bentonian

Frankish travelogue: Saxony

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“The appearance of the country differs considerably in different parts; but in general it is covered either by bristling forests or by foul swamps.”1.Tacitus, Germania, bk. 5, p.104

Thus did the late first century Roman historian and ethnographer Tacitus describe the country of what we (and he, for that matter) call Germany. The part of Germany called Saxony occupied the northeast portion of the country, east of the Rhine, south of the North Sea, to the southern hills. One of the tribes that occupied this area became known as Saxons, around the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire. We know the Saxons as one of the three tribes who began crossing that sea and invading Britain, along with the Angles and the Jutes, those the Venerable Bede called “the three most formidable races of Germany.”2.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, bk. I, ch. 15, p. 63.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Tacitus, Germania, bk. 5, p.104
↑2 Bede, Ecclesiastical History, bk. I, ch. 15, p. 63.

A thatched roof over one’s head

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Uncovering the lives of the common folk throughout history is never easy. While we may never know what the common man and woman was thinking in the eighth century, we do have some little information about how they lived. We’ve looked at food and drink, and now let’s look at their home sweet homes.

First let’s get the obvious out of the way – they built with what was available, which meant wood, and wood doesn’t last long unless it is preserved under unusual natural circumstances. Add that fact to the lamentable dearth of documentation that refers, in any way, to the life of the masses, and you’re going to come up short of everything you might want to know. But there is enough to catch a glimpse of an early medieval village through the fog of an otherwise dark age…

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For want of a nail…

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Horses have been an integral component of civilization’s progress for at least five thousand years, and it is only in our modern, Western, industrial and post-industrial age that the horse has become an object solely of sport and play. In the eighth century the horse was an essential element of agriculture, war, and social status. Let’s start our survey with a look at what the law codes had to say about horses.

The Salic Law contains four chapters specific to horses. These include “On Mounting a Horse Without the Consent of Its Owner,” which called for a massive fine of 30 solidi. There was also “Concerning the Theft of Horses and Mares,” “On Skinning a Dead Horse Without the Consent of Its Owner,” and “Concerning Stolen Horses.” Other chapters mention horses in the context of other offenses against animals.1.Laws of the Salian Franks, pp.85, 99, 125, and 205.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Laws of the Salian Franks, pp.85, 99, 125, and 205.

Eternal Jerusalem

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When medieval Europe was young, Jerusalem was already ancient. As laborers laid the first stones of the great pyramid of Giza, fifty generations of Jerusalemites had come and gone. After another twenty-five centuries a rustic carpenter’s son started throwing tables around at the Jewish temple located on the city’s high ground. Then another eight centuries or so went by, before a son was born to an usurper king in Europe, who would go on to found the empire that would bear his name.

Jerusalem occupied a special place in the minds and souls of eighth century Europeans. Constantinople was the other great eastern city known (if any would have been known), it was regarded more as the seat of the ‘other’ Christian empire, the palace that gave orders to popes. A rival power.

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Wandering, heretic priests, of course

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The classic ‘wandering minstrel’ was not the only itinerant non-peasant to roam the roads of western Europe in the eighth century. Priests and other religious were also known to travel from town to village, preaching to the faithful. These wandering priests were not looked upon with favor by the authorities. They disrupted the ‘natural’ order of things, by drawing the common folk away from the established churches (and thereby interrupting the flow of tithes), as well as preaching a message different from what the church establishment preferred.

Charlemagne did not like people to wander. He wanted everyone to sit down, stay put, and get to work. Chapter three of the “General Admonition” capitulary of 769 expressly states, “fugitive clerics and peregrini [pilgrims] are not to be received or ordained by anyone without a letter of commendation, and authorisation, from their bishop or abbot.”1.King, Translated Sources, p.210.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 King, Translated Sources, p.210.