1250. 1250. Letter to Earl Richard. Matthew Paris, II, 366–368. Ibid., II, 383-386. Letter of John, his Chancellor, to Richard, Earl of Cornwall. 1250. (August.) Letter of St. Louis to his Subjects. Michaud, III, 458-464. 1252. (May 2.) Letter of Joseph of Cancy, Treasurer of the House of the Hospital of Jerusalem, at Acre, to Walter of St. Martin's. Matthew Paris, III, 420–422. Letter of William of Orleans to Richard, Bishop of Chichester. Ibid., II, 504. 1281. Letter from Sir Joseph de Cancy, Knight of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, to King Edward I. 1252. Published by the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, London, 1888. The editor does not venture to hope that this list is complete. But even an incomplete list may be of use to teachers. Some short, unimportant letters have been omitted. In the "Letters of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux," published in the Catholic Standard Library, by Hodges, London, there are several letters relative to the Crusades (especially numbers 175 and 363) which are useful. In "Godeffroy of Bologne; or, The Siege and Conquest of Jerusalem, by William, Archbishop of Tyre, translated from the French by William Caxton," edited by Mrs. Mary Noyes Colvin, and published by the Early English Text Society, London, 1893, there are several letters, especially on pages 76 and 86. I. DECREE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ABOLISHING THE FEUDAL SYSTEM, AUGUST 11, 1789. Buchez et Roux, Histoire Parlementaire II, 259 ff. The abolition of the Feudal System, which took place during the famous night session of August 4 and 5, 1789, was caused by the reading of a report on the misery and disturbances in the provinces, and was carried in a fervor of enthusiasm and excitement which made some later revision necessary. The decree here given was drawn up during the following days, and contains some alterations and important amplifications of the original provisions as passed in the early morning of August 5.1 This document, as well as numbers II. and VI., are as useful, retrospectively, in clarifying the student's ideas of the Ancien Régime as in explaining the new system. ARTICLE I. The National Assembly hereby completely abolishes the feudal system. It decrees that, among the existing rights and dues, both feudal and censuel, all those originating in or representing real or personal serfdom (mainmorte) or personal servitude, shall be abolished without indemnification. All other dues are declared redeemable, the terms and mode of redemption to be fixed by the National Assembly. Those of the said dues which are not extinguished by this decree shall continue to be collected until indemnification shall take place. II. The exclusive right to maintain pigeon-houses and dove-cotes is abolished. The pigeons shall be confined during the seasons fixed by the community. During such periods they shall be looked upon as game, and every one shall have the right to kill them upon his own land. III. The exclusive right to hunt and to maintain unenclosed warrens is likewise abolished, and every land owner shall have the right to kill or to have destroyed on his own land all kinds of game, observing, however, such police regulations as may be established with a view to the safety of the public. All hunting captainries, including the royal forests, and all hunting rights under whatever denomination, are likewise abolished. Provision shall be made, however, in a manner compatible with the regard due to property and liberty, for maintaining the personal pleasures of the king. 1 These may be found in the Histoire Parlementaire II., 242-3. * This refers to the cens, a perpetual due similar to the payments made by English copy-holders. |