Table Of ContentVILLAS ECONOMIES
(Economic Aspects of Romano-British Villas)
edited by
Keith Branigan and David Miles
Department of Archaeology and Prehistory
University of Sheffield
/'-. f
0 l- ^
Contents
List of Figures
Preface 1
Introduction 3
1. The Villa Economy: Problems and Perspectives
John Percival
2. Villa and Fundus 14
Malcolm Todd
3. The Villa as Private Property 21
Mark Gregson
4. Coins and Villas 34
Richard Reece
5. Specialisation in Villa Economies 42
Keith Branigan
6. Villas and Animal Bones 51
Anthony King
7. Villas and Variety: Aspects of Economy and Society in the Upper Thames 60
Landscape
David Miles
8. Settlement, Hierarchy and Economy: A Case Study in Northwest Essex 73
Tom Williamson
9. Ditches Villa, North Cerney: An Example of Locational Conservatism in 83
the Early Roman Cotswolds
Steve Tro\v and Simon James
References 89
Index 94
1. THE VILLA ECONOMY: PROBLEMS AND
PERSPECTIVES
John Percival
The aim of this paper is partly to review the part of this paper I shall be considerings ome of the
present state of our knowledge of villa economies, very detailed studies that have been made of
and partly to suggest ways in whichw e may hope to particular villa estates, and I would not wish to
make progress in understanding them. My subtitle deny the possibility of analysing what we may call
may suggest that I am proposing, by offering the internal as opposed to the external aspects of a
perspectives, to render the problems more easy to villa's economy. But what I would argue, and what
solve; I suspect, however, that such light as I may be I hope to illustrate with particular examples, is that
able to shed is likely to reveal as many new the detailed studies must be done within, and with
problems as it removes old ones, and I therefore constant reference to, the wider context. This is
adopt the role of an asker rather than an answerer particularly important because this wider context,
of questions. this network of relationships, is both complex and
dynamic: complex, in the sense that its local
I begin with Professor Rivet's definition of a villa variations are virtually endless, and dynamic in the
(1969:177): "a farm which is integrated into the sense that, even within a single locality, the
social and economic organisation of the Roman relationships are constantly changing. Our studies,
world." There are some, perhaps, who would object therefore, and the models we may construct to assist
to the word 'farm', but few, surely, who would them, must take account of this if they are to be of
quarrel with the rest of the definition, or at least more than limited value. We have come a long way,
with the idea of integration into the social and no doubt, from those early excavation reports in
economic pattern. A villa, in the sense that most of which the life of 'the' villa owner was reconstructed
us understand the term, could not exist in isolation; in great detail at a point frozen in time; but we need
what makes it a villa is that it possesses certain to assure ourselves that what we are now doing is
amenities, and displays certain standards of living, not just a more sophisticated version of the same
which are obtained from outside it and which thing.
therefore imply the existence of an 'outside' with Nor should we suppose, of course, that the
which it is connected-more specifically, markets, economic context can be isolated and studied
craftsmen and a pattern of exchange. It may be that independently of other things. This is not the place
at certain periods there was a tendency for villas to for yet another discussion of the embeddedness of
become more self-sufficient; I have argued else- ancient economics, though we shall have occasion,
where, for example (1976:Chap.8), that this hap- at various points in what follows, to note the effects
pencd in parts of Gaul in the later Empire, and that upon people's economic behaviour of the social
as a result a number of villas were able to survive structures to which they belong, and even of the
into a period when the 'social and economic moral values to which they subscribe. Let me simply
organisation of the Roman world' was no longer say that one of the more obvious naivetes of the
there to be integrated into. But if they did they modern economist, it seems to me, is his de-
ceased, effectively, to be villas-not simply in the pendence, implicit or explicit, on the concept of
senset hat they no longer resembled villas, but in the rational economic man; and if such a concept is
deeper sense that they had become separated from naive as applied to circumstances of our own age it
the very world which had defined them. is certainly so as applied to most ages before it.
In other words, the economy of the Roman villa All this being said, the broad outlines of the villa
*s ullimately the economy of the Roman Empire economy, the base from which our various kinds of
itself- the whole network of relationships between study begin, can be fairly simply stated. A villa is a
one area and another, between town and country, unit which produces a surplus-an agricultural
between the trader and his market, the craftsman surplus in the great majority of cases. This surplus,
and his customer, the labourer and his employer. In or that part of it which is not taken up by taxes of
studying the villa economy we are not taking a part one kind or another, is available for exchange, for
^this network and examining it by itself, but the purchase of such equipment as cannot be
rather are examining the whole network from a manufactured on the villa itself, for the construction
particular point of view. This is not to say that we of new and improved buildings, or for the acqui-
can only study it on the grand scale. In the latter sition of amenities and even luxuries for the owner.
the risk of prolonging a rather negative line of
The presence of such things on a villa estate implies
argument, it may be helpful to look for a moment at
the existence of markets, both in the sense of
some of the things which, though very basic to the
recognised centres where the exchanges take place,
study of villa economies, even archaeology is not
and "in the sense of a non-agricultural population
going to tell us. One thinks, to begin with of the
which needs to be supplied. From among that
price of farm land; in Duncan-Jones's price lists for
population will come craftsmen, merchants,
Italy and Africa (Duncan-Jones 1982:111; 209-15)
labourers, money-lenders perhaps-the suppliers,
there are a mere halfd ozen references which give us
installers and enabling financiers of the amenities
a price per acre. There are rather more which quote
provided. In broad terms the system stands or falls
a price for an unspecified acreage, and there are the
as a whole, each part of it being dependent on the
long lists of valuations in the alimentary inscrip-
rest. In practice, in the Roman context, the villa
tions from Veleia and Ligures Baebiani, but in the
implies the town-not in the sense that towns are
absenceo fa nyi nformationa boutt heir extento r the
essential for each element of the system (markets,
nature and quality of their soil, their usefulness is
after all, are not necessarily urban, and craftsmen
very limited. We are a little better informed on the
and merchants can be wholly or partly
likely financial return from farming In the de Re
itinerant)-but in the sense that towns, and their
Rustica of Columella (III, 3, 8-10) there is a well-
interconnecting pattern of roads, are the most
known attempt to calculate the profits from a small
appropriate framework for the system as a whole.
vineyard; as they stand his figures are somewhat
The relationship between town and country is
misleading, since he omits a number of important
further strengthenedb y the traditionalb eliefi n land
items, but attempts have been made to adjust this,
as the most honourable and respectable form of
and an annual return of something around 10%
property, and the consequent investment in land by
would seem to emerge (Duncan-Jones 1982:39-59).
the governing and administrative classes,a s well as
There remains the question, of course, of the
by new-rich businessm en of various kinds.
reliability of Columella's basic estimates of costs,
At this very basic level we can call upon literary
and of their relevance outside Italy. More helpful in
and other written sources to confirm the broad
this respect are the occasional references to charit-
outlines and fill in some of the details (Percival
able endowments, which seem to suggest that for
1976:25-30). The farming manuals of Cato, Varro
agriculture in Italy generally a return of 5-6% was
and the rest, though primarily concerned with the
thought to be a reasonable expectation (Duncan-
more technical aspects of estate management,
Jones 1982:33; Rathbone; 1981:11-15);f igures else-
contain some more general opinions and advice on
where in the west are less plentiful, but seem to be
agricultural investment, marketing and so on.
broadly in line with the Italian ones. But this does
Individual landowners, from Horace to the younger
not get us very far: what did it cost, one may ask, to
Pliny to Sidonius Apollinaris, describe and discuss
install a mosaic pavement or a hypocaust system?
their properties in letters and poems. Historians,
Given an estate of so many hundred acres, with so
satirists, orators and others refer from time to time
to estates and their owners; and occasionally, much arable and so much pasture, was it a major
capital outlay or a modest one? If you needed extra
usually indirectly, we get a brief insight from a
lawyero r from a public or private inscription. It has labour at harvest time, what would it cost, and how
much of your likely profits would the cost remove?
to be said, however, that this kind of evidence is
All this, of course, has been said before (by Rivet
unsatisfactory in any number of ways. How real, for
1969:174-5a nd Percival 1976:163-4a mong others);
example, is the literary evidence, and how much
it may be that the pessimism has been overdone, in
allowance do we need to make for the constraints
that progress has undoubtedly been made, but the
and conventions of imaginative writing? How
unavoidablei gnorancess till remain. It is sensiblet o
practical, ultimately, were the manuals? How accu-
stop asking questions to which we have no hope of
rately do they record what was done, how far are
getting an answer, but we should not therefore
they relevant beyond their Italian context, and to
assume, whether consciously or no, that such
what extent were they likely to be used as guides?
questions have ceased to be important.
How far do the legal and other official documents
What progress, then, has been made, what has
reflect the realities on the ground, and how far are
ar.chaeology achieved in this area, and how can it
they bureaucratic constructs, concealing a variety of
tell us more? Instead of attempting to deal with this
patterns behind a convenient but narrow termi-
in a general and theoretical way, I want to look at a
nology? And even if we can answer these questions
number of studies which seem to me either to have
the body of evidence from such sources is uneven in
made important advances in the understanding of
both quality and quantity: there are large areas and
villa economies or to have identified problems of
long periods for which we have little or no evidence,
interpretation and methodology from which we can
and little prospect of discovering any more, except,
of course, from archaeology. learn for the future.
Archaeology and Villa Economies The Ager Veientanus
The first of these is the survey of The Ager
It is with the contribution of archaeological
Veientanus, north and east of Rome, carried out by
investigation, both past and future, that I mainly
members of the British School at Rome in the late
want to be concerned. But before doing so, and at
fifties and early sixties (Kahane et al. 1968). This, of included. The effect of the distribution maps,
course, was part of a much larger programme of supported as they are by the wealth of information
survey, the full implications of which have still to be from particular localities, is not unlike that of our
worked out, and I will return in a moment to some computer-drawn weather charts, with the land-
of the subsequent work arising from it; for the scape, like the cloudscape, almost visibly changing
moment, however, the one particular survey will be before us.
sufficient. Of the many conclusions to emerge from all this
Its aim, very simply, was the recording of every the most interesting, perhaps, are those concerned
hite, of whatever kind and whatever period, in the with the intensity of settlement at various periods
area under investigation. The resulting catalogue of and the size of individual holdings. The develop-
sites and find-spots contains some 541 items, and it ment of the area following the Roman conquest of
would not be too much of an exaggeration to say Veii in 396 BC, most notably by the construction of
that, for some periods at any rate, what we have is the major roads, brought about a steady growth of
;in almost complete picture of the area's settlement. settlement, not only along the roads themselves but
If one considers, for example, the situation at the in the open countryside as well, and this continued
end of the first century AD, when there would into the late Republic, perhaps assisted by govern-
iippear to have been a total of 263 occupied site§ ment schemes. The establishment of firm central
within a cultivatable area of less than 100km' authority and peaceful conditions by Augustus led
(Kahane et al. 1968:150), it is difficult to see how to a new phase of prosperity, and the first century
\ery many more could have been fitted in. It is this AD was a period of rapid growth-in the number
very full coverage that is the survey's main strength. of sites certainly, if not also in the level of material
So often, with regional studies based on villas, even comfort. The prosperity continued into the second
when one is fairly confident that all or nearly all of century, when we begin to see a decline in the
the major sites are available to us, the conviction number of sites occupied, together with a rise in
that most of the minor ones are not has the effect of architectural standards among those which cont-
ilestroying one's confidence in the value of the inue: the clear inference from this is that we are
conclusions reached. Here, with the exception of seeing an increase in the size of the individual
<ome small areas where the traces of ancient holdings, the beginning of the process whereby
<ettlement have been systematically eliminated, smaller farms were incorporated into larger estates
.
there really is a feeling that we have it all, from the and ultimately the latifundia of the literary sources.
largest and most visible building down to the The upheavals of the third century, both political
isolated find of tile or pot. and economic, were far-reaching in their effects, the
For much of the Roman period, certainly from most obvious being the reduction of occupied sites
the later Republic onwards, we are clearly dealing by roughly three-quarters between the end of the
here with a villa economy. Inevitably, in the absence, second century and the end of the third. It is
of more than superficial excavation, the authors of noticeable, however, that the reduction in the
the survey have used what is essentially a rule of number of 'villa' sites is rather less, and although
thumb to distinguish 'villas' from 'farms' (Kahane one has to suppose that a good deal of land went
ct al. 1968:154-6), and have understandably tended out of cultivation it is likely that what we have at
to play safe by demoting the marginal cases; but this period is a continued growth in the size of the
even so there are over a hundred 'villas' and more larger units. Indeed, the authors suggest that it is
than two hundred 'farms' in the area as a whole. only in the later Empire that the genuine latifundia
There are, of course, limits to the use one can actually emerge. Developments at the very end of
make of this kind of material. Surface finds are the Empire and into the Middle Ages are difficult to
notoriously unreliable, both in the matter of dating be sure about because of the lack of precise dating
and as a guide to the relative size and importance of criteria, but what does seem to be clear is that there
sites; and the systematic excavation of even a small is no dramatic break corresponding to the fall of the
sample of them would be a major undertaking. As Empire in the west. In fact, the overall pattern of
the authors of the survey admit, their method of settlement seems to have continued well into the
bating is a relatively crude one based on a few Middle Ages, with if anything a continuation of
tlistinctive types of pottery-'Black-glazed Ware' growth in the size of estates and no further decisive
for the later Republic, Terra Sigillata for the early change until perhaps the tenth century.
Empire, 'Red Polished Ware' for the late Empire, The importance of the road network is part of the
and so on (Kahane et al. 1968:7-13; Kahane wider dependency of rural upon urban centres and
1977:139; 179-82). Clearly, with this kind of
vice-versa. The sites classified as 'villas'-that is to
material, the most reliable results will be those say, with such amenities as bath buildings, patter-
relating to the settlement pattern as a whole, or to ned mosaics and marble veneers-are clearly related
liirge parts of it, rather than to small areas or to to the road system, and there are examples, such as
individual sites. But even on this basis the results of that of Casalaccio in the far northeast of the area
the survey itself, let alone of the studies based upon (Kahane et al. 1968:157), where paved approach
it, are impressive. For this quite sizeable piece of roads to a villa have been provided at what must
central Italy we have a history of settlement have been considerable expense. It was clearly
covering well over a thousand years, from the desirable that produce should be able to move easily
Etruscan period to the early Middle Ages, not to market, and probably also that estate owners
s'mply in outline but with much of the detail should have ready access between town and country
are somewhat disappointing (partly because of
as necessary. In the late Empire there seems to be a
mistakes in the use" of the register but mainly
subtle shift in the pattern, in that settlement seems
because of the poor quality of the archaeological
to be concentrated in areas (such as that immedi-
material), the possibilities, in this or another area,
ately to the north of Veii itself) where access to
are real indeed. The register in question is one of a
urban markets was via secondary local roads rather
series of similar documents known as polyptychs,
than the major ones; that is, the dependence on
the earliest and most complete of which relate to
markets was still strong, but the main routes had
northern France, though there are examples also
now become more dangerous in the increasingly
from the Rhineland and from northern Italy. The
unsettled times. most famous of all is the so-called Polyptych of
Now, it is fair to say that much of this
Irminon which records the estates of the abbey of
reconstmction is tentative and in need of confirm-
St.-Germain-des-Pres in Paris (Guerard 1836-44;
ation by selective excavation or further survey.
Longnon 1866-95; Latouche 1961: chap.4). The best
Indeed, the surveys of adjacent areas published in
of the registers are extremely detailed, giving not
the seventies, though confirming the main outlines
only the names of the individual estates but details
of the picture, might lead one to question many of
of buildings, the acreage of different types of land
the contributory details; while work on the relevant
with figures for seed corn and produce harvested,
documentary evidenceb y Dr ChristopherW ickham
lists of dependent holdings, and in some cases even
has encouraged a more cautious approach to the
the names of the holders and their wives and
interpretation of its later phases (Wickham 1978
children. They can (though not without difficulty)
and 1978/79). What is important, however, is first,
be set out on a modern map, and their relationship
that the hypotheses arising from the survey are in
to earlier or later settlement patterns can be
principle susceptible of verification, and second,
established and studied. The gap, moreover, be-
that the procedure for such verification, whether by
tween the ninth century and the fourth may not be
the excavation of particular sites or the analysis of
so great as it appears: many of the lands of the great
later documents, is essentially scientific, in the sense
abbeys and churches were acquired much
that it can consist of the precise examination of
earlier-many of them, indeed, in the form of
precisely formulated theories.
endowments from the Merovingian kings, whose
In such a programme the villa is seen, not as an
estates will in many cases have been acquired
isolated object, but (to use the terminology already
directly from the great landowners of the later
suggested) as part of a dynamic context: one
Empire. But again, it is not the question of
studies, not simply whati t is, but whati t was, what
continuity itself that is important, so much as the
it is becoming and what is happening to it. In this
possibility of seeing a pattern evolve and so acquire
kind of approach, of course, the documents are a
particularly valuable bonus, appearing as they do in additional meaning.
What we need, ideally, is a survey of the South
the later phases of the development at a period
Etruria type in an area documented in detail by a
when problems in the dating and interpretation of
polyptych; at the moment we don't have it, but
the archaeological material are more acute. I am not
there is no reason in principle why we should not
here talking of continuity as such, though clearly,
have it one day. What we do have to be going on
with material extending well into the medieval
with-and here I turn to the next major study on
period the question of whether or not there was
my list-is one of the most astonishing surveys
continuity is bound to arise. My point for the
anywhere in the Roman Empire, and one which has
moment is the rather more specific one, that we
transformed our picture of villas and villa
have, through the documents, the chance of seeing
economies in the western provinces. The aerial
how the Roman pattern (and within it the villas)
surveys of Roger Agache (Agache and Breart 1975;
evolved beyond the period that is conventionally
Agache 1978)~ in the Somme basin, carried out
labelled 'Roman', and that this can hardly fail to
during the sixties and early seventies and published
help us by shedding light on the nature of the
in a series of splendidb ooks and papers since then,
pattern itself.
are certainly as complete as the South Etruria
survey and m many ways more informative. What
Northern France one lacks, of course, in an aerial survey as opposed
to one made on the ground, is the physical evidence
for dating, though obviously the pin-pointing of
But where, other than in Italy, can one hope for
sites from the air makes it comparatively easy to
the desired combination of a central villa area, a
confirm their existence and to collect the appropri-
body of archaeological material for the Roman
ate surface material. What one gains, on the other
period and possibly later, and good documentary
hand, is an understanding of the nature and layout
evidence as well? I turn, by way of an answer, to a
of the individual sites: the majority of the published
paper by Shimon Applebaum, published more than
photographs are so revealing that not only the
twenty years ago and deserving of more attention
extentof sites, but their plans are visible in detail, so
than it has so far received (Applebaum 1964: cf. the
that one can literally go some way towards drawing
discussion by Percival 1966). The paper is an
them andi nterpreting themw ithoutp utting a spade
attempt to marry the archaeological record of an
into the ground-in some cases even to the extent of
area in northern France to a ninth-century register
identifying successive phases in a building's
of lands belonging to the church of St.-Remy at
Reims, and although the actual results of the study construction.
The area covered by the survey is roughly that of interpretation, to have a great deal to contribute to
Picardy-the departement of Somme and adjacent more internal matters-for example, through the
parts of the departements of Pas-de-Calais,O ise and identification of certain types of building on a more
Aisne-and the sheer number of sites discovered is secure basis than is possible with a smaller sample
almost overwhelming. Before 1960 the archaeolog- of sites. What is particularly promising in this
ical record here was about average for northern respect is that it appears that a large number of the
France, and there were a few dozen villas whose villas can be assigned to a fairly small number of
existence was known and a small handful for which plan types (Agache 1978:282-303), so that there
a reasonable plan was available. By contrast, the should be no shortage of comparative material from
Atlas of sites discovered by the survey contains which inferences can be drawn or generalisations
several thousand entries, among them something made. On the question of the settlement pattern,
approaching a thousand villas (that is, half as many however, what is particularly interesting is the sheer
iigain as there are in the whole of Roman Britain), density of sites in certain areas, and the fact that we
together with hundreds of hectares of crop marks are not in these areas dealing with relatively modest
indicating the kind of 'native' settlements that one sites but frequently with very large ones indeed.
sees in the Fens or on the river gravels of England. This seems to me to call in question many of our
Clearly, such an avalanche of material will take a previous assumptions about relationships between
long time to analyse and evaluate, and Agache's villas and towns, which we normally think of as
own discussion volume (Agache 1978) is just a being quite fundamental to villa economies both
beginning, impressive and scholarly as it un- external and internal.
doubtedly is. In order to make this more specific, and perhaps
The most obvious kind of study for which this in some degree to quantify it, I selected an area
material will be of value is again that of the overall (Fig. 1.1) on the map where a sufficient number of
settlement pattern within which the villas operated, plans had been revealed to make calculations
and hence of what I have referred to as their possible. I then simply drew a rectangle, covering an
external economy. It should be said in passing, area 10km by 5km, with the Roman road from
perhaps, that the very large collection of relatively Amiens to St.-Quentin mnning thro^ugh its long
complete plans which the surveys have produced is axis: that is, I had an area of 50km^, 5,000ha or
likely, once techniques have been devised for their about 12,000 acres. Within this area there were 17
Courtyard Villa
100
HECTARES!
Smaller Roman Building
Building (probably Roman)
75m. contour
Figure 1.1 Some villas in the Somme Basin (after Agache)
Applebaum thought that the Bignor estate could be
villas, 22 smaller Roman buildings, one religious
worked by 40-50 labouring hands (Applebaum
sitew ith a series ofb uildingsg roupedr ound a small
1975: 126-7), and converted this to a total popul-
fanum, and five other buildings which were prob-
ation of about 100, which seems if anything to be a
ably but not certainly Roman. The villas were all,
little low; but if we work on roughly this kind of
by British standards, large: in one case the plan was
figure we can hardly assume less than about 2,000
not sufficiently clear from the air photograph, but
for the area as a whole. I have not been able to
the remaining 16 were all courtyard villas, many of
discover its modern population, but if we simply
them having'double courtyards, one in front of the^
add together the figures supplied for each of the
main residence and another larger one leading off
modern villages we get a total of 2,500^ and
from this. The symbol used by Agache on his map
although these calculations are rather rough and
for all of these villas was one indicating that they
ready "the results, such as they are, are rather
were less than 200m in length, but to judge from the
photographs many of them were close to the limit, startling.
If they are anywhere near correct they do,
and some could well have been larger. By way of
certainly,' throw light on the relationship between
comparison one may note that the villa at Bignor,
town and country:~cleariy, the country rather than
which is one of the larger ones in Britain, is just
the town is where the population is. But they also, I
under 200m in length from its outer gate to the back
think, throw more critical light on some of our
of its western range. working concepts, and in particular that of the
Now this, by any standards, is occupation on a
distinction between dispersed and nucleated settle-
high level of density. Let us ignore, for the moment,
ment. In hisd iscussionso ft he Sommeb asinA gache
the 22 smaller sites; let us assume that there are no
constantly remarks that whereas the modern settle-
more villas to be found, and that at the height of the
ment pattern is nucleated-that is to say, there are
area's prosperity only two-thirds of the villas (let us
villages and only rarely isolated farms-the Roman
say, 12) were in operation. This means a maximum
pattern is very much one of dispersal, with the
possible area for each one of them of something
isolated farm '(that is, the villa) being the norm
over 400ha; reduce this to allow for unusable land
(Agache 1978:428; etc.). But to call one of these
of one kind or another, reduce it again in respect of
great courtyard villas-often, as we have seen,
non-arable land, and it is hard to find room for an
average arable of more than, say, 200ha or 500 extending 2'OOm and more in length-an isolated
farm, and to distinguish it from a village seems to
acres." This may well be enough-Applebaum
me to be at least questionable. These villas, with
(1975:130) suggested 700-800 acres as the likely
quite large concentrations of people in and around
arable for Bignor-but it seems very clear that the
them, are surely little communities in their own
occupation of the area must at some stage (one
right; in terms of population the difference between
assumes, in the late second and early third cen-
them and a modern village of, say, 200 people is a
tunes) have reached a point of virtual saturation.
rather artificial one, though obviously I would
With villas so closely packed as this one naturally
recognise that in other respects, both economic and
asks what their relationship was with one another.
social, the distinction may be rather moire valid.
One's first impression, based on the fact that they
all seem to be about the same size, is that each is the
centre of a separate unit: that is, there are no Chiragan, Bignor and Gatcombe
obvious larger ones which we might be tempted to
see as controlling the rest. This may be right, but
At this stage, perhaps, I should not take this any
even if they were separate in this sense they must
further, because what I have said is based only on
have operated in fairly close association with one
some rather superficial calculations, and I would
another. They tend to favour particular kinds of
not want to give the impression that it is more than
locality (most of them overlook the river valleys at
a series of ideas and suggestions. However, since we
around the 70-80m contour), and as a result they
have moved into this kind of calculation, it may be
tend to cluster in groups, with an average interval
appropriate now to turn to some studies in which
between them of less than 1,000m. We have to
far more careful calculations have been done and
suppose, then, that the lands of a given villa were
much more detailed figures produced-to those
only partly around the residence itself, and that
studies of the internal economies ofindividuaLvillas
most of them were further away and higher up the
to which I referred earlier. Let me cite, as a starting
slope, where they will have adjoined those of
point, a very early study, and one which was long
perhaps two or three of the neighbouring villas. I
regarded as the standard one in discussions of this
am not suggesting any pattern of interspersed plots,
type: that made by Leon Joulin of the villa at
but what does seem clear is that there cannot have
Chiragani n southwestern France (Joulin 1901).^The
been compact, neatly rounded estates associated
villa, which was excavated in the last years of the
with each one. nineteenth century and published in the first years
This density of occupation can be looked at from
of the twentieth, is one of the largest and most
another point of view in terms of the rural
splendid in France: the areac overed by its buildings
population: very simply, if we think of all the villas
and outbuildings is more than 16ha (or nearly 40
and all the smaller sites together, there must have
acres), and its "residential part alone extends over
been an awful lot of people living here. Just how
2^ha'(or just over 6 acres)^ It was clearly the centre
many, of course, it is impossible to say, though it is
of a great estate, and the fact that it lies in an area
likely to have been thousands rather than hundreds.
10
with fairly clear natural boundaries, and also that
several smaller villas and other sites lie within the
area, suggested to Joulin that he might be able to
reconstruct the estate and study its economy.
His first problem, and the first point of weakness
in his reconstruction, was that of the estate
boundaries themselves: did they coincide with the
natural ones or did they not? This is an unavoidable
problem in all such studies, unless there is some
corroborating evidence, in the form of place names,
perhaps, or the existence of an attested territorial
unit in medieval times. The normal procedure is to
draw up boundaries tentatively on the basis of an
examination of the terrain, and then to test them by
calculations on the basis of buildings such as
granaries, barns and animal housing. But what does
one do about the other villas within the chosen
area? Joulin took the view that the other villas in his
area were all dependent on the Chiragan one, and in
general terms one can agree with him; but one of
them at least, that at Sana, on the opposite side of
Native Settlement
the valley, was a very large one, with a residential
^"i."^T'-1^f"| Woodland
block containing at least 40 rooms, a frontage of
80m, at least four mosaics, a good deal of marble Summer Grazing
veneer, and so on. It cannot be just a dependent
Pasture
farm, and Grenier, working through Joulin's study
in the 1930's, suggested that it might be an
alternative residence for the estate owners, built at
one of the later periods when life at the central villa
was getting too hectic (Grenier 1934: 888-97;
Percival 1976:Fig.39; 123). It could, on the other
hand, be the centre of a quite separate estate, and
unless we can resolve the question (and I see no way Figure 1.2 The 'hypothetical' estate of the Gatcombe villa
of doing so) we have no solid base for any further
calculations. In the two more recent studies that I it was so on the ground. But, as I have suggested,
want to refer to, that of Applebaum for Bignor and such niethods would not work terribly well with the
the very interesting calculations made by Keith villas in Agache's surveys, and if we look to the
Branigan and his colleagues for the site at Gat- early medieval period, when more detailed docu-
combe, not far from Bristol, there is no problem of mentary evidence becomes available, we find things
.rival' estate centres such as this, though the area that ought to make us much more wary. Thefiscus,
tentatively assigned to Gatcombe is based partly at or manor, of Villemeux, part of the ninth century
least on the assumption that nearby villas such as estates of the abbey of St.-Germain-des-Pres
Wraxall and Bedmlnster (Fig.1 .2) were quite sepa- (Guerard 1836-44:11, 76-116; Longnon 1866-95:11,
rate from it and had estates of their own (Branigan 98-154), was composed of holdings in more than
1977:192-7). My point, nevertheless, is that, at this forty localities, some of them more than 15km from
very basics tagei n such studies, we come up against the centre. The will of St. Bertram, bishop of Ie
a whole bundle of problems connected with depen- Mans in the early seventh century, (Busson and
tlcncy: it is not simply that (as has often been
Ledru 1902) reveals his estates as a complex
pointed out) dependency cannot be proved in collection of holdings, some of them consolidated as
archaeological terms, but that we don't even feel far as one can tell, but many of them dispersed and
sure about what criteria to use for deciding whether forming part of notional units only. We can hardly
a given site could in principle be dependent. We suppose, without further argument, that the pattern
cannot assume that only 'primitive' sites were so, in Roman times was any neater.
and that a villa was by definition not so; but if we Supposing, however, for the sake of argument,
bring villas into consideration as dependent sites, that we can get the boundariesr ight. Our next task
*10ws mall or unluxurious do they have to be?
is to work out the likely areas of arable, grazing
This is only one of our problems in fixing land and so on, and to calculate the likely yield of
lanes. Can we assume, for example, that we corn or other crops, the number of sheep or cattle
arc dealing with a consolidated tract of land rather that could be supported, the number of people
than with a collection of scattered holdings? It is
necessary to do the work. We then turn to the
easy enough to take from the Roman lawbooks a central buildings and try to confirm or modify these
Picture of consolidated fundi throughout the Em- preliminary calculations. Barns and granaries
p!re' and we can look at our maps and draw our should give us controls on the size of crops, quarters
diagrams (with all sorts of allowances and for animals may help to confirm our estimate of
modifications if need be) to convince ourselves that
grazing land, accommodation for plough teams can
11
pound of corn per person per day. The second of
be correlated with our estimate of arable-we may
these averages may well be allowed, on the grounds
even, as Applebaum does, be able to calculate the
that weh ave a goodi deah owm uch it takes to keep
likely amount of manure produced and the area of
a normal personf it anda ctive, and that on an estate
land it would cover (Applebaum 1975:126-7).
such as this they are unlikely to have been starved;
Gradually we can reconstruct the economy of the
but to use a 'broad average of crop yields is
estate, assess its overall profitability, consider its
dangerous because in this instance the average is
markets and so on. The analysis of the Gatcombe
likely to be based on a range of widely differing
estate already referred to is a particularly striking
figures and therefore to be of doubtful value within
example of this kind of study, and one which is of
a restricted area. The average yield/seed ratio for
considerable value on the methodogical level, quite
wheat on a group of estates in thirteenth and
apart from its intrinsic interest for an understanding
fourteenth century England is 4.4, but the range ^is
of the site itself.
from 3.2 to 5.5'(Mifler and Hatcher 1978:216).
How reliable are these calculations; what are the
Similarly, on the demesne estates of St.-Germain-
in-built problems; and how far can we improve our
des-Pres, the majority of which are in the Ile-de-
results, either by more skilful excavation_ or^ by
France and might therefore be thought to be fairly
refinements in the calculations themselves? The first
uniform, the average sowing rate is 1.8 bushels per
and most obvious point-ofw hich those concerned
acre, with a range from 0.8 to 2.5. In either case, if
are clearly very well aware-is that at every stage in
we had only the average figure, and applied it to
our calculations there are margins of error which
each of the individual examples, we would be
arise from assumptions that we have to make to
making an error of more than 20% in at least half
cover gaps in the available data. We calculate the
capacity of barns and granaries on the basis of their of them. . . . .
A different kind of difficulty, but one which is
ground plans and by trying to estimate their height,
equally intractable, is that many of the basic
if we had a complete one, roof and all, we would
calculationsw ill have to be made quite differently if
still have to decide whether the owner built it to
one pattern of tenure is operating rather than
accommodate an average harvest or an exceptional
another. Joulin, working on the Chiragan estate^
one, and how near to capacity he felt it right to fill
was well aware of this, and made some at least of
it. In calculating the arable we have to make
the necessary adjustments to his figures; but more
assumptions (albeit helped, in some instances, by
recent studies have tended, to a greater or lesser
independent evidence) about the likely pattern of
extent, to duck the issue. fthe fact is (to take the
crop"r otation, because on this will depend whether a
most simple alternatives) that the working of an
halfo r one third or some other proportion of it was
estate by a centrally organised labour force on the
being cultivated in any one year. What one has to
one hand, and the leasing of all or part of it to
bear in mind is not simply that these margins of
tenants on the other, are radically different things
error exist, but that they are very large, and that
and imply radically different economies^ This can
they will as often as not multiply one another. In
easily be illustrated from a real example_The manor
the' Gatcombe report a long series of calculations
of Palaiseau, which was another of the St.-Germain
leads to the conclusion that the likely annual yield
estates on the southern outskirts of Paris (Guerard
of wheat and barley might be enough to feed up to
1836-^4:11, 6-23; Longnon 1866-95:11, 7-28), had
1,000 or 1,100 people, and that if the total
in the ninth century just under 2,500 acres of arable.
population of the estate was in the region of 500
A little less than 1,000 acres of this was in demesne,
there would thus be a substantial surplus to be
that is to say, it was directly controlled from the
disposed of (Branigan 1977:198-200). There are in
centre and worked partly by a resident labour force
these calculations at least four stages at which
and partly by labour services performed by depend-
assumptions have to be made and margins of error
ent farmers;'the remaining 1,500 acres was held by
allowed for, and it would be foolish to hope that
the dependent farmers themselves, in amounts
they will simply cancel each other out. In order to
ranging from 4 to 36 acres, in return for a range of
illustrate the point rather cmdely, let me just say
services and dues of various kinds. Now, suppose
that if instead of a three-year rotation system a less
that we did not know this, and that we had instead
sophisticated one was operating (or alternatively, if
an excavation report of the manor's central build-
rather less than the maximum area of arable was
ings. We would calculate the capacity of the
available), and if at the same time the population
granaries, and we would estimate that they implied
was not 500 but 700 (as the authors readily concede
an arable of 1,000 acres, the point being that they
it could be), then the surplus would disappear
would simply accommodate the yield from the land
altogether.
held in demesne; none of the corn produced by the
Another point, when we are dealing with things
1,500 acres held by the dependent farmers came
like yields, sowing rates, consumption of foodstuffs
anywhere near the centre, their duesb eing paid, not
and the like, is that we can go seriously wrong if we
in corn, but in livestock, eggs, wine and mustarcL
rely too heavily on average figures. In the calcul-
Being unaware of this, we might assume that 1,000
ations just referred to the likely yield from the
acres'was the arable of the whole manor. Suppose,
Gatcombe arable is estimated on the basis of "the
for the sake of argument, we were more subtle, and
expected yield of Roman agriculture in Britain, of
concluded that it was simply the demesne; in this
about 6cwt per acre" (Branigan 1977:199-200), and
case we would be right, but in other cases, where
the number of people who might in theory be fed
dues were paid in corn, we would be wrong, because
from it is worked out by using another average of a
12
