History of Medieval Law

Si la charte de Huy de 1066 constitue un moment-clef dans l’histoire économique et urbaine du diocèse de Liège et de l’Empire germanique, elle n’en est pas moins également une étape essentielle dans l’histoire du droit et des institutions du diocèse de Liège. Elle peut, en effet, être considérée comme la première ordonnance épiscopale, au sens normatif du terme, qui modifie le droit en vigueur et, à ce titre, elle participe au développement de l’autorité épiscopale dans le cadre de l’Église impériale. Mais, pour en mesurer pleinement la portée, cette charte de franchises doit être lue à la lumière de la charte capitulaire arrêtée deux jours avant elle. Cette dernière atteste clairement que le rapport de force et la négociation ne concernaient pas seulement deux parties, mais trois : l’évêque et les "burgenses" hutois, bien sûr, mais aussi le chapitre collégial de Huy. C’est de cette confrontation à trois qu’est né un droit nouveau et original.

What was the real story behind Buondelmonte de’ Buondelmonti’s condemnation, attributed to Cacciaguida in Paradiso, xvi, 136–147? The major Florentine chronicles of Dante’s era (Compagni) and thenceforth (Villani, Stefani) paint a picture of an innocent Buondelmonte, barbarously assassinated thanks to the homicidal rage of his peers – the magnates. However, the harsh treatment of Buondelmonte in the Commedia is the result of the character Cacciaguida (and therefore Dante) adhering to the noble/magnate ethos found in many contemporary sources (for example the chronicle by the pseudo-Brunetto Latini). Indeed, only at a later date would the Popolo’s ethos, expressed in the works of Compagni, Villani and Stefani, become the ‘definitive’ version.

Libri (Consuetudines) Feudorum (Books (Customs) of Fees) is a
compilation of Lombard feudal customs, which was formed in the process of ius commune reception from the 12th to the middle of the 13th centuries. The text was incorporated into the fifth “volume” of the medieval Corpus Iuris Civilis (Code of Justinian). The article is devoted to the LF history in the Kingdom of Castile and Leon in the initial period of ius commune (Roman Justinian and Reformed Canon Law) reception in the Iberian Peninsula (from the 13th to the 14th century). Based on a study of manuscript sources from Spanish collections, it is concluded that the external design and content of the manuscript MSS/392 from the collection of the National Library in Madrid is related to the activities of royal legists involved in the reform of Castilian law, including the compilation and editing of “Seven Partid” (Siete Partidas) by Alfonso X
Wise. That is evidenced by the structure of the codex, which consists of quires compiled by different scribes, from the character of the marginal inscriptions and some other criteria. In the National Library of Spain (Madrid) the manuscript MSS/392 is connected with some other manuscripts (MSS/825, MSS/577, MSS/13325, MSS/2139,MSS/9015 and some others) the appearance of which were also due to the activities of the legists.

«Книги феодов» (“Libri (Consuetudines) Feudorum”) –
компиляция ломбардского феодального права, сформировавшаяся в процессе рецепции ius commune в XII – середине XIII вв. и включенная в состав пятой части средневековой версии Свода Юстиниана. В статье рассматривается история памятника в королевстве Кастилия и Леон в начальный период рецепции ius commune (римского юстинианова и реформированного канонического права) на испанской земле (XIII–XIV вв.). На основании изучения рукописных источников из испанских собраний делается вывод о том, что внешнее оформление, содержание рукописи MSS/392 из собрания Национальной библиотеки в Мадриде связано с деятельностью придворных легистов, участвовавших в реформе кастильского права, включая составление и редактирование «Семи Партид» Альфонсо Х Мудрого. Об этом свидетельствуют и структура кодекса, тетради которого были составлены разными переписчиками и сшиты вместе лишь впоследствии, и характер маргиналий, и ряд др. признаков. В собрании Национальной библиотеки Испании (Мадрид) рукопись MSS/392 в содержательном плане, в плане оформления и происхождения связана с рядом других рукописей (MSS/825, MSS/577, MSS/13325, MSS/2139, MSS/9015 и другие), появление которых также было обусловлено  деятельностью легистов. Для всех этих рукописей характерен как состав (LF представлена отдельно от Свода Юстиниана), так и особый тип маргиналий, обусловленный работой ученых-юристов с этим текстами.

"Blood, Heredity and Kinship in the Middle Ages : Biological and Social Models. Albert the Great and Baldus"

The article studies the role of blood and heredity in the works of two great medieval thinkers : the theologian and philosopher of nature Albert the Great (c. 1200-1280), and the legal scholar Baldus degli Ubaldi (d. 1400). After an overview of the “hereditary turn” of the early fourteenth century, which saw the coining of several new concepts (royal blood, hereditary disease), the article investigates to what extent Albert the Great and Baldus used biological models to explain legal kinship structures. Albert is one of the few medieval thinkers who used detailed physiological arguments to justify the ecclesiastical ban on consanguineous marriage. Natural philosophy also influenced Baldus’s theory of kinship and descent. However, Albert’s ideas had little influence, and neither Albert’s nor Baldus’s hereditary thought falls under the term “hereditary determinism”. Albert’s theory of generation, as well as Baldus’s casuistry about noble bastards, show that in discussions about legal kinship natural philosophy was often glossed over, or was a reflection of social norms. In this respect, the role of hereditary blood in the Middle Ages may be compared to the flexible meanings and uses of ethnic DNA testing today.

Una delle caratteristiche più evidenti dei documenti privati altomedievali provenienti da Roma e dai territori circostanti è il loro conformarsi a schemi formulari specifici alla tipologia del negozio certificato, peculiari alla suddetta area. Tre sono i modelli ai quali i rogatari romani si attengono con estrema regolarità: uno usato per le concessioni a tre generazioni di natura enfiteutica; un secondo proprio del contratto di livello; un terzo riservato alle varie forme di cessione dei diritti su un bene, ovvero, come nel caso dei documenti originati da azioni giudiziarie, di conferma degli stessi. L’articolo esamina tali documenti da un punto di vista diplomatistico e storico-giuridico, con riferimenti alla loro funzione nelle dinamiche economiche e sociali del territorio, per le quali si rimanda a precedenti studi dello stesso autore.

One of the most evident characteristics of early medieval private documents from Rome and the surrounding territories is their compliance with specific formular schemes for the type of certified shop, peculiar to the aforementioned area. There are three models to which the Roman rogatari adhere with extreme regularity: one used for the concessions to three generations of an emphyteutic nature; a second proper of the level contract; a third reserved for the various forms of transfer of rights to an asset, or, as in the case of documents originating from judicial actions, for the confirmation of the same. The article examines these documents from a diplomatic and historical-legal point of view, with references to their function in the economic and social dynamics of the territory, for which reference is made to previous studies by the same author.

This article analyzes the Statutes of Praemunire published in the reigns of Edward III and Richard II to protect the interests of England from papal encroachments. Based on the court records of the royal courts in late medieval England, it is shown how these statutes, from a remedy for secular jurisdiction has become a weapon, which contributed to the English Reformation.

It has been said that the early Cistercians were not as distinctive as their successors had wished them to be. And at least as far as art was concerned, this was very much the case in the earliest years. In fact, Cîteaux may even have been more lax in this regard than a number of the other new ascetic movements such as that of Odo of Tournai or the Carthusians. Yet, by 1125 William of Malmesbury could point to the artistic asceticism of the Cistercians as one of their most distinguishing features. The legal basis of this artistic asceticism consisted of statutes 10, 20, and 80. Far from being the expression of explicit ideals of the primitive founders of Cîteaux, we know that statutes 10 and 20 were not a part of the original principles upon which the Order was established in 1098 under Robert or of those codified under Alberic before 1109, and that statute 80 was for some reason not a part of this first body of artistic legislation.

While their exact dating is uncertain, statutes 10 and 20 were legislated sometime from 1115 to 1119. All in all, they approach the subject of art in the monastery in a rather comprehensive manner: statute 10 having covered liturgical art, statute 20 regulates monumental sculpture and painting; both apply to inside as well as outside the church. The ideal was the virtual elimination of all excessive vestments, gold, silver, jewels, sculpture, and painting from the monastery. Yet, as activist reformers following a minimal line, the Cistercians of c.1119 were careful to make plain their orthodoxy in their desire to define, legislate, and achieve the minimum. By limiting the use of luxurious materials, color, and art forms the Cistercians of c.1119 attempted to institutionalize a particularly austere interpretation of simplicity, the avoidance of distraction, and voluntary poverty as they relate to art, and in so doing to establish a specific form of regular life with a specific relation to society. There is no reason to doubt that the degree of voluntary poverty as practiced at Cîteaux was anything other than extreme, but modest material excess in regard to divine worship–especially when coupled with architecture of a humble nature–could easily be divorced from the principle of a voluntary, individual poverty. While “the institutes of the Cistercian monks who came from Molesme” were rigorous but dealt with traditional themes as regards monastic legislation, those of simply “the Cistercians” which took up the subject of art were very non-traditional statutes indeed. The evidence suggests that not only was this artistic legislation not seen as desirable under the undiluted first generation, but that it brought about the removal of existing artworks and that it may even have been resisted to a degree. But these statutes of which Bernard was the moral author were accepted, and were seen as the culmination of the foundation of the Cistercian community. This was not for reasons of simplicity, the avoidance of distraction, and voluntary poverty alone, but as EP 17 implies also because of their role in the disengagement and prevention of social entanglement. In social terms, statute 10 flatly rejected the aesthetics of the economic basis of traditional monasticism, the opus Dei; statute 20 the use of art to encourage a pilgrimage economy. This is why one of the most venerable of all Cistercian documents devoted so much attention to the enactment of statutes 10 and 20. This is why capitula 25 and 26 conclude the Capitula. This is why Bernard is described as one of the principal founders of the Cistercian community. And this is why the Exordium Parvum, following a continuous theme, culminates with the arrival of Bernard and the institution of his restrictive art legislation as the amplification and completion of the Cistercian way of life. The enactment and enforcement of statutes 10 and 20 amounted to no less than an artistic overturn at Cîteaux, and its account in Exordium Parvum 17 a proto-Apologia.

Whereas statutes 10 and 20 addressed themselves to broad social and economic questions, questions which had profound implications for the Order, statute 80 seems to have been legislated in response to a very particular situation probably around the years 1149-1150. Composed of two clauses which are distinct in their application but related in their concern over excessive color and imagery, the first clause legislates artistic asceticism in the area of the illuminated manuscript–something which seems to have been left up to individual abbatial interpretation of statute 20 previously–and so instituted the final segment of a comprehensive, restrictive art policy begun with statutes 10 and 20. Far from introducing any new element into the contemporary Cistercian policy toward art, the second clause in its restrictions concerning windows amounts to no more than the first of a long succession of reiterative statutes whose primary purpose was to enforce the artistic ideals of the second generation–and this even before the death of Bernard. Just as Bernard’s policy of expansion was about to be legislatively reversed in the last months of his life, so on a more popular level were the tenets of the artistic overturn of this principal founder being openly defied. With wealth and power also came the stultification of spontaneous asceticism, especially artistic asceticism, something so many of the charismatic founders of the new ascetic orders had hoped to avoid by not writing down their customs, and something whose form of life the second generation had hoped to institutionalize in part by statutes 10 and 20. Thus it seems that the best explanation for the late date of stat 80 is that flagrant examples of excessive artworks demanded a restatement of the tenets of the early artistic asceticism, the asceticism of an earlier generation; this in turn suggested specific restrictions based on the distractive potential of color and imagery; the great amount of building in stone was the impetus, but the subject itself provided the opportunity to explicitly restrict the long neglected area of manuscript illumination, an area whose importance is indicated by the priority it is given over stained glass; finally, Bernard’s failing health and the rumblings of change forced the issue. This legalistic circumvention and even open defiance speak eloquently to us of the fact that the views of Bernard were by no means necessarily those of the entire Order, and that the applied artistic asceticism of the second generation was slipping. Indeed, if the great distinction of the Cistercians in William of Malmesbury’s view was in part the appearance of overcoming the perpetua lex of inevitable decline through the promise of unchanging artistic asceticism legislated by the statutes of 1115-1119, and if the first clause of statute 80 marked the completion of that policy in 1149-1150, it was the compromise legislation of the second clause that signaled the decline of the artistic ideals of the second generation in practice and confirmed the perpetua lex of William–as the allowance of gold and silver plated crucifixes four years after the death of Bernard shows.

El presente trabajo persigue analizar la historia de aparición de la traducción comentada rusa del Fuero de León, realizada por los investigadores soviéticos Sergei Chervonov (1955-1988) y Olga Variaš (1946-2003) en el año 1985. Las causas de aparecer de la traducción citada se explican no solamente por el contexto de relaciones diplomáticas y culturales entre España y la URSS (restaurados en el año 1977), pero también por los factores específicos que pertenecieron al terreno del medievalismo soviético. La influencia de los principios básicos del marxismo tárdosoviético parece muy sensible en el carácter de la traducción y especialmente en el comentario. Pero la gran calidad técnica de la obra se explica el hecho que el Fuero de León ruso conserva su importancia científica en nuestros días. Palabras clave: Fuero de León; medievalismo soviético; texto jurídico; marxismo. [en] Russian Translation of the «Fuero de León» in the context of the Late Soviet Medievalism Abstract. This study analyzes the history of appearance of the Russian commented translation of the «Fuero de León» made by Soviet scholars Sergei Chervonov (1955-1988) and Olga Variaš (1946-2003) in 1985. The appearance of the translation was motivated not only by the context of the relations between the USSR and Spain in the spheres of diplomacy and culture (which were restored in 1977) but in the same time by some special factors of Late Soviet medievalism development. The influence of the basic principles of the late Soviet Marxism is felt in the character of the translation and first of all in the commentary. But high technical quality of the work explains the fact why the Russian «Fuero de León» conserved its scientific importance till our days.

The paper is devoted to analyse the main characteristics of contyside as a part of medieval local community (conceio) in the kingdom of Castile and Leon till the end of the 13th cen. City was a center of conceio and dominated over the countryside (término), but it was not a lord of término. The main types of city-countryside connections (economic, social, military etc.) are analysed.
Доклад посвящен основным характеристикам городской округи (консехо) в королевстве Кастилия и Леон до конца XIII в. Город являлся центром консехо и доминировал над округой, но не являлся ее сеньором. Охарактеризованы основные формы взаимоотношений (экономических, социальных, военных) между городом и округой.

El presente trabajo persigue analizar la historia de aparición de la traducción comentada rusa del Fuero de León, realizada por los investigadores soviéticos Sergei Chervonov (1955-1988) y Olga Variaš (1946-2003) en el año 1985. Las causas de aparecer de la traducción citada se explican no solamente por el contexto de relaciones diplomáticas y culturales entre España y la URSS (restaurados en el año 1977), pero también por los factores específicos que pertenecieron al terreno del medievalismo soviético. La influencia de los principios básicos del marxismo tárdosoviético parece muy sensible en el carácter de la traducción y especialmente en el comentario. Pero la gran calidad técnica de la obra se explica el hecho que el Fuero de León ruso conserva su importancia científica en nuestros días.

the article studies the role of blood and heredity in the works of two great medieval
thinkers : the theologian and philosopher of nature Albert the Great (c. 1200-1280), and
the legal scholar Baldus degli ubaldi (d. 1400). after an overview of the “hereditary
turn” of the early fourteenth century, which saw the coining of several new concepts
(royal blood, hereditary disease), the article investigates to what extent Albert the Great
and Baldus used biological models to explain legal kinship structures. Albert is
one of the few medieval thinkers who used detailed physiological arguments to justify
the ecclesiastical ban on consanguineous marriage. natural philosophy also influenced Baldus’s theory of kinship and descent however, Albert’s ideas had little influence,
and neither Albert’s nor Baldus’s hereditary thought falls under the term “hereditary
determinism”. Albert’s theory of generation, as well as Baldus’s casuistry about noble
bastards, show that in discussions about legal kinship natural philosophy was often
glossed over, or was a reflection of social norms. in this respect, the role of hereditary
blood in the middle ages may be compared to the flexible meanings and uses of ethnic
DNA testing today

Cet article etudie la place de l’heredite et du sang hereditaire chez deux grands penseurs du Moyen Âge, le theologien et philosophe de la nature Albert le Grand (vers 1200-1280), et le juriste Balde degli Ubaldi (m. 1400). Apres avoir decrit le tournant hereditaire du xive siecle, avec l’emergence de plusieurs nouveaux concepts (le sang royal, la maladie hereditaire), on cherche a etudier comment des modeles biologiques pouvaient etre repris pour expliquer les structures juridiques de la parente. Albert le Grand est l’un des rares penseurs de l’epoque a justifier les empechements du mariage pour consanguinite par des arguments physiologiques detailles. De meme, la philosophie naturelle influence les theories sur la filiation developpees par Balde. Cependant, les theories d’Albert sont peu reprises et on ne peut pas parler de determinisme hereditaire chez Albert le Grand ou chez Balde. La theorie de la generation albertienne, de meme que la casuistique developpee par Balde sur les bâtards nobles, montrent que dans les debats sur les structures juridiques de la parente la philosophie naturelle est souvent oubliee ou un simple miroir des convenances sociales. On peut comparer la place du sang hereditaire au Moyen Âge avec l’ambiguite des usages actuels des tests ADN sur l’origine ethnique.

Prosopographical Apparatus, in:
Robert Gramsch, Erfurter Juristen im Spätmittelalter. Die Karrieremuster und Tätigkeitsfelder einer gelehrten Elite des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts (Education and Society in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, 17), Leiden / Boston 2003, Personenkatalog auf CD-Rom, Nr. 602.

Понятия права собственности, владения и держания являются ключевыми в римском праве, которое, как известно, оказало влияние на европейское право эпохи Средневековья и на современное право. Тем более актуальной является эта тема для исследования истории Италии, в частности, для исследования самоорганизующихся структур средневекового города, позволяя проследить механизмы их взаимодействия.
Задача этой работы – исследование следующих проблем: Можно ли говорить о том, что в Ферраре XIV в. недвижимость приобреталась в собственность? Различали ли феррарские нотарии собственность и владение? Можно ли говорить о наличии в феррарских актах такой категории, как держание, и отражалась ли в них дихотомия владения и держания?
Исследование актов родового архива графов Сакрати показало, что право на имущество, приобретаемое покупателем в Ферраре XIV в., и по представлениям римского права, и в рамках современных представлений, соответствует праву собственности. Как и в римском праве, в праве средневековой Феррары понятию собственности противостоит понятие владения (possessio), как фактического обладания вещью, которое может быть никак не связано с правом. Наряду с владением в документах Феррары выступает еще один вид фактического обладания вещью – держание. Эта категория отличается от владения отсутствием владельческой воли – animus possidendi. В комплексе исследованных актов держание, как право пользования чужой недвижимостью по воле собственника этого имущества, устанавливалось такими договорами, как эмфитевзис и узус, и выражалось в таких документах глаголом «tenere». Несмотря на то, что термины средневековых документов, обозначающие понятия «собственность», «владение», «держание», не всегда полностью соответствуют терминологии римского права (собственность в них чаще обозначается, как приобретение iure proprio, чем proprietas), содержание прав, определявшихся этими актами, вполне соответствует нормам римского права.
The notion of the right of ownership, possession and holding are key to the Roman law, which is known to have influenced European law of the middle Ages and in modern law. Real right developed by the jurists of Ancient Rome, still serves as a source of inspiration for improvement of the civil law and at the same time a subject of debate for the jurists of our time. Especially relevant is the topic for the study of the history of Italy, in particular for the study of self-organizing structures of the medieval city, allowing you to trace the mechanisms of their interaction. The objective of this work was to study the following issues: can we assume that in Ferrara the XIV century the immovables were acquired by right of ownership? Distinguish whether the Ferrara notarii right of ownership and possession (possessio)? Can we talk about the presence in Ferrara acts such categories as holding (detentio), and whether they reflected the dichotomy of possession and holding?
A study of the acts of the patrimonial archive of the counts Sacrati showed that the right to immovables acquired by the buyer in Ferrara fourteenth century, and according to the ideas of Roman law, and in the framework of modern concepts in line with the right of ownership. As in Roman law, the right medieval Ferrara the concept of right of ownership is opposed to the notion of possession (possessio), as actual possession of the thing, which can be not linked to the right. In turn, along with possession of the documents of Ferrara is another view of actual possession of the thing – holding. This category differs from the ownership of the owners ' lack of will – animus possidendi. In the complex of the investigated acts of holding, as the right to use someone else's property according to the will of the owner of the property, established by such treaties, such as emphyteusis and usus, and expressed in those documents, the verb "tenere". Despite the fact that the terms medieval documents indicating the concept of "right of ownership", "possession", "holding", not always fully correspond to the terminology of Roman law (property in them more often denoted as the acquisition iure proprio than proprietas), the content of rights determined by these acts, is consistent with the norms of Roman law.