On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
Church , and the choicest possessions v ? ere dismembered , t 6 have the saint of a monastery among their heirs . They knew not other than that they gave to God when they enriched his servant ;—but even to him the obligation was not remitted which was attached to every landed property ; just the same as every other , lie was obliged to produce his vassals when a summons went forth , and the laity demanded that the first in
rank should also be first at the rendezvous . Since every thing which was alienated to the Church , was transferred to it for ever , end irrevocablv , therefore the church property differed ao far from the fiefs which were of the laity , and which returned into the hand of the effieffer after the expiration of their terms : but approached to these fiefs in another respect , that they were not , like freeholds , transmitted from father to son—* because the lord of the soil interfered , at the demise of each
possessor for the time being , and exercised his feudal power by the investiture of the bishop . Thus we might describe the possessions of the Church as freeholds in respect of the property itself , which never reverted ; and benefices in respect of the possessor for the time being , whom election , "not birth , determined—he attained them in way of investiture , and enjoyed them as freehold .
Th « re was yet a fourth kind of possession , which was held upon feudal tenure , and to which , consequently , the feudal obligations attached . To the general who , upon his retained territories , might now be called King , remained the right of appointing chiefs over the people , of settling disputes , or of appointing judges , and of maintaining the public peace and order . This right and this duty was preserved to him even after their perfect settlement , and in peace , because the nation always retained its martial
institutions . He therefore appointed chiefs over the countries , whose duty it was both to lead forth in war the troops which his province furnished to the field ; and , since he could not be present in every place to administer justice and to settle disputes , he was obliged to multipl y himgelf , that is , to cause himself to be represented in the different districts by authorities
who there exercised , m his name , supreme judicial power . Thus he set Dukes over provinces—Margraves over the borders —Counts over the Counties—Centgrafs * over the smaller districts , and so on ; and these dignities were possessed like the landed properties in fee . They were as little hereditary as the fiefs , and like them the lord of the soil coukl transfer
them from one to another at his pleasure . These dignities bein ^ held in fee , certain imposts a ^ o , such as fines , tolls , and the like , were surrendered as fiefs .
• £ qnir % l « nt to th « b « ili ( f » of Huudredi .
Untitled Article
Mt A Review of the Stale of Europe
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1836, page 342, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2658/page/14/
-