2 - Local society in the ninth century

Summary

As the ninth century dawns, the Liébana loses much of its earlier mystery and emerges with greater clarity in the source material. Small rural communities come to light, in which peasant farmers worked, prayed and engaged in transactions with their neighbours, buying here and selling there; indeed, while donation was important – and has been afforded a central role in the secondary literature – the indications are that this was no mere ‘gift economy’. The reciprocity of the gift was not the only form of instigating or consolidating social relationships, for the concept and practice of sale was rooted in Liébana society, and property and other goods changed hands for myriad reasons in a variety of contexts well before 900.

A good example of sale is provided by a transaction dated to 15 April 868, when Petrus and Leudesinda, their children Erugio and Emiliana, and a certain Egeredus sold a vineyard in Grandovelia to the monastery of San Salvador de Villeña. This group seems to have consisted of a nuclear family and perhaps a more distant relative, a friend, or simply a neighbour. Three of the group stated what they accepted for their part in the sale, each receiving various quantities of meat, wine, barley and animals. The document was brought to a close (as are the majority of transactions of this sort) with a warning clause, admonishing future wrongdoers who would contravene the agreement; it then made reference in its dating clause to the ruling monarch, Alfonso iii, before listing those who witnessed or confirmed the document. This template is typical of ninth- and tenth-century charters from northern Spain and includes many of the basic elements of structure and content of the majority of sales (or indeed donations). It does, none the less, provide us with a useful window onto certain aspects of Liébana society in the ninth century, telling us, for example, that ordinary people could deal with ecclesiastical institutions; that they could freely sell parts of their own property; and that this property could be jointly owned with persons not explicitly associated with the nuclear family. Moreover, it tells us that small-scale proprietors could make these sales alongside other parties, or on behalf of their families, in exchange for a price.