The Royal Safeguard In Medieval France

Anglo-Norman Studies, 2021

Of the many components of the so-called 'legal revolution of the twelfth century', one of the most important was the development of new legal procedures centred around the concept and practice of inquiry (Latin: inquisitio). 1 The rapid and widespread dissemination of these practices, both in canon and civil law, led to the emergence of a new genre of documentary record known as the inquest, or enquête. 2 This essay maintains that records of late twelfth-and thirteenth-century ecclesiastical enquêtes offer substantial value to the study of subjects other than law and administration, and in particular to the analysis of politics and power. Rather than assessing the enquêtes existentially as elements in a history of legal thought, or of administrative procedure, or of proto-modern rationality, that is, as examples of abstracted principles divorced from the exigencies of medieval life, this study embraces the enquêtes as documents of practice, as records-imperfect as they may be-of how medieval men and women interacted with each other. When read for what they say, and not for what legal historians want to see them as representing, it becomes apparent that the enquêtes represent an under-utilized source base for the analysis of a wide variety of topics of interest to scholars of the central Middle Ages. Enquêtes prove to be ripe for studies of orality, memory, the urban patriciate, urban-ecclesiastical relations, gender norms, moneylending, and much more. 3 Using two enquêtes conducted in northwestern France between 1190 and 1240, the current study analyses what sources of this type reveal about power and the practice of lordship. It argues several interrelated points. First, the enquêtes underscore the point that the compulsory transfer of goods from the weak to the powerful remained, in the thirteenth century, a central element in the practical exercise of power, lordship and government. Such transfers, often represented as the seizure of goods described variously as costuma, taille, nanna and preda, were understood by the powerful to reflect a core, even defining, right of lordship; they were, in a word, central components of the exercise of power, components whose basic legitimacy remained unquestioned. The customary seizure of goods (and sometimes of persons) by the powerful was, moreover, a right practised by all lords, ecclesiastical and 1 My thanks to Stephen Church and the virtual audience for Battle 2020. My ideas have been sharpened by much discussion with Stephen D. White and Tracey Billado. For the phrase 'legal revolution of the twelfth century', see Paul Hyams, 'The Legal Revolution and the Discourse of Dispute in the Twelfth Century', in The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Culture, ed. Andrew Galloway (Cambridge, 2011), 43-65. 2 I mostly prefer the use of the French enquête in what follows, largely so as to avoid confusion with later medieval English coroners' inquests. 3 For gender and memory, see Richard E.

2019

Nowadays the rulers’ residences and convents (Royal Sites) are often seen by the general public as the curious dwellings of royal families, who lived isolated from society. However, such places were not only built for pleasure, but they belonged to a larger network of buildings and estates that together played an important role in the ruler’s administration. Apart from palaces, these domains often comprised forests, agricultural lands, watercourses and ponds, as well as defence works and industrial and commercial buildings such as mills, tollhouses, and factories. From the Middle Ages onwards, these networks of sites became increasingly important for the consolidation of the sovereign’s power, playing a key role in the promotion of their rule. To improve control over their domanial buildings and to ensure their upkeep, rulers set up permanent administrative bodies entrusted with their management. In principle, the centralization of their building management was a financial reform, however this reform should also be considered within the context of the expansion of the sovereign’s presence throughout the realm. These building administrations have not been yet compared systematically, and it remains unclear to what extent such centralized bodies developed autonomously, responding to local conditions and requirements, or were part of international developments facilitated by the close networks of the European courts. This symposium brings together scholars from various disciplines as a first attempt to compare these institutions on a pan-European scale from the late Middle Ages up to the end of the 17th century. It aims to investigate the relationships between the local idiosyncrasies of these organisations and their shared European characteristics. It addresses from a multidisciplinary perspective questions concerning the nature of such administrations, their purpose, organisational structure, and judicial status, as well as their role in the formation of the state.

2008

Early Medieval Europe, 2008

Early Medieval Europe, 2018

Monastic immunities have been much studied in recent years, but the royal protection (tuitio) that was often associated with them in the documents has been comparatively neglected. This article examines King Lothar's diplomas for Flemish monasteries in the years 962–6, texts in which royal protection played a major role. It argues that the issuing of these documents reflected a conjunctural political alliance between the king and the Flemish count Arnulf I, but also that their juridical content in general, and the bestowal of protection in particular, was valued by the recipient institutions. In this way the article makes the case for a more rounded understanding of tuitio in the tenth‐century West Frankish kingdom.

Blackwell Companion to the Medieval World, ed. by Edward English and Carol Lansing , 2009

The European Middle Ages are an extraordinarily rich field of interdisciplinary study. Cultural forms and institutions central to European identity took shape during this period. The rise of Europe from an obscure backwater to cultural and colonial expansion on the world stage found it origins in the Middle Ages. In this volume 26 distinguished scholars examine major issues in the study of medieval Europe. Much recent scholarship has sought to identify and strip away later intellectual categories and seek a fresh understanding of medieval culture and society on its own terms. That approach is reflected in the articles in this volume on questions such as the end of late antiquity, reform, the crusades, the family, chivalric culture, Romanesque and Gothic architecture, Christianization and heresy. It addresses key themes such as sexuality, gender, and power and class. More traditional topics are also explored including economic and demographic expansion and change, urban politics, kingship, hospitals, education, and scholasticism. The volume is vital for European specialists and an important resource for comparative world history.

Annual bulletin of historical literature, 1983

trends and the formation of courtly ideals 939-1210 (Pennsylvania U.P., $25) is an ambitious attempt to trace links between chivalric culture and revived classical learning, specially through the imperial court patronage of Germany. 'Medieval chivalry as a neo-classical institution' takes a bit of swallowing, but the discussion of texts and examples in the manner of Duby contains much of value to stimulate. J. Flori continues to add to the body of work which has made him a leading authority on medieval knights: 'Du nouveau sur I'adoubement des chevaliers' (Moyen Age, xci); 'A propos de I'adoubement des chevaliers au XIe siecle: le prktendu pontifical de Reims et I'ordo ad armandum de Cambrai' (Friihrnittelalt.