Loyalty was at first due only to that chief to whom it had been expressly promised, and from whom a benefice had been received. Charlemagne attempted to change this into an obligation common to all the freemen in his States. Marculf has preserved to us the formula in which he wrote to his counts, requiring from all individuals the oath of fidelity. Thus did this prince endeavour to break through the feudal hierarchy which was consolidating itself, to bring himself into a direct relation with all freemen, and to make the relation between king and subject predominant over that between lord and vassal. The oath of fidelity was universally exacted by the successors of Charlemagne, Louis the Debonnair and Charles the Bald, but without any effective results; for the tendency to hierarchical and feudal aristocracy had become prevalent. We find besides numerous examples of the maintenance of the relations between incumbent and patron, even under Charlemagne. Under Charles the Bald this relation became more positive and independent of the king. The prince even, for the repression of public crimes, allowed his authority to be exercised through the intervention of the lord; he made each lord responsible for the crimes of his own dependents. It was therefore especially in the empire of the lord over his men, that the means were then sought of sustaining order and repressing crime. This alone will sufficiently indicate the continually growing force of feudal relations and the diminishing authority of royalty. {124} Lecture XV. Of benefices conceded by great landowners to men dependent upon them: _First_, benefices conceded for all kinds of services, and as a mode of paying salary; _Secondly_, larger proprietors usurp the lands adjoining their own, and bestow them as benefices on their subordinates; _Thirdly_, the conversion of a great number of allodial lands into benefices, by the practice of _recommendation_. Origin and meaning of this practice. Permanence of freeholds, especially in certain parts of the Frankish monarchy. Tributary lands. Their origin and nature. Their rapid extension: its causes. General view of the condition of territorial property, from the sixth to the eleventh century: _First_, different conditions of territorial property; _Secondly_, the individual dependence of territorial property; _Thirdly_, the stationary condition of territorial wealth. Why the system of beneficiary property, that is to say, the feudal system, was necessary to the formation of modern society and of powerful states. Donors Of Benefices.