Man As Machine.
by TARQUIN O’FLAHERTY
The old system we understand as ‘Feudalism’ employed almost exactly the same hierarchical system as an army might today. At the top, (at least in England) only the monarch, (Commander-in-Chief) had absolute ownership of the land.
In return for formal pledges of loyalty, military service and the payment of tithes the king might offer say 25,000 acres to one of his nobles, who then became the king’s ‘vassal’.
The word ‘vassal’ has its origins in the Celtic/Breton languages and means;
‘One holding land under a superior lord by feudal tenure.’
The noble would then ‘hold’ this land from the monarch, either for a fixed term or an indeterminate one. Depending on the circumstances it might even be passed on to the next generation. The beneficiary of this largesse would then break the land up into smaller lots, and offer these lots to lesser nobles. In turn, the land would be sub-divided again and again, each step creating prestige and power for the baron or earl involved. The conditions of loyalty, military service and tithes applied absolutely at every level, from the lowest peasant all the way back up to the king. Essentially, it was a system designed to provide a monarch with, not just an income, but a substantial army whenever the need arose. This ‘loyalty’ worked both ways, and the land ‘holder’, be he earl or baron, owed equal loyalty, and took proper responsibility for, those in his charge.
The foregoing is a very rough outline of how the old system of ‘vassalage’ maintained itself and is by no means comprehensive or definitive. Incidentally, the word ‘feudal’ is of recent origin and would have been unknown back in 1066.
Feudalism was still alive and kicking in 18th century England, but things had changed substantially. The wool economy had boomed, and ‘enclosure’ had begun to revolutionise agriculture.
Jethro Tull (1674-1741), the son of a Berkshire farmer, was called to the bar in 1699, and qualified as a barrister. He was born into the Age of the Enlightenment, and, due to a pulmonary disorder, found it necessary to go abroad for his health. There he was so inspired by what he saw, the techniques employed in viticulture etc, that on his arrival home he set about ‘improving’ the family farm. The traditional habit of broadcasting seed by hand he replaced with the first ever seeding machine, a machine entirely of his own devising. This was a simple wheeled box, steered by a man and pulled by a horse, which made a trench, dropped the seed, then covered the seed over, all in one action. It also marked where the next line of seeds was to be sown! This was faster and much more economic than the broadcast method, and is exactly how seed is sown today. Because of his revolutionary straight line planting, straight line hand hoeing was now possible, but Tull, very much in the spirit of the time, was still dissatisfied. Ever inventive, Tull, within a short period of time, had invented the horse drawn hoe, entirely from scratch, and had made such huge improvements to the traditional plough that the farmer wound up now with a finely pulverised ‘tilth’ instead of an obstacle course which traditionally had taken days, or even the whole winter, to break down.
But this was just the beginning. An agricultural revolution was in progress, a revolution made possible only by intelligent, controlled use of fencing. This fencing not only controlled the movement of animals; it also controlled and guided people. Principally, it guided them into slums, poverty, disease and destitution. William Cobbett didn’t like it at all.
TO BE CONTINUED.