6 Wisconsin Acadennj of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 



Cotietel and Gehiirs of the Rectitiidines. Let U3 proceed to exam- 

 ine these three classe?. 



The essential features of the Kolsetlcin-riht, according to the Rec- 

 tiiudines, are the following: the Cotseiel is explicitly spoken of as 

 a freeman, but as not paying a land tax, like the Qeneat or Vil- 

 lanus; his holding is generally five acres, and his regular obliga- 

 tions are one day's labor a week. His free status associates him 

 with the Villamts, h\x[. his obligations — labor instead of money 

 or produce — appear to show that his tenure is not one of pre- 

 scription, like that of the full member of the community, but is 

 at the lord's will. These features all point to this class as that of 

 which we are in search — fieemen who have lost their hold upon 

 the land, and who have received from their lords small and precar- 

 ious grant?. The obligation to labor one day in the week seems 

 to have been a very common one in England. In analyzing some 

 years ago the tenants of some English manors at the period of the 

 Extenia Manerii, I found a class intermediate between the Ctistit- 

 marii and the CoterelU, which it was difficult to attach positively 

 to either of these classes. These are the Lundinarii or " Mon- 

 daysmen," who had holdings ranging from two to six acres, and 

 labored one day a week throughout the year. I pointed out this 

 feature which they had in common with the Cotseiel, but did not 

 attempt at the time to pursue the subject further. 



The Gehws are described, in the same document, in terras, 

 which show that they were not a free class, and were in a rather 

 harsh condition of serfdom. Their ordinar^v obligation was two 

 days a week (besides numerous occasional services), their hold- 

 ings averaged larger than those of the cotseiel, and thej received 

 stock and seed ; but at their death everything they had was the 

 property of the lord. This last is the clearest mark of serfdom, 

 and is called mainmorte. 



We pass now to Domesday Book. The names of both the 

 classes above described are found in Domesday Book, but in very 

 small number; there are enumerated in all England 1749 cosceii 

 (a'l in the west of England), 5,054: coiarii, mostly in the south? 

 a few cotmanni and 64 Geliirs, also in the south. Of course it is 

 impossible that this handful should represent the cottagers as a 



