Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/218

182 Readings in European History The abbot acknowl- edges that homage has been rendered. 85. Rules for homage and fealty established by St. Louis. handed over to thee and to the said monastery of St. Mary of Grasse and to thy successors. I, therefore, the aforesaid Lord Leo, by the grace of God abbot of St. Mary of Grasse, receive the homage and fealty for all fiefs of castles and manors and places which are described above, in the way and with the agreements and understandings written above ; and likewise I concede to thee and thy heirs and their successors, the viscounts of Carcassonne, all the castles and manors and places afore- said, as a fief, along with this present charter. . . . And I promise by the religion of my order to thee and thy heirs and successors, viscounts of Carcassonne, that I will be a good and faithful lord concerning all those things described above. . . . Made in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord mo, in the reign of Louis [VI]. Seal of Bernard Atton, viscount of Carcassonne, seal of Raymond Mantellini, seal of Peter Roger of Barbazan, seal of Roger, son of the said viscount of Carcassonne, seal of Peter de Vitry, seal of Trencavel, son of the said viscount of Carcassonne, seal of William Hugo, seal of Lord Abbot Leo, who has accepted this acknowledgment of the homage of the said viscount. And I, the monk John, have written this charter at the command of the said lord Bernard Atton, viscount of Car- cassonne, and of his sons, on the day and year given above, in the presence and witness of all those named above. If any one should hold from a lord in fee, he ought to seek his lord within forty days, and if he does not do it within forty days, the lord may and ought to seize his fief for default of homage, and the things which should be found there he should seize without return, and yet the vassal would be obliged to pay to his lord the redemption. When any one wishes to enter into the fealty of a lord he ought to seek him, as we have said above, and should say as follows: "Sir, I request you, as my lord, to put me in your fealty and in your homage for such and such a thing situated in your fief, which I have obtained." And he ought to say