V I L 



V I L 



of Portugal, in Alcntejo, containing two pafifli churches, 

 eight convents, and about 3700 inhabitants. In the neighbour- 

 hood is dug feme beautiful green marble. Near it is a royal 

 palace, with a park ; 97 miles N.E. of Evora. N. lat. 

 38° 39'. W. long. 7= 12'. 



Villa Ficiofa, a town of Spain, in the province of Cor- 

 dova ; 25 miles N.N.W. of Cordova. — Alfo, a town of 

 South America, in the province of Quito ; lo miles S.E. of 



Quito Alfo, a fea-port town of Spain, in the province of 



Afturias, fituated at the bottom of a bay of the Atlantic ; 

 30 miles N.E. of Oviedo. 



Villa Vieja, a town of Spain, in Old Caftile ; 34 miles 

 E. of Burgos. 



Villa Regis, or Rtgla, a title anciently given to thofe 

 villages where the kings of England had a royai feat, and 

 held the manor in their own demefne ; having there com- 

 monly a free chapel exempt from the bifhop's jurifdiftion. 



VILLABAR, in Geography, a town of Portugal, in 

 the province of Tras 03 Montes ; 15 miles S.E. of Miran- 

 dela. 



VILLACANAS, a town of Spain, in New Caftile ; 

 32 miles E.S.E. of Toledo. 



VILLACASTIN, a town of Spain, in Old Caftile ; 

 J 8 miles W.S.W. of Segovia. 



VILLACERF, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Aude ; 8 miles N.W. of Troyes. 



VILLACH, a town of the duchy of Carinthia, on the 

 right fide of the Drave. Near the town are fome medicinal 

 baths; 18 miles W. of Clagenfurt. N. lat. 46^ 43'. E. 

 long. 13° 39'. 



VILLACO, a town of the ifland of Corfica, in the 

 diffrift of Corte. 



VILLACURI, a town of Peru, in the audience of 

 Lima ; 12 miles E.S.E. of Pifco. 



VILLADA, a town of Spain, in the province of Leon ; 

 27 miles N.W. of Palencia. 



VILLUS Prepositus. See Prepositus. 

 VILLAFAFILA, in Geography, a town of Spain, in 

 the province of Leon ; 20 miles N.N.E. of Zamora. 



VILLAFELICHE, a town of Spain, in the kingdom of 

 Aragon ; 3 miles N. of Daroca. 



VILLAFREDDA, a town of Naples, in Lavora ; 9 

 miles N.N.W. of Sezza. 



VILLAFRIA, a town of Spain, in Guipufcoa ; i2miles 

 E.S.E. of Trevigno. 



VILLAGE, Villa, or Fill, an aflemblage of houfes, 

 inhabited chiefly by peafants and farmers, having ufually a 

 church, but no market. 



The word is French, formed of -vil, or vilis, low, mean, 

 contemptible : or rather, from the Latin mlla, a country -houfe, 

 or farm. 



The want of a market diftingui/hes a •village from a to-wn, 

 as the church does from a green, Jlreet, &c. Among our 

 Saxon anceftors, •uill, or village, was ufed in the fenfe of the 

 Roman villa; -uiz. for a country farm, or feat, furnifhed 

 with convenient outhoufes, &c. for repofiting the fruits 

 thereof. Afterwards it came to be taken for a manor ; and 

 then for part of a parifh, or the parifh itfelf. 



Hence, in feveral ancient law-books, •uill and parijh are 

 the fame thing : accordingly, Fortefcue de Laudibus Leg. 

 Ang. writes, " That the boundaries of villages are not by 

 houfes, ftreets, or walls ; but by a large cucuit of ground, 

 within which may be divers hamlets, waters, woods, &c." 



Fleta makes this difference between a manjion, a •village 

 and a manor ; that a manfion may confift cf one, or more 

 houfes ; tliough there is only to be one dwelling-place, with- 

 out any other very near it : for if other houfes be conti- 



guous, it is then a village. A manor may confift of one or 

 more villages. 



For the better government of villages, the lord of the 

 foil has ufually a power to hold a couit-baron every three 

 weeks. 



The ftatute of Exeter, 14 Edw. I., makes frequent men- 

 tion of entire-vills, demi-vills, and hamlets. 



Entire-vills, fir H. Spelman conjeftures to have confifted 

 of ten freemen, or frank-pledges, demi-vills of five, and ham- 

 lets of lefs than five. See Town. 



Village Bay, in Geography, a bay on the weft coaft of 

 Africa. S. lat. 14° 25'. 



VILLAGRA, a town of Spain, in the province of 

 Leon; 17 miles N. of Rio Seco. 



VILLAIN, or Villein, Villanus, in our Ancient Cuf- 

 toms, the fame with landman : c?lled alfo, in Domefday- 

 book, fervus, Jlave. 



A villain was one who held lands in •villenage, or on con- 

 dition of rendering bafe fervices to his lord. 



Under the Saxon government, there was, as fir William 

 Temple fpeaks, a fort of people in condition of downright 

 fervitude, employed in the moft fervile works, and belong- 

 ing, they, their children and effefts, to the lord of the foil, 

 like the reft of the cattle or ftock upon it. Thefe leem to 

 have been thofe who held what was called x\x folk-land, from 

 which they were removeable at the lord's pleafure. On the 

 arrival of the Normans here, it feems not improbable, that 

 they, who were ftrangers to any other than the feodal ftate, 

 might give fome fparks of enfranchifement to fuch wTetched 

 perfons as fell to their fhare, by admitting them, as well as 

 others, to the oath of fealty, which conferred a right of 

 proteftion, and raifed the tenant to a kind of ftate fuperior 

 to downright flavery, but inferior to every other condition. 

 This they called ■villenage, and the tenants •villains, either 

 from the word Ww, or elfe, as fir Edward Coke tells us, a 

 villa, becaufe they Uved chiefly in villages, and were em- 

 ployed in ruftic works of the moft fordid kind : hence they 

 were alfo denominated pagenfes and rujlici. Thefe villains, 

 belonging principally to lords of manors, were either villains 

 regardant, by the civilians called gleba addiBi or afcriptitii, 

 that is, annexed to the manor or land ; or elfe they were in 

 grofs, or at large, that is, annexed to the perfon of the lord, 

 and transferrable from one owner to another. They could 

 not leave then- lord without his permifGon ; but if they ran 

 away, or were purloined from him, might be claimed and 

 recovered by aftion, hke beafts or other chattels. They 

 held indeed fmall portions of land by way of fuftaining' 

 themfelves and families ; but it was at the mere wiU of the 

 lord, who might difpoflefs them whenever he pleafed ; and 

 it was upon villain fervices, that is, to carry out dung, to 

 hedge and ditch the lord's demefnes, and any other the 

 meaneft offices ; and their fervices were not only bafe, but 

 uncertain both as to time and quantity. A villain could 

 acquire no property either in lands or goods ; but if he 

 purchafed either, the lord might enter upon them, ouft the 

 villain, and feize them to his own ufe, unlefs he contrived 

 to difpofe of them again before the lord had feiied them ; 

 for the lord had then loft his opportunity. In many places 

 alfo, a fine was payable to the lord, if the villahi prcfumed 

 to marry his daughter to any one without leave from the 

 lord ; and by the common law, the lord alfo niiglit bring 

 an aftion againft the hufband for damages in thus purloining 

 his property. For the -children of villains were alfo in the 

 fame ftate of bondage with their parents ; whence they are 

 called in Latin nativi, whence the female appeDation of a 

 villain, who was called a neife. In cafe of a marriage be- 

 tween a freeman and a neife, or a villain and a free-woman, 



the 



