Casalis

In the Middle Ages, a ''casalis'' or ''casale'' (Latin and Italian; Old French/ Spanish ''casal''), plural ''casalia'' (''casali'', ''casales''), was "a cluster of houses in a rural setting". The word is not classical Latin, but derives from the Latin word '' casa'', meaning "house". The term originated in western Europe and was also employed in the Crusader states. Depending on the situation, the terms '' feudum'', ''villa'' and '' locum suburbanum'' could by synonyms. The word ''casale'' came into use in the eighth century to refer to an isolated rural tenement or demesne.

Italy

The ''casale'' was the basic village unit in Tuscany from the tenth century on. They were highly discrete and stable units. During the eleventh century, churches (both public and private) proliferated and by the twelfth each ''casale'' seems to have had one, which probably fostered social cohesion and identity.

In the eleventh century, the Norman conquest of southern Italy brought disruption to settlement patterns. At the same time ''casalia'' begin appear in peninsular southern Italy. They were "interstitial" sites, located between walled villages and fortified towns, and being either undefended or protected by at most a ditch. The term ''casale'' was also used in Latin documents to refer to the small rural settlements of Islamic Sicily, called ''manzil'' or ''raḥl'' in Arabic.

In some cases, the establishment of ''casalia'' was undertaken by noblemen seeking to claim new land by resettling vacant areas. Successful ''casalia'' could grow to become '' castra'' (castles) or even walled towns with suburbs of their own. The established towns, however, successfully asserted their jurisdiction over ''casalia'' in their vicinity. The ''casalia'' only ceased to exist in the 18th and 19th centuries, when their inhabitants, the ''casalini'', sought and received their own administrations.

Crusader states

In the Crusader states in the Levant (1098–1291), the ''casale'' was the basic unit of rural settlement. There were about 600 in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, almost all of them bearing names of local origin. Most probably corresponded to previously existing divisions. In the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the '' curtile'', an isolated farmstead, was rare. The ''casalia'' could have European, local Christian or Muslim inhabitants, and at least one is recorded as being inhabited by Samaritans. The smallest had just a few houses, while the largest were practically towns, although they lacked municipal institutions. Each had a manor house and a church, while most possessed common mills, ovens, cisterns, dovecotes, threshing floors, crofts and pastures. Some were associated with vineyards, springs, Bedouins and even defensive towers. The inhabitants were called villeins (''villani'' or ''rustici'') and each possessed a house and one or two '' carrucae'', the basic unit of arable land.

In the Levant, villeins were typically free (i.e. non- servile). In practice, native villeins were tied to the land could not leave, and all villeins were required to use the communal installations, which belonged to the lord. Each ''casale'' had a headman, called a '' raʾīs'' in Arabic (''raicius'' in Latin), elected by the families (''ḥamāyil'', singular '' ḥamūla''). There was sometimes more than one ''raʾīs''. He was an intermediary, representing the villeins to their usually absentee landlord and representing the lord to his fellow villeins. All administration was in the hands of the ''raʾīs'', who supervised farming, collected taxes, administered justice and mediated disputes. He may have been assisted by a dragoman (which office was often hereditary) and sometimes a scribe (''scribanus'').

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Types of village
Agricultural establishments
Medieval society