Medieval and modern times : an introduction to the history of western Europe form the dissolution of the Roman empire to the present time . as he had done in the Middle Ages, the only mill, winepress, or oven within a certain district, and could require everyone to make use of these and pay him a share of the when a peasant owned his land, the neighboring lordusually had the right to exact one fifth of its value every timeit was sold. The nobles, too, enjoyed the exclusive privilege Of hunting,which was deemed an aristocratic pastime. The game whichthey preserved for their amuseme
Medieval and modern times : an introduction to the history of western Europe form the dissolution of the Roman empire to the present time . as he had done in the Middle Ages, the only mill, winepress, or oven within a certain district, and could require everyone to make use of these and pay him a share of the when a peasant owned his land, the neighboring lordusually had the right to exact one fifth of its value every timeit was sold. The nobles, too, enjoyed the exclusive privilege Of hunting,which was deemed an aristocratic pastime. The game whichthey preserved for their amusement often did great damageto the crops of the peasants, who were forbidden to interfere The Eve of the French Revolution 479 with hares and deer. Many of the manors had great pigeonhouses, built in the form of a tower, in which there were oneor two thousand nests. No wonder the peasants detested these,for they were not permitted to protect themselves against theinnumerable pigeons and their progeny, which spread overthe fields devouring newly sown seed. These dovecotes con-stituted, in fact, one of the chief grievances of the peasants. Fig. 130. A Chateau and Pigeon House The round tower at the right hand in front is a pigeon house. The wall inside is honeycombed with nests, and the pigeons fly in and out at the side of the roof The higher offices in the army were reserved for the nobles. Offices atas well as the easiest and most lucrative places in the Church j^e Churchand about the kings person. All these privileges were vestiges ™^ ^™2iof the powers which the nobles had enjoyed when they ruled noblestheir estates as feudal lords. Louis XIV had, as we know,induced them to leave their domains and gather round himat Versailles, where all who could afford it lived for at least apart of the year. 48o Medieval and Modem Times Only a smallpart of thenobles be-longed toold families Only a small part of the nobility in the eighteenth centurywere, however, descendants of the ancien
Size: 1965px × 1272px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorrobinson, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1919
