Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/398

 362 Readings in European History 142. A Swa- bian count, Luithold, gives cer- tain manors to the mon- astery of Zwifalt. (End of eleventh century.) Chatillon receives nothing whatever. Of the legacies up- ward of twelve pence it receives one third, but of those below that sum it receives by custom nothing at all. It would seem as if the chances of misunderstanding and of consequent litigation must have been great when the property and dues were so curiously divided among the various churches and monasteries. This astonishing subdivision of the revenues possessed by ecclesiastical bodies was doubtless due in large part to the habits of their benefactors, whose property was commonly greatly scattered, or bequeathed in a seemingly arbitrary fashion, as in the following instance. Lord Luithold, the count, gave for the support of Christ's poor, the monks of this monastery of the holy Mother of God, half of the manor which is called Derendingen. This has excellent soil and is said to include twelve or more hides of arable land alone. He also gave meadows full good, and a half right to the exercise of all legal powers in the whole manor. He gave two groves, two mills, and a half right to the church on the same manor, and the sole right to the church of St. Blasius hard by the manor. To these two churches, that is to those portions of the churches which are under our jurisdiction, belongs one grove of five hides. And he gave half of the manor which is called Undingen, which includes twelve hides of fertile land and meadows and extends over an area of more than sixty hides of woods and of pastures for cattle. There is also an inn there. . . . And he also gave us the whole manor of Altenburg, with the sole right to the chapel, and a mill. The estate is believed to comprise almost fourteen hides of arable lands and meadows, without counting the woods and pastures. He granted us, too, a half of the church at Oferdingen, with four hides of fine arable land situated there, and at Neuhausen one mansus ; likewise at Dusslingen one, and two at Immenweiler, which" afterwards we exchanged for