In this estate book is set down the name of every little estate (or _fisc_ as it was called) belonging to the abbey, with a description of the land which was worked under its steward to its own profit, and the land which was held by tenants, and the names of those tenants and of their wives and of their children, and the exact services and rents, down to a plank and an egg, which they had to do for their land.

We know today the name of almost every man, woman, and child who was living on those little _fiscs_ in the time of Charlemagne, and a great deal about their daily lives.
Consider for a moment how the estate upon which they lived was organized.

The lands of the Abbey of St Germain were divided into a number of estates, called _fiscs_, each of a convenient size to be administered by a steward.

On each of these _fiscs_ the land was divided into seigniorial and tributary lands; the first administered by the monks through a steward or some other officer, and the second possessed by various tenants, who received and held them from the abbey.

These tributary lands were divided into numbers of little farms, called manses, each occupied by one or more families.