The monks and the masses at Saint-Leu d’Esserent: rural politics in northern France before the Jacquerie

The village of Saint-Leu d'Esserent, situated on the north bank of the Oise River about sixty kilometres from Paris, is a compact settlement of mostly stone buildings, dominated by a twelfth-century church built for the Cluniac monks who ruled the village as its lords. This chapter is concerned with two such documents relating to a dispute over customary dues that took place in the second quarter of the fourteenth century between the villagers of Saint-Leu d'Esserent and their lords, the monks of the Cluniac priory of Saint-Leu d'Esserent. The dispute arose in 1326 over the villagers' responsibility so the monks claimed to provide or pay for the meat eaten when the prior of Cluny visited. The formulae for procuration stress unanimity and 'common accord', but these great masses of people who came to nominate procurators did not include the entire community of Saint-Leu.