In the Middle Ages, the ban (Latin bannus or bannum, German Bann) or banality (French banalité) was originally the power to command men in war and evolved into the general authority to order and to punish.
Its modern sense of "commonplace" (even "trite") derives from the fact that tenants were frequently required to use common mills, presses, ovens, etc.
[4] In the late eighth and early ninth century, under the Carolingian dynasty (751–987), a series of capitularies defined the ban's three components: the right to defend the defenceless, that is, churches, widows and orphans; jurisdiction over violent crimes such as murder, rape and arson; and the right to summon free men for military service.
The primary meaning of the ban remained for a long time, however, the ability to summon to court and to dispense justice.
A fourth power, called the banvin, the right to compel subjects to buy the lord's wine during prescribed periods, was described as ad bannum.
[2] Payment for the use of the banal mill, oven and press was usually in kind and proportional to use, e.g. every sixth loaf to the lord or one twentieth of the wine processed.
This made the ban an important source of revenue, since it was tied to productivity and commodity prices, both of which rose throughout the thirteenth century while tenurial rents were fixed by custom and thus remained low.