final. Appeals 

 were altogether unknown at the time whim the power 

 of the feudal aristocracy was at its height. But it 

 would have been in vain to determine a cause against 

 any individual without the means of carrying the 

 sentence into effect. It was therefore necessary, or 

 at least expedient, that the baron should call to his 

 assistance a number of his other vassals, both in ascer- 

 taining the extent and nature of the evil, and in award- 



ing the punishment. This was the more requisite 

 when fiefs had become perpetual, and the territorial 

 superior found himself obliged to a more cirenm- 

 spect and equitable distribution of justice among his 

 retainers. Hence arose the parr the assessor* 



or jurymen, whom all modern histor ledges 



to have been present in the baronial courts, not as 

 compurgators or witnesses, but as actual judges of 

 right and wrong. Hence too the existence of juries 

 at present; and hence that glorious maxim of British 

 law, and proudest privilege of freedom, " that no 

 man can be condemned unless after a trial by his 

 peers." Before we conclude this part of the article 

 we may observe, that in feudal tiroes, the right of 

 pardon uniformly accompanied those of judging and 

 punishment. 



A third privilege of the great barons, now at- 

 tached exclusively to royalty, was that of coining 

 money. There can be no question that they enjoyed 

 this privilege, though it has been less attended to by- 

 writers on the feudal system, than those which we have 

 mentioned. Du Cange, in his article Monet a, intro- 

 duces several documents which establish its existence, 

 and to these he adds an enumeration and description 

 of the baronial coins. The privilege alluded to was, 

 no doubt, in some degree, the result of necessity. A 

 mark, or stamp, was wanting to indicate the purity 

 and value of the meta'.s in use : the king was often 

 at a distance, little heard of, and not much regarded ; 

 but the territorial superior was always at hand, and 

 his authority within the limits of his jurisdiction was, 

 in many respects, exclusive and final. His mark, or 

 stamp, therefore, became the index to his vassals, that 

 the money which circulated among them was of the 

 proper fineness and weight. The right of coinage, 

 thus assumed and exercised, was afterwards recog- 

 nised by many of the sovereigns and parliaments of 

 Europe. It belonged to the ecclesiastical as well as 

 to the lay barons. In an agreement between Philip 

 the Fair and one of his bishops, {A. D. 1307,) the 

 words of which are quoted by Du Cange in the ar- 

 ticle already referred to, it is established that the 

 money of the bishop shall have a free circulation 

 through the whole of his diocese, and that beyond 

 the pale of his ecclesiastical authority it 6hall have 

 the same currency, " Quam Monela a/iortim baronttm 

 nostri regni habebant extra terras mas." " Quod 

 monctas ergo," infers the writer iisdevi privikgiis 

 quibus laid barones, gaudcbant espitcopi." 



Besides these privileges, now universally considered 

 as a part of the king's prerogative, the barons en- 

 joyed in most of the European countries, certain be- 

 nefits resulting from their territorial superiority. 

 These were what are denominated the feudal casual- 

 ties or incidents, of which we shall here give a short, 

 though, we trust, a distiiiGt account. They may- 

 all, without much difficulty, be traced to the nature 

 of the feudal tenure, or the condition of military ser- 

 vice on which the vassals received and held the por- 

 tions of land which the baron assigned them. When 

 the vassal was incapable by nonage, or otherwise, of 



Baton. 



. Pur Sini'lrrtg.nlc, ni/anl tic luc par r/itr!</'iin <!,- srs rimemis les Granik du Roytmmt, <i/cmil .vs nifmis ftli RtgtigeoiaU <ir 

 .,, ,;.:, n i, i prioerent da >n nrrmiim Saint Foix. Sum Rift. torn. ii. p. 88. In this, instance, ihc children were 



Le 



cd for neglecting to exercise the right of private vengeance, 



