154Chapter 8
their institutions, which were controlled by officers of
the crown. By the end of the thirteenth century, Philip’s
successors had acquired Languedoc, Toulouse, Poitou,
and Champagne. Only English Aquitaine and Gascony
remained outside their grasp.
The Ottonian Empire
France and England would remain the archetypical feu-
dal monarchies. In the German-speaking lands to the
east, an effort to revive the empire along feudal lines
was begun by Otto I the Great (reigned 936–973), the
victor at the Lechfeld (see map 8.3). Otto was a self-
conscious imitator of Charlemagne, though he never
sought to extend his rule over West Francia. Like
Charlemagne, he enlisted the church in his behalf,
drawing both his administrators and many of his feudal
levies from the great ecclesiastical estates. In 962 Pope
John XII crowned him emperor at Aachen in return for
his help against an Italian enemy, Berengar of Friuli, and
Otto agreed to protect the territorial integrity of the
papal states. The price for all this was imperial control
over ecclesiastical appointments. When John objected,
he was deposed and his successor was forced to take an
oath of allegiance to Otto.
These events were recorded in detail because Otto,
like Charlemagne, knew the value of a good biogra-
pher. Hroswitha of Gandersheim (c. 935–1000) was
one of the great literary figures of the age. In addition
to the Deeds of Ottoshe wrote a history of her convent,
some religious poems, and six comedies based on the
works of Terence. They are thought to be the first
dramas written in medieval times. Hroswitha did not
write in isolation but was part of a broader flowering of
literary culture and manuscript illumination amongDOCUMENT 8.6
Magna Carta
The following sections from the Magna Carta show that it was pri-
marily intended to confirm and extend the privileges of the barons, but
some of the provisions, such as number thirty-nine, had broader impli-
cations. Taken as a whole, the Great Charter set clear limits on the au-
thority of the crown, and it is easy to understand why English
revolutionaries of the seventeenth century regarded the document as one
of the foundations of English liberty. Sections two and three restrict the
crown’s ability to extort fees from its vassals when a fief is inherited.
Scutage in number twelve was a fee paid by a tenant in lieu of military
service. John and some of his predecessors had begun to levy it for other
purposes.- In the first place we have granted to God, and by
this our present charter confirmed, for us and our heirs
forever, that the English church shall be free, and shall
hold its rights entire and its liberties uninjured. - If any of our earls or barons, or others holding from
us in chief by military service shall have died, and when
he had died his heir shall be of full age and owe relief, he
shall have his inheritance by the ancient relief; that is to
say, the heir or heirs of an earl for the whole barony of an
earl a hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a baron for a
whole barony a hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a
knight, for a whole knight’s fee, a hundred shillings at
most; and who owes less let him give less according to the
ancient custom of fiefs.- If, moreover, the heir of any one of such shall be
under age, and shall be in wardship, when he comes of
age he shall have his inheritance without relief and with-
out a fine.... - No scutage or aid shall be imposed in our king-
dom except by the common council of our kingdom, ex-
cept for the ransoming of our own body, for the making
of our oldest son a knight, and for the once marrying of
our oldest daughter, and for these purposes it shall be only
a reasonable aid. - And the city of London shall have all its ancient
liberties and free customs, as well by land as by water.
Moreover, we will and grant that all other cities and bor-
oughs and villages and ports shall have all their liberties
and free customs. - No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dis-
possessed, or outlawed, or banished, or in any way de-
stroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor send upon him,
except by the legal judgments of his peers or by the law of
the land.
“Magna Carta.” Pennsylvania Translations and Reprints,pp. 6–16,
trans. Edward P. Cheyney. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1897.