Medieval History

From the 13th to the 15th century arbitration gradually became a basic element of conflict resolution in the late medieval Germany. The increasing impact of Roman and canon law as well as the formation of local administration and jurisdiction significantly promoted this development. During the 14th century the arbitration of conflicts between princes, nobles and townsmen reached its medieval peak. Its importance declined in the 15th century. This article presents the proceedings of late medieval arbitration including preliminary negotiations, contents of arbitration agreement, functioning of arbitral tribunal, announcement and finally enforcement of awards. Medieval arbitration, however, was not limited to a uniform procedure, on the contrary several existing temporal and spatial characteristics yielded numerous regional variances. Based on apparent similarities, this article focusses on an ideal type of arbitration in medieval Germany. It is remarkable that modern arbitration is substantially related to its medieval archetype. Therefore, whenever possible, this article compares medieval and contemporary arbitration for example according to the German Code of Civil Procedure.

Archives, editions, and databases contain a tremendous amount of medieval and early modern charters. Similarities in the form, layout, and text of charters enable comparative research of large corpora. To formulate or prove assumptions about related historical processes, quantitative methods from social sciences can be adapted to historical research with minor limitations. However, corpus compilation, categorization, and quantification of diplomatic characteristics, as well as the handling of missing sources, arise substantial challenges. For this purpose, the article presents 21 standards for the quantitative analysis of large corpora based on scientific criteria of traceability, verifiability, and reproducibility. As Loren Haskins and Kirk Jeffrey note in their book Understanding Quantitative History, “Not all historical problems can usefully be addressed through quantification, but some can”. By establishing standards, this article determines which phenomena these are.