Evil customs

"Bad uses", "Bad customs", "Mals usos", and "Malos usos" redirect here.

Evil customs (Catalan: mals usos, lit. "bad uses") were a set of specific Medieval feudal customs, generally levies, which peasants were subjected to by their feudal lords in the Kingdom of Aragon and in other European countries. These obligations are related to the Ius Maletractandi, a right approved by the Catalan Court of 1358 in 1202, which empowered the feudal lords to mistreat, imprison and dispossess peasants of their property.^[1]

As time went on during the High Middle Ages, with the gradual reestablishment of Roman law evil customs began to be viewed as abuses. However, due to the crisis of the Late Middle Ages, many nobles experienced a drop in income and in their standard of living. The "manorial reaction" reestablished the evil customs even more strictly in order to increase their revenues, which caused major rebellions.

Catalonia

In the Principality of Catalonia, the population was controlled by the feudal nobility and a concrete number of benefits were established that would later be considered evil customs. The customs were most often found in relation to the lands of the so-called Old Catalonia. The submission of the peasant to the land he worked required him to pay a redemption if he wanted to leave it.^[2]

The Usages of Barcelona collected only three of the most common obligations, the intestia, cugucia and eixorquia.The evil customs with the possibility of being redeemed paying a tribute to the lord in the Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe, are:

• Intestia: a noble right that penalized peasants who died without making a will. The penalty consisted in the confiscation of a portion of the farmer's property, generally a third. Pella and Forgas said that this misuse was used "almost in general" in the diocese of Girona.^[3] Here, the "young man" (the farmer who had no farm) who died intestate and without children, had his property divided into three parts: one for the family, one for the clergy (to pray for the soul of the deceased), and one to distribute among the poor.^[4]
• Eixorquia: law by which the feudal lord received one-third of the inheritance of the peasant who had no descendants.^[5]
• Cugucia: If the peasant's wife was found guilty of adultery, the feudal lord received half of the goods if the woman had the consent of her husband, or the whole of the goods if the woman did not.^[6]
• Arsia: indemnification of the peasant had to pay the feudal lord in case of accidental fire of his belongings.^[7]
• Ferma of forced plunder: the extraction of a part of the goods of the peasants when they guaranteed the dowry of the woman with the farm of their feudal lord, after the marriage of his vassals. The peasant had the useful domain and the feudal lord had the direct dominion.
• Personal redemption: the peasants, subject to servitude, could not leave the farm they worked without having been redeemed by their feudal lord. Redemption did not only affect the peasant, but also his wife and, above all, his children. Redemption prices varied greatly over time and were in line with the valuation of the farm. The incorruptible maidens were redeemed by paying their feudal lord a fixed amount. In the diocese of Gerona, there were two salaries and eight monies.

In addition to these evil customs, other manorial customs existed, including:

• Forge of distress: the peasant had the obligation to repair his tools of work in the forge of the feudal lord. It was the noble monopoly of blacksmithing.^[8]
• Obligation of the mill: the peasant had the obligation to grind the corn in the mill belonging to the feudal lord.
• Obligation of the furnace: the peasant had the obligation to cook the bread in the oven belonging to the feudal lord, especially on lands with a concentrated population.
• Obligation of the yoke: the peasant had the obligation to work with a yoke of animals in the lands of the feudal lord during certain determined days of the year.^[9]
• Obligation of manipulation: the peasant had the obligation to manipulate corn or any other product belonging to the feudal lord.

The evil customs were one of the causes of the Catalan Civil War, which took place between the years 1460 and 1486, the year in which they were abolished by king Ferdinand II of Aragon. He issued the Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe, which redeemed the evil customs with a previous payment of 60 salaries per farm, and abolished the right to mistreat and many other minor landed abuses.^[10] The peasants maintained the useful domain of the farms, but they had to pay homage to the feudal lord and pay the feudal rights.^[11]

Crown of Castile

In the Crown of Castile, it is difficult to determine what the evil customs were, since the region was more subject to the oral tradition. Reference is made to the so-called bad fueros, feudal regimes harder in benefits. As Castile tried to attract people from other areas or kingdoms, the fueros or laws were rarely harsh. The evil customs were sporadic or were simply monetary payments. Some examples include:

• Assignment of the peasant to the land, preventing him from abandoning it.
• Banalities such as the obligation to use the mill or oven belonging to the feudal lord, with the previous payment of a fee.
• Take out bread: in France and in Castile, for example, it was forbidden to take the grain out of the feudal lordship, to avoid scarcity and speculation. However, in Castile, it could be done with the previous payment of a fee.
• The third: it was the obligation of the peasant to take over the administration of the property of the feudal lord. This burden meant hard obligations, among other things to replace any loss with the peasant's personal patrimony. This custom was banned by King Henry IV of Castile.
• The privilege of the corral: allowed the feudal lord to seize birds, calves and all type of cattle.
• Without milk: if the wife of the feudal lord had a child and could not breastfeed him, the feudal lords selected peasant women who had recently had a child and forced them to go to the castle to breastfeed their children.^[12]

References

1. ↑ "mal ús | enciclopèdia.cat". www.enciclopedia.cat (in Catalan). Retrieved 2017-02-07. 
2. ↑ Josep,, Fontana i Làzaro,. La formació d'una identitat : una història de Catalunya. ISBN 9788497665261. OCLC 900616380. 
3. ↑ Pella i Forgas, J (1883). "XXXI". Historia del Ampurdan (in Spanish). Luis Tasso y Serra. p. 654. 
4. ↑ "intestia | enciclopèdia.cat". www.enciclopedia.cat (in Catalan). Retrieved 2017-02-07. 
5. ↑ "eixorquia | enciclopèdia.cat". www.enciclopedia.cat (in Catalan). Retrieved 2017-02-07. 
6. ↑ "cugucia | enciclopèdia.cat". www.enciclopedia.cat (in Catalan). Retrieved 2017-02-07. 
7. ↑ "àrsia | enciclopèdia.cat". www.enciclopedia.cat (in Catalan). Retrieved 2017-02-07. 
8. ↑ "farga de destret | enciclopèdia.cat". www.enciclopedia.cat (in Catalan). Retrieved 2017-02-07. 
9. ↑ "jova | enciclopèdia.cat". www.enciclopedia.cat (in Catalan). Retrieved 2017-02-07. 
10. ↑ 1927-, Giralt i Raventós, Emili,; 1945-, Salrach i Marés, Josep M., (2004-01-01). Història agrària dels Països Catalans. Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca. ISBN 8447527867. OCLC 57723800. 
11. ↑ "Sàpiens: descobreix la teva història.". Sàpiens : descobreix la teva història. (in Catalan). 2006-01-01. ISSN 1695-2014. 
12. ↑ Hinojosa, Eduardo de (1905-01-01). El régimen señorial y la cuestión agraria en Cataluña: durante la edad media (in Spanish). V. Suárez.