[ArM5] Some more questions on laws and priviledges

[Juergen Wolter]

Sheeesh, give a man some time ... there is plenty to do between Tuesday and 
Friday.


Eivind, you figured out the basics of Occitanian feudalism quite well.

After 1209 you should of course also consider the effect of the crusade on 
every decision a lesser noble would make. Then you have two competing 
pyramids of fealty around Toulouse, one culminating in the Count of 
Toulouse, the other until January 1226 in the Montfort family, and 
afterwards in the King of France. This means that any - even temporary - 
weakening of unity and authority in a noble family could spell disaster. So 
decisions about inheritance will be aimed at keeping the family and its 
fortune together.

This will usually mean that capable legitimate sons take all, and competent 
bastards - depending on their expected loyalty to the family and their 
liege - become stewards, castellans, canons, monks or such.
But Occitanian laws are flexible, allowing also inheritance to the distaff 
side or partitioning of allodial lands, and leaving many options to handle 
special situations. A bastard might find himself married to a heiress, the 
plenipotentiary steward of a family of bickering incompetents, or the sole 
heir of an apparently doomed castle in the way of the crusaders.
For some first hand account on the noble turncoats and backstabbers during 
the Albigensian crusade you could read the Historia Albigensis of Pierre des 
Vaux-de-Cernay.  The man had to be a 200% hypocrite to even be considered 
for his task: writing the official history of the crusade. But for an 
impression of the day to day political wrangling both within the crusaders' 
and within their opponents' faction his book is still priceless, no matter 
how liberally sprinkled it is with stale jokes about 'Tolosani dolosi' and 
accounts of divine providence. After reading it you will clearly see the 
dilemmas of an Occitanian noble taking the obligation to his family 
seriously while writing his will.

About your other questions:
Elected common law reeves do not exist in the area of Toulouse or Provence - 
for lack of common law. Instead, Roman law applies - basically that of the 
Glossatores, but with many local laws and customs to also be respected.  I 
do not know local customs of Toulouse of Provence how to appoint the 
necessary overseers among the serfs. I expect that factually anyway the 
landholder appointed them.
The miller on a feudal holding - like a manor - is closely dependent of the 
landholder, without whose consent the mill could not operate. I reckon that 
a bailiff of a larger holding is usually too busy to do in addition the work 
of a miller, or even just the bookkeeping part. Either he trusts the miller 
with that, or appoints an underling to do the day to day supervision.

Kind regards,

Berengar