V I L 



N.N.W. of Molina. — Airo, a town of Spain, in New 

 Caflile ; 15 miles S. of Molina. 



VILLELOIN, or ViLLELOUP, a town of France, in 

 the department of the Indre and Loire ; 9 miles E.N.E. 

 of Loches. 



VILLEMAUR, a town of France, in the department 

 of the Aube ; 14 miles W.S.W. of Troyes. 



VILLEMONTOIS, a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Rhone and Loire ; 8 miles S.W. of Roanne. 



VILLEMUR, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Upper Garonne ; 17 miles N. of Touloufc. 



VILLENA, a town of Spain, in the province of Murcia. 

 In the neighbourhood is a morafs, from which they manu- 

 fafture fait ; 41 miles N.N.E. of Murcia. N. lat. 38° 35'. 

 W. long. 1° 2'. 



VILLENAGE, or Villainage, V'tUama, the quality 

 or condition of a villain ; which fee. 



Villenage is more particularly ufedfora fervile kind of te- 

 nure of lands or tenements ; by which the tenant was bound 

 to do all fuch fervices as the lord commanded, or were fit for 

 a villain to perform : which Brafton exprefles by " fciri 

 non poterit vefpere, quale fervitium fieri debet mane." 



V illenage is divided into that by blood, and that by tenure. 

 Tenure, in villenage, could make no freeman a villain, unlefe 

 it were continued time out of mind ; nor could free land 

 make a villain free. 



Villenage is alfo divided, by Brafton, into pure villenage, 

 where the fervices to be performed were bafe in their nature, 

 and indeterminate and arbitrary as to the time and quantity, 

 as above cxpreffed ; from which ancient tenures have fprang 

 our prefent copyhold tenures : and focage or privileged vil- 

 lenage, where the fervice was bafe in its nature, but reduced 

 to a certainty : which was to carry the lord's dung into his 

 fields, to plow liis ground on certain days, to fow and 

 reap his corn, &c. and even to empty his Jakes : as the 

 inhabitants of Bifton were bound to do to the lord of 

 Cluncaftle, in Shropfhire ; which was afterwards turned 

 into a rent, now called BiHonJilver ; and the villainous fer- 

 vice exc\ifed. 



This laft fpecies of villenage, fays Brafton, is fuch as has 

 been held of the kings of Enj;land from the Conqueft 

 downwards ; that the tenants herein villana faciunt fervitia, 

 fed certa l^ determinata ; that they cannot alien or transfer 

 their tenements by grant or feoffment, any more than pure 

 villains can ; but mult furrender them to the lord or his 

 fteward, to be again granted out and held in villenage. From 

 tUgfe circumftances, fays judge Blackdone, we may coUedt, 

 that what he thus defcribes is no other than an exalted fpecies 

 of copyhold fubfilling at this day, -viz,, the tenure in ancient 

 demejne : to which, as partaking of the bafenefs of villenage 

 in the nature of its fervices, and the freedom of focage in 

 their certainty, he has given the compound name of ■villanum 

 focagium. This ancient demefne, or'demain, confills of lands 

 or manors, which, though now perhaps granted out to 

 private fubjefts, were aftually in the hands of the crown in 

 the time of Edward the Confeifor, or William the Con- 

 queror ; and fo appear to have been by the great furvey 

 called Domefday-book. Some of the tenants of thefe 

 lands continued for a long time ^)ure and abfolute villains, 

 dependent on the will of the lord ; and tliofe who fucceeded 

 them in their tenures now differ from common copyholders 

 in a few pwuts. Others were in a great meafure enfran- 

 chifed by royal favour ; being only bound in rcfpeft of 

 their lands to perform fome of the better fort of villain fer- 

 vices, and thofe determinate and certain ; as, to plough the 

 king's land, to fupply his court with provifions, and the 

 like ; all of which are now changed into pecuniary rents ; 



Vol. XXXVIL 



V I L 



and in confideration of thefe they had many privileges and 

 immunities grl?ited to them ; as to try the right of their 

 property in a pecuhar court of their own, called a court of 

 ancient demefne, by a peculiar procefs, denominated a writ 

 of r{ght clofe ; not to pay toll or taxes ; not to contribute 

 to the expences of knights of the (hire ; not to be pnt on 

 juries, and the like. Thefe tenants, though their tenure be 

 abfolutely copyhold, have an interell equivalent to a freehold ; 

 for their fervices were fixed, and they could not be com- 

 pelled [ like pure villains ) to relinquifh thefe tenements at 

 the lord's will, or to hold them againft their own ; and 

 idea, fays Brafton, dicuntur liberi. Britton alfo, from this 

 their freedom, calls them abfolutely foiemans, and their 

 tenure, fokemanries. The fame name is alfo given them in 

 Fleta. Lands holden by this tenure are a fpecies of copy- 

 hold, and as fuch, preferved and exempted from the opera- 

 tion of the ftatute of Charles IL ; yet they differ from 

 common copyholds, principally in the privileges before- 

 mentioned : as alfo they differ from freeholds by one 

 fpecial mark and tindlure of villenage, noted by Brafton, 

 and remaining to this day, ixz. that they cannot be con- 

 veyed from man to man by the general common law con- 

 veyances of feoffment, and the refl ; but mufl pafs by fur- 

 render to the lord or his fteward, in the manner of common 

 copyholds : yet with this difference, that, in the furren<lers 

 of thefe lands in ancient demr ne, it is not ufcd to fay " to 

 hold at the will of the lord" in their copies ; but only " to 

 hold according to the cuftom of the manor." Blackftone's 

 Com. book ii. &«. 



VILLENEUVE, in Geography, a town of Switzerland, 

 in the canton of Berne, fituated at the eaftern extremity of 

 the lake of Geneva, about three miles from the mouth of 

 the Rhone ; celebrated for its trout filhery ; 15 miles 



E.S.E. of Laufanne. N. lat. 46° 25'. E. long. 6° 46' 



Alfo, a town of France, in the department of the Allicr ; 



8 miles N.W. of Moulins Alfo, a town of France, in the 



department of the Tarn ; 8 miles N.W. of Alby Alfo, 



a town of France, ^'n the department of the Herault, on the 



Grand Canal ; 3 miles S.E. of Beziers Alfo, a tovfn of 



France, in the department of the Aveiron ; 6 miles N. of 

 Villcfranche. — Alfo, a town of France, in the department 

 of the Seine and Oife ; 9 miles S.E. of Paris. 



ViLLENEUVE iPyigen, a town of France, and principal 

 place of a diftrid, in the department of the Lot and 

 Garonne; 12 miles N. of Agen. N. lat. 44" 24'. E. 

 long. 48'. 



ViLLENEUVE I' Archeveque, a town of France, in tb* de- 

 partment of the Yonne ; 21 miles W.S.Wj, of Troyes. 



ViLLENEUVE lez, Avignon, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Gard, on the weft fide of the RhG'ne, op- 

 pofite Avignon ; 21 miles N.E. of Nifmes. 



ViLLENEUVE de Berg, a town of France, and feat of a 

 tribunal, in the department of the Ardeche ; I 2 miles S. of 

 Privas. N. lat. 44° 3-I'. E. long. 4° 35'. 



ViLLENEUVE la Garcnnc, a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of Paris ; 3 miles N. of Paris. 



ViLLENEUVE la GuyarJ, a town of France, in the dciiart- 

 ment of the Yonne ; I - miles N.N.W. of Sens. 



ViLLENEUVE de Marfan, a town of Fr.ince, in the 

 department of the I.andes ; 9 milci E. of Mont-de- 

 MarfjTi. 



ViLLENEUVE /<• Roy, or Villfneuvc-fnr-Tonn/; a town of 

 France, in the department of the Yonne, on the Yonne ; 

 2 polU N.W. of .loigiiy. 



Vjlleneuve St. George, a town of France, it^thc dep.irt- 

 mcnt of the Yonne, on the Yonne, uppofitu Villencure-le- 

 Roy. 



A a VILLE- 



