d
furnaces of towns, the taxes on salt, on leather, corn, nuts; fees for the
right of fishing; for the right of sporting, which last gave the lord a
certain part or quarter of the game killed, and, in addition, the _dime_
or tenth part of all the corn, wine, &c., &c.

[Illustration: Fig. 28.--Jean Jouvenel des Ursins, Provost of the
Merchants of Paris, and Michelle de Vitry, his Wife, in the Reign of
Charles VI.--Fragment of a Picture of the Period, which was in the Chapel
of the Ursinus, and is now in the Versailles Museum.]

This worthy noble gathered in besides all this, during the religious
festivals of the year, certain tributes in money on the estate of
Montignac alone, amounting to as much as 20,000 pounds tournois. One can
judge by this rough sketch, of the income he must have had, both in good
and bad years, from his other domains in the rich county of Perigord.

It must not be imagined that this was an exceptional case; all over the
feudal territory the same state of things existed, and each lord farmed
both his lands and the persons whom feudal right had placed under his
dependence.

[Illustration: Fig. 29.--Dues on Wines, granted to the Chapter of Tournai
by King Chilperic.--From the Windows of the Cathedral of Tournai,
Fifteenth Century.]

To add to these already excessive rates and taxes, there were endless
dues, under all shapes and names, claimed by the ecclesiastical lords
(Figs. 29 and 30). And not only did the nobility make without scruple
these enormous exactions, but the Crown supported them in avenging any
act, however opposed to all sense of justice; so that the nobles were
really placed above the great law of equality, without which the
continuance of social order seemed normally impossible.

The history of the city of Toulouse gives us a significant example on
this subject.

[Illustration: Fig. 30.--The Bishop of Tournai receiving the Tithe of Beer
granted by King Chilperic.--From the Windows of the Cathedral of Tournai,
Fifteenth Century.]

On Easter Day, 1335, some students of the university, who had passed the
night of the anniversary of the resurrection of our Saviour in drinking,
left the table half intoxicated, and ran about the town during the hours
of service, beating pans and cauldrons, and making such a noise and
disturbance, that the indignant preachers were obliged to stop in the
middle of their discourses, and claimed the intervention of the municipal
authorities of Toulou