“Commandment” is a Latin word that comes from the verb commendare, meaning “recommend”, “entrust”, “charge”. In the early Middle Ages, there was a procedure that established loyalty relations between lords and their warriors. It was made out by a comment.
Another Latin word - “precarius” is formed from the adjective precarius, which means “transient”, “temporary”. In the Middle Ages, it was used to signify the establishment of relations between large and small landowners.
Further such concepts as “command” and “precarius” will be considered in detail.
Loyalty relationship
Commandment is a procedure in the history of Western Europe, performed as a symbol of establishing fidelity of soldiers to their lord. At the same time, the latter became vassals. In feudal society, these are landowners who, depending on their possessions, depended on the overlord. They swore an oath to him and had certain obligations and duties before him, including monetary and military.
For the first time such a documented ceremony was held in the 7th century in France. But vassalism relations themselves arose earlier; they preceded the formation of the nobility as a class.
Two main types
The act of commandment had two varieties:
- The first of them involved the recognition by the vassal of the subordination of power to his lord. She was accompanied by a homage (oath of allegiance), as well as the conclusion of a vassal contract.
- The second was the act of subjugation of free but ruined people to the power of a large landowner. Entering under the auspices of the more “strong” and richer, the more “weak” people first fell into the land, and later into personal dependence on a large feudal lord. According to some information, this procedure concerned only peasants, according to others - only the military estate fell under it. In some cases, people who were born not free were also allowed to visit it, and after that they passed into the category of free.
For a better understanding that this is a “command”, you should consider in more detail such a component as homage.
Hominium
This is another name for homage, Latin. This procedure was symbolic, being the oath that formalized the conclusion of the vassal contract. Outwardly, it looked as follows. First, a man who became a vassal, freed from weapons, fell to one knee. (It should be noted that only slaves and serfs became two knees).
The head of the future vassal was uncovered. He approached the gentleman, who met him either standing or sitting. A man joined his palms together and put them in the palms of the future overlord. At the same time, he set out a request for his admission to vassals. Then the overlord lifted him, exchanging a kiss with him on the lips, which was called the "kiss of the world."
Beginning in the 8th century, the oath of allegiance also began to be included in homage. Until the 11th century, the connection that arose after the hominium was predominantly personal. Subsequently, this ceremony was accompanied by investiture, which meant the transfer to the vassal of the lord of the land fund, the so-called Lena.
Having considered that this is a “command”, we should also move on to the second concept being studied.
Precarius
It is understood as the transfer of land for use in the Middle Ages from a large landowner to a landless or landless person. It happened at the written request of the recipient of the land (baker) either for life or for several years. For this, he was obliged to pay the rent, and sometimes work on corvee in favor of the owner.
The precarius was the most common way in which free peasants were drawn into feudal dependence. Renouncing ownership of the land, the baker became its holder. Thus he became addicted. This procedure was especially widespread in the 8th-9th centuries.
Varieties
There were three types of precaria:
- The. He suggested that the owner grant the land to the petitioner.
- Granted. With this variety, the small landowner donated his land to the larger owner. Most often it was a church. This was done under the pressure of circumstances that could be need, as well as the use of force. After this, the donor received the same land back, but not as his property, but as a precarius. He received it for life or hereditarily for one, several generations.
- With reward. The large landowner who provided the precari added one more piece of land to it, in addition to being previously the property of the recipient, which was most often uncultivated. This type prevailed on church lands.
Thus, the two processes considered — commandment and precarius — were two varieties of the ways in which small landowners and landless peasants were involved in feudal dependence.