Translation:Customs of Lorris

by Louis VII

This is the charter of King Louis for Lorris.

Louis, etc. Let it be known to all in the present and in the future that:

1. Whoever will have a house in the parish of Lorris shall pay six deniers only in cens for his house, and for any acre of land that he possesses in that parish; and if he should obtain another acre, he should count it towards the cens for his house.

2. None of the men of the parish of Lorris shall pay the tonlieu or any other custom on his provisions; nor shall he pay any minage on the grain that he holds from his own labor or by the labour of any of his animals; and he shall never pay forage for his wine that he holds from his vineyards.

3. None of them shall travel on foot or on horse, unless he can return to his home on the same day, if he wishes.

4. And none of them shall pay toll on the road to Étampes, to Orleans, to Milly which is in the Gâtinais, or to Melun.

5. And no one who has property in the parish of Lorris shall lose it for any offense, unless the offense is committed against us or any of our hôtes.

6. No one shall be arrested or disturbed while on his way to or returning from the fairs and markets of Lorris, unless he has committed an offense on the same day. And no one on the day of the market or the fair of Lorris should seize the surety of his debtor, unless the surety was made on that same day.

7. And an offense involving a value of 60 sous carries a fine of 5 sous, and an offense involving a value of 5 sous carries a fine of 12 deniers; and a suit before the provost costs 4 deniers.

8. And no one from Lorris should go to plead with the king.

9. No one, neither we nor any other, shall exact from the men of Lorris any tallage, tax, or stipend.

10. And none one from Lorris shall sell wine under the edict, except the king who shall sell his own wine in his own cellar.

11. In Lorris, we will have credit in meals for our own work and for the work of the queen, to be paid within fifteen full days. And if anyone has a surety from the lord king or from another, he will not hold it for more than eight days, unless the surety agrees.

12. And if a man has a quarrel with another person, without breaking into a fortified house or town, and they reach an agreement without bringing a suit before the provost, no fine shall be paid to us or our provost on account of this, and, if a suit has been brought because of this, they are permitted to reach an agreement, from which they should pay the district; and if anyone brings a suit against another person, and they do not pay any fines to each other, nothing should be paid for this matter either to us or to our provost.

13. And if one of them should swear an oath to the other, he should be pardoned.

14. And if the men of Lorris rashly offer to fight a duel, and, with the assent of the provost, they reach an agreement before they assign guarantors, they should both pay two sous and six deniers; and if they have given guarantors, they should both pay seven sous and six deniers. And if the duel is carried out by men who are legally qualified, the guarantors of the defeated man should pay 112 sous.

15. None of them shall perform the corvée for us, except once a year, to bring our wine to Orleans; and no one shall do this except those who have horses and carts, and they will be summoned for this, and they will not receive provisions from us. Furthermore, the villeins shall bring wood to our kitchen.

16. No one shall be detained in prison if he can provide a surety that he will present himself for judgment.

17. And any of them, if he wishes to sell his property, may sell it, and once he receives payment for the sale, he may leave the town freely and peacefully, if he wishes to leave, unless he has committed an offence in the town.

18. And whoever lives in the parish of Lorris for year and a day, and no lawsuit is brought against him, and he has not refused to present himself for judgement by us or our provost, may freely and peacefully remain thereafter.

19. And no one shall plead with another unless it is for the sake of receiving and exacting what is right.

20. And when the men of Lorris go to Orleans with merchandise, they shall pay only a coin [denier in the OF] for their cart when leaving the city, that is, when they go for reasons other than a fair. And when they go because of the fair in March, they shall pay 4 deniers per cart when leaving Orleans, and 2 deniers when entering.

21. For marriages in Lorris, by custom neither the herald nor the watchman will receive any payment.

22. And no farmer from the parish of Lorris who tends his land with a plow shall provide more than one mina of wheat to any sergeant preserving the custom of Lorris, at harvest time.

23. And if any knight, or sergeant, finds horses or other animals of the men of Lorris in our forests, he should not bring them anywhere except to the provost of Lorris. And if any animal from the parish of Lorris enters our forest or hedges, fleeing from bulls or coerced by flies, he who owns the animal shall pay nothing to the provost, if he can swear that the animal entered despite being guarded. And if it enters with the knowledge of its guardian, he will pay 12 deniers for it; and if there are many animals, he will pay as much for each.

24. By custom, there are no carriers in the ovens of Lorris.

25. And in the custom of Lorris, there are no night watchmen.

26. And anyone from Lorris who brings his salt and wine to Orleans shall pay only 1 denier for his cart.

27. And none of the men of Lorris shall pay taxes to the provost of Étampes, nor to the provost of Pithiviers, nor in the whole Gâtinais.

28. None of them will give tonlieu to Ferrières, nor to Chateau-Landon, nor to Puiseux, nor to Nibelle.

29. And the men of Lorris may take dead wood outside of the forest for their use.

30. And whoever buys or sells something in the market of Lorris and through forgetfulness retains its tonlieu, he should pay it after eight days, without any lawsuit, if he can swear that he did not retain it knowingly.

31. And none of the men of Lorris who have a house or vineyard or meadow or field or any building in the territory of St. Benedict shall be judged before the abbot of St. Benedict or before his sergeant, unless he forfeits his rights because of his garba, or his cens; in that case justice shall not be done in Lorris.

32. And if any one of the men of Lorris is accused of anything, and it cannot be proven by witnesses, he shall absolve himself against the testimony of his accuser through his own hand.

33. Also, no one from the same parish shall sell or buy from anyone on Sunday, and he [the king?] shall not grant the custom that anyone shall buy anything for his own use from anyone in the market on Wednesday.

34. And these customs, just as they have been conceded to the men of Lorris, are similarly common to the men who live in Courpalay, and in Chanteloup, and in the bailiwick of la Harpardière.

35. Likewise we establish that whenever a new provost is installed in the town, he shall swear that he will faithfully preserve these customs, and new sergeants shall do the same, whenever they are installed.

Let this be known, etc. Issued at Orléans in the year of the Lord 1155.