Which Charlemagne text gives instructions for managing royal estates?

The Capitulare de villis gives instructions for managing Charlemagne’s royal estates. Its full Latin title, Capitulare de villis vel curtis imperii, means roughly “chapters on the estates or royal courts of the empire.” It was composed in the late eighth or early ninth century, probably between 771 and 800, although its exact author and date remain debated.

The document describes the duties of estate officials, including maintaining inventories, protecting royal property, dispensing justice, and sending food, money, and goods to the royal court. It also covers livestock, crops, vineyards, forests, mills, barns, workshops, and the care of horses used for hunting and warfare.

The text contains about seventy chapters arranged without a strict logical order. It was an administrative blueprint rather than a simple farming manual: its goal was to help the king control distant properties and keep them prepared to supply the court or army. Historians caution that it may describe an ideal system rather than everyday reality. The Brevium exempla, which records estate inspections, suggests that actual practice did not always match the regulations.