[475] It has been mentioned in a former note, on Mr. Allen's authority, that the folcland had acquired the appellation _terra regis_ before the Conquest. [476] A presumptive proof of this may be drawn from a chapter in the Laws of Henry I. c. 81, where the penalty payable by a villein for certain petty offences is set at thirty pence; that of a _cotset_ at fifteen; and of a theow at six. The passage is extremely obscure; and this proportion of the three classes of men is almost the only part that appears evident. The cotset, who is often mentioned in Domesday, may thus have been an inferior villein, nearly similar to what Glanvil and later law-books call such. [477] The following passage in the Chronicle of Brakelond does not mention any manumission of the ceorl on whom abbot Samson conferred a manor:--Unum solum manerium carta sua confirmavit cuidam Anglico natione, _glebæ adscripto_, de cujus fidelitate plenius confidebat quia bonus agricola erat, et quia nesciebat loqui Gallicè. p. 24. [478] Mr. Wright has given a few specimens in Essays on the Literature and Popular Superstitions of England in the Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 257. In fact we may reckon Piers Plowman an instance of popular satire, though far superior to the rest. CHAPTER IX.[479] ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY IN EUROPE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. PART I. Introduction--Decline of Literature in the latter Period of the Roman Empire--Its Causes--Corruption of the Latin Language--Means by which it was effected--Formation of new Languages--General Ignorance of the Dark Ages--Scarcity of Books--Causes that prevented the total Extinction of Learning--Prevalence of Superstition and Fanaticism-- General Corruption of Religion--Monasteries--their Effects-- Pilgrimages--Love of Field Sports--State of Agriculture--of Internal and Foreign Trade down to the End of the Eleventh Century--Improvement of Europe dated from that Age.