Défricher la terre et se l’approprier. L’accès aux ressources de l’inculte dans le système agraire du haut Moyen Âge

Abstract

This article re-examines the evidence for land claims and clearances in the charters of the Abbeys of Wissembourg, Lorsch and Fulda in the eighth and ninth centuries. The paper firstly addresses the factors that determine the descriptions of the agrarian landscape. This enables a new interpretation of the territorial and chronological distribution of the evidence. Secondly, the evidence for land claims is analysed according to agricultural practices. From this it can be inferred that the mechanisms of land claims and clearances are highly diverse and can be found in practically all forms of land exploitation. Thirdly, the social articulations observed in this study enable reflection on the social logic of these mechanisms (for example, what does stirpare mean?). What emerges is an image of a specific agrarian system that possesses some features that differ radically from those of the local communities of the Central Middle Ages.