imago temporis ii 2008 - Grup de Recerca Consolidat en Estudis

Transcripción

IMAGO TEMPORIS
Medium Aevum
II
2008
Lleida
European Union
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Editor
Flocel Sabaté
Scientific board
David Abulafia, François Avril, Thomas N. Bisson, Marc Boone, Franco Cardini,
Claude Carozzi, Enrico Castelnuovo, Giovanni Cherubini, Alan D. Deyermond,
Peter Dronke, Paul Freedman, Claude Gauvard, Jean-Philippe Genet, Jacques
Grand’Henry, Christian Guilleré, Eleazar Gutwirth, Albert G. Hauf, Hagen Keller,
Dieter Kremer, Eberhard König, Peter Linehan, Georges Martin, Valentino Pace,
Adeline Rucquoi, Teófilo Ruiz, Gennaro Toscano, Pierre Toubert, André Vauchez,
Chris Wickham, Joaquín Yarza, Michel Zimmermann
Editorial board
Julián Acebrón, Stefano Asperti, Màrius Bernadó, Hugo O. Bizzarri, Maria Bonet,
Joan J. Busqueta, Brian Catlos, Josep Antoni Clua, Pietro Corrao, Rita Costa Gomes,
Ottavio Di Camillo, Luis Miguel Duarte, Francisco Javier Faci, Francesc Fité, Isabel
Grifoll, Ariel Guiance, Amancio Isla, Nikolas Jaspert, Henrik Karge, Peter Klein, Adam
Kosto, Matías López, Igor Philippov, Josefina Planas, Olivier Poisson, Philip D. Rasico,
Jesús Rodríguez Velasco, Karen Stöber, Xavier Terrado, Marie-Claire Zimmermann
Secretariat
Ferran Arnó, Jesús Brufal, Laia Messegué, Gemma Ortiz
Linguistic correction
Chris Boswell
Published by
‘Espai, Poder i Cultura’ Consolidated Medieval Studies Research Group (Universities
of Lleida and Rovira i Virgili)
www.medieval.udl.cat
© Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, 2008
Layout: Edicions i Publicacions de la UdL
Cover design: cat & cas
Printed in INO Reproducciones, SA
ISSN 1888-3931
D L: L-115-2008
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IMAGO TEMPORIS. MEDIUM AEVUM
Aims to contribute to a renewal of medieval studies with particular attention to the
different conceptual aspects that made up the medieval civilisation, and especially
to the study of the Mediterranean area.
Aims to promote reflection about the Middle Ages and the ways to approach it the
period —1st part: “the past interrogated and unmasked”—; In-depth discussion of
leading research themes —2nd part: “the past studied and measured”—; including the
analysis of the ways of diffusion and popularising ideas and cultures —3rd part: “the
past explained and recreated”—.
Is offered annually as a vehicle for exchanges among medievalists all over the world,
in the context of a globalised planet, stimulated by intellectual plurality, open to debate on ideas and faithful to scientific rigour.
Will publish in the format of articles those texts that pass a rigorous evaluation with
independent and separate analyses by at least two leading experts, who are not part
of the editorial board of the journal.
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The articles published in Imago Temporis. Medium Aevum will be indexed in
the following data bases:
Academic Research Premier
Dialnet
H.W. Wilson
Index Islamicus
Indice Histórico Español
International Medieval Bibliography
Isoc
Istituto Datini
Mla International Bibliography
Regesta Imperii
We are working so that articles published in this new Journal could also to
be indexed in the following data bases:
Arts & Humanities Citation Index
Current Contents
Francis
International Bibliography Of Periodical Literature
In The Humanities And Social Sciences (Ibz)
Scientific Commons
Scopus
Imago Temporis Medium Aevum wishes to be evaluated by:
Carhus
Dice
Erih
Jcr
Latindex
Resch
Sjr
Imago Temporis. Medium Aevum has an internet home page at: www.medieval.udl.cat
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INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Editor
Flocel Sabaté. Professor in Medieval History. Departament d’Història, Facultat
de Lletres, Universitat de Lleida. Plaça Víctor Siurana 1, 25003 Lleida (Spain).
Scientific board
David Abulafia. Professor in Mediterranean History. History Faculty, Gonville
and Caius College, University of Cambridge. Trinity Street, Cambridge CB2 1TA
(United Kingdom).
François Avril. Conservator of the Department of Manuscripts. Bibliothèque
National de France. 58 rue Richelieu, 75002 Paris (France).
Thomas N. Bisson. Professor in Medieval History. Harvard College, Harvard
University. 213 Robinson, Cambridge, 02138 Massachussets (USA).
Marc Boone. Professor in Urban, Social and Political History. Department of
Medieval History, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Ghent University. Blandijnberg 2,
9000 Ghent (Belgium).
Franco Cardini. Director of Medieval Historical Research. Istituto Italiano de
Scienze Umane. Piazza degli Strozzi, 1 (Palazzo Strozzi), 50123 Florence (Italy).
Claude Carozzi. Professor in Medieval History. Département d’Histoire, Université de Provence-Aix-Marseille. 29 avenue Robert Schumann, 13621 Aix-en-Provence cedex 01 (France).
Enrico Castelnuovo. Emeritus Professor in Medieval Art History. Classe di Lettere, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, 56126 Pisa (Italy).
Giovanni Cherubini. Professor in Medieval History. Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Università degli Studi di Firenze. Via S. Gallo 10, 50129 Florence. (Italy).
Alan D. Deyermond. Professor in Medieval Hispanic Philology. Department
of Hispanic Studies and Italian, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of
London. Mile End Road, London E1 4NS (United Kingdom).
Peter Dronke. Emeritus Professor of medieval Latin Literature. Faculty of
Modern and Medieval Languages, University of Cambridge. Sidgwick Avenue,
Cambridge CB3 9DA (United Kingdom).
Paul Freedman. Chester D. Tripp Professor in Medieval History. Department of History, Yale University. P.O. Box 208324 New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8324 (USA).
Claude Gauvard. Professor in Medieval History. Laboratoire de Médiévistique
Occidentale de Paris, Université Panthéo-Sorbonne (Paris I). 17 rue de la Sorbonne,
75005 Paris; Institut Universitaire de France. 103 boulevard Saint-Michel, 75005
Paris (France).
Jean-Philippe Genet. Professor in Medieval History. Laboratoire de Médiévistique Occidentale de Paris, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris I). 17 rue de la
Sorbonne, 75005 Paris (France).
Jacques Grand’Henry. Professor of Islamic History. Institut Orientaliste, Collège
Erasme, Catholic University of Louvain. Place Blaise Pascal 1, B-1348, Louvain-laNeuve (Belgium).
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Christian Guilleré. Professor in Medieval History. Département d’Histoire, Université de Savoie. 27 rue Marcoz BP 1104, 73011 Chambéry (France).
Eleazar Gutwirth. Professor in Medieval History. Faculty of Humanities, Tel
Aviv University. Renat Aviv, 69978 Tel Aviv (Israel).
Albert G. Hauf. Professor in Catalan Philology. Departament de Filologia
Catalana, Universitat de València. Avinguda Blasco Ibáñez 32, 46010 Valencia
(Spain); Emeritus Professor. Departament of Hispanic Studies, University of Wales.
30-36 Newport road, Cardiff (United Kingdom).
Hagen Keller. Emeritus Professor in Medieval History. Facultät fur Geschichte, Westfälische Wilhems-Universität Münster. Domplatz 20-22, D-48143 Münster (Germany).
Dieter Kremer. Professor in Romanesque Philology. Department of Romanesque
Philology, Universität Trier. Universitatsring, 15, D-54286 Trier (Germany).
Eberhard König. Professor in Art History. Kunsthistorisches Institut, Freie Universität Berlin. Koserstrasse, 20, 14195 Berlin (Germany).
Peter Linehan. Professor in Medieval History. St. John’s College, University of
Cambridge. St. John’s Street, Cambridge CB2 1TP (United Kingdom).
Georges Martin. Professor in Medieval Hispanic Philology. UFR d’Etudes Ibériques et Latino-Américaines, Université Paris Sorbonne (Paris IV). 1 rue Victor-Cousin, 75230 Paris (France).
Valentino Pace. Professor in Art History. Dipartamento di Storia e Tutela dei
Beni Culturali, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia. Università degli studi di Udine. Vicolo
Florio 2/b, 33100 Udine (Italy).
Adeline Rucquoi. Director of Research. Centre des Recherches Historiques,
Centre Nationale de Recherches Scientifiques. 54 boulevard Raspail, 75006 Paris
(France).
Teófilo Ruiz. Professor in Medieval History and Early Modern Europe. Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles. 6265 Bunche Hall, P. O. Box
951473, Los Angeles, California 90095-1473 (USA).
Gennaro Toscano. Professor in Civilisation and Renaissance Art History. UFR
Arts et Culture, Université Charles de Gaulle (Lille III). Rue de Barreau, BP 60149,
59653 Villeneuve d’Ascq (France).
Pierre Toubert. Professor in the History of the Western Mediterranean in the
Middle Ages. Collège de France. 11 place Marcelin Berthelot, 75231 Paris (France).
André Vauchez. Emeritus Professor in Medieval History. Department d’Histoire,
Université Paris-Nanterre (Paris X). 200 avenue de la République, 92001 Nanterre
(France).
Chris Wickham. Professor in Medieval History. All Souls College, Faculty of History, University of Oxford. The Old Boy’s High School, George Street, Oxford 0X1
2RL (United Kingdom).
Joaquín Yarza. Emeritus Professor in Art History. Departament d’Art, Facultat
de Filosofia i Lletres, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Edifici B, Campus de la
UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Cerdanyola del Vallès (Spain).
Michel Zimmermann. Professor in Medieval History. UFR des Sciences Sociales
et des Humanités, Université de Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. 47 boulevard
Vauban, 78047 Guyancourt cedex (France).
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Editorial board
Julián Acebrón. Professor titular in Spanish Philology. Departament de Filologia
Clàssica, Francesa i Hispànica, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat de Lleida. Plaça Víctor
Siurana 1, 25003 Lleida (Spain).
Stefano Asperti. Professor in Philology. Dipartimento di studi romanzi, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”. Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma. (Italy).
Màrius Bernadó. Professor in History of Music. Departament d’Història de l’Art
i Història Social, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat de Lleida. Plaça Víctor Siurana 1,
25003 Lleida (Spain).
Hugo O. Bizzarri. Professor in Hispanic Philology. Mediävistisches Institut der
Universität Freiburg. Avenue de l’Europe 20, CH-1700 Freiburg (Switzerland).
Maria Bonet. Professora titular in Medieval History. Departament d’Història i
Història de l’Art, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Plaça Imperial Tarraco
1, 43005 Tarragona (Spain).
Joan Josep Busqueta. Professor titular in Medieval History. Departament
d’Història, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat de Lleida. Plaça Victor Siurana 1, 25003
Lleida (Spain).
Brian Catlos. Associate Professor in Medieval History. Department of History,
University of California Santa Cruz. 201, Humanities 1, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz
CA 95064 California (USA).
Josep Antoni Clua. Professor in Greek Philology. Departament de Filologia
Clàssica, Francesa i Hispànica, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat de Lleida. Plaça Victor
Siurana, 1 25003 Lleida (Spain).
Pietro Corrao. Professor in Medieval History. Dipartamento di Studi Storici e
Artistici, Università di Palermo. Via G. Pascoli 6, 90144 Palermo (Italy).
Rita Costa Gomes. Assistant Professor in Medieval History. Department of History, Towson University. 8000 York Road, Towson, Maryland 21252-0001 (USA).
Ottavio Di Camillo. Professor in European Literature and Latin Middle Age.
Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies, The Graduate Center,
The City University of New York. 365 Fifth Avenue, New York 10016 (USA).
Luis Miguel Duarte. Professor in Medieval History. Departamento de História e
de Estudios Políticos e Internacionais, Faculdade de Letras, Universidade do Porto.
Via Panorâmica s/n, 4150-564 Porto (Portugal).
Francisco Javier Faci. Professor in Medieval History. Departament d’Història i
Història de l’Art, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Plaça Imperial Tarraco 1, 43005 Tarragona (Spain).
Francesc Fité. Professor titular in Medieval Art. Departament d’Història de l’Art
i Història Social, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat de Lleida. Plaça Víctor Siurana 1,
25003 Lleida (Spain).
Isabel Grifoll. Professora titular in Catalan Philology. Departament de Filologia
Catalana i Comunicació Audiovisual, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat de Lleida. Plaça
Víctor Siurana 1, 25003 Lleida (Spain).
Ariel Guiance. Scientific Researcher. Instituto Multidisciplinar de Historia
y Ciencias Humanas, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas.
Saavedra 15, 5º, 1083 Buenos Aires (Argentina).
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Amancio Isla. Professor in Medieval History. Departament d’Història i Història
de l’Art, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Plaça Imperial Tarraco 1,
43005 Tarragona (Spain).
Nikolas Jaspert. Professor in Medieval History. Lehrstuhl für die Geschichte des
Späten Mittelalters, Rurh-Universität Bochum. Universitätsstrasse 150, Gebäude
GA 4131, 44801 Bochum (Germany).
Henrik Karge. Professor in Medieval History. Philosophische Fakultät, Institut
für Kunst-und Musikwissenschaft. Technische Universität Dresden. 01062 Dresden
(Germany).
Peter Klein. Professor in Art History. Facultät für Kulturwissenschaften Zentrum für Allgemeine Kulturwissenschaften; Kunsthistorisches Institut, Tübingen
Universität. Bursagasse 1, 72070 Tübingen (Germany).
Adam Kosto. Associate Professor in Medieval History. Department of History,
Columbia University. 501 Fayer weather Hall, 2504, 2960 Broadway, New York
(USA).
Matías López. Professor titular in Latin Philology. Departament de Filologia Clàssica, Francesa i Hispànica, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat de Lleida. Plaça Víctor
Igor Phillipov. Professor in Medieval History. Faculty of History, Lomonosov Moscow State University. 117571 Prospekt Vernadskago, Moscow (Russian Federation).
Josefina Planas. Professor in Medieval Art History. Departament d’Història de
l’Art i Història Social, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat de Lleida. Plaça Víctor Siurana
1, 25003 Lleida (Spain).
Olivier Poisson. Inspector General of Historic Monuments. Direction de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication. 182, rue
Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris (France).
Philip D. Rasico. Professor in Spanish and Catalan. Department of Spanish and
Portuguese, Vanderbilt University. P. O. box 35-1617 Station B, Nashville, Tennessee 37235-1617 (USA).
Jesús Rodríguez Velasco. Professor in Hispanic Literature. Department of
Spanish and Portuguese, University of California, Berkeley. 5317 Dwinelle, Berkeley, California (USA).
Karen Stöber. Lecturer in Medieval History. Department of History & Welsh
History, Aberystwyth University. Hugh Ower Building. Aberystwytch, Ceredigion
SY23304 (United Kingdom).
Xavier Terrado. Professor in Hispanic Philology. Departament de Filologia Clàssica, Francesa i Hispànica, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat de Lleida. Plaça Víctor
Marie-Claire Zimmermann. Professor in Catalan Philology. UFR d’Études
Ibériques et Latino-Américaines, Université Sorbonne (Paris IV). 2 rue Francis de
Croisset, 75018 Paris (France).
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Authors Volume II
Frédéric Alchalabi. Maître de Conférences. UFR Histoire, histoire de l’art,
archéologie, Département d'histoire de l’art et archéologie, Université de Nantes.
Chemin de la Censive du Tertre, 44300 Nantes (France). [email protected]. Main lines of research: The pseudo-historical speech in Castilla in the
15th century, the Crónica Sarracina by Pedro de Corral, the Crónica Troyana of 1490,
the Històries e conquestes dels reys d’Aragó e comtes de Barcelona by Pere Tomich. Main
publications: L’écriture de l’Histoire dans les «Chroniques» de Pierre Ier et de Pierre III,
Lille, 2004; «La fin de l’errance. Le jardin dans les ‘Milagros de Nuestra Señora’ de
Gonzalo de Berceo», Le jardin: figures et métamorphoses, Anne-Marie Brevot, Bernard
Cottret, dirs. Dijon: PU Dijon, 2005: 38-49; «La plume et le pinceau: la technique
de l’autoportrait dans la Chronique de Pierre III (représentation et mise en scène)»,
Revue d’Etudes Catalanes, VIII- IX (2005- 2006): 7- 35; «Des vertus de personnages du
Tirant lo Blanc et de leur appétit: réflexions sur le rôle de la nourriture dans l’œuvre
de Joanot Martorell», Les Langues Néo-Latines, CCCXLI/2 (2007): 17-36.
Julia Baldó Alcoz. Scientific researcher in Medieval History. Departamento de
Historia, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Navarra. Campus de Pamplona
(edificio central), 31080 Pamplona (Spain). [email protected]. Main lines
of research: Death in the Middle Ages, Funerary rites, Funerary liturgy, Suicide,
Illness, Popular religion, Black Death, Old age, Social History in the Middle Ages,
History of Mentalities, Military Orders (Order of Saint John of Jerusalem). Main
publications: “Un aspecto de los funerales a través de la legislación civil en la Navarra
bajomedieval: el uso de antorchas durante el cortejo”, Grupos sociales en Navarra.
Relaciones y derechos a lo largo de la historia, Carmen de Erro Gasca, Iñigo Mugueta
Moreno, dirs. Pamplona: Ediciones Eunate, 2002: 197-210; “Registrar la muerte
(1381-1512). Un análisis de testamentos y mandas pías contenidos en los Protocolos
Notariales Navarros”, Hispania. Revista Española de Historia, LXV/1, 219 (2005): 155226; “Segunt a mi estado fazer pertenesce. Imagen y memoria de los grupos sociales
privilegiados en la Navarra bajomedieval: el cortejo funerario”, Navarra: Memoria
e Imagen: actas del VI Congreso de Historia de Navarra. Pamplona: Ediciones Eunate,
2006: 385-402; “Las misas post mortem: simbolismos y devociones en torno a la
muerte y el más allá en la Navarra bajomedieval”, Zainak. Cuadernos de AntropologíaEtnografía. Formas de religiosidad e identidades, 28 (2006): 353-374.
Juan Antonio Barrio Barrio. Professor titular in Medieval History. Departament
de Història Medieval i Moderna, Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, Universidad de Alacant. Carretera Sant Vicent del Raspeig s/n, 03690 Sant Vicent del Raspeig (Spain).
[email protected]. Main lines of research: Border, oligarchies, Orihuela, Urban World,
cinema. Main publications: ed. (with Vicente Cabezuelo Pliego) La Fortaleza Medieval.
Realidad y Símbolo Alicante: Universidad de Alicante, 1997; ed. Los cimientos del Estado
en la Edad Media, Alcoy: editorial Marfil, 2005; Gobierno municipal durante el reinado de
Alfonso V 1416-1458, Alicante: Universidad de Alicante, 1995; Finanzas municipales y
mercado urbano durante el reinado de Alfonso V, 1416-1458, Alicante: Instituto de Cultura
Juan Gil-Albert, 1998; “La articulación de una oligarquía fronteriza en el mediodía
valenciano. El patriciado de Orihuela. Siglos XIV-XV”. Revista d'Història Medieval, 9
(1999): 105-126.
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Howard B. Clarke. Professor emeritus of Medieval Socio-economic History. School
of History and Archives, University College Dublin. Belfied, Dublin, 4 (Ireland).
[email protected]; member of Royal Irish Academy. 19, Dawson
Street, Dublin, 2. Main lines of research: Comparative urban history, Medieval
Dublin, English surveys 900-1200, Evesham Abbey, the Bayeux Tapestry. Main
publications: ed. (with Simms, Anngret), The Comparative History of Urban Origins in
Non-roman Europe: Ireland, Wales, Denmark, Germany, Poland and Russia from the Ninth
to the Thirteenth Century. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1985; Irish cities.
Dublin: Mercier Press, 1995; “Proto-towns and towns in Ireland and Britain in the
ninth and tenth centuries”, Ireland and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age, Howard
B. Clarke, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Raghnall Ó Floinn, eds. Dublin: Four Courts Press,
1998: 331-380; “Decolonization and the dynamics of urban decline in Ireland,
1300-1550”, Towns in Decline, AD 100-1600, Terence R. Slater, ed. Aldershot: Ashgate,
2000: 157-192; (with Dent, Sarah; Johnson, Ruth) Dublinia: The story of Medieval
Dublin. Dublin: The O’Brien Press, 2002; Dublin, Part I, to 1610. Dublin: Royal Irish
Academy, 2002.
Francisco Franco Sánchez. Professor in Arabic and Islamic Studies. Departament de Filologies integrades, Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, Universitat d’Alacant.
Carretera de Sant Vicent del Raspeig s/n, 03080 Alacant (Spain). [email protected].
Main lines of research: Social and religious history of Al-Andalus, Medieval and
Modern Arabic Historiography, Ancient and Arabic geography and cartography,
Moslem urbanism, Arabic medicine. Main publications: Vías y defensas andalusíes
en la Mancha Oriental, Alicante: Instituto de Cultura Juan Gil-Albert, 1995; (with
Maria Sol Cabello) Muhammand As-Safra. El médico y su época, Alicante: Universidad
de Alicante, 2004; Rábitas islámicas. Alicante-Sant Carles de la Ràpita, Alicante: Universidad de Alicante-Ajuntament de Sant Carles de la Ràpita, 1997; (with Míkel
de Epalza) La rábita en el islam. Estudios interdisciplinares, Sant Carles de la RàpitaAlicante: Universidad de Alicante-Ajuntament de Sant Carles de la Ràpita, 2004.
Analie Germain. Scientific researcher in Medieval History. Maison Méditerranéennee des Sciences de l’Homme, Département des Sciences de l’Antiquité, Université de Provence. 5 rue du Château de l’Horge, BP 647 13094 Aix-en Provence
(France). [email protected]. Main lines of research: Notion of friendship
in the medieval letters on 10th-12th centuries, like Gerbert of Reims, Fulbert of
Chartres, and how these relations influence the medieval society. Main publications: “Societas, foedus, amicitia: la société des ’princes’ dans la correspondance de
Gerbert d’Aurillac”, Vivre en société au Moyen Age: Occident chrétien, VIe-XVe siècles, C.
Carozzi, D. Le Blévec et H. Taviani-Carozzi, eds. Aix-en-Provence: Publications de
l’Université de Provence, 2008: 57-78.
Catalina Girbea. Senior Lecturer in Medieval French Literature. Department
of French Language and Literature, Faculty of Foreing Languages and Literatures,
University of Bucharest. Edgar Quinet 5-7 sect I, 70106 Bucharest (Romania); associated member of the Centre d’Études Supérieures de Civilisation Médiévale. 24
rue de la Chaîne, BP-603 86022 Poitiers (France). [email protected]. Main
lines of reserche: Arthurianism and religion and the problem of conversion, the
individual in the Middle Age, arthurian heraldry. Main publications: La couronne ou
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l’auréole: Royauté terrestre ou chevalerie celestielle dans la légende arthurienne, Turnhout:
Brepols, 2007; ed. (with Martin Aurell, Denise Turell, Christine Manigand, Jérôme
Grévy, Laurent Hablot), Signes et couleurs des identités politiques. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2007.
José Marín. Professor in Medieval History. Instituto de Historia, Facultad de
Filosofía y Educación, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. Avenida El
Bosque 1290, Viña del Mar, Valparaiso (Chile); Scientific researcher in Medieval
History, Centro de Estudios Griegos, Bizantinos y Neohelénicos, Facultad de Filosofia
y Humanidades, Universidad de Chile. Paseo Valle 396, Viña del Mar (Chile). jmarin@
ucv.cl. Main lines of research: Late Antiquity, Byzantine History. Main publications:
Cruzada, Guerra Santa y Jihad. La Edad Media y Nosotros, Valparaíso: ediciones de la
Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, 2003; Textos Históricos. Del Imperio Romano al siglo
VIII. Santiago: Ril editores, 2003; “Noticias bizantinas en España. El caso de San
Isidoro de Sevilla”, Instituçôes, poderes e jurisdiçôes. I Seminario Argentina-Brasil-Chile
de Historia Antiga e Medieval, Marcella Lopes Guimaraes, Renan Frighetto, coord.
Sao Pablo: Juruà, 2007: 27-50; “Notas para una reconsideración del concepto de
guerra santa”, Atas do III Encontro Internacional de Estudos Medievais, María do Amparo
Tavares Maleval, ed. Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Àgora da Ilha, 2001: 431-440.
Germán Navarro Espinach: Profesor titular in Medieval History. Departamento
de Historia Medieval, Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas y Estudios Arabes e Islámicos, Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Universidad de Zaragoza. Calle Pedro Cerbuna 12,
50009 Zaragoza (Spain). [email protected]. Main lines of research: Aragon Medieval, General States, social elites, comparative structures in the Crown of Aragon in
the Late Medieval Ages. Main publications: Los orígenes de la sedería valenciana (siglos
XV-XVI). Valencia: Ayuntamiento de Valencia, 1999; (with David Igual). La tesorería
general y los banqueros de Alfonso V el Magnánimo. Castellón de la Plana: Sociedad
Castellonense de Cultura, 2002; (with José Luis Corral; Carmen García Herrero).
Taller de Historia. El oficio que amamos. Barcelona: Edhasa, 2006; Cuentas del concejo de
Mirambel (1472-1489). Saragossa: Universidad de Zaragoza, 2008; Cortes del Reinado de
Martín I, ed., Saragossa: Gobierno de Aragón, Ibercaja, 2008.
Maria-Milagros Rivera Garretas. Professor in Medieval History. Departament
d’Història Medieval, Paleografia i Diplomàtica, Facultat de Geografia i Història, Universitat de Barcelona. Montalegre 6, 08001 Barcelona (Spain). milagrosrivera@
ub.edu. Main lines of research: Medieval History, Women’s History, Women’s Writting. Main publications: Textos y espacios de mujeres: Europa, siglos IV-XV. Barcelona:
Icaria, 1990; Mujeres en relación. Feminismo 1970-2000. Barcelona: Icaria, 2001; Juana
de Mendoza (h. 1425-1493). Madrid: Ediciones del Orto, 2004; La diferencia sexual en la
historia. Valencia: Universitat de València, 2005; coord., Las relaciones en la historia de
la Europa medieval, Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch, 2006.
Albert Sierra Reguera. Scientific Researcher in Art History. Direcció General
del Patrimoni Cultural. Departament de Cultura i Mitjans de Comunicació de la
Generalitat de Catalunya, Portaferrissa 1 (Palau Moja), 08002 Barcelona (Spain).
[email protected]. Main lines of research: Museums and Internet, Cultural heritage difussion and new technologies, History of the Architecture and the architectonical restoration, Pinture Renaissance painting on the Pirenean Valleys. Main
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publications: “Una nova figura del davallament de Durro: Nicodem”. Revista d’art,
3 (2003): 125-132; (with Domènec Ferran) “Leer las iglesias de Sant Pere de Terrassa: arqueología, arquitectura y arte”, II Congreso Internacional sobre musealización de yacimientos arqueológicos: nuevos conceptos y estrategias de gestión y comunicación,
Julia Beltrán de Heredia, Isabel Fernández del Moral, coords. Barcelona: Museu
d'Història de la ciutat, 2003: 61-66.
Jill Webster. Professor emeritus in Medieval History. St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto. 81 St. Mary Street, Ontario, M5S1J4, Toronto (Canada). Jill.
[email protected]. Main lines of research: Medieval Franciscans, Poor Clares,
and Carmelites, especially in Vic. Main publications: Els menorets: the franciscans in
the realms of Aragon from St. Francis to the black death. Toronto: Pontificial Institute of
Medieval Studies, 1993; Per Déu o fer diners. Els mendicants i el clergat al País Valencià.
Catarroja-Barcelona: Afers, 1998; Carmel in Medieval Catalonia. Leiden: Brill 1999;
Els Franciscans catalans a l’Edat Mitjana. Lleida: Pagès editors, 2000.
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CONTENTS
Imago Temporis. Medium Aevum. Volume 2. Year 2008
I Part. The Past Interrogated and Unmasked
17-25
History that rescues and redeems the present
María-Milagros Rivera-Garretas
27-43
Joining the Club: a spanish historic towns atlas?
Howard B. Clarke
45-55
“Who is who” in Spanish medieval studies
Germán Navarro
II Part. The Past Studied and Measured
59-82
Byzantium and the dark ages. A civilization on trial
José Marín
83-112
The andalusian economy in the times of Almanzor.
Administrative theory and economic reality through
juridical and geographic sources
Francisco Franco-Sánchez
113-132 loyalty, friendship and love in the letters of fulbert of chartres
Analie Germain
133-160 The Christian message in Josep d’Abarimatie and
Demanda del Santo Grial: conversion and charity through dialogue
Catalina Girbea
161-175 the establishment of a modus vivendi
between the franciscans and the clergy: vic - 1280-1357
Jill Webster
177-189 A Chronicler King: Rewriting History and the Quest
for Image in the Catalan Chronicle of Peter III (1319- 1336/ 1387)
Frédéric Alchalabi
191-225 Quonstituido en estrema vejez. Old age and life
expectancy in Late Medieval Navarre
Julia Baldó
13
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III Part. The Past Explained and Recreated
229-260 The Middle Ages in USA Cinema
Juan Antonio Barrio
261-287 Medieval internet: research, knowledge and play, the new time travel
Albert Sierra
Originals of the Texts not Written in English
291-298 La historia que rescata y redime el presente
299-308 ¿Quién es quién en el medievalismo español?
Germán Navarro
309-329 Bizancio y la época oscura. Una civilización puesta a prueba
José Marín
330-344 La economía andalusí en época de Almanzor. Teoría
administrativa y realidad económica a través de
las fuentes jurídicas y geográficas
345-361 Fidelité, amitié et amour dans la correspondance de Fulbert de Chartres
Analie Germain
362-386 Le message chretien dans le Josep d’Abarimatie et
la Demanda del Santo Grial: conversion et charite a travers le dialogue
Catalina Girbea
387-395 Un roi chroniqueur: réécriture de l’Histoire et quête de l’image
politique dans la Chronique catalane de Pierre III (1319-1336/1387)
Frédéric Alchalabi
396-425 Quonstituido en estrema vejez. Ancianidad
y esperanza de vida en la Navarra bajomedieval
Julia Baldó
426-452 La Edad Media en el cine de Estados Unidos
Juan Antonio Barrio
453-465 Medieval Internet: recerca, coneixement i joc, la nova màquina del temps
Albert Sierra
14
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I PART
THE PAST INTERROGATED
AND UNMASKED
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HISTORY THAT RESCUES
AND REDEEMS THE PRESENT
Universitat de Barcelona
Spain
Date of reception: 8th of March, 2007
Final date of acceptance: 18th of December, 2007
Abstract
I ask myself if the thinking of experience serves to untie a knot that oppresses and
darkens current scientific historiography. The feminist historiography of equality of the
sexes or gender has not found a new beginning that gives it its own originality and
sense, but rather has adopted as its own that of western masculine historiography, that
is the paternal genealogy, which, from the erudite movement of the 17th century, has
considered objectivity as its touchstone. Not having found a new beginning has meant
that feminist historiography of equality or gender has limited itself to repeating existing
interpretations of the past. Because of this, the pain, protest and indignation of the
women’s political movement in the 1970s at the absence of women in History is still
valid thirty years later, with no greater response than the corroboration of the absence,
that is the absence of the meta-narratives and the memory, not the documentation or
the history. How can we find a new beginning for the history that is written today? How
can we find a beginning that rescues and redeems me from the traumas of the past, such
as the Spanish Civil War, the Holocaust, the disappearance of women and men under
the dictatorships, the systematic rape of women in many contemporary wars, including
those committed by troops from the UN, which my country belongs to? How can we
avoid vengeance or political paralysis, while maintaining the historical memory alive?
Key words
Sexual difference, Philosophy of history, Spanish Civil War, Historical memory,
True history.
Capitalia verba
Sexualis differentia, Historiae philosophia, Hispanicum civile bellum, Memoria
historica, Vera historia.
Imago Temporis. Medium Aevum, II (2008): 17-25. ISSN 1888-3931
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1. The thinking of experience in the writing of history1
In this paper, I ask myself if the practice setting out from the self —in other
words, the thinking of experience— can shed some light on the knot which oppresses and obscures current scientific historiography, including feminist historiography whose horizon of meaning is the principle of sexual equality, that is, gender
history. Let us not forgetting that feminist historiography and the history of women
are not synonymous.
The knot of which I am speaking lies in the fact —an undeniable fact, after thirtyfive years of historiographical studies generated by programmes of Women’s Studies
or Gender Studies in hundreds of universities all around the world— that feminist
historiography regarding equality or gender has not found a new beginnig to express itself in an original way, a voice which could be its source of meaning; rather it
has adopted the discourse of Western male historiography, which is patriarchal, and
which, since the 17th century, has considered objectivity to be its touchstone, which,
with the help of one or several ideologies, has been used to guarantee the veracity
of historical accounts. In patriarchal genealogy, historical veracity is established by
paternity itself: the legitimacy of the son or daughter depends, not on trust upon
their mother, but on methods which are beyond the sentimental relationship of the
couple, objective and external methods such as the ordeal by hot iron, which was
used in Europe as conclusive legal evidence in charges of female adultery until at
least the 11th century, or the DNA test (deoxyribonucleic acid) —that traces the genetic map— of our own time. Perhaps this analogy helps to explain why, in debates
about objectivity, female historians have scarcely intervened.
The fact that no new beginning has been found has meant that feminist historiography regarding equality or gender has been forced to repeat existing interpretations of the past. Against these interpretations, they have simply contrasted
feminine experience, without opening contradictions that could enrich and sharpen
the political vocabulary. In other words, without contributing to putting conflicts
between the sexes that can be documented nowadays, into words. That is why the
cry of pain, protest and indignation from the women’s political movement of the
1970s due to the absence of women from History, thirty years on, is still present in
this historical writing, with no answer but the corroboration of this absence, which
is the absence of metanarratives and memory, not documentation or history.
Let us look at an example. There is an event in Spanish contemporary history
that has aroused, and still generates, a great deal of interest, one that is only exceeded by accounts of the discovery of America or the Inquisition.2 That event was
the Civil War of 1936-1939. In the last few decades, many feminist historians have
published scientifically impeccable research into the participation of women in this
1. I presented a oral of this paper in the XII Symposium of the Internationale Assoziation von Philosophinnen
(Rome, 31st August — 3rd September 2006), dedicated to Il pensiero dell’esperienza, in the section Storia e
memoria.
2. Dupláa, Christina. Memoria sí, venganza no en Josefina R. Aldecoa: ensayo sociohistórico de su narrativa. Barcelona: Icaria, 2000: 57.
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History that Rescues and Redeems the Present
19
terrible event. However, their interpretations repeat the male model of winners/
losers, fair war/unfair war, in a female way, and the nostalgia for a world which,
in fact, never existed because of that war. In other words, women are included in
history without finding a new beginning. There is no substantial difference: being a
woman is not a source of meaning. Moreover, women’s presence in history books
becomes an obstacle, since now we are in history without actually being in history.
Teresa de Jesús, a great politician and interpreter of the sexual politics of her time,
wrote that: “there’s a big difference between being and being”.
What led university feminism to accept objectivity and paternal genealogy when
it started to write history?
If I narrate my own experience and that of women of my time, I would say that
it was because of the hope with which we went to university: the hope of learning to express ourselves. We thought that at university history was made correctly,
honestly, without cheating or the bitterness of treachery. And that is why we did
not think about the necessity of a new beginning: we did not realise that, without
a new beginning, our writing of history would lack originality and origin. However,
some of us already sensed this at the time. I remember, at that time, more than
twenty-five years ago, the most significant conflict that was discussed in the small
feminist historians’ groups that were being founded in universities at that time. It
was a conflict relating to practice. Some female historians wanted to separate history writing and political practice. “At university,” they said “we make history, and
outside, we do politics”. Others wanted history writing to be a life experience. This
conflict ended frequently because the groups split into two, abandoned by a lot of
women who were anxious about the double bind.
Hence it was the hope at the university such as it was what deprived feminist historiography of equality or gender of its originality. Many years later, I read a poem
by Emily Dickinson about how misplaced hope can do much harm to a woman,
which runs:
Had I presumed to hope —
The loss had been to Me
A Value — for the Greatness’ Sake —
As Giants — gone away —
Had I presumed to gain
A Favor so remote —
The failure but confirm the Grace
In further Infinite —
‘Tis failure — not of Hope —
But Confident Despair —
Advancing on Celestial Lists —
With faint — Terrestrial Power —
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‘Tis Honor — though I die —
For That no Man obtain
Till He be justified by Death —
This — is the Second Gain —.3
“Giants gone away”, “further Infinite”, “Confident Despair”, “Celestial Lists with
faint Terrestrial Power”, death as the second gain... The divide between thought and
practice has caused the death of history connected with experience at universities.
In this way, feminist historiography guided by the principle of equality has become
history tamed, with no surprises, without the surprise of the truth. This can be
seen, as mentioned previously, in the way their interpretations follow the model of
confrontation, of the fair and the unfair war and, therefore, of the winners and the
losers, female or male. And it is particularly noticeable in the fact that the present
persists in demanding explanations from history which are free from the model of
confrontation, explanations which “do not reopen wounds”, as we read occasionally in the press, almost always voiced by a woman. Because the significant events
of the past, especially the traumatic ones, interpreted only within this model, often
become recurring ghosts, if by ghosts we understand “a piece of detached reality...,
a nucleus of it”.4
Even though history does not consist mainly of traumatic events, it is these that
the present, at the end of the patriarchy, insists most vehemently on interpreting
from a new beginning, other than that based on objectivity and paternal genealogy.
Returning to the example of the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, when the
dictatorship finished at the end of 1975, the ghost of the Civil War and fear of its
repetition continued to darken the political life of my country. In order to avoid this
and make a peaceful transition to democracy, the political parties of the time signed
what was known as “the pact of forgetting”.5 This pact restrained the ghost of the
Civil War but created another one: that of the lack of historical memory of this
traumatic event which, without the memory of their experience, people cannot
redeem nor rescue in order to obtain the “no to revenge, yes to memory”, which
novelist Josefina Aldecoa —a “girl of the War”— was still asking for in 1997.6
In 2006, on the seventieth anniversary of the outbreak of the Civil War, many
ceremonies were held and a large number of texts were published demanding historical documentation to rectify the consequences of the pact of forgetting. However, these repeated the model of confrontation without finding a new beginning.
Examples are the texts by Carmen Zulueta, daughter of a civil servant of the Republic in Rome, who wrote in “El País” on 19th July 2006:
3. Dickinson, Emily. The Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. Ralph W. Franklin. Cambridge (Mass.): The Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press, 1998: nº 669, Johnson 522.
4. Zambrano, María. Algunos lugares de la pintura, ed. Amalia Iglesias. Madrid: Acanto and Espasa Calpe,
1991: 65.
5. Dupláa, Christina. Memoria sí, venganza no…: 9.
6. Aldecoa, Josefina R. La fuerza del destino. Barcelona: Anagrama, 1997; quote in Dupláa, Christina.
Memoria sí, venganza no ...: 68.
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The Republic did not create a state of disorder or crime. This was created by the
military and the completely politicised church which favoured the fascists” (p. 14),
or the text by Gregorio Marañón and Beltrán de Lis and Antonio López Vega in the
same newspaper, that said,
The drama of the Civil War could only be brought to a close forty years later, when
those who made the transition achieved national reconciliation and recovered
freedom. Those men did not sign a pact of forgetting, on the contrary, they could
remember very well and that is why they were convinced that a past when, as
Azaña wrote, ‘all Spanish people were sick with hatred’, was not a good foundation for a peaceful future for all concerned.7
Forgetting and remembering are, however, the same thing: there is no free interpretation, free from the given model mechanically repeated over and over again,
repeated because, although it is not useful, it helps to remind us of the need for research. It is repeated because nobody has found a new beginning, a beginning that
generates reality today, which signifies the political strength of experience in the
place where experience finds itself today. A reality that does not follow the winners/
losers model nor looks for synthesis in reconciliation —“national reconciliation”, as
they say in Spain (although we do not know how many nations there are) and, in
Argentina, “Full Stop Law”, 8 because today this model seems abstract and ideological, distant from experience. People, myself included, feel that this is an interpretation which does not rescue or redeem the burden left by the traumatic historical
event: because we are not seeking forgiveness, but meaning and internal change
which can open me to a different order of relationships.
2. A new beginning that redeems the traumas of the past
while keeping the memory alive
How can we find a new beginning for the history that is written today? How
can we find a beginning for history which rescues and redeems me from the traumas of the past, such as the Spanish Civil War, the Holocaust, the disappearance of
women and men under dictatorships, the systematic rape of women in the many
current wars, including those committed by UN soldiers,9 an organisation of which
my country is a member? How can we avoid revenge or political paralysis while
keeping historical memory alive?
7. Marañón y Beltrán de Lis, Gregorio; López Vega, Antonio. “Cartas de la memoria: julio 1936”. El País,
19th July 2006: 13-14, 14.
8. Padoan, Daniela. Le pazze. Un incontro con le Madri di Plaza de Mayo. Milan: Bompiani, 2005: 261-262.
9. See, for example, “Cascos azules y agresiones sexuales”. Boletín de AFESIP. June 2006: 2-3.
Asociación Somaly Mam-AFESIP España. 8 February 2007 <http://www.somalyman.org/pdfboletines/
boletinjunio06.pdf>.
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Without trying to deny, in any way, that there are winners and losers in traumatic
historical events, and having established this, I propose to look for a personal movement which allows the historical memory to be rescued from the dichotomous destiny which has weighed it down from generation to generation, like a recurring ghost,
and prevents us from discovering the sense of the conflicts which ended in tragedy
when it was no longer possible to use words, relations and the relational conflict.
I think that this movement, which is an internal change, can be born out of the
experiences of today’s female historians, as an unexpected but necessary movement
which does not distance itself from the reality of historical events, which does not
result in metanarrative.
Thirty years ago, in the political movement of women, many female historians
focussed on a sentence by Virginia Woolf in A Room of One’s Own, which said: “All
these infinitely obscure lives remain to be recorded, I said”.10 We understood then
that the infinitely dark lives were those of common women, especially from the
southern hemisphere, lives that nobody had bothered to document, reconstruct and
narrate. So we set to work and recovered the history of many female figures and
feminine relationship contexts; but we did so through social history and left-wing
thinking in general, without finding a beginning that would be a source of meaning
and originality for our works.
Today I understand that the infinitely dark lives are those of us female historians
ourselves: my life when I write history. I discovered this whilst reflecting on a recent
book by Marirì Martinengo, a short book that has taken her whole life to write, entitled La voce del silenzio. Memoria e storia di Maria Massone, donna ‘sottratta’.11 The title
“The voice of silence” is not new (I would say that most languages have at least one
book about the history of women with this title) but the meaning suggested by the
title is new. Until now, a title like this meant that the female historian gave a voice
to other women who had not had one. Now, however, it means that it is the female
historian who is no longer silent, talking about her own history and, thereby and
from her own experience, she questions and interprets history. “There is a living history inside every one of us, writes Marirì Martinengo, comprised of memories, emotions and unconscious signals; I do not think that only those things on the outside
have historical value, that which someone else has certified, the famous objective
history. I narrate a living history which does not reject imagination, an imagination
which has its roots in personal experience, a truer history because it does not remove
the reasons for love, it does not dismiss the relationships of its cognitive process.”12
I believe that it is the living history inside every female historian that is still infinitely dark when a university woman writes history. Bringing out that history and
putting it into words, like demons were released from the body in exorcisms and cathartic therapy, is a very interesting way of writing history setting out from the self.
10. Woolf, Virginia. “A Room of One’s Own”. ebooks@Adelaide. 15 March 2006: ch. 5. The University of Adelaide Library. 8 February 2007 <http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91r/chapter5.html>.
11. Martinengo, Marirì. La voce del silenzio. Memoria e storia di Maria Massone, donna “sottratta”. Ricordi, immagini, documenti. Genova: ECIG, 2005.
12. Martinengo, Marirì. La voce del silenzio…: 21 (her italics).
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This opens up some old wounds in me and creates an explicit and fearsome conflict with my closest genealogy, my origins, my mother and father. If politics is born
of contradiction and conflict, I think that history is also born there, true history and
the symbolic in history writing. This is because I think that the conflict arises from
my idealisation of my mother, from not wanting to remember anything else other
than the happiness of childhood, without confronting the negative aspect of my
relationship with her,13 without facing up to what led me to contribute in the end to
the patriarchy, separating myself from her for years. At the same time, I recognise
that creation and creativity are born from a link to the sources of childhood —from
the adult’s connection with one’s origin.
The question about true history is a very female question. It contrasts with the
question about objectivity, which, as I have said, is of little interest to us. María
Zambrano said about true history, “... apochyphal history —which is no less accurate— [...] hides true history. In this way, apochyphal history almost constantly
suffocates true history, that which philosophical reason tries to reveal and establish,
and poetic reason tries to rescue”.14 Marirì’s book constantly talks about rescue: rescue not to add to or to fill an existing vacuum in existing history, nor to judge —as
she says she was tempted to do at first— but rather to redeem, thinking with love,
to dedicate oneself to loving conversation, to bring love into the vocabulary of history, and hence into the vocabulary of politics.
I think that in each human life there is a thread which connects us to our first
love —the love of a mother giving me body and word— and that this thread can be
felt in the gut call. “She has called me ever since; as the dead call, of course”, is how
the book La voce del silenzio begins.
How can we put into words and narrate the living history hidden inside each of
us? Marirì Martinengo proposes that we start from the shortages, negligences and
gaps in the interpretation of what already exists (p. 88), without ignoring the silence
of her character and the silence around her, amalgamating it all with the mercury of
her own relationship with Her, with the gut call that She left. She writes:
I base my work on specific and controllable documents: the images which I have,
of her and the family, the photography of the places where she lived, the objects
she held in her hands, the information from the civil register; in my narration
memories and memories of memories converge, both mine and those of others, I
assert psychological characteristics hidden in the creases of the portraits, without
disdaining the use occasional of imagination anchored in practical knowledge; I
collect all the elements, make them come alive with interpretations and reinterpretations, and I melt them in the fire of my relationship with Her (p. 90).
Rescuing and redeeming the history that lies in me is not an attempt to revalue
a woman or a common past experience, rather it is, or could be, a mediation which
13. On negativity: Diótima. La magica forza del negativo. Naples: Liguori, 2005.
14. Zambrano, María. “La tumba de Antígona”, Senderos. Los intelectuales en el drama de España. La tumba
de Antígona. Barcelona: Anthropos, 1986: 199-265; 201.
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redeems me and some of my contemporaries from a recurring ghost, from a past
crime which still burdens us in the present, from a historical event captive of ideological interpretations. In other words, it is an attempt to absolve myself —to absolve my time— from ghosts and crimes of the past. Or to be absolved from them by
the grace of a political relationship.
I have learned this from the countess of Barcelona, Dhuoda, a 9th-century writer
who wrote in the Liber manualis dedicated to her two sons, who her husband had
taken from her:
Although I am unworthy and fragile, exiled,
sunk in mud and always tending towards the lowest,
a trust wortly and friendly female consort is always with me
to absolve the sins of your people. (Epigram)15
The crime to be absolved in this fragment is that of her husband and his friends,
who were using Dhuoda’s sons as hostages in power struggles between Charlemagne’s grandchildren. But not in order to absolve or forgive them (the offenders),
but in order to free herself, to absolve herself, to liberate herself —Dhuoda— from
this crime, which would not let her live in peace. And to be able to create.
Bringing the history that lies in each of us to light, and doing so with a method
which combines critical erudition with thought that can decipher feelings (María
Zambrano), can, in my opinion, be a symbolic revolution moment which does not
perpetuate hatred and revenge, which draws the attention of male and female readers, lovers of history, back to historical writing. These readers who, since the end
of the 80s, have preferred to look to the historical novel for accounts of traumatic
events that historical writing based on objectivity and the winners/losers model has
been unable to rescue or redeem.
If I look at my experience, I find that the history that lies inside me is the necessity to bring to the world a peace, which has as a reference neither war nor the
absence of war. Therefore, my irreducible is not “No War”, but rather how to make
war unthinkable. I can say that I have been involved in this my whole life, and
the origins for this are the stories about the Spanish Civil War heard at home during my childhood, stories of a war which cut off the life plans of my mother and
father —who were twenty-three and twenty-two when it broke out— and which
cut them off not because they lost the war, but despite the fact that they won it.
This history manifested itself in me, firstly, in my incapacity to learn and explain the
history of wars in class. Later, this appeared as a symptom of distress and frustration
when trying to explain the history of the Shoah or the Holocaust.
For several years, I taught the Current Historiographical Trends in my university
department. When I came to the historiography of the Holocaust, the participation
15. “Licet sim indignans, fragilis et exul, limo revoluta, trahens ad imma, / est tamen michi consors amica
fidaque, de tuis relaxandi crimina”, in Dhuoda. Handbook for her Warrior Son. Liber Manualis, Latin text
and trans. Marcelle Thiébaux. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998: 44, letters L and E; (I differ
from her translation).
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of the students was extremely intense. They read and commented on all kinds of
works, made audiovisual reports, recovered testimony from survivors, etc. But, in
the end, I was not satisfied. The degree of interest worried me. I was not satisfied
because, behind the scenes, hatred of the German people for the crime committed
was always present. That is to say, there was no rescue, no redemption from guilt or
from memory, because that is not possible while hatred prevails. And, if there is no
redemption, history can repeat itself.
There was no rescue or redemption from memory because I did not know how
to find the narrow door that would allow love into the interpretation of history.
I did not dare —they were large and very politicised classes— to put my personal
experience into play, the experience which I had closer at hand and which was that
of another crime inherited from history, and inherited specifically from the history
of my father and mother: the Spanish Civil War.
Bringing out the history inside each one of us, and going beyond —not against—
the victim/tyrant model, changes the history of traumatic events because it changes
the female historian and, with her, it changes the history which she will write and
explain, freeing both from the control of the dominant thought, whose horizon is
war or the absence of it. In my opinion, becoming independent from this horizon
frees the ghosts of the past, not by forgetting or demanding memory, but by rescuing and redeeming it through an opening of my conscience the other, to another
conscience, which, in turn, will allow me to move towards another order of relationships in my present,16 one which has room, however small, for love among the
guilty feelings and desire for revenge that are consequences of traumatic events in
history. This is a movement of internal change that helps to make thinkable a world
without war.
I think that to invent mediations in order to be able to say out loud that peace
—unmitigated peace without so many rights, peace which goes further than (not
against) history itself— is the condition of human life, is the most urgent political
problem of our time.
16. The idea (of Cristina Campo) of the move to another order of relationships, in Muraro, Luisa. Il Dio
delle donne. Milan: Mondadori, 2003: 63-64.
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Joining the Club: a Spanish
Historic Towns Atlas?
Howard B. Clarke
Royal Irish Academy
Ireland
Date of reception: 20th of March, 2007
Final date of acceptance: 7th of March, 2008
Abstract
The background to the historic towns atlas project of the International Commission for the History of Towns is explained briefly. Variations from the standard
model laid down in the 1960s are discussed and components of a recommended
methodology are suggested. Spain has long been represented on the commission,
yet no historic town atlases have been published to date. The country has a distinguished urban past, rich archival resources and well-preserved townscapes. Spanish
scholars are urged to re-engage with this international programme in a proactive
way. In particular Spain’s medieval past provides a spectacular example, spanning
both Atlantic Europe and Mediterranean Europe, of the importance of map making
and map usage.
Key words
Atlases, Comparative urban history, Maps, Topographical information, Urban
form.
Capitalia verba
Atlantes, Historia urbana Collana, Geographicae tabulae, Res topographicae,
Ratio urbium.
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Howard B. Clarke
Spanish (and Portuguese) readers may be familiar with the volume published in
1994 entitled Atlas histórico de ciudades europeas.1 This atlas came about as an initiative of the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, in collaboration with
the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. It contains essays by various authors, and
combinations of authors, and it deals with eleven large towns and cities, two of
them in Portugal (Lisbon and Oporto) and the others in Spain, including Madrid.2
The essays are built round major themes, presented in broadly chronological order,
and they are sumptuously illustrated by means of numerous maps, photographs
and graphs, as well as plans of parts of these places, historical prospects, architectural profiles and other types of image. This is a high-quality publication in largebook format. Two years later a similar work was published on a comparable range of
French towns and cities.3 The main difference between this and its Iberian predecessor is that the French atlas devotes more space to the distribution of social groups,
particularly in an ‘epilogue’ equipped with special maps and population statistics.4 A
third volume, this time for Britain, was prepared but never published and the series
appears to have come to a standstill.
The organizers of the Atlas histórico de ciudades europeas were fully aware of the
existence of another international atlas of historic towns —the one issued under the
academic umbrella of the International Commission for the History of Towns (ICHT),
which had commenced publication in 1969.5 In their introduction, the editors made
a number of criticisms of the ICHT’s project. One was the alleged emphasis on the
historical period before c. 1800, in other words, on the pre-industrial town. Another
was the slow pace of publication, this being a legitimate criticism in the case of some
of the participating countries, though by no means all of them. Thirdly, differences
in approach between one country and another were cited as another weakness,
again with a good deal of justification and giving rise to a legitimate concern about
the utility of these town atlases for strictly comparative purposes. Fourthly, it was
implied that, in practice if not in principle, the large towns or cities had for the most
part been ignored or at least had not then (c. 1994) seen the light of day.6 Finally it
1. Atlas histórico de ciudades europeas. 1. Península Ibérica, Manuel Guàrdia, Francisco J. Monclús, José L.
Oyón, eds. Barcelona: Salvat, 1994.
2. The Spanish towns and cities, in alphabetical order, are as follows: Barcelona, Bilbao, Granada, Madrid, Málaga, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza.
3. Atlas historique des villes de France, Jean-Luc Pinol, ed. Paris: Hachette, 1996. The selection, again in
alphabetical order, is as follows: Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, Paris, Rouen,
Strasbourg and Toulouse.
4. Atlas historique des villes de France…: 310-318.
5. In those days the chairman of the ICHT was Philippe Wolff of the University of Toulouse. Amongst
other things, he was acutely aware of linguistic nuances of the full range of European languages, as is
evidenced by his book Wolff, Philippe. Western Languages AD 100–1500, trans. Frances Partridge. London:
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971. In the ICHT atlas project, various solutions have been adopted in relation to this phenomenon.
6. By that date, atlases of Cologne, London (down to c. 1520) and Vienna had been published; also two
parts of an atlas of the city of Rome, in a scheme that bears little relationship to the ICHT’s recommended
methodology.
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Joining the Club: A spanish historic towns atlas?
29
was claimed that the ICHT’s atlas expressed little interest in the ‘hidden dimension’
(dimensión oculta) of the urban form, that is to say, the socio-functional one.7
It has to be admitted that there are substantial grounds for at least some of these
criticisms. Qualifications, however, are also necessary. The accusation of comparative neglect of the period after c. 1800 may have been influenced to a large extent by
the nature of the British atlas itself (the first to be published) and by a review of the
ICHT’s project that appeared in 1981.8 The essays in the British atlas do indeed take
the story down to the end of the eighteenth century and the principal reconstruction map in each case shows the town c. 1800 together with major features present
in the late medieval period. On the other hand, the historical information that is a
normal feature of the Rhenish atlas takes in the nineteenth century as a matter of
course and continues down to the late twentieth century under some headings.9
The Irish atlas brings its topographical information down to c. 1900 in all 22 sections
and for important features even down to the present day.10 In the special case of
the Croatian atlas, which admittedly is one of the late starters, a considered decision was made to record each town’s history down to the present for two reasons:
first, the radical transformations that took place in many Croatian towns during the
socialist period and, secondly, the destruction brought about in the course of the
‘Fatherland War’ of the late twentieth century.11 It is generally true that the ‘hidden
dimension’ of socio-functional analysis has not received much emphasis, though a
7. These criticisms occur in Spanish and in French respectively at p. xii.
8. Historic Towns: Maps and Plans of Towns and Cities in the British Isles, with Historical Commentaries, from Earliest Times to 1800, Mary D. Lobel, ed. Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, no date [1969]: vol. I; Borg Wik,
Lempi; Hall, Thomas. “Urban history atlases: a survey of recent publications.” Urban History Yearbook, 8
(1981): 66-75, note 6. The towns in the first volume of the British atlas are as follows: Banbury, Caernarvon (in Wales), Glasgow (in Scotland), Gloucester, Hereford, Nottingham, Reading and Salisbury.
9. Rheinischer Städteatlas (Bonn), seventeen parts (Lieferungen) to date, starting in 1972. This is especially true of section V, dealing with the economic and social structure of the town in question. There
are now in effect five German atlas projects that come under the embrace of the ICHT. Second off the
mark was the Deutscher Städteatlas (Münster), starting in 1973 and comprising five completed parts
(Lieferungen) and one incomplete one published in the year 2000. Altogether fifty-one towns were included in this series, a few of which were places that are now situated in Lithuania, Poland and Russia:
for example, Breslau (= Wrocław), Königsberg (= Kaliningrad) and Memel (= Klaipèda). Next came the
Westfälischer Städteatlas (Münster), nine parts (Lieferungen) to date, starting in 1975, followed much
later by the Hessischer Städteatlas (Marburg), two completed parts (Lieferungen) plus two individual
towns to date, starting in 2005. Most recently of all, a successor to the Deutscher Städteatlas called the
Deutscher historischer Städteatlas was begun by the Institut für vergleichende Städtegeschichte (Institute for Comparative Urban History) in Münster, starting with Quedlinburg in 2006.
10. Irish Historic Towns Atlas, twenty fascicles to date, starting in 1986. In addition, ancillary publications
are issued from time to time. To date there have been three large-scale historical maps (of Belfast, Dublin
and New Ross) and two books, the one dealing with a unique set of annotated plans of Georgian Belfast
and the other being a catalogue of maps and views of Derry/Londonderry.
11. Povijesni atlas gradova, four volumes to date, starting in 2003. Thus, for example, Bjelovar was attacked and partly destroyed on 29 September 1991: Slukan Alti, Mirela. Bjevolar. Povijesni atlas gradova.
I. Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv, 2003: 204.
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Howard B. Clarke
conspicuous exception is the Scandinavian atlas, which usually contains impressive
numbers of socio-topographical maps and sometimes statistical data as well.12
1. The Stoob model
By now it will have become apparent to all readers that considerable variations do
exist as between the various national atlases in the ICHT’s project. In practice, and
for a wide variety of reasons, many atlases depart from the original model, at least to
some degree. Accordingly it will next be necessary to review the basic methodology,
a brief outline of which is given in a listing of all ICHT atlas publications issued in
1998.13 This in turn was based on a reaffirmation, by a working group meeting in
Münster in 1995, of the original guidelines agreed back in 1968. These guidelines
were explained in English quite fully and very clearly by their principal author, Heinz
Stoob, in a volume of conference proceedings published over twenty years ago.14
Four key maps were identified as the essential core of the towns atlas project:
1. Map 1, a cadastral map (German Katasterkarte) reproduced in colour at the scale
of 1:2,500 and showing the pre-industrial town. Stoob’s ideal date for such a
map was c. 1830, though he recognized that some (German) towns, such as
Freiburg im Breisgau, do not possess a cadastral map dating from the first half
of the nineteenth century. These maps are to some degree constructed by the
superimposition of a standard system of colours (generally four) to indicate
different categories of building. Stoob further recommended that (modern)
contour lines be superimposed on this map.
2. Map 2, a regional map (German Umlandkarte) reproduced at the scale of 1:25,000
or smaller (down to 1:100,000). These maps date generally from the first half of
the nineteenth century and are printed more or less as in the original.
3. Map 3, a modern town plan (German Stadtkarte) reproduced at the scale of
1:5,000. Again this is a given product provided by the official mapping agency in
each country.
12. Scandinavian Atlas of Historic Towns, ten fascicles to date, starting in 1977. The three Scandinavian
countries (Denmark, Norway and Sweden), along with Finland and Iceland, decided to form themselves
into a Nordic union for town atlas purposes. So far, four Danish towns, three Finnish towns, three
Swedish towns and Reykjavík in Iceland have been published and work is well advanced on an atlas of
Helsinki.
13. Simms, Anngret; Opll, Ferdinand. List of the European Atlases of Historic Towns. Brussels: Archief- en
Bibliotheekwezen in België/Archives et Bibliothèques de Belgique, 1998: 7. Nowadays an up-to-date
internet site is maintained by Ferdinand Opll in Vienna: http://www.wien.gv.at/kultur/archiv/kooperationen/lbi/staedteatlas/bibliographie, which is accessible also in French and in German.
14. Stoob, Heinz. “The historic town atlas: problems and working methods”, The Comparative History of
Urban Origins in Non-Roman Europe: Ireland, Wales, Denmark, Germany, Poland and Russia from the Ninth to
the Thirteenth Century, Howard B. Clarke, Anngret Simms, eds. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports
(International Series, no. 255), 1985: II, 583-615.
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4. An interpretative map showing phases of growth (German Wachstumsphasenkarte).
This should preferably be based on map 1 and be reproduced either at the same
scale or at that of map 3 (i.e. 1:2,500 or 1:5,000). These maps are prepared by the
author from a wide variety of sources and are most relevant for medium-sized
and large towns. This type of map is particularly helpful as a companion to the
interpretative essay that Stoob also prescribed as an essential component.
In addition Stoob referred to supplementary maps (German Beikarten) together
with various types of illustration to complete the predetermined sequence of primary materials. These include socio-topographical maps, distribution maps, period
(early) maps, prospects and aerial photographs. Near the beginning of his essay,
Stoob says: ‘After [Hektor] Ammann’s death a generally acceptable cartographic
scheme for the Historic Town Atlas, produced by myself, was discussed at the 1967
meeting in Switzerland and was finally accepted, following my own report, in 1968 at
Oxford’.15 In the light of this statement it is perhaps reasonable to refer to the standard methodology as the Stoob model. Since then, over 400 town atlases have been
published in a large number of European countries (Fig. 1). Across the continent
the rate of publication has averaged around ten per annum, a not inconsiderable
achievement. Stoob himself identified a number of problems, such as how to handle
very large towns (cities), how to compensate for gaps in the primary sources, and
the length of the interpretative essay. Other difficulties relate to the financial cost
of preparing and publishing town atlases, the relatively low sales figures, and the
failure of some countries to produce any atlases at all in the ICHT programme. Here
we shall ask a different question: how well has the Stoob model stood the test of
time?
2. Variations on a theme
One weakness in the Stoob model is his apparent belief that the cadastral map
represents, almost as a matter of course, a pristine, pre-industrial picture. At one
point in his 1985 essay he says: ‘… we insist on emphasizing the importance of
original source material, which is normally provided by the undisturbed urban
pattern prior to the first exact survey’.16 Yet some towns and cities underwent
significant remodelling before the ‘ideal’ date of c. 1830. One example is Novgorod
in northern Russia, whose street pattern on both banks of the River Volkhov was
radically changed in the late eighteenth century, hence the physical survival of large
numbers of medieval streets. Another example is Dublin in Ireland, where a body
known as the Wide Streets Commission began quite an extensive programme of
15. Stoob, Heinz. “Historic town atlas”…: 584 (italics mine). Hektor Ammann was one of the founding
fathers of the ICHT atlas project and the second president of the commission.
16. Stoob, Heinz. “Historic town atlas”…: 602 (italics mine).
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Howard B. Clarke
street widening c. 1760. In cases such as these, therefore, a c. 1830 cadastral map
does not represent an ‘undisturbed urban pattern’.
A second weakness is the shortness of the interpretative essay, especially in the
case of the larger towns. Stoob was very prescriptive about the length of the essay,
limiting it to not more than two pages of print on a standard, large-format map
sheet or, as he put it for a pre-computer readership, twelve pages of typescript. An
experimental comparison of four cities treated in four different national atlases is
summarized in the accompanying table17. A meaningful comparative treatment of
these cities as they developed in the medieval period, based solely on the ICHT resource, proved to be extremely difficult. One of the main reasons for this was that
some of the essays were much too short; the atlas resource was inadequate for this
purpose18.
Table summarizing the contents of four city atlases
Attributes
Cologne
(Köln)
Dublin
London
Vienna
(Wien)
Date of
publication
Deutscher
Städte-atlas,
part 2, no.
6 (1979)
No. 11 (2002)
Vol. 3 (1989;
2nd edn, 1991)
Part 1, no.
3 (1982)
Text/essay
(medieval)
3,600+
(1,600+)
words; 4pp.
13,000 (11,000)
words; 36 pp.
56,000 (28,000)
words; 56 pp.
4,300+
(2,200+)
words; 4 pp.
Text maps
None
6
None
None
Map 1,
1:2,500
1836-7
and later
1846-7
c. 1270 at
1:5,000; c.
1520 at 1:2,500
(4 parts)
1829
Map 2,
1:25,000
c. 1840
1860 (1:50,000)
Reconstruction
1809-19
Map 3,
1:5,000
1975
2000
None
1975-9
17. In the second row of the table, the plus signs in the columns for Cologne and Vienna indicate that
the compound noun system that is such a strong feature of the German language tends to produce an
underestimate of the number of words when compared with a text in English. The figures in brackets
in all four columns relate to the medieval part of the essay in each case. All word counts here are rough
estimates.
18. For the Irish atlas the length of the essay varies between 8.000 and 12.000 words, depending on the
size of the town and a consideration of the available space.
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Other maps
Growth map
with dates; 2
thematic (1
medieval); map
with key, 1752
Medieval map at
1:2500; growth
map; period
map, 1610;
municipal map,
1837; plans
London area
in pre-Roman
times; Roman
London; medieval wards;
parishes
Growth map
with dates;
cadastral plan at
1:10,000, 181829; boundary
changes
Other
illustrations
1 prospect
2 reconstructions; vignettes;
aerial
photograph
None
3 prospects
Referenced
topographical
information
None
22 sections
Gazetteer in a
single alphabetical list
None
Bibliography
General +
footnotes
General and
specific +
footnotes
Footnotes + list
of abbreviations
Footnotes
Ancillary
publications
None
Medieval
map with
introduction
and site list
None
Historical atlas (11 parts);
commentaries
(5 volumes)
In addition to the problems highlighted by Stoob himself and the two weaknesses
in the model that he prescribed for Europe outlined above, there have in practice
been many departures from the original formula.19 One of these relates to the basic
format, for some atlases have been published in book format from the start and with
a far smaller print area, thereby effectively precluding the possibility of producing
maps at the recommended scales. This applies to the Belgian20 and Croatian atlases,
neither of which includes the standard map sequence. Other national atlases
that have been issued in the larger format nevertheless lack one or more of the
essential cartographical core as envisaged by Stoob. A conspicuous example here
is the French atlas, which contains only an historical reconstruction map at the
scale of 1:2,500.21 The British atlas is rather similar, for its regional maps are also
reconstructions showing the general location and main roads to c. 1800. Neither of
these atlases has a modern town plan, this also being an omission from both of the
Italian atlases.22 None of the atlases mentioned thus far in this paragraph provides a
19. As noted over a quarter of a century ago by the reviewers cited above, n. 8.
20. Historische stedenatlas van België/Atlas historique des villes de Belgique, three volumes to date,
starting in 1990.
21. Atlas historique des villes de France, ten parts to date each containing a number of towns plus six
individual towns, starting in 1982.
22. The Atlante storico delle città italiane has been published in two schemes, the one based at Bologna
and dealing with northern Italy together with Sardinia, the other based at Rome and dealing with central
and southern Italy. In both schemes, which began publication in 1986, towns are grouped by regions
such as Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany. The cities of Bologna and Rome are treated in several volumes
arranged by period.
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Howard B. Clarke
growth map. The Czech and Dutch atlases do have growth maps, but lack an up-todate town plan.23 One of the late starters, the Swiss atlas, lacks a classic growth map
and its cadastral plan is not (thus far) in full colour.24
What all this means is that only a small number of the national atlases conform
sufficiently closely to the Stoob model for meaningful comparisons to be made without the aid of other materials. The most perfect examples from this point of view
are the Austrian,25 all five German and the Irish atlases. The Czech, Dutch, Polish,26
Romanian,27 and Swiss atlases come near to the ideal, whereas the Belgian, British,
Croatian, French, Italian and Scandinavian productions depart furthest from the
model and are the least valuable for strictly comparative purposes across the continent of Europe. Even these, of course, contain a great deal of accurate information and create comparative possibilities within each of these countries. One other
significant variation has already been alluded to, though it is one that does not in
any way detract from the broader comparative dimension. This is the inclusion of
detailed and fully referenced topographical information in the Irish and Rhenish
atlases. The former was modelled on the latter to some degree and represents a significant improvement (Fig. 2). First, all sites in sections 11-22 are located by street,
by position (in terms of compass direction) on the street where this is known, and
by a grid reference if the site is not shown on one of the key maps. Secondly, the
necessary abbreviations employed for reference purposes are relatively user-friendly and do not depend excessively on contracted forms. Thirdly, the topographical
information is punctuated by black and white vignettes of particular buildings by
way of illustration. On the other hand, the Rhenish atlas does not indicate in the
topographical information section itself where each site is located, depends on severely contracted abbreviations, and contains no illustrations (Fig. 3). The style of
presentation amounts essentially to a long series of historical notes in each of the
23. Historický atlas mst eské republiky, eighteen fascicles to date, starting in 1995; Historische stedenatlas van Nederland, seven fascicles to date, starting in 1982.
24. Historischer Städteatlas der Schweiz/Atlas historique des villes suisses/Atlante storico delle città
svizzere, three fascicles to date, starting in 1997. Some technical improvements are planned for this
atlas.
25. Österreichischer Städteatlas, ten parts (Lieferungen) to date, starting in 1982. Special provision has
been made for the city of Vienna: Banik-Schweitzer, Renate; Czeike, Felix; Meißl, Gerhard; Opll, Ferdinand,.eds. Historischer Atlas von Wien. 11 parts. Vienna and Munich: Jugend und Volk Verlagsgesellschaft
mbH and Jugend und Volk, 1981-2002 (Edition Wien: Verlags GmbH, 2003-2007), issued in a large
format and using the cartographic conventions of the Österreichischer Städteatlas itself. In addition five
volumes of commentary in normal book format have been published. Together these resources make
Vienna by far the most comprehensively mapped city, to this exceptionally high standard, in the whole
of Europe.
26. Atlas historyczny miast polskich/Historischer Atlas polnischer Städte, thirteen fascicles to date, starting in 1993. In 2001 an atlas of Wroclaw (= Breslau) was published for the second time, the first constituting part 4, no. 5 of the Deutsche Städteatlas in 1989.
27. Atlas istoric al oraselor
din România, five fascicles to date, starting in 2000. Like the Italian atlas, this
^
one is arranged by regions, including the Romanian part of Moldova.
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five main sections and their subdivisions.28 In theory it would be possible to take a
selection of Irish and Rhenish towns and to produce an in-depth comparative study,
but such an undertaking might well prove to be fairly arduous in practice. An additional reason for so thinking is that, by an extraordinary omission, there is no interpretative essay in the Rhenish atlas; the story has to be pieced together from the
topographical information and from the maps and other illustrative material.
3. An agenda for Spain
If Spanish scholars are to join the club in a serious manner, they should give
the matter a great deal of serious thought beforehand. The ICHT’s atlas project is
impressive in many ways, not least in the willingness of representatives of so many
European countries to come together in a co-operative spirit. Indeed, from time to
time a Spanish representative has appeared on the scene, but without any tangible
results29. This great international programme needs reinforcement on the right lines.
In particular the Mediterranean part of the continent —the mare nostrum of the
ancient Romans— is unevenly represented at the moment, for the Italian atlas is
seriously out of step with the Stoob model, the French have neglected totally the
south-eastern part of their country and barely adhere to the model in any case, while
the Greeks have published nothing so far. We can at least look forward in due course
to one or two Croatian town atlases for the northern part of the Adriatic region.
It is obviously desirable that a Spanish historic towns atlas should conform
to best practice.30 What that amounts to is, to some extent, a matter of personal
opinion; on the other hand, the crucial prospects for genuine comparative research
should be borne constantly in mind as a means of assessing the correct criteria
for a satisfactory methodology. In other words, the best models to follow belong
to the first grouping mentioned above (Austria, Germany and Ireland). If that is
agreed, a number of technical aspects need to be considered before final decisions
are made. The following points are made without any specific knowledge of the
precise circumstances in Spain itself.
28. The five main sections relate to settlement; topography; lordship and community; churches, schools,
hospitals and cultural groups; and the economic and social structure of each town. The Hessischer Städteatlas contains much smaller amounts of referenced material. By way of exception in the British atlas,
medieval London was provided with a gazetteer of the principal sites, arranged in alphabetical order. To
treat London, or any other city of comparable size, on either the Irish model or the Rhenish model would
amount to a gargantuan task.
29. This is not to say that excellent atlases have not been produced in Spain in recent times. See, for
example, Centro de Documentación y Estudios para la Historia de Madrid. Madrid, atlas histórico de la
cuidad: siglos IX-XIX. Barcelona: Lunwerg, 1995; Madrid, atlas histórico de la ciudad: 1850-1939. Barcelona:
Lunwerg, 2001; Arizaga, Beatriz. Atlas de villas medievales de Vasconia: Bizcaia. Donostia, 2006.
30. Stoob alluded briefly to a pioneering attempt by the German author Jürgens, Oskar. Spanische Städte:
ihre bauliche Entwicklung und Ausgestaltung, ed. Wilhelm Giese. Hamburg: Kommissions-verlag L. Friederichsen & Co. (Historic town atlas), 1926: 583.
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Howard B. Clarke
The essential cartographical core has to be based on the Stoob model, including
the map scales and the colour coding for map 1. These maps are the most instantly
recognizable tools for a comparative study of urban form since the first half of the
nineteenth century, though bearing in mind the possibility of major or even minor
remodelling of a townscape before that time. The growth map relates everything
back to earlier periods and can be drawn up in a number of different ways. The
Austrian and German atlases use a sophisticated combination of lines and shading
(sometimes in black and white, sometimes in colour), together with key dates and
other textual information. It is important not to make these maps too crowded
or complicated, for otherwise they tend to lose some of their potential impact.
The Irish growth maps use a system of basic colour shading only, since all of the
specific details are embedded in the topographical information section. Another
indispensable component is an interpretative essay, preferably written by one
person in the case of atlases that have more than one author. The essay should be
long enough to deal adequately with each town’s historical development, the prime
focus being on morphological evolution. In other words, the aim should not be
to write a conventional history of a town, but to concentrate on an interpretation
of the cartographical and other illustrative material, together with any detailed
topographical information that may also be included. Finally there should be a
bibliography of the primary and secondary sources for the town, presented either
separately or in a single alphabetical sequence.
As Stoob himself observed and as other compilers of town atlases have provided,
a range of supplementary illustrations can be added to these minimum requirements
for a successful programme. Town prospects, some dating from quite an early period,
lend character to a town atlas and provide useful details about defensive works and
building profiles with varying degrees of verisimilitude. Maps dating from before the
exact surveys that began to be made in many European countries in the first half
of the nineteenth century contain invaluable information of many different kinds,
sometimes in large amounts, despite the lack of planimetric accuracy. They often
have a high aesthetic quality, too, and attract prospective buyers. Socio-topographical
maps can be constructed from historical data, mainly for the modern period but
sometimes for the late Middle Ages. Stoob’s advocacy of distribution maps (German
Verbreitungskarten) has rarely been implemented, despite the utility of the example
that he cited.31 A recent aerial photograph can reveal early features in a modern
context; the choice here is whether to use a vertical or an oblique image, for both
have particular advantages. Carefully selected photographs from up to a century
ago can illustrate the earlier character of a town centre, or of individual buildings
of special significance. An inexpensive yet highly effective technique is to embed
black and white text figures in the interpretative essay. These can clarify difficult
topographical issues or even illustrate the stages of growth of the town, or of parts
31. Stoob, Heinz. “Historic town atlas”…: 610 and plate 22. XIII, showing the linen-weaving district of
Isny in Baden-Württemberg. As it happens, some of this small town’s products were being exported as
far as Spain in the late Middle Ages.
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37
thereof, at separate points in a long historical progression through time. Finally a
reproduction of the town seal has been a standard feature of the published atlases.
Beyond these additions there is the whole question of whether a towns
atlas programme should itself provide substantial amounts of purely historical
information. Stoob himself envisaged a later, separate edition of textual material
for the Deutscher Städteatlas, though this has not so far been realized. Long ago,
the ICHT began to sponsor a parallel project, aimed at publishing limited selections
of important original documents dating from the beginning of the Middle Ages
down to c. 1250. In practice this scheme has had a chequered history and remains
substantially incomplete.32 As part of its non-standard programme, the Belgian
atlas has included one volume of ‘typological dossiers’.33 The last publication in
the Deutscher Städteatlas series, dealing with Weimar, contains maps of five
satellite towns or settlements, with historical details in the accompanying texts.34
Some fascicles in the Irish atlas make use of the backs of period maps showing
property divisions by listing the details of ownership. The two Italian atlases include
a generous selection of extracts from documents in Latin and in Italian, as well as
notes on individual buildings and an outline chronology of the principal historical
developments. Equally elaborate is the Romanian atlas, where (to cite the example
of Suceava/Suczawa published in 2005) the essay is followed by a lengthy outline
chronology in both working languages —Romanian and German— together with
textual matter dealing with demographic development, morphology, building
history and historical monuments; extracts from original documents translated into
Romanian and German; a map of archaeological sites with a basic description of the
discoveries, again in both languages; and finally a list of street names, tabulated at
various dates. Most fundamental of all is the question of whether or not to attempt
a fully referenced topographical record of the Irish type.
Other practical decisions will have to be made about the format to be adopted
for a Spanish towns atlas. To cater for maps of medium-sized and big towns (cities),
large-format, loose-leaf fascicles are best. The textual matter can be printed using
a smaller format, as in the case of the Hessischer Städteatlas; the disadvantage of
so doing is the virtual impossibility of binding groups of town atlases into volumes
with hard covers, suitable for library conservation in particular. The question of
binding in this sense raises other technical issues. For a successful binding operation it is essential to provide, alongside the loose-leaf format, an adequate ‘tongue’
for stitching purposes, as well as a ‘gutter’ in the centre of double-sheet maps. Any
maps that are larger still have to be folded into the bound volume and this has to be
32. Elenchus fontium historiae urbanae, vol. II, part 2, Susan Reynolds, Wietse de Boer, Gearóid Mac Niocaill, eds. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1988: v-vi. A valuable feature of this work is the index of words at pages
176-194.
33. Debaere, Olivier. Vlaanderen – Maaseik. Historische stedenatlas van België: typologische dossiers/Atlas historique des villes de Belgique: dossiers typologiques, vol. I. Brussels: Gemeentekrediet van België/Crédit Communal de Belgique, 1997.
34. Ehbrecht, Wilfried; Johanek, Peter; Lafrenz, Jürgen. Weimar. Deutscher Städteatlas, part 6, no. 1.
Altenbeken: GSV Städteatlas Verlag, 2000.
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Howard B. Clarke
foreseen from the beginning. A combination of loose-leaf fascicles and bound volumes suits both the individual purchaser interested in a single town and the serious
collector or library that wishes to have a full set of atlases of this type.
A related question is whether or not to group towns within a particular country.
The two Italian and the Polish and Romanian atlases are arranged by region within
the modern country, while the Scandinavian atlas is shared by the five Nordic countries. By European standards, Spain is a large country with strong regional identities
and traditions. A case could be made for ordering a Spanish towns atlas in terms of
the historic regions; no doubt this is a sensitive issue that would require very careful
consideration.35 A further dimension to this is the linguistic one. The Czech example
might suit Spanish circumstances: here three working languages are used — Czech,
German and English. Czech, appropriately enough, is the main language but the
fascicles contain a summary essay is all three languages in addition to a longer essay
in Czech. In a Spanish context, it might be deemed culturally desirable to include,
for example, a summary essay in Spanish and in Basque or in Spanish and in Catalan, as the case may be, together with a full treatment in the national language. The
answer to such an issue, of course, cannot be prescribed by outsiders and should be
left to Spanish scholars to determine.
The last major policy issue is the question of financial sponsorship and of institutional affiliation. By their very nature, large-format atlases making extensive use
of colour reproduction are not cheap to produce. Some of the existing programmes
under the ICHT umbrella have experienced a rather chequered history in terms of
funding, resulting in gaps of varying length in the production schedule. An institute
of the kind that exists in Münster, devoted entirely to the promotion of comparative urban history, is a fairly rare phenomenon. Most European countries, however,
possess some kind of national academy that is assured a permanent existence, is
duty-bound to maintain the highest academic standards, and can seek funding for
projects deemed to be of national and international importance. Ideally a Spanish
historic towns atlas should be located within such a structure.36 One moderately
proportioned room normally suffices as the project headquarters and two or three
permanent staff trained in cartography and related skills can act as the anchor of the
entire scheme. Accustomed as they so often are to the life of the ‘poor scholar’, authors of fascicles and editors or board members do not need to be paid at all (though
even token payment is obviously welcome if funding allows for such a luxury).37
35. When completed, a region could be provided with an historical overview and bibliography.
36. To cite a practical example, I am writing as one of three joint-editors of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas
and as the academic secretary of the Royal Irish Academy, which has been the principal sponsoring body
of the Irish atlas from the beginning. In addition the editors seek extra funding for the publication of
individual town atlases from town councils and from local industrial concerns.
37. In the case of the Irish atlas, the greatest cost is that of the time spent in compiling the topographical
information. For this reason the authors have never been paid for their efforts, though small-scale funding has been obtained to enable postgraduates and others to conduct basic research on large collections
of source materials such as directories, council minute-books and newspapers.
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39
These, then, are the main challenges to the initiation and the implementation
of an historic towns atlas. The philosophical attitude must be that only the best
will do. Spanish scholars should now be in a position to choose the best elements
of the best of the existing models. To that end, a small delegation should be sent
to Münster in Germany, in order to inspect critically a more or less complete set of
all existing atlases in the ICHT’s programme. The core should conform to the Stoob
model; beyond that Spaniards should be encouraged to play to their own scholarly
strengths. The nature of the primary cartographical sources may place limits on what
can be achieved, yet Spain has a reputation for a distinguished urban history, rich
archival resources and, in many cases, spectacular architectural survivals. Moreover
Spain has an undeniable tradition of map-making going back many centuries and
relating to many parts of the world besides the homeland. The time has surely come
for Spanish (and Portuguese) scholars to join the ICHT club as full and proactive
members.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank staff members and fellow students at the Institut für vergleichende
Städtegeschichte in Münster for welcoming me so warmly on the occasion of my
visit and for assisting with my enquiries. For help with the production of the text
figures, I am indebted to Angela Murphy, editorial assistant to the Irish Historic
Towns Atlas in Dublin. Fig. 1 was drawn by the latter’s cartographic editor and
project manager, Sarah Gearty.
Captions
1. Map of Europe showing the distribution of historic towns atlas publications to 2006.
Anglès.indd 39
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Reykjavík
MAP OF EUROPEAN TOWNS ATLASES 2006
Based on Anngret Simms and Ferdinand Opll, List of the European Atlases of Historic Towns (Brussels, 1998);
with updates from web list maintained by Ferdinand Opll (http://www.wien.gv.at/english/history/historictowns/index.htm).
Drawn by Sarah Gearty, Irish Historic Towns Atlas © Royal Irish Academy.
Rheine
Bevergern
Inset A
Lübbecke
Ibbenbüren
Ochtrup
Burgsteinfurt
Vreden
Stadtlohn
Südlohn mit Oeding
Grieth
Enger
Schöppingen
Herford
Billerbeck
Coesfeld
Münster
Dülmen mit Hausdülmen
Ringenberg
Minden
Telgte
Wolbeck
Bielefeld
Warendorf
Rheda
Bad Salzuflen
Lemgo
Barntrup
Detmold
Kalkar
Drensteinfurt
Lüdinghausen
Uedem
Rietberg
Ahlen
Xanten
Kervenheim
Büderich
Paderborn
Brakel
Hamm Lippstadt
Sonsbeck
Rheinberg
Salzkotten
Blankenstein
Lichtenau
Kamen
Dringenberg
Orsoy
Hamborn
Geseke
Horde
Straelen
Mülheim
Ruhrort
mit Störmede
Unna
Peckelsheim
Dortmund
Westhofen
und Erwitte Kleinenberg
Wachtendonk
Duisburg an der Ruhr
Borgentreich
Essen Bochum
Uerdingen
Schwerte
Marsberg
Kaldenkirchen Krefeld
Werden
Arnsberg
Langenberg
Heiligenhaus
Warburg
Brilon
Süchteln
Freienohl
Velbert
Dülken ViersenLinn
Iserlohn
Kaiserswerth
Neviges
Arolsen
Wülfrath
Brüggen
Neersen
Meschede
Neuenrade
Gerresheim
Mönchengladbach
Ronsdorf
Liedberg
Wald
Rheindahlen
Solingen
Rheydt
Ohligs
Wickrath
Medebach
Zons Höhscheid Dorp
Odenkirchen
Erkelenz
Burg
Attendorn
Schmallenberg
Leichlingen
Hülchrath
Gangelt
Fritzlar
Bergneustadt
Hallenberg
Olpe
Geilenkirchen
Bergheim
Kalk
Kerpen
Köln
Würselen Düren
Frechen
Siegen
Wetter
Brühl
Aachen
Lechenich
Nideggen
Bonn
Blankenberg
Zülpich
Euskirchen
Monschau
Homberg/Ohm
Gemünd Rheinbach Meckenheim
Erpel
Schleiden
Linz
Bad Münstereifel Gelsdorf
Sinzig
Heimersheim
Altenahr
Reifferscheid
Bad Breisig
Wetzlar
Blankenheim Königsfeld
Neuwied
Kronenburg
Adenau
Limburg
Dollendorf
Butzbach
Glasgow
Derry~
Londonderry
Carrickfergus
Belfast, part I
Downpatrick
Kells
Mullingar
Dundalk
Athlone Trim Maynooth
Dublin, part I
Kildare
Bray
Kilkenny
Fethard
Caernarvon
Bandon
Nottingham
Coventr
Banbury
Hereford
Gloucester
Bristol
Salisbury
Inset B
Zwettl
Eferding
Wels
Retz
Laa an der
Weitra
Thaya
Maissau
Krems/Stein Korneuburg
Klosterneuburg Marchegg
Melk
Wien
St Pölten Tulln
Mödling
Hainburg
Baden
Rust
Wiener
Eisenstadt
Neustadt
Freistadt
Linz
Enns
Steyr
Gmunden
Bad Aussee
Hall in Tirol
Rottenmann
Radstadt
Schladming
Lo
to
Readin
Quimper
St Malo
St Brieuc
Lorient
Evre
Fougères
Vannes
Alençon
Kapfenberg
Hartberg
Judenburg
Voitsberg
Morlaix
Brest
Graz
Limoges
Périgueux
B
Bergera
La Réole
Marmande
Bazas
C
Villeneuve-sur-Lot
Agen
Mo
Mont-de-Marsan
Nérac
St Sever
Bayonne
Auch
Pau
Tarbes
0 miles
0 km
Anglès.indd 40
300
400
08/06/2009 8:25:17
Fo
Kokkola-Gamlakarleby
º
Porvoo-Borgaº
Turku-Abo
Falun
Uppsala
Strömstad
Glasgow
rgus
Randers
rt I
rick
Memel
Dundalk
nooth
ublin, part I
ay
Koge
Ribe
Stege
Friedrichstadt
Nottingham
Coventry
Norwich
Banbury
Cambridge
Gloucester
London,
Bristol
to 1570
Horst
Hereford
Salisbury
Königsberg
Schleswig
Caernarvon
Reading
Kampen
Haarlem
Lingen
Zutfen
Amersfoort
Schoonhoven
Bergen op Zoom
Venlo
Brugge Lier
Maaseik
Tielt
Elblag
Malbork
Grudziadz Marienwerder
Chelmo
Bydgoszcz
Torun
Lübeck
Buxtehude
Lüneburg
Gizycko
Salzwedel
Brandenburg/Havel Potsdam
Küstrin
Inset A
Goslar Quedlinburg
Torgau
Bad
Frankenhausen
Colditz Bautzen
Wroclaw/Breslau
Weimar
Altenburg Decín
Goldberg
Saalfeld
Oppeln
Litomerice
Herfeld
Trutnov
Frankenstein
laix
Kulmbach
Gelnhausen
Slany
Hradec Králové
Senlis
St Malo
Dieburg
Evreux
Pardubice
Chrudim
Michelstadt
St Brieuc
Kaiserslautern
Bad Mergentheim Weiden
Tábor
Jihlava
Fougères
Saarbrücken
Ceské
Trebíc
Weißenburg
Provins
Ohringen
Budejovice Telc
Alençon
Nancy
Etampes
Regensburg Cesky Krumlov
Vannes
Ulm
Breisach
Freiberg
Burghausen
Epinal
Donaueschingen
Belfort
Salzburg
Isny
Kufstein
Bregenz
Montbéliard
Neunkirch
Hallein
Frauenfeld
Schwaz
Feldkirch Innsbruck
Lienz
Limoges
Weesen
Friesach
Meran
Ussel
Villach
Völkermarkt
Périgueux
Brive
St Martino al Cimino
Koprivnica
Klagenfurt
Bergerac
Bassano del
Bjelovar
La Réole
Grappa
Marmande Figeac
Sisak
Bazas
Cahors
Asolo
Rodez
lleneuve-sur-Lot
Agen
Ferrara
Montauban
t-de-Marsan
Nérac
Albi
Carpi
Reggio
St Sever
Bayonne
Auch
Bologna
Pau
Pietrasanta Lastra a Signa Talamone
Lucca
Tarbes
Firenze
Foix
San Miniato
Castelfranco di Sopra/Arezzo
San Gimignano
Perpignan
Castiglion Fiorentino
Siena
CollioureServigliano
Port-Vendres
Santa Fiora
Manciano
Talamone
Caprarola
Inset B
Suceava
Cerveteri
Alghero
Sebes
Sighisoara
Roma
Latina
Sabaudia
Capri
Monreale
Anglès.indd 41
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42
Howard B. Clarke
2. Extract from the beginning of the religion section of the topographical information for medieval Dublin.
Anglès.indd 42
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3. Extract
43
from the beginning of the church section of the topo-
graphical information for
Bonn.
Anglès.indd 43
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“Who is who” in Spanish medieval studies
Germán Navarro
Universidad de Zaragoza
Spain
Date of receipt: 11th of January 2007
Final date of acceptance: 7th of January 2008
Abstract
Based on the author’s experience as a member of the consultative council of “Historia a Debate” and one of the coordinators of the recent experience of the History
Workshop at the University of Saragossa, this article offers a provisional balance of
the first results obtained in the consecution of a test for research into the tendencies
in Spanish academic medievalism at the beginning of the 21st century. The central
nucleus of the study is a database with two hundred professors in Spanish universities who have staff in this field of knowledge. This database puts special emphasis
on the subject of directing doctoral theses as a primary indicator for detecting such
important questions in the analysis of tendencies as the forming of consolidated
groups of disciples or the conscious promotion of certain themes over others in the
doctorates. This is an ongoing project from which it is hoped to complete results and
draw some deeper conclusions in the near future.
Key words
Historiography, Medievalism, Spain, University, History under Debate, History
workshop.
Capitalia verba
Rerum Scriptura, Studia Mediaeualia, Hispania, Vniversitas, Historia in discrimine
posita, Ludus historicus.
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46
Germán Navarro
1. Aims and context
As a research group, we have recently published a book that summarises our
experience in a history workshop held at the university1. One of the chapters of
this work tackles a very controversial aspect of the discipline, namely the question
of how to recognise historiographical identity. This is an important problem for
students of history, who tend to have difficulties with diligent reading, and consequently with the comprehensive reading of bibliographies. How, therefore, can
students identify current historiographical trends if their teachers do not make them
practice the diligent and comprehensive reading of an author’s work? Furthermore,
students need to learn to investigate tendencies and not merely know what these
consist of. This question is not as straightforward as it may seem, as it is not a matter of describing existing trends, but rather requires experimenting with the skill to
recognise these. In this sense, identifying tendencies, assessing our inherited legacy
and evaluating any indication of generational change among historians, are some of
the questions that were introduced some years ago in the ‘Manifesto 2001’ via the
discussions in History under Debate2. Such approaches lead directly to the analysis of
recent Spanish historiography and, within it, to the examination of specific subjects,
as in the case examined here, namely medieval history.
If I teach the subject of “Current Historiographical Trends” as part of the history
degree in any Spanish university, and I want to focus my explanations on the
evolution of “Spanish Medievalism”, the first questions I ask myself are, “How many
publications exist on this subject? How many doctoral theses have been written and
how many of these have been published for the use of students? Does anyone know
of any doctoral theses on ‘Current Historiographical Trends in Spanish Medievalism’?
Is this type of initiative only being developed by contemporary historians?” If the
answers to these questions leave me without points of reference for the successful
teaching of my subject, then I will need to consider other possibilities. Nowadays,
explaining subjects such as “Current Historiographical Trends” to groups of students
studying medieval history necessarily means having access to empirical studies like
the one that I will present here, in order to facilitate short-term comparisons with
other areas of historical knowledge and, more generally, with the situation in other
parts of the world. In fact, this is not the first time that I am proposing this initiative.
With this aim, and taking advantage of the most recent international congress of
History under Debate in 2004, I coordinated the presentation of a paper in which we
had studied a group of 212 specialists in medieval history who then comprised the
1. Corral, José Luis; García, Carmen; Navarro, Germán. Taller de historia. El oficio que amamos. Barcelona:
Edhasa, 2006.
2. Barros, Carlos; Navarro, Germán. “El manifiesto Historia a Debate. Una nueva tendencia historiográfica abierta y global”. Anales de la Universidad de Alicante. Historia Medieval, 13 (2000-2002): 365-378;
Barros, Carlos; Igual, David; Navarro, Germán. “Historia a Debate. Manifiesto historiográfico”. Revista
d’Història Medieval, 12 (2001-2002): 331-388. See also Barros, Carlos, ed. www.h-debate.com, or History
under Debate. International Reflection on the Discipline, Carlos Barros, Lawrence J. McCrank, eds. New York:
The Haworth Press, 2004.
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“Who is Who” in Spanish medieval studies
47
tenured teaching staff of Spanish public universities and who therefore constituted,
in our view, the institutional vanguard from which any research or educational
innovation relating to the subject area in question was disseminated3.
At the above-mentioned congress, our work was criticised on two fundamental
points. The first was that it was not deemed advisable to separate the study of a
specific subject, such as medieval history, from the other areas and fields of study
that constitute Spanish historiography. What was recommended was a more general
perspective. The second criticism labelled the proposal as elitist on account of its focus
on tenured university teaching staff, thereby ignoring not only the contribution of
dozens of pre-doctoral and postdoctoral research assistants or the non-permanent
teaching staff advancing Spanish medieval history, but it also overlooked the
significant group of historians who research into, and contribute to, medieval
studies from outside the universities. The response to these objections is obvious. It
was never intended to focus exclusively on Spanish academic medievalism outside
the general evolution of Spanish, European or world historiography, but it was
considered appropriate to specify a very precise first analytical step, which was to
be followed by other, further ones. In fact, given the enormous quantity of recent
historiographical material generated by over two hundred active people, our paper
already contained sufficient material to write a doctoral thesis on the topic, and it
was therefore unimaginable what composing in-depth studies of so many authors
would have meant. It was thus a strategy to make the study more operative and
prevent it from becoming a kind of self-complacent ego-history. I have no doubt
that the non-permanent teaching and research personnel in the universities are
not only more numerous than the tenured staff but also, given their professional
situation, are generating the most recent doctoral theses, as well as quantitatively
superior historiographical material. However, the difficulties of coping with this
material and, in general, the problems of identifying such personnel became very
important obstacles to undertaking such a study. Moreover, as it was evident that
we were not unaware of this reality nor did we seek to underrate it, it had to be
emphasised that our project was guided first and foremost by the performance and
the practicality of the research strategies followed. It would have been impractical
to extend our modest analysis to the thousands of people who research medieval
history outside the universities, and who often do so with as much consequence
and historiographical impact as is done in the academic world, especially if they
have access to the main commercial publishers4. A start had to be made somewhere,
and this approach was what we chose. We can only take the responsibility for the
constraints of this decision and offer the first results for consideration.
The question that lay behind this study was of a general nature: what tendencies
or propensities were identifiable within the established historiographical confines of
3. Navarro, Germán; Villanueva, Concepción; González, Daniel. “Tendencias historiográficas actuales en el
medievalismo académico español”, III Congreso Internacional Historia a Debate, Santiago de Compostela, 1418th July 2004, paper presented at the Round table G: Groups, Networks, Historiographic Movements.
4. As an example see the new Anuario y Directorio de Asociados published by the Spanish Society of
Medieval Studies in 2006.
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Germán Navarro
Spanish academic medieval studies? Of course, a historiographical tendency is not
only an ideological abstraction, but is represented and endorsed by the sum of a series
of specific personal trajectories substantiated by their publications. The implicit or
explicit consensus of certain historians is discernible through the profound disparity
of their works and constitutes one of the more evident indicators of the existence of
specific trends. If in any other field of historical research it was considered essential
to have substantial empirical studies as a basis on which to construct general
interpretations from a comparative perspective, it seems incomprehensible that in
the immediate history of the current subjects in Spain this approach was not taken,
nor was it employed to strengthen the subjects dedicated to scientific evaluation.
On the contrary, the most extensive working model available was, and still is, the
classic state of the question shaped by general geographic, chronological or thematic
reflections, that does not respond to pure research in immediate historiography, but
rather derives from individual academic experiences characterised by a subjective
bibliographical repertoire, where, of course, habitually nobody dares to talk about
specific trends mentioning names and surnames. In fact, it always remains to be
seen who is who, that is, who represents the identifiable areas, schools, teams or
general tendencies, and by which means.
The moment for promoting an initiative of this kind seems very opportune. The
conditions in which Spanish historiography found itself were right for making the
definitive transition to the new paradigm of the 21st century. The absence of historiographical schools in Spain coincided with ignorance outside Spain about most of
what was being done here. Publications by Spanish authors are still fairly unknown
beyond our borders, and translations into other languages were still relatively rare.
In fact, from the end of the 1980s, Spain experienced a paradoxical situation, a
wealth of opportunities within an acute social crisis in its history, contrasted with
a strong historiographical revitalization of which History under Debate seemed one
of the more obvious phenomena5. The implicit role of Spanish historiography in
the international transition towards a new paradigm, the relation between political
transition and historiographical renovation in Spain and, especially, the problem
of generational change, are all issues which have attracted the attention of several
authors6.
The first general evaluation of Spanish medieval studies7 in the mid 80s reflected
these transformations, emphasising the unwonted increase in new tenured
teaching staff at the time of the reconstitution of the university departments and
5. Barros, Carlos. “La inacabada transición de la historiografía española”. Bulletin d’Histoire Contemporaine
de l’Espagne, 24 (1996): 469-493.
6. Barros, Carlos. “El retorno del sujeto social en la historiografía española”, Estado, protesta y movimientos
sociale: Actas del III Congreso de Historia Social de España (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Julio de 1997), José Mª Ortiz Ortuño,
Santiago Castillo, coords. Bilbao: Servicio Editorial Universidad del País Vasco/ Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, 1998: 191-214.
7. Ruiz de la Peña, Juan Ignacio. “La investigación medievalista en España en los últimos años”, Introducción al estudio de la Edad Media. Madrid: Siglo Veintiuno, 1984: 232-250. See also Ladero, Miguel Ángel.
“Aproximation al medievalismo española (1939-1984)”, La historiografía en Occidente desde 1945: Actitudes,
tendencias y problemas metodológicos: Actas de las III Conversaciones internacionales de Historia. Universidad de
Anglès.indd 48
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49
subjects, which occurred at the enactment of the previous University Reform Act
of 1985. It was in those circumstances that the old non-tenured professors, who
had been unable to join the civil service due to the lack of public entrance exams,
entered en masse via a merit examination, and a single biological generation filled
the posts then available for the rest of their lives. Moreover, there are currently
at least five times more tenured personnel in the area of medieval history than
there were in 1970. This means that the retirement of over 60 percent of current
teaching staff can be expected between 2010 and 2020, and this will undoubtedly
force another generational change of unexpected dimensions, or even a significant
reduction of staff, if we anticipate the likely cuts of posts announced by different
vice-chancellorships, whose policy of budget cuts is already making itself felt.
All considered, one cannot avoid the sensation that research has disintegrated;
that we are not faced with the substitution of one paradigm, dominant up to a
certain point, by another, as occurred when the so-called “historicising history”,
based on relevant events and on the hegemony of the narrative, gave way to
structural economic and social history. According to Julio Valdeón8, the real problem
is that a considerable proportion of publications on Spanish medieval studies still
practise straightforward descriptive local history, lacking any possible integration in
a comprehensive framework of general history. Moreover, regarding models of ongoing research, the dependence on exterior models continues, and historiographical
reflection is scarce. It is true that the autonomous regions of Spain have oriented
historical research towards increasingly regional contexts9. However, this is not
necessarily negative, as long as it does not coincide with a tendency towards selfsufficiency that sometimes ignores the work done on parallel themes in other
regions.
In addition to this we have to consider the phenomenon of the vast increase in
publications, especially when many university examinations still value quantity of
work over quality. In his contribution to the Medieval Studies Week of Estella in
1998, which was dedicated specifically to taking historiographical stock of Spanish
medieval studies, José Ángel García de Cortázar confirmed that the quality of the
studies is high but suffers from an excessive abundance of research that, lacking
conceptual spirit, is merely repetitive. In this sense, exclusively descriptive publications are still frequent, and researchers who write more than they read are not
rare10. Moreover, in the minutes of the same Study Week, a register of public research centres in medieval history was compiled, the first of its kind in Spain, inNavarra (Pamplona, 5-7 abril 1984), Alfredo Floristán Imícoz, Ignacio Olábarri Gortázar, Valentín Vázquez
de Prada, coords. Pamplona: Ediciones Universidad de Navarra. EUNSA, 1985: 69-86.
8. Valdeón, Julio. “La historia de España: historia medieval”. Revista de Historia Jerónimo Zurita, 71 (1997):
19-30.
9. Segura, Cristina, ed. Presente y futuro de la historia medieval en España, Actas de las Primeras Jornadas sobre la
Investigación Medieval en las Comunidades Autónomas, Universidad Complutense (9-11 noviembre, 1988). Madrid:
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1990.
10. García de Cortázar, José Ángel. “Glosa de un balance sobre la historiografía medieval española de los
últimos treinta años (I)”, La historia medieval en España. Un balance historiográfico (1968-1998). Actas de la XXV
Semana de Estudios Medievales de Estella (14-18 julio 1998). Pamplona: Gobierno de Navarra, 1999: 824.
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cluding details of all teaching staff, for which the scientific committee received the
collaboration of the university departments. This register was considered a useful
tool of knowledge, information and rapprochement among experts11. Despite this,
at an international seminar held in Zaragoza in May 2004 on the presence of the
Middle Ages on the Internet12, the development of specialised web pages in other
European countries became evident in an attempt to promote historiographical efforts with a view to identifying the different communities of researchers with their
historiographical repertoires.
This is the case with Reti Medievali and its section dedicated to the professional
profiles of Italian medievalists, or the Spanienportal of German Hispanic medievalism.
Perhaps the new technologies will spur on the systematic classification of historiographical material and the creation of an updated general directory of Spanish medievalists, which would help our task significantly, given the distressing situation in
Spain. A portal for Spanish medieval studies on the Internet ought to be promoted,
like the one launched on 1 May 199813 by Jorge Maíz at www.medievalismo.org.
2. Sources and methodology
The methodological difficulties of this type of research have already become
evident with the publication of the first dictionary of contemporary Spanish
historians14. This work begins by identifying the limited attention that collective
groups of historians attract among Spanish researchers, in a kind of unawareness of
the tradition. In contrast, since the beginning of the 1980s, prosopographical studies
have become thoroughly accepted in the leading international historiographies,
augmenting the publication of all kinds of collective repertoires. However, the
selected authors in this dictionary are a small sample of the community of historians
at the turn of the 19th to the 20th centuries. It names 526 people, of whom 70 percent
are teachers. The main source of information are their publications, serving also to
address the question of how historians construct history. It also includes social and
11. “Profesorado universitario de los Cuerpos Docentes. Historia Medieval”, La historia medieval en España.
Un balance historiográfico (1968-1998), Actas de la XXV Semana de Estudios Medievales de Estella (14-18 julio
1998). Pamplona: Gobierno de Navarra, 1999: 843-865.
12. Pescar o navegar: la Edad Media en la red, Actas del Seminario Internacional de Doctorado organizado por el
Departamento de Historia Medieval, Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas, y Estudios Árabes e Islámicos de la Universidad de Zaragoza (6-8 mayo 2004). Saragossa: Universidad, Departamento de Historia Medieval Ciencias y
Técnicas Historiográficas y Estudios Arabes e Islámicos, 2005.
13. Maíz, Jorge. “El crepúsculo tecnológico del medievalismo hispánico. Nuevas tecnologías e historia
medieval o el ocaso de lo desconocido”, Pescar o navegar: la Edad Media en la red. Actas del Seminario Internacional de Doctorado organizado por el Departamento de Historia Medieval, Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas, y Estudios Árabes e Islámicos de la Universidad de Zaragoza (6-8 mayo 2004). Saragossa: Universidad, Departamento
de Historia Medieval Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas y Estudios Arabes e Islámicos, 2005: 67-83.
14. Pasamar, Gonzalo; Peiró, Ignacio. Diccionario Akal de Historiadores Españoles Contemporáneos (1840-1980).
Madrid: Ediciones Akal, 2002.
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prosopographic data with the aim of contextualising the people included, especially
academically and ideologically. The final objective is to track down the emergence
of trends, the appearance of new areas of research and the consolidation of scientific
interests. This appears to be a worthy model of study.
This process results in a clearly-defined working method: the prosopographical
study of a group in order to establish a common portrait of predominant and minor tendencies. However, I believe that the basic personal data (gender, age, class,
academic category, etc.), the current conditions of life, or the ideological tendency
closest to each person (left, centre or right), are only significant in the real impact
which they have had on the contents of the publications in question, which are, after all, the fundamental material upon which research into historiographical trends
is based, and not the other way round. In fact, an individual might be politically
left-leaning and historiographically conservative, or vice-versa. On this issue the
questionnaire is categorical: Do teaching staff express any kind of attitude towards
political power in their publications (ignore it, criticise it, demand changes, etc.)?
What is their position on ethical, social and political commitments? Do they reject
these as a terrain for ideology and not for history? Do they consider it the most important dimension of our profession? To what extent does their condition as citizens
affect them? Do they adopt it without abandoning rigor in their work? Do they feel
that they have to produce a more humane history?
Another set of working hypotheses addressed in the questionnaire allude to the
types or forms of sociability that each person shares and how this is reflected in
their publications. This relates to groups, departments, institutes, faculties, subjects,
national historiography, international projects, academic exchange, personal networks, congresses, journals, workshops, the internet, as well as other alternative
contexts for professional relations, such as private companies, cultural management, archives, libraries, museums, etc. All of this, it can be argued, is latent in their
publications. This is easy to observe, for instance, if we consider the academic environments in which these publications are produced, that is, the journals, publishers,
congresses, be they local, regional, national or international.
From these main indicators, the current historiographical tendencies can also
be defined by the question of whether there is consistent use of particular types of
sources (written sources, material remains, iconography, etc.), which may result in
the creation of groups of ‘pure’ document-historians or ‘pure’ archaeologists with a
tendency to ignore types of sources other than their own. A similar situation arises
when cooperation, or lack thereof, between history and other sciences or disciplines
(literature, art, anthropology, sociology, psychology, etc.) is reflected in the publications themselves. It is obvious that the present survey has favoured the study of a
confined area over a chronological study (of prehistory, ancient history, medieval
history, modern history, contemporary history or current history), but it would be
interesting to know what percentage of the teaching staff analysed have published
anything relating to chronological areas other than the one that defines the group
to which they belong. This indication of ‘super-specialisation’ can also be identified
if we consider works which favour studies of single thematic areas (e.g. biography,
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Germán Navarro
demography, economic history, social history, political history, history of culture or
history of gender). It is also of great importance, where possible, to observe who
each author addresses in their writing, and whether they pay attention to the divulgative style of their work (narration, repetition or other teaching resources).
In the analysis of current trends, it is also crucial to know which authors have
most influenced each other, as indicated by themselves in their publications.
However, the national historiographies that serve as references are also important
(as in France, Italy, Great Britain, Spain, Castile or Aragon). This raises the question
of whether or not we can recognise the existence of some teaching convention,
or the affiliation with some historiographical school or tradition. In the case of
an affirmative answer, the manifest degree of “group or school spirit” ought to be
studied in greater depth, given that this constitutes one of the essential elements
in the conscious construction of historiographical identity. In short, it is a complex
exercise to try and identify the historiographical tendency which can be considered
most closely related to each person, judging by their publications, and it is an
exercise where we may be faced with multiple variants from one author to another,
and even with different historiographical stages within in a single person’s work,
i.e. no explicit tendency, neo-positivism, functionalism, structuralism, historical
materialism, etc. With regard to this, it appears to be very important to ascertain
whether or not the relation between the ideology expressed by the individual, and
the historiographical affiliations within which he or she participates, correspond or
are coherent, and whether the author expresses his or her ideological tendencies
in a relevant manner in the publication. In this context, it would be interesting to
know if someone expresses in their work what they think the purpose of history, or
the social function of this subject is, and why. There is a very wide range of possible
responses: critical awareness, civic education, national conscience, respect for the
other, better living conditions, transforming the world, guiding social action, giving
the defeated a voice, or simply knowing about the past, enhancing the curriculum
and achieving academic promotion, acquiring culture, as a hobby, for entertainment
or as a profession. Thus, the great question, or the pinnacle, is to discern who is
contributing to the historiographical renewal through their publications, and in
what sense. In short, there is a whole set of questions that owe a great deal to the
reflections raised by the international survey on the state of history among over
45,000 historians from all over the world, carried out by History under Debate, the
results of which can be consulted at www.h-debate.com.
3. Provisional results
For now, the sources used in the database have been limited to the analysis of
the three thousand assorted publications that constitute the current work of each
and every one of the people studied, although this increases from day to day. On
another level of information, internet searches have been carried out in order to ob-
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tain curricular and biographical data available from the web pages of departments,
repertoires of medieval studies and other similar resources. In the near future, the
typology of sources will be extended, as far as possible, especially through direct interviews with the people concerned. The most important provisional results are the
212 prosopographical files on teachers from an official census from January 2003
from the universities website of the Ministry of Education. With regard to this, we
have also checked the data on tenured teaching staff in other subjects, which can
be consulted on the ministry’s website. To summarise, the main categories of our
prosopographic database are the names of the teachers, their academic field, their
university, the subject of their doctoral theses, the thesis supervisors and the year
of completion. There are also other numerical fields and subfields for references to
books, articles, talks, communications and other texts recorded for each person.
There were 46,950 tenured teaching staff in Spanish public universities at the
time of the study (January 2003), divided into four categories, that is, 7,932 university professors (17 % of the total), 25,633 university lecturers (54 %), 2,271 higher
education college professors (5 %), and 11,114 higher education college lecturers
(24 %). The centres with the largest numbers of teachers were the Complutense
University of Madrid (3,507 people) and the University of Barcelona (2,411). If we
add up the number of teachers from all the universities in Madrid (Complutense,
Autonónoma, Carlos III, UNED, Politécnica and Juan Carlos I) and Barcelona (Barcelona, Autónoma, UOC, Politécnica de Catalunya and Pompeu Fabra) we can see
that together they contain almost a third of the national total.
Of the 199 subjects taught in Spanish public universities, only 10 had over 650
teachers each: Applied Economics (1,440), Applied Mathematics (1,440), Applied
Physics (1,200), Financial Economics and Accounting (1,079), English Philology
(864), Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (775), Chemical Engineering (758),
Nursing (732), Computer Languages and Systems (689), and Business Studies
(666). Economics, mathematics and physics were the largest areas, three or four
times larger than the areas of history, which were headed by Art History (536),
Contemporary History (410), Modern History (255), Medieval History (212),
Prehistory (172), American History (98), Archaeology (91) and Historiographical
Sciences and Techniques (74). By way of example, the average number of teachers
per area in Spanish public universities was around 236. As we have seen, this
number is only exceeded by Art History, Contemporary or Modern History.
The subject of Medieval History comprised 141 men and 71 women (a third of
the total and only 4 of them university professors). The average age was estimated
at around fifty. The distribution by academic category was 45 university professors
(21 % of the total) and 158 university lecturers (74 %), as well as 4 professors and
5 lecturers of higher education colleges (5 %). It was thus a teaching body assigned
according to the nature of the degrees that were taught in the faculties of Philosophy
and Arts, History or Humanities and, on very few occasions, in the old teacher
training schools, now pre-school and primary education colleges. On the other
hand, if we consider the field according to the number of posts, our database once
again shows Madrid and Barcelona as the places with the highest concentration of
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Germán Navarro
teaching staff, without counting the CSIC research personnel assigned to medieval
studies in these cities and who are not included in this database. Apart from the
departments in these two cities, among the forty departments with personnel in the
assigned area, only Granada, Salamanca, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Valencia,
Valladolid and Saragossa had ten or more teachers. In other words, a quarter of
departments contained more than half of all teachers.
Concerning the issue of thesis supervisors, we can identify up to three historiographical generations, the oldest of which are no longer active. We refer in first
place to theses directed by José María Lacarra de Miguel (1907-1987), Emilio Sáez
Sánchez (1917-1988), Álvaro Santamaría Arández (1917-2004), Juan Torres Fontes
(1919), Salvador de Moxó Ortiz de Villajos (1921-1980), Eloy Benito Ruano (1921),
Antonio Ubieto Arteta (1923-1990), Luis Suárez Fernández (1924), Ángel Juan
Martín Duque (1926) or Manuel Riu Riu (1929). They supervised at least a third
of the doctoral theses of all teaching staff prior to 1990. At the same time, a second
generation of working thesis supervisors emerged, direct disciples of the previous
generation, born around 1936-1946. These include José Luis Martín Rodríguez,
José Ángel García de Cortázar Ruiz de Aguirre, Julio Valdeón Baruque, Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada, Manuel González Jiménez and Paulino Iradiel Murugarren,
among others. Some of them have supervised over ten theses among the current
functionary teaching staff, together adding another third to the total number of
theses, the years of reading in this case concentrating on the period between 1980
and 1996. Finally, the third generation of younger supervisors, disciples of the latter
constitutes the remaining third.
As a general observation, the themes of doctoral theses submitted by Spanish
university teachers in medieval history focus mainly on analyses of cathedral chapters, councils and municipalities, noble lineages, monasteries, bishoprics and dioceses, military orders, royal administration, courts, municipal charters and domains.
There is evidently a predominance of institutional history and, to a lesser extent,
of economic, social or cultural history. Studies of poverty, marginalisation, religious
minorities, women’s history, mentalities or daily life have not received quantitatively significant monographic treatment. However, if we turn our attention to the
subjects and topics of books, articles, papers, communications and other material,
the situation tends to balance itself out.
One of the phenomena that stands out when the high degree of historiographical
productivity is observed is that of contracted research, consisting of accepting invitations to congresses, seminars or publications that have to be delivered in a relatively
short time, which generates a type of accelerated research with rates of production
often far from the trajectory of the authors, avid to meet their professional commitments in the short term. As a consequence, a lot, perhaps too much, is published in
a very disorganised way, without general research programmes, without attention
to the historiographical debates, or even with revisions or critical updates of one’s
own material. This type of progress is thus accumulative and extensive, and bibliographical growth tends to diversify interests, and to saturate more in form of chaos
than to group together themes and lines of research.
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In conclusion, the twelve theses with which Alain Guerreau proclaims the
imperatives that should guide the future of French medievalism in the 21st century
can perhaps be applied as general reflections also in the Spanish case15. However, the
question does not lie only in rethinking the sources that are used in the research, cooperating with other disciplines, or evaluating and arguing about the applicability of
current interpretative models, among other questions, but rather, first and foremost,
in knowing who is working on what, and how, because historiographical innovation
is impossible without collective self-awareness of who we are and where we want
to go from our dispersed workplaces. If this first step is not taken and the reflexive
tradition persists, which does not identify trends with names and surnames, then
it is likely that the flaw in the content will continue to undermine any attempt at
change, and the future will continue to be uncertain. In this sense, the contents of
that summer course organised by Flocel Sabaté and Joan Farré in Balaguer in 2002
about the new perspectives in Spanish medievalism16 have become an essential
starting point for a continuing debate about the future of our subject within the
new European setting of teaching and historical research.
15. Guerreau, Alain. L’avenir d’un passé incertain. Quelle histoire du Moyen Âge au XXIe siècle? Paris: éditions
du Seuil, 2001.
16. Sabaté, Flocel; Farré, Joan, eds. Medievalisme: noves perspectives. Lleida: Pagès editors, 2003.
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II PART
THE PAST STUDIED
AND MEASURED
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Byzantium and the dark ages
A civilization on trial
José Marín
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Chile
Date of reception: 9th of January, 2007
Abstract
This article presents a reflection about the Byzantine Civilization between the
7th and 9th centuries, a crucial moment for its existence. This period implied deep
changes, and it was then when the Byzantine Civilization, sometimes conceived as
being immersed in an overwhelming hieratic attitude, demonstrated its dynamism
and plasticity to face the problems. This time of crisis, that the Anglo-Saxon historiography qualifies as the dark age and that puts an end to the late ancient epoch, is
what D. Zakythinós called the “Great Breach” of Hellenism, concept that we feel is
adequate (mutatis mutandis) to refer to the so-called “crisis of the 7th century” in the
Eastern Mediterranean. Whether it was a time of crisis, decadence or transformation is an open question, and perhaps we are only facing speculative images crouching behind which —and perhaps forcing an ironic smile— a historical reality faces us
with such complexity that it involves all these aspects. Whatever it is, what we can
clearly see is that the Byzantine Civilization was not only able to overcome a difficult
epoch with the adequate historical responses, but it also invigorated its Hellenic roots,
Byzantium knew how to win a prosperous future.
Key words
Bizantium, Dark age, Great Breach, Balkans, Slavs.
Capitalia verba
Byzantium, Tenebricosum aeuum, Magna Strages, Haernus, Sclauii.
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José Marín
1. Introduction1
The periods of change, such as the one that the Byzantine Empire experienced
in the so-called “Dark Ages” —and which will be outlined in this article—, allow us
to appreciate the vitality of a historical subject and its capacity to face the challenges
imposed by historical existence, resist the changes and, if necessary, adapt to these,
but without losing its distinctive traits, which, in the end, allows us to ponder its permanence in time while weighing up its strengths and weaknesses. Historical analysis
teaches us that it is just as futile to strive to uphold a historically unreal policy of continuity, as it is to force the rhythm of history with the aim of provoking abrupt changes that do no more than attack the essence of the historical subject itself, threatening
it with disappearance, only to demonstrate, sooner rather than later, ones equivocation. In the first case, for example, we might consider the so-called “Detained Civilisations”, as explained by A. Toynbee, and among these, the case of the immobility of
the Lower Roman Empire; in the second case, we might appeal to all those rebellious
anti-establishment movements that have aimed to “go back to basics”, from the first
monks to the modern hippies, through the French Revolution.
The Greco-Roman Civilization of the Mediterranean, for example, before its final
collapse, had to face up to, suffer and overcome many periods of change, sometimes
profound, without losing its historical identity. Thus, the Romans of the Empire were
the same as those of the Republic, despite the mutations in the political structure, and
that is an irrefutable proof of the vitality of Rome. Similar is the case of the Byzantine
Civilization, which, between the 7th and 9th centuries, had to face a deep crisis that
changed part of its economic, social, demographic structure, etc., but not its historical
entity entirely: once the challenge had been overcome, we are faced with a reinforced
civilization that continued to be Hellenistic and Christian, that is, Byzantine. The Macedonian dynasty, that governed the Empire between the 9th and 11th centuries well
represents the vitality of a society that knew how to transport its culture to remote
regions, sowing the seeds of the identity of Eastern Europe orthodox roots. The Slavs,
for instance, the barbarians who were potentially dangerous for the Empire, came to
constitute “close” nations, altrough autonomous and independent ones.
And in fact, when we talk about Byzantium, we talk about the founding pillars of
what we commonly call Central or Eastern Europe, concepts argued about (perhaps
also arguable) and which have to some extent been contaminated with different
ideological visions. To avoid falling into conceptual anachronisms or imprecision,
we must ask ourselves, first of all, what we mean by “Eastern Europe” or “Central
Europe”, especially in the context of the Middle Ages.
Europe can be divided into eastern and western zones divided by a series of
imaginary lines according to religious, ethnic or political criteria, among others.
From the configuration of the extremes, moreover, we can conceive a third and
central part, which complicates the question even more —without mentioning N.
1. The author has presented a version of this work at the Tercer Simposio de ADEISE: Europa, identidad y crisis,
Mendoza, Argentina, 2006.
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Iorga’s notion of South-east Europe, which is a relatively recent concept. When
we refer to Eastern or Central Europe, we are using a nomenclature linked to the
political history of the region in the 19th and 20th centuries, even when earlier
references can be found. In contrast with our treatment of north and south, which
are objective geographic references, east and west have been relativised from the
observer or protagonist who assumes one or other denomination, which is not
only determined by the geographical localization, but also to a large degree by its
cultural and ideological “location”. As stated elsewhere, “the expansion of [one
or the other] has implied a relativism of the concepts East and West: the relations,
whether confrontational or not, between one world and another, could happen in
the 10th century in Muslim Spain, when Almanzor (978-1002) sacked the city of
Compostela in the Middle East during the age of the Crusades; in Vienna, during
the 17th-century Ottoman Turkish siege; or during the Napoleonic conquest of Egypt
at the end of the 18th century; and, perhaps, at the beginning of the 21st century
in the financial heart of the United States”. Such an idea is perfectly applicable
to a more limited reality. this is the cas of Europe, since such denominations are
used depending on the political (German or Austrian influences, for example) or
ideological circumstances (the presence of Soviet hegemony and the Warsaw Pact).
In fact, what we nowadays refer to as the Eastern countries or Eastern Europe, is
clearly an invention of the Cold War and thus essentially a geopolitical notion. Thus
this classification, based on the identification of various, even antagonistic, political
and economic systems, does not necessarily have a clear and symmetrical historical,
cultural, ethnic and linguistic basis. In fact, the expansion of the European Union
towards the “countries of the east”, demonstrates in practice that such a concept has
lost a great deal of its meaning.
An easy and ideologically neutral way of conceiving Central and Eastern Europe,
is through geography, by dividing the continent into three parts, covering a total area
extending from ten degrees longitude west to seventy degrees longitude east. By this
method, Western Europe would extend approximately as far east as ten degrees.
From there to thirty-five degrees, would be what we would call Central Europe, next
to it Eastern Europe, which would end at sixty degrees east. What we normally refer
to as Eastern Europe would correspond to a belt that stretches from twelve and a
half degrees to forty degrees, covering Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the former
Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Rumania and the Baltic Republics, Belarus, the Ukraine
and Russia as far as Moscow. To the north, the border would be the Baltic Sea and the
Scandinavian Peninsula, while to the south this would be formed by the Balkans.
Thus, this ‘Eastern Europe’ that we are attempting to define, has little in common
with the old ideological classification, but we can recognise some other relevant
elements, such as Slavonic-based ethnic identity and Christian-based religious
identity. Understood in this way, this Eastern Europe closely resembles the one
defined by T. Masaryk (1850-1937) (“the land between Germany and Russia”), and
which historical studies have incorporated since the second decade of the 20th century
as a useful concept for talking about the Middle Ages. However, for the present
study, this eastern part of Europe also includes Greece, because the last element of
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José Marín
identification rests on religion. In fact, in the medieval period nobody thought of
Europe in terms of east and west, but rather conceived it as a Christianitas that had
a Constantinopolitan and a Roman expression. What we know as Western Europe
is, in the medieval reality, the Christianitas Occidentalis of Charlemagne, separated
from the Roman Empire (i.e. Byzantium) by a band of barbarian peoples between
the Baltic Sea and the north of the Balkans, a zone that was gradually invigorated
with the establishment of princedon first and then kingdoms. The Treaty of Aixla-Chapelle (Aachen) in 811 recognised this bipolar reality by assigning “influence
areas” to both the Carolingian Empire and the Byzantine Empire in that zone.
As the contemporary ruling powers became aware of the growth of new states
(Moravia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia, and later Russia, Poland and Hungary), they
began to lure them towards their orbit of influence; the Latin-Roman-Germanic
west attempted this through conquest, while the Greek-Constantinopolitan east
opted for the creation of a cultural community based on spiritual links and on an
orthodox religious identity which has been since then shared by a large, mainly
Slavonic, population in the centre and east of Europe.
*
Among the elements that characterised the beginning of a “medieval” period, the
Völkerwanderung or migration of peoples occupied an important place —a softer and
less compromising expression than “invasions”. During the period discussed here,
various peoples entered into universal history, an integration that was dramatic for
the central power in its initial phase, but historically fertile in the long term, similar
to what happened in the west between the 4th and 5th centuries. Avars, Serbs, Croats
and Bulgars from the steppe, Slavs from north of the Danube, Muslims from the
south-east, these were the new people with whom Byzantium, after an initial period of clashes, had to learn to coexist, a learning process which, in contrast with the
events in the western Roman Empire, guaranteed its future for various centuries.
The flexibility of the Empire in the face of adverse historical circumstances was
significant: given the impossibility of continuing to sustain the “Latin ecumenism”,
the option chosen was to establish ties of friendship between Byzantium and her
new neighbours, integrating them into a cultural, religious and political community, a “family” of nations, a real commonwealth, as Dimitri Obolensky2 called it (in fact,
the Muslim case was outside this scheme, because although there were diplomatic
relations, integration was impossible given that these two worlds were mutually
exclusive). This did not mean renouncing the universalistic pretensions inherent in
a Christian empire, but only the recognition of a reality: it was equally the accomplishment of the Providential Plan, although by different means, as the inclusion
within the Byzantine community required a religious, political and cultural conver-
2. Obolensky, Dimitri. The Byzantine Commonwealth. Eastern Europe 500-1453. London: Cardinal Ed., 1974
(London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971).
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sion, so that these peoples joined in a historical task, led by Constantinople, but one
that was understood as a commitment involving all Christianity.
In the specific case of Balkan Greece, where the Dark Ages were felt especially
dramatically, the Empire did not, however, compromise: it obliged the recent
arrivals to “Byzantinise” themselves, something it did not attempt with Russians,
Bulgars or Serbs. One thing was the extension of Byzantine influence to “barbarian”
regions that were never part of the empire, quite another was the recovery of
traditionally Hellenic territory. Greece was understood as a province, unjustly seized
by the barbarians, which they had settled without imperial consent; thus there was
no room for either a Cyril or a Methodius, but rather a full-scale reconquest, as
effectively happened. And this was how Byzantium saved Hellenism even in Greece
itself, sufficient merit to earn a place in the annals of history.
2. From Latin Empire to Greek Empire
The reigns of Justinian I (527-565) and Heraclius (610-641), constituted two
poles of the same historical process, characterised by the end of “Roman ecumenism”
and the beginning of eastern Byzantine Hellenism, culturally and geographically
speaking. While Justinian might be called the “last Roman emperor”, Heraclius
might well be considered the “first Byzantine emperor”. The latter, imbibed with the
imperial Latin spirit, took on the task of restoring the Universal Empire, embarking
on the so-called Reconquest, a task to which all the diplomatic, economic and
military resources available to the emperor were committed. The “ecumenical
dream” seemed at the time to come true: Byzantium, the Second Rome, was
once again the First, the Lord of the Mediterranean, restoring its authority in the
north of Africa, eastern Spain and the north of Italy. From a “localist” and narrow
perspective, Justinian’s great politcal and military undertaking may have seemed
very successful. However, as the time goes by, signs of weakness began to appear,
symptoms of a disease whose consequence would, on one hand, be the irremediable
and definitive loss of the reconquered provinces. On the other hand, as Justinian’s
policy, concentrating on the west, in the long term favoured the Empire’s powerful
enemies (Lombards, Slavs, Avars and Persians, among others), the Empire also had
to face the loss of other important provinces. Egypt and Syria-Palestine fell first to
the Persian assault and later to Muslim Arab expansion, a new politcal and military
force fed by a strong mystical feeling that appeared in the Mediterranean in the early
decades of the 7th century. Avars and Slavs, on the other hand, took control of the
Balkans. Thus, between the 6th and 7th centuries Byzantium bled on two fronts.
Heraclius, on his part, contemplated in some occasions the possibility to transfer
the capital to the west, specifically to his hometown of Carthage, having encountered a lamentable situation in Constantinople after the disastrous government of
the usurper Phocas (602-610); but Constantinopolitan traditionalism and what we
might call, albeit prematurely, the Byzantine “national” identity, triumphed. His
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policy, in short, concentrated on the east. Justinian and Heraclius thus closed the
Latin cycle. The Empire contracted territorially to exercise its sovereignty only over
Thrace, Constantinople and its hinterland, Armenia and Anatolia. This was a historically Greek zone, so that the material reduction meant, at the same time, a cultural
fortress, consolidating the Hellenic character of the Empire. Moreover, traditionally
conflictive regions, from a religious point of view, such as Egypt, had been lost,
which reinforced a feeling of belonging to orthodoxy, another element of identity.
The Greek language, on the other hand, had replaced Latin from the second half of
the 6th century, given that, as Justinian himself stated, it was then the “pátrios foné”,
the mother language. Roman patriotism gave way to Greek patriotism.
If Justinian had been Imperator, Heraclius was Basileus ton Roméon pistós en Christo
(“Emperor of the Romans faithful to Christ”), the title he adopted in 629 and which
splendidly sums up the Greek and Christian spirit of Roman tradition in the Byzantine
Empire. It is important to emphasize what the loss of the Balkans implied, given
that the main land routes that linked east and west (such as the Via Egnatia) were
interrupted. There was a distancing between Rome and Constantinople, which, with
time, became increasingly notorious in the political, religious, linguistic and the
cultural spheres in general. The administrative division sanctioned by Theodosius
the Great in 395 and consolidated over the following years, was completed and
extended two and a half centuries later. The Old Empire had ceded its place to the
Medieval Empire. Below, I will briefly review some outstanding events of the epoch
that extended from Justinian to Heraclius, and that allow us to ponder how the
crisis that affected the Empire so seriously until the rise of the Macedonian dynasty
became so deep.
3. Expansion, contention and withdrawal
Yet Byzantium was in no condition to face the new dangers that were assaulting
its frontiers, finding itself in an extreme situation in which even its own existence
was in peril. The Empire could try to remain faithful to an ancestral policy which
was not to weaken itself or bleed itself dry fighting on two fronts; however, after
Justinian’s aggressive policy —and also with it and from it— the problems multiplied and the emperors could barely manage this very complex situation, which
led to the opening of various fronts: the west, with the Justinian reconquest and
its heavy, burdensome legacy; the Danubian Limes, even more unstable but, at the
same time, more poorly maintained; and the eastern front, with the rebellious and
dangerous Sassanids who held out until they were completely crushed by Byzantium, in the 7th century, shortly before being obliterated by the Muslims.
Expansion, contention and withdrawal seem to be the three key concepts when
weighing up the facts, if we observe the general situation of the Byzantine Empire
at the moment when the “Balkan problem” (the Avars and Slavs) made itself felt.
Similarly, the relation that Constantinople established with the recent arrivals, was
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directly linked to the global policy adopted, illustrated in the three above-mentioned
terms. While Justinian the Great clearly represented an expansive phase, from the
time of his successor, Justin II (565-578), the conditions became unfavourable,
and by the end of the reign of Tiberius II (578-582), a policy of contention could
barely be maintained, while the structure of the empire began to creak. Despite
the efforts of Maurice (582-602), who scarcely managed to preserve the Empire
that he inherited, or with Phocas and his disastrous government, and later with
Heraclius, who was at least able to recover part of the eastern provinces, Byzantium
finally washed its hands of the western provinces. The stage of withdrawal, which
included the Balkans, began to be overcome towards the end of the 8th century and
the beginning of the 9th.
The graph is a statistical table which schematises the extension of the Byzantine
Empire throughout its history. It illustrates clearly that the greatest territorial acquisitions, which were originated in the reign of Justinian, had been lost by around
620, marking a real hiatus in the statistical curve. There was a brief recovery during the reign of Heraclius, but this hardly exceeded, even at its highest point, the
area of the eastern part of the Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries. The collapse
that followed was telling in terms of the serious situation that the Empire was then
experiencing.
Graph of the territorial extension of the Byzantine Empire (284-1461)
Source: Treadgold, W. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997: 8).
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Justinian I, drew up an ambitious plan whose aim was to recover the greatness
of the Roman Empire. This emperor, in whom Roman universalism was still alive,
favoured the western front, sending a series of military expeditions with the aim of
recovering the old imperial provinces. To ensure sufficient forces, Justinian signed
a “peace without limits” (not an “eternal peace” as Procopius’s words have been
commonly and mistakenly translated) with Persia, in 532. In fact, the Byzantine
Empire had concentrated its forces on the eastern front from the beginning of the
6th century, and the peace of 532 gave them a breath space which, once that front
was stabilised, allowed the so-called Justinian Reconquest to go ahead. In the event,
this peace only lasted a few years until it was re-established, first in 562 for a few
years, and then again in 592. The Justinian project seemed very successful in the
short term: between 533 and 555, Italy, Africa and the eastern part of the Iberian
Peninsula fell under Byzantine hegemony, as did the islands of the Western Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Sea, as has so often been said, once again became a
“Roman lake”.
However, the monumental nature of the Justinian project, which, in addition to
the territorial aspect, included an enormous administrative reform and an extensive
building programme, ended up eroding the Empire economically. In the medium
term, the weaknesses of the imperial policy came to light, and not only did his successors inherit a critical economic situation, but they also inherited the instability on
the eastern front, as well as a possible third front in the Danube region, which materialised after 550, with the impact of the Avars and the movements of the Slavs.
With regard to the latter, Byzantium in fact recruited many as frontier settlers or
mercenaries, in the conviction that if they felt part of the Empire they would defend
it, which provides more evidence of the impact of tradition on imperial policies. Occupied with the wars of the Reconquest in the west, and the war against Persia in the
east, the emperor could not send large military forces to a region where the problem
seemed “minor”. It is known that groups of Slavs fought for Byzantium in the war
against Persia, including examples such as Dabragazas, who became commander of
the Crimean fleet, or the case of Sovarouna, a soldier of Slavonic origin stationed in
the Caucasus. This initial period of penetration, during which the Slavs still showed
no interest in settling permanently in the Balkans, was characterised by peaceful
contacts that began a gradual Hellenisation of the recently arrived barbarians.
The Danubian Limes, the most dangerous and vulnerable frontier, had been left
relatively unprotected since the time of Justine I (518-527). Although his successor
reinforced the fortifications on the Danube from Sirmium to Constantinople, thereby completing the work of Anastasius I (491-518), while reorganising the army and
using diplomacy if possible, to pit some tribes against others. the forces stationed
there were insufficient to stem the barbarian tide, and between 580 and 620 Byzantine resistance finally gave way. In fact, Justinian’s successors did not concern
themselves sufficiently with the maintenance of the fortified Limes and so the Slavs
had almost total freedom to roam the Balkans as they wished.
Divided between east and west, and especially worried about the Reconquest,
Justinian I neglected the Danubian frontier, where a purely defensive strategy was
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applied, which was revealed to be completely useless. In any case, Justinian’s building activity and the fortification works of the Danubian Limes should not be underestimated. The testimony of Procopius, very often distrusted because of its apologetic character, but nowadays archaeologically supported, shows that in the middle
of the 6th century, the zone was protected in a hitherto unknown way. In the region
a complex network of three interlocking defensive lines were built and organised
in an overlapping pattern, which shows that the Sclavenes were perceived as a real
threat. Justinian also tried to protect the Peloponnese from invasions by having a
great wall built across the isthmus of Corinth, as the above-mentioned Byzantine
historian also recorded, where forts and garrisons were built, so that all the cities
in the peninsula remained inaccessible to the enemy, even if the defences of Thermopylae were forced. However, the construction did not stand up to the blows of
nature and was demolished by an earthquake in 551, or perhaps by another one
in 580, so that on the arrival of the Slavs there was nothing there but ruins. It is
paradoxical that some Slavs apparently reached the Peloponnese crossing the Gulf
of Corinth with their monoxyls, and not by land across the isthmus, as the emperor
had anticipated.
In comparative terms, the reign of Justin II was undoubtedly more opaque than
that of his predecessor. However, this can be explained to a great extent by the
latter’s legacy to the former: a powerful imperial conception, that it is true, led
Justin to struggle to maintain Justinian I’s territorial legacy, but he also inherited
a very extensive and scattered empire, threatened on all fronts and economically
ruined. An austere and tight fiscal policy allowed the imperial coffers to recover
temporarily towards the end of his rule, but by then his foreign policy had been
shown to be completely misguided.
Justinian had maintained a precarious balance with Persia through the payment
of tributes, and he had done the same with the Avars on the Danubian frontier, although clearly at a lesser cost. Justin II, however, true to his regime of austerity, but
with notable short-sightedness, suspended both payments, which in practice meant
and open provocation of two dangerous enemies, although it is true that the tribute
handed over to the Avars was considered by many Byzantines as a humiliation. In
turn, the western part of the empire was becoming increasingly unstable. On one
hand the Lombards rapidly entered Italy from 568 and seized a large part of it, while
on the other hand the Visigoths began a counterattack that would finally lead them
to oust the Byzantine troops stationed in the Iberian peninsula. Lastly, although the
empire maintained its possessions in Africa, the Berber rebellions made the situation more precarious by the day, so much that even the prefect Theodore was assassinated, creating an unprecedented and totally outrageous situation.
The disaster could have been worse if the emperor had not decided to withdraw
and finally re-establish the payment of tribute to the Avars. Without being able
to avoid the loss of Italy, and with the sensitive Danubian frontier in the hands of
the ambitious Bayan, Khan of the Avars —controlled thanks to the gold— Justine
committed a final error: he activated the eastern front against Persia, which, under
Chosroes I (531-579), inflicted serious defeats on the Byzantine empire. Once again
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it has to be noted that the disaster could have been worse if the emperor had not
fallen seriously ill, thereby in practice becoming unfit to govern, so that the regent
empress Sophia was obliged to sign a peace treaty with Persia. The universalistic
Justinian project that had seemed a dream come true, was reduced to an illusion.
Tiberius II and Maurice ended the period of containment, and during their reigns
the withdrawal began as a result of two constant and serious problems: multiplication of the fronts and the scarcity of human and economic resources to stabilise
them. On the Balkan front —always “in the middle” and affected by the actions on
the western or eastern fronts—, the case of Tiberius is telling: Although he was able
to pacify Africa and recover the port of Classe di Ravenna, while also celebrating
victories, —despite having to lament reversals on the Persian front—, his biggest
headache was in the Danubian Limes. The intensification of Avar pressure and the
occupation of Sirmium in 582 forced him to cede the city and pay tributes in arrears
because of the conflict.
Maurice, on his part, had to worry about the western front, which he stabilised
by founding the exarchates, with a marked militarisation of the administration,
a process that became more marked over the following decades. However, in the
Iberian Peninsula he suffered irreversible territorial losses. The Persian front was a
prime concern for his government, and in 592 he could manage to end to two decades of war, thanks to the peace treaty signed after the civil war that had afflicted
the Sassanids in the years 590-591, and that resulted in the accession to the throne
of Chosroes II (590-628), thanks to Byzantine help.
Once the truce was signed, Maurice turned his gaze to the Balkans, which had
been neglected and where the Avar-Slav penetration was advancing without any
restrictions, so much so that they had occupied various cities and, confident in their
power, demanded that the emperor increase the tribute agreed years before. The
dispatch of troops under General Prisco succeeded in reducing the pressure of the
barbarians on the empire. However, the serious economic situation led Maurice to
take decisions that he would later regret. Part of his austerity policy meant reducing
the army’s troop strength, which had already seriously affected morale. The final
straw was the order that was given to stay on the other side of the Danube, in
Avar territory, during the winter of the 602-603. Indignant, the army marched on
Constantinople led by general Phocas who, after assassinating Maurice and those
close to him, proclaimed himself emperor.
The rebellion by general Phocas (602-610), whose government was a complete
disaster, has often been considered to be the moment when the Danubian frontier was practically left to its own devices. However, as Florin Curta3 has recently
demonstrated, there is no evidence that the Limes was completely abandoned nor
is there any record of incursions by Avars or Slavs between 602 and 610. In fact,
the collapse of the frontier came about during the rule of Heraclius (610-641), who
from 620 had to transfer his troops and concentrate his forces in the east, where the
3. Curta, Florin. The Making of the Slavs. History and Archéology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500-700 A.D.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006; Curta, Florin. Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages. 5001250. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
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war had worsened alarmingly. The transfer of troops to the Persian front coincided
precisely with the increase in the Slav incursions south of the Danube, which, as
shown by the archaeology, went ever deeper.
As might be appreciated, the Balkan problem was always a secondary
preoccupation for the emperors, who favoured the defence of the eastern front.
As well as being a question of political will, the economic problems did not allow
a sufficiently large army to be raised to enable a large contingent to be left on the
Danube while the problems with Persia or on the western front were being resolved.
To the above-mentioned factor of military weakness was added another geographic
one. The region of the Balkans, on account of its essentially mountainous relief,
(Balkan is a Turkish word meaning “mountainous chain”), is a zone whose defence
presents great problems. Thus, the Empire could not avoid a large part of Balkan
territory falling into the hands of the Slavs during the 7th century. This escaped
Byzantine control with the constitution of the esclavinias, territories occupied by
independent Slavonic tribes, that remained outside imperial jurisdiction (although
from Justinian II (685-695) onwards the esclavinias were recognised as autonomous
(but tributaries), these never constituted a sovereign power or a state, which gave
the Empire the opportunity to integrate them into its political orbit, thus maintaining
the fiction of universal Byzantine sovereignty). The above-mentioned revolt by
Phocas, and the anarchy that followed it, together with the passivity of Heraclius,
who after a decade of inactivity concentrated on the eastern front, contributing
to worsening the situation, given that the internal crisis, together with the total
abandonment of the positions on the Danube, was exploited by the Slavs, who
poured into the Balkans.
Thus, at the beginning of the 7th century, the ethnic and political make-up of the
Balkans had varied considerably, and it was perhaps the greatest change that the
peninsula has suffered until this moment. A predominantly Hellenic population
turned into one with a numerous Slavonic component; an organisation centralised
around Constantinople became a tribal diversity based on blood ties, with an
agricultural and pastoral economy; the population changed from urban to rural and
dispersed.
A kind of Sclavinia that maintained its autonomy for a long time was also formed on
the Peloponnesian peninsula. Since then the dark ages began —such as the English
historiography rightly calls it— in the Balkans in particular, and in Byzantium in
general, a situation that will be dealt with on the following pages.
4. The difficult times
From the 7th century, and up to the beginnings of the 9th century, Byzantine
civilization suffered a turbulent, dark epoch, during its very existence came under
threat. The impact of Avars and especially Slavs who, taking advantage of the mili-
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tary weakness of the Empire as well as its internal problems, managed to cross the
Danubian Limes to settle in the Balkans; the ruinous war against Persia on the eastern front, where most of the Byzantine army was concentrated, meant neglecting
the western front; and the Muslim expansion that took place in the Middle East and
the north of Africa at the expense of Byzantine provinces; all of these were, grosso
modo, the external threats that the Empire had to face.
The great danger that the Avar presence represented for the Byzantine Empire at
a critical moment such as the second decade of government by the emperor Heraclius, becomes evident when we remember the expedition in 626 when, in connivance with the Persians, they besieged the city of Constantinople. In the absence of
the emperor, the patriarch Sergius I (610-638) organised the defence of the capital
and raised the morale of the population, kindling religious fervour and infusing
them with the will to resist the siege. Litanies were chanted and hands raised towards heaven in prayer, while the Virgin Mary was invoked as the preferred intercessor before Jesus Christ. Admirably, the Avars abandoned the site.
Such a victory can be explained easily, not only through the Avars’ lack of adequate siege techniques to assault a walled city like Constantinople, but also by
the timely arrival of military reinforcements. However, and this says a lot about
Byzantine mentality, rather than rely on the city’s natural or military defences, the
citizens of Constantinople trusted in the supernatural defence of a capital to which
they attributed a trascendent destiny. In fact, as J. Haldon states, such an emphasis
also implied a loss of confidence in the traditional symbols of power.
The belief in the celestial protection found eloquent expression in the hymn Akathistos, composed in the 5th century, but whose preface, in which the Virgin Mary is
invoked as “invicta estratega”, is attributed to the patriarch Sergio, who would have
written it shortly after the Avar siege, in order to celebrate such a magnificent and
miraculous victory (against enemies who were compared to the old adversaries of
Israel, as if Constantinople were a New Jerusalem). That year of 626 was decisive
not only for Byzantium, but also for the future of the other two empires in conflict.
It marked the beginning of the decline of Persia, while the Avar danger disappeared
over the Byzantine horizon. The weakness of the Avars, exemplified by the settling
of Serbs and Croats in the Balkans, is an interesting point in itself, but one that
strays beyond the present purpose, so let us then return to the general situation of
the empire.
The situation that had reached tragic dimensions in the 7th century (such that
the Empire, threatened on all its frontiers, seemed about to perish), also marked an
era not only of territorial changes, but also of political orientation, with a marked
tendency towards the militarisation of the administration. In those regions where
the imperial dominion was restored, a thema or themata was created, that is, a province governed by an estratega in whose hands the civil and military power was concentrated, and whose mission consisted of ensuring the submission of the region,
administering it and protecting it from new dangers. Moreover, each thema had a
detachment of soldiers, the stratiotas, who were installed as settlers on lands handed
over in exchange for defending them. Thus, these soldier-settlers made sovereignty
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inhabiting, defending, cultivating and paying their taxes, as this was a civil-military
measure that had far-reaching socio-economic repercussions. The word thema originally designated a military body, but would later come to designate a territorial division, a change that came about between the end of the 7th century and beginning of
the 8th. The characteristic 10th-century organization of the Empire in themata, a puzzle still not completely resolved in the historiography, had its origin, according to
some, in the reforms of Heraclius and, according to others, in the exceptional union
of civil and military power under Justinian and the later creation of the exarchate
under the emperor Maurice. Whatever the truth, these “advanced provinces” were
key elements in the Byzantine recovery that began in the early decades of the 9th
century. Precisely one of the keys for the imperial recovery during the epoch of the
Macedonian dynasty was the protection of the minor free peasantry, whose origin
is associated with the constitution of the themas.
The loss of a great part of the Balkans to the Slavs, Serbs, Croats and Bulgars
meant that the Greek east and the Latin west turned their backs on each other,
mutually ignoring each other. The peninsula, having been a bridge, now became an
abyss. There were three landmarks in this process: the exaltation of Pippin as king
of the Franks in 751, the imperial coronation of Charlemagne in 800, and the more
famous than effective schism of Photius in the second half of the 9th century. This
crisis of Byzantium was part of a global process that affected the entire Mediterranean. While it was a deepening of changes that had been brewing for the Latin
west, in the Greek-Byzantine east it was practically the end of the old epoch and
the beginning of the Greek Middle Ages: an ecumenical Latin empire became an
eastern Greek empire, a Catholic world was gradually transformed into an orthodox Christian one. The concept of the “Great Breach of Hellenism” that Dionýsios
Zakythinós4 coined for the Greek case, therefore seems appropriate, given that it
expresses very well the change, which took place between the 7th and 9th centuries,
putting an end to ancient Hellenism which gave way to medieval Hellenism, i.e.
Byzantine, Hellenism.
The migrations of barbarian peoples signalled the end of one stage and the beginning of another. Moreover, the global impact that this external situation provoked
was not negligible. This included demographic contraction, migratory movements,
such as Greeks from Egypt, Syria and Palestine who left their land to move to Anatolia or further away to Sicily; or inhabitants of the Balkans, who fled to the islands
or the south of Italy; and the depopulation of some cities and the destruction of
others with the consequent ruralisation and dispersion of the population. All of this
contributed to a serious economic crisis resulting from both the abandonment of
fields and the loss of rich provinces, it was the case with Egypt, and the consequent
reduction in manpower and the interruption of important routes, both overland
and maritime.
4. Zakythinós, Dionýsios A. “La Grande Brèche dans la tradition historique de l’hellénisme du Septième
au Neuvième siècle”, Xαριστήεριον είς Άναστάσιον Κ. Όρλάνδον. Δημοσίευμα τη̃ς έν Άθήναις Άρχαιολογικη̃ς Έ
̉ ταιρείας.
Athens: 1966: III, 300-327; Byzance: Etat-economie-Société. London : Variorum Reprints, 1973: VIII.
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From the demographic point of view, there was a drop in population, caused
both by the violence of the barbarian invaders and the flight from their assault, as
well as ruralisation and dispersion, on account of which the already damaged urban
structure of the Empire, especially in the Balkans, definitly fell apart. The kastron, a
new urban system more in accordance with the needs of the times, together with
the new administrative organization centred on the themes, replaced the old one
inherited from Rome. In fact, the archaeological findings show that the process of
change in the urban structure had already begun in the 6th century, before the impact of Avars and Slavs, but it got deeper later.
The Byzantine thalassocracy had to face the competition of the newly-born Islamic empire, which would soon come to threaten Byzantium and its control of the
Mediterranean. Before the 7th century Constantinople ruled the sea routes along
the axis from the Crimea in the east to the Pillars of Hercules in the west, with full
naval, commercial and military control, and with the political influence that such
a situation naturally implied. Later, Byzantium had to resign itself to the maritime
control of the Black Sea —Aegean Sea axis, thus reducing its commercial flow, together with its political presence in the western Mediterranean. It is symptomatic
that the high points of the Byzantine Empire coincide with the periods of maritime
domination and, in fact, when Byzantium turned its back on the sea, the decline
was inevitable. Thus, the unity of the ancient world had split forever.
5. The Great Breach, crisis or transformation?
The political, social, economic, religious, and linguistic changes that brought
about the crisis of the 7th century implied the end of an era that, rooted in Antiquity,
was at the same time the foundation for a new epoch. It was not a terminal crisis,
but rather a starting crisis. It seems that the debatable (and debated) thesis by Henri
Pirenne5 was fulfilled, mutatis mutandis, in the case of the eastern Mediterranean.
In line with the Belgian historian’s proposals, Antiquity, personified by the Romania, extended beyond the 5th century, when the western Roman Empire collapsed
politically, that is, the structure of the Romania survived historically practically unchanged, a hypothesis that, although not reflecting the reality of the Latin west,
does so to some extent with regard to the eastern reality, as shown in our preceding
approach. Pirenne’s error, in this case, lies in not having emphasised enough the
case of Byzantium, where he would have found some “positive”, not merely theoretical, evidence more in line with his thesis. The critical century, which somehow
coincided with Pirenne’s approach, was the time between 650 and 750, when east
and west were separated for good by the emergence of the Muslim world as a new
power in the Mediterranean, to which we have to add the Slavonic “wedge” in the
5. Pirenne, Henri. Mahoma y Carlomagno, trans. Esther Benítez. Madrid: Alianza, 1981. (Paris: F. Alcan,
1937; Bruxelles: Nouvelle société d’éditions, 1937).
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Balkans, which interrupted communications between east and west, such as the
road network based around the via Egnatia, which was completely broken up.
The importance of the 7th century for world history in general, and for Byzantine
history in particular, has also been emphasised by professor Héctor Herrera Cajas6,
only this time with a more general vision that includes, together with Byzantium
and the Islamic world, the Persian Sassanid Empire in the east, and the power of
the Avars (as well as the Serbs, Slavs, Croats and Bulgars) in the west. In fact, it
should be recognised, to put the historical processes in their true perspective, that a
single explanation is misleading, given that many of the protagonists are linked, in
one way or another, to the Byzantine Empire. Once the problem has been framed
from a “universal” point of view, it is possible to refer more coherently to the specific processes, such as ethnic changes, mutations in urban life or fluctuations in
the imperial frontiers. Dionýsios Zakythinós highlighted this by studying a specific
but representative case (Greece), placing it within a global framework. According
to this author, between the seventh and ninth centuries, the old Hellas experienced
a period of darkness, crisis and change; it was the death of Greco-Roman Antiquity
and the beginning of what we might call the Greek Middle Ages. He states:
From the mid 7th century and until the middle of the 9th, the history of Greece
shows a period of decline; the evidence from the sources about this classical land
of glorious reminiscences becomes rare and imprecise; no monument was erected,
no literary manuscript came from this region where writing represented the subtlest works of human thought; there are very few and debatable archaeological
vestiges; a few inscriptions, some humble graffiti, have been conserved; coins and
seals are rare7
It was the end of a monumental and artistic era that, for the Greeks, dated back
without a break to Classical Antiquity. The archaeological and artistic-architectural
evidence, where it exists, constitutes clear proof that the flame of civilization seemed
to turn off, and turn into little more than an ember that, when winds of change
blew in from the Imperial capital at the end of the 8th century and beginning of the
9th, it was rekindled to cast a new light, no less brilliant, although different than the
previous one. For Dionýsios Zakythinós this was the abyss, the “Great Breach”, that
separated two well-defined historical landscapes: from the architectural point of
view, for example, it was the end of the era of the Palaeo-Christian basilica and the
beginning of the era of the cruciform church, in the same way that, in the urban
context, the magnificent Hellenic city was replaced by the Byzantine kastron with its
marked military character.8
6. Herrera, Héctor. Dimensiones de la Cultura Bizantina. Arte, Poder y Legado Histórico. Santiago de Chile:
Centro de Estudios Bizantinos de la Universidad de Chile - Universidad Gabriela Mistral, 1998; Herrera,
Héctor. Las relaciones Internacionales del Imperio Bizantino durante la época de las grandes invasiones. Santiago
de Chile: Ediciones del Centro de Estudios Bizantinos y Neohelénicas de la Universidad de Chile, 1972.
7. Zakythinós, Dionýsios A. “La Grande Brèche dans la tradition historique...”: 300.
8. Zakythinós, Dionýsios A. “La Grande Brèche dans la tradition historique…”.
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José Marín
In the Balkans, the phenomenon could be explained by the Avar-Slavonic and
Bulgar invasions that undoubtedly affected the Hellenic population deeply. However,
this would minimise and simplify a more complex processes. The Balkan problem
should really be considered as part of the Byzantine crisis, and this, in turn, cannot
be understood if it is not included within a wider Mediterranean crisis. The AvarSlavonic invasions, the earthquakes, epidemics and famines, or the Iconoclasm
Controversy, were more or less local phenomena that do not suffice to explain
the full picture. The precarious balance was disrupted by the Muslim expansion (a
result of Persian and Byzantine weakness), creating a commotion on a “universal”
scale. For Zakythinós, the seventeenth of September 642 is a symbolic date, being
the day when Alexandria fell into Muslim hands. The ideal that its founder had
incorporated into the history of the Greco-Roman Civilization almost a millennium
earlier, fell with the city.9
Thanks to the studies published in the last ten years, it is possible to explain
the image that has forged the historiography of the Balkans, based on fragmentary
documentation. The archaeology has demonstrated that the Balkans never
completely escaped from Byzantine control, and the Peloponnese even less so. Thus
the works by Anna Avramea10 about the Peloponnese, or by Florin Curta11 on the
Slavs and the Greek dark ages, offer us new perspectives of analysis, questioning
the almost total transformation of the Empire, placing the emphasis on elements
of continuity, and minimising or varying, —depending on the case —the pattern
outlined until now. The “Great Breach” should be seen as a gradual process of
changes rather than an abrupt rupture between one period and another. Dionýsios
Zakythinós apparently identified the problem and its principal variables well, but
exaggerated it. Despite this, the concept of the “Great Breach” is a valuable one.
Andreas Stratos12, a Byzantist who studied the 7th century with great interest,
stated that this was a “truly grave” epoch for the Empire, a “crucial century”, in
which “the very existence of Byzantium was fought over”, which was achieved,
to an extent, as George Ostrogorsky13 states, by abandoning the “Roman dream”
to face the reality. Both visions coincide with the one that has been analysed
above. Only Paul Lemerle14 doubts that it was a crisis, specifying that it was rather
9. Zakythinós, Dionýsios A. “La Grande Brèche dans la tradition historique…”.
10. Avramea, Anna. Le Péloponnèse du IVe au VIIIe siècle. Changements et persistentes. Paris: Publications de
la Sorbonne, 1997.
11. Curta, Florin. “Byzantium in Dark-Age Greece (the numismatic evidence in its Balkan context)”.
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 29/2 (2005): 113-146; Curta, Florin. The Making of the Slavs. History and
Archéology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500-700 A.D. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006; Curta,
Florin. Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages. 500-1250. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
12. Stratos, Andreas N. Studies in 7th-Century Byzantine Political History. London: Variorum Reprints, 1983.
13. Ostrogorsky, George. “Byzantine cities in the early Middle Ages”. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 13 (1959):
45-66; Ostrogorsky, George. “The Byzantine Empire in the world of the Seventh Century”. Dumbarton
Oaks Papers, 13 (1959): 1-21; Ostrogorsky, George. History of the Byzantine State, trans. Joan Hussey. New
Brunswick: Rutgers U. Press, 1957. (Munich: Beck, 1940).
14. Lemerle, Paul. “Les repercusions de la crise de l’Empire d’Orient au VIIe siècle sur les pays d’ Occident”; Caratteri del secolo VII in Occidente : 23-29 aprile, 1957. V Settimane di Studi Sull’Alto Medioevo. Spoleto:
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a period of transformations —which would also be in line with the thoughts of John
Haldon15— during which the axis of the Empire moved towards the east. Thus, the
position of Zakythinós is doubtful. He indicates that it was a political, economic,
social and spiritual crisis, concluding that “situated over the Great Schism, what I see
is the ruin of universal Hellenism”. If, on the other hand, in line with H. Herrera,16
we understand a crisis as a period of deep questioning that demands committed,
compromising and rational responses, born from a spirit tempered in the tremendously
historical act of living through a crisis, responses that once updated would lead to
a transformation (radical or not) of a specific historical entity, any discussion framed
in such terms seems pointless. It seems more important, and more complex, to
determine whether it was a crisis that led to a transformation, or vice-versa. With
regard to the supposed decline, this happens when a civilization appears incapable
of overcoming reiterated and acute crises; in my opinion, the Byzantine renovation
of the 9th century shows that the Empire knew how to find the right answers, thus
avoiding decadence. We are probably facing speculative images from behind which
a historical reality peers out (perhaps forcing an ironic smile), a reality of such
complexity that it involves all these aspects. Whatever it is, what we can observe
clearly is that Byzantine civilization not only managed to survive a difficult epoch
with the adequate historical responses, but it also reinvigorated its Hellenic roots.
Byzantium knew how to gain a prosperous future.
6. Bibliographical Overview
We did not wish to load this article with excessive notes, which would have
been very numerous; we are, however, indebted to an important bibliography, from
which we ought to highlight some titles, which the reader will also find listed at
the end of this brief commentary. Without delaying on the primary sources (which
are well-known, i.e. Procopius17, Menander18, John of Ephesus19, Theophanes20,
Centro di studi sull’Alto Medioevo, 1958: II, 713-731.
15.Haldon, John F. Byzantium in the Seventh Century. The transformation of a culture. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1997 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
16. Herrera Héctor. “El sentido de la crisis en Occidente”. Academia, 8 (1983): 70-78.
17. Procopius. The anecdota, or secret history, ed. H.B. Dewing. London-Massachussets: Heinemann-Harvard University Press, 1960.
18. Menander. The history of Menander the Guardsman, ed. R.C. Blockley. Liverpool: Cairns, 1985.
19. Bishop of Ephesus, John. The third part of the ecclesiastical history of John, Bishop of Ephesus, ed. M. A. R.
Payne Smith. Oxford: university Press, 1860.
20. The Confessor, Theophanes. The chronicle of Theophanes Confessor: Byzantine and Near Eastern history,
A.D. 284-813, eds. Cyril Mango, Roger Scott. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997.
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José Marín
Theophylaktos Simokates21, the anonymous Miracles of Saint Demetrius22, or
the Chronicle of Monemvasía23 and apart from the traditional manuals of Louis
Bréhier24, Fotios Malleros25, Alexander A. Vasiliev26, Dimitri Obolensky27 or George
Ostrogorsky28, some recent works must be mentioned, such as the very exhaustive
work by Warren Treadgold29, unique in its class in decades of Byzantology, which
together with a detailed historical description provides us with an update from the
historiographical point of view, which converts this work into an essential reference
manual for today. It is important to highlight the collection of essays edited by
Michael Maas30 and dedicated to the epoch of Justinian, which is analysed from
various points of view. Florin Curta’s31 contributions are both interesting and
original, both his book about the invention of the Slavs, which presents a vision that
incorporates anthropology and archaeology into historical analysis, and in his latest
book about the history of south-eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, whose second
chapter is dedicated, justifiably, to the “dark ages”, a subject which the author
knows in great depth. In order to approach the principal characteristics of the 7th
century, beginning with the excellent synthesis of the period that extends from
Justinian to Heraclius, the book by John Haldon32 is very useful. It not only includes
good narration, but also introduces the different positions of historians with regard
to certain problems, such as the origin of the themata. For a synthetic vision of the
21. Simocatta, Theophylactus. The history of Theophylact Simocatta: an english translation with introduction and
notes, eds. Michael Whitby, Mary Whitby. Oxford: Clarendon Press for Sandpiper Books, 1997.
22. Les Plus anciens recueils des miracles de saint Démétrius: et la pénétration des slaves dans les Balkans, ed. Paul
Lemerle. Paris: éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1979.
23. Cronaca di Monemvasia, ed. Ivan Dujcev. Palermo: istituto Siciliano Studi Bizantini, 1976 among the
more relevant.
24. Bréhier, Louis. El Mundo Bizantino. Vida y Muerte de Bizancio, trans. José Almoina. México D.F.: UTEHA,
1956.
25. Malleros, Fotios. El Imperio Bizantino 395-1204. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Jurídica de Chile, 1951.
26. Vasiliev, Alexander Alexandrovich. History of the Bizantine Empire 323-1453. Madison-Milwaukee: The
University of Wisconsin Press, 1964.
27. Obolensky, Dimitri. The Byzantine Commonwealth. Eastern Europe 500-1453. London: Weidenfeld and
Nicolson, 1971.
28. Ostrogorsky, George. Geschichte des byzantinischen Staates. Munich: C.H. Beck, 1940.
29. Treadgold, Warren. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press,
1997.
30. Mass, Michael, ed. The Age of Justinian. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
31. Curta, Florin. The Making of the Slavs. History and Archeology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500-700 A.D.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001; Curta, Florin. Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages. 5001250. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
32. Haldon, John F. Byzantium in the Seventh Century. The transformation of a culture. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1997.
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general situation of the Mediterranean world at the beginning of the 7th century, see
the articles by Héctor Herrera33 and George Ostrogorsky34.
For the study of the Avars and Slavs in the Balkans and the Peloponnesus, there
is an extensive bibliography. For the latter case let me highlight first the work by
Antoine Bon35, a pioneer in the study of the peninsula, and second, because it updates the state of the question, the book by Anna Avramea36, which contains invaluable archaeological information. With regard to the Avars and Slavs, apart from the
classic book by Francis Dvornik37, the articles by Ivan Dujev38 in Medioevo ByzantineSlavo, which deals with various themes, are essential reading, although it is true that
some of his statements are now disputable. The above-mentioned book by Florin
Curta39 is a valuable updated complement.
With regard to the changes that took place in Byzantium in the “dark ages”,
together with the study by Anna Avramea and Florin Curta on the archaeological
aspect, it is essential to consult The Economic History of Byzantium, edited by Angeliki
Laiou40, which contains relevant information about commercial exchanges, the numismatic findings or road networks, among other themes. Peter Charanis41, some of
whose articles are reprinted in a collection, dedicates various works to the situation
in the Balkans, delving into the archaeological evidence, the documentary sources
or the demographic problems, especially the population movements that occurred
during the period in question. Although Peter Charanis is somehow vehement in
his positions, some of which are debatable, there is no doubt about the seriousness with which he studied these themes, always searching for a full validation for
the controversial sources for the study of the Peloponnese in the Middle Ages: the
Chronicle of Monemvasia.
Dionýsios Zakythinós42 has the merit of having incorporated the concept of “the
Historical Schism”, taken from German historiography, that explains very well
33. Herrera, Héctor. “Dagoberto y Heraclio. Un capítulo de Historia Diplomática”. Byzantion Nea Hellás, 2
(1971): 135-151.
34. Ostrogorsky, George. “The Byzantine Empire in the World of the Seventh Century”. Dumbarton Oaks
Papers, 13 (1959): 1-21.
35. Bon, Antoine. Le Péloponnese Byzantin jusqu’au 1204. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1951.
36. Avramea, Anna. Le Péloponnèse du IVe au VIIIe siècle. Changements et persistences. Paris: Publications de la
Sorbonne, 1997.
37. Dvornik, Francis. Les Slaves. Histoire et civilisation de l’ Antiquité aux débuts de l’ Époque Contemporaine,
trans. Danielle Pavlesky, Maroussia Chpolyansky. Paris: édition du Seuil, 1970. (Boston: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1956).
38. Dujev, Ivan. Medioevo Bizantino-Slavo, Storia e Letteratura.1. Saggi di Storia Politica e Cultural. Roma:
Edizione di Storia e Letteratura, 1965.
39. Curta, Florin. The Making of the Slavs. History and Archéology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500-700 A.D.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
40. The Economic History of Byzantium. From the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century, 3 vol., Angeliki E.
Laiou, ed. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and collection, 2002.
41. Charanis, Peter. Studies on the demography of the Byzantine Empire. London: Variorum Reprints, 1972.
42. Zakythinós, Dionýsios A. “La Grande Brèche dans la tradition historique de l’hellénisme du Septième
au Neuvième siècle”...
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José Marín
the material, intellectual and spiritual conditions of Greek and Byzantine history
from the 7th to the 9th centuries. To his articles, cited below, should be added some
interesting works by Andreas Stratos43, published in a volume in the Variorum
Reprints collection. The value of Stratos’ work lies in that, first of all, he dared to
study a crucial period in the history of Byzantium which, paradoxically, has been
little studied, and second, he analyses the scarce sources available for the period with
erudition and perspicacity, drawing interesting conclusions. For a discussion about
whether the epoch in question was one of crisis or transformation, the theoretical
work of Héctor Herrera44 has been of great use and has served to challenge the ideas
of Paul Lemerle45.
Bibliographical appendix
Ahrweiler, Hélène. “La Frontière et les frontières de Byzance en Orient”. Actes du
XIVe Congrès International des Etudes Byzantines (Bucarest, 6-12 septembre 1971), Mihai
Berza, Eugen Stnescu, dirs. Bucarest: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste
România, 1974 : I, 209-230 ; Byzance: les pays et les territoires. London: Variorum
Reprints, 1976: IV/209-230.
Andréadès, Andreas M. Histoire Economique et Financière de la Grèce. Athens: Faculté
du Droit de l’Université d’Athènes, 1958.
Avramea, Anna. Le Péloponnèse du IVe au VIIIe siècle. Changements et persistences. Paris:
Publications de la Sorbonne, 1997.
Baynes, Norman Hepburn; Moss, Henry St. Lawrence Beaufort. Byzantium. An Introduction to East Roman Empire. Oxford: the Clarendon Press, 1962 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1948).
Baynes, Norman Hepburn. El Imperio Bizantino, trans. María Luisa Diez-Canedo,
Francisco Giner de los Ríos. México D.F.: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1985.
(primera edición, London: Williams & Norgate, 1925).
Bogdan, Henry. La Historia de los países del Este, trans. Amanda Fons. Buenos Aires:
Javier Vergara, 1991. (Paris: Perrin, 1990).
Bon, Antoine. Le Péloponnese Byzantin jusqu’ au 1204. Paris : Presses Universitaires de
France, 1951.
Bréhier, Louis. El Mundo Bizantino. Vida y Muerte de Bizancio, trans. José Almoina.
México D.F.: UTEHA, 1956.
Carpenter, Rhys. Discontinuity in Greek Civilization. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1966.
43. Stratos, Andreas N. Studies in 7th-Century Byzantine Political History. London: Variorum Reprints, 1983.
44. Herrera, Héctor.“El sentido de la crisis en Occidente”. Academia, 8 (1983): 70-78.
45. Lemerle, Paul. “Les repercusions de la crise de l’Empire d’Orient au VIIe siècle sur les pays d’ Occident”. Caratteri del secolo VII in Occidente : 23-29 aprile, 1957. V Settimane di Studi Sull’Alto Medioevo. Spoleto:
Centro di studi sull’Alto Medioevo, 1958: II, 713-731.
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Castellán, Angel A. “Proposiciones para un análisis crítico del problema de la periodificación histórica”. Anales de Historia Antigua y Medieval, 8 (1957-1958): 7-48.
Charanis, Peter. “The transfer of population as a policy in the Byzantine Empire”.
Comparative Studies in Society and History, 3/2 (January, 1961): 140-154.
Charanis, Peter. “Ethnic changes in the Byzantine Empire in the Seventh Century”.
Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 13 (1959): 23-44.
Charanis, Peter. “The Chronicle of Monemvasia and the question of the slavonic
settlements in Greece”. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 5 (1950): 140-166.
Charanis, Peter. “On the question of the hellenization of Sicily and Southern Italy
during the Middle Ages”. The American Historical review, LII/I (1946): 74-86.
Charanis, Peter. “On the Slavic Sttlements in the Peloponnesus”. Byzantinische
Zeitschrift, 46 (1946): 91-103.
Charanis, Peter. “On the question of the Slavonic Settlements in Greece during the
Middle Ages”. Byzantinoslavica, X (1949): 254-258.
Charanis, Peter. “The significance of coins as evidence for the history of Athens and
Corinth in the Seventh and Eigth Centuries”. Historia. Zeitschrift für alte Geschichte,
IV/2-3 (1955): 163-172.
Charanis, Peter. “Nicephorus I, the Saviour of Greece from the Slavs (810 A.D.)”.
Byzantina-Metabyzantina, I/I (1946): 75-92.
Charanis, Peter. Studies on the demography of the Byzantine Empire. London: Variorum
Reprints, 1972.
Curta, Florin. “Introduction”, East Central and Eastern Europe in the Early Middle Ages.
Florin Curta, ed. Michigan: Ann Arbor, 2005: 1-38.
Curta, Florin. “Byzantium in Dark-Age Greece (the numismatic evidence in its Balkan context)”. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 29/2 (2005): 113-146.
Curta, Florin. The Making of the Slavs. History and Archéology of the Lower Danube Region,
c. 500-700 A.D. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Curta, Florin. Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages. 500-1250. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006.
Ducellier, Alain; Kaplan, Michel; Martin, Bernadette. El Cercano Oriente Medieval,
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Dujev, Ivan. “Il mondo slavo e la Persia nell’ Alto Medioevo”, Atti del Convegno internazionale sul tema “La Persia e i1 mondo Grecorromano”. Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Atii della Accademia nazionale dei Lincei. Memoriae della Classe
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Dujev, Ivan. “L’arrivo dei popoli slavi e le sue conseguenze”, Popoli e paesi nella
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Dujev, Ivan. Medioevo Bizantino-Slavo, Storia e Letteratura. 1, Saggi di Storia Politica e
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Dujev, Ivan. Medioevo Bizantino-Slavo, Storia e Letteratura. 2, Saggi di Storia Politica e
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Dvornik, Francis. Les Slaves. Histoire et civilisation de l’Antiquité aux débuts de l’Époque
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Herrera, Héctor. “Dagoberto y Heraclio. Un capítulo de Historia diplomática”. Byzantion Nea Hellás, 2 (1971): 135-151.
Herrera, Héctor. “El sentido de la crisis en Occidente”. Academia, 8 (1983): 70-78.
Herrera, Héctor. Dimensiones de la Cultura Bizantina. Arte, Poder y Legado Histórico. Santiago de Chile: Centro de Estudios Bizantinos de la Universidad de Chile - Universidad Gabriela Mistral, 1998.
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Zakythinós, Dionýsios A. “La Grande Brèche dans la tradition historique de
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Zakythinós, Dionýsios A. “La ville byzantine”. Diskussionbeiträge zum XI Internationalem Byzantinisten Kongress, (1958): 75-90; Zakythinós, Dionýsios A. Byzance: Etateconomie-Societé. London: Variorum Reprints, 1973.
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The andalusian economy in the times
of Almanzor. Administrative theory
and economic reality through
juridical and geographic sources
Universitat d’Alacant
Spain
Date of reception: 22th of November, 2006
Abstract
A study of the economy of al-Andalus in epoch of Ibn Ab ‘mir, Almanzor,
through the analysis of three related aspects: First, it is shown how the Kitb alamwl of the Maghrebin, ad-Dwd (d. 402 or 411/1011·2 or 1020·1) was a juridical treaty on administrative and economic topics and it was known and used
in this epoch. Secondly, the functioning of the state granaries or alorines as storage centres for the legal taxes proceeding from agriculture is presented and they
are presented as the functional heirs of the annona militaris of the Roman empire.
Finally, the economic information about al-Andalus transmitted by the oriental geographers Ibn awqal and al-Muqaddas is shown in the shape of tables (both died
after 378/988).
Key words
Economy, Al-Andalus, Caliphate, Ad-Dâwûd, Taxes.
Capitalia verba
Oeconomia, Arabica Hispania, Caliphae munus, Ad-Dâwûdi, Tributa.
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1. Introduction
Various studies have dealt with the economy of al-Andalus,1 but none of these
has placed enough emphasis on the aspects related to the political economy
of al-Andalus, a state with Islamic confessional roots (it could also be called a
“superstructure”) that possessed a centralised economic administration, and that,
depending on the strength of the central power and the moment, might in some
cases be successful in this, while during many other periods it might be the regional
and local dynamics that would take precedence in its economic evolution.
In this sense, as an aside, it must be emphasised that in the epoch of Almanzor
(who governed from 978-1002/367-392), the Andalusian economy was run according to clearly established and well-known legislation, some of whose treatises
were already over a century old. But without needing to go back to oriental sources,
there is a clear example of an economic treatise of which we know that it was
known and followed in the al-Andalus Mlik.
On the other hand, the aim was to show the economic reality of al-Andalus,
as well as the regional economies, by means of a regulatory mechanism for the
economy that was employed on numerous occasions by the powers that be to
mitigate famines and guarantee social peace. This was the so-called alorines, an
economic institution whose roots lie in the annona militaris of the Roman world,
but which, according to the data available, contributed to mitigating famines in the
caliphate of al-Andalus, and to enriching its administrators.
Finally, we will consider the two most important contemporary oriental geographers in order to show the economic panorama that Ibn awqal-, and al-Muqaddas
wished to portray in al-Andalus, a peninsula that they knew at first hand, precisely
at the time when Ibn Ab ‘mir, better known as Almanzor, was beginning his rise
to power.
1. See the valuable summary of the data by Chalmeta, Pedro. “An Approximate Picture of the Economy
of al-Andalus”, The legacy of Muslim Spain, Salma Khadra Jayyusi, ed., chief consultant Manuela Marín.
Leiden: ed. E. J. Brill, 1992: 741-758; other earlier studies that deal more specifically with the economy
of al-Andalus in the 10th century are: Imamuddin, Sayyid Muhammad. The Economic History of Spain (under the Umayyads, 711-1031 A.D.). Dacca: Asiatic Society of Pakistan, 1963: XVII + 537. (This is the English
publication of the thesis undertaken with the support of a grant from the Spanish government. He defended it in Madrid in 1956; reviewed by Martínez Montávez, Pedro. “La economía en la España omeya”.
Hispania, XXV/99 (1965): 429-440); Arié, Rachel. “La vie économique dans l’Espagne musulmane”, Wirtschaftsgeschichte des Vorderen Orients in islamischer Zeit, Bertold Spuler, ed. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1977: 239-254;
Chalmeta, Pedro. “Sources pour l’histoire socio-économique d’al-Andalus: essai de systématisation et
de bibliographie”. Annales Islamologiques, XX (1984): 1-14; Chalmeta, Pedro. “España musulmana. La
sociedad andalusí. La economía. Instituciones”, Historia General de España y América. III. El fallido intento
de un Estado Hispánico Musulmán (711-1085), Vicente-Ángel Álvarez Palenzuela, coord. Madrid: Ediciones
Rialp, 1988: 459-543; Córdoba de la Llave, Ricardo. “Las actividades económicas”, Abdarrahman III y su
época, Emilio Cabrera, coord. científico. Córdoba: Caja Provincial de Ahorros de Córdoba, 1991; and various notes about the economy and taxes can be found in: Vallvé, Joaquín. El califato de Córdoba. Madrid:
Mapfre, 1992: 1-1351.
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85
Although their reports about al-Andalus have been classified as clearly biased
(especially in the case of Ibn awqal), their works are of great interest because
the authors had first-hand information which they refer to, and also because both
contributed to creating the image of a rich and splendid al-Andalus in the Islamic
world.
2. Relation between Islamic economic theory and real economic
administration
The mahab by al-Awz‘ (d. 157/774), and his rules regulated everything related
to the division of booty in precise detail. His juridical doctrine, which aimed at a fair
share of the land and property seized, was clearly the result of a society in expansion. But once the new Muslim state had been consolidated, a restructuring of the
law became necessary, in consonance with a much more complex administration.
These rules were developed in the first ‘Abbsid period, with works such as those
by Ab Ysuf Ya‘qb Ibn Ibrhm al-Anr (d. 182/799): Kitb al- har; Yayà Ibn
˘
dam (d. 203/819): Kitb al- har; Ab ‘Ubayd al-Qsim Ibn Sallm (d. 224/839):
˘
Kitb al-amwl; Ab l-Far Qudma Ibn a‘far Ibn Qudma al-Ktib al-Badd (d.
320/932): Kitb al- har wa-in‘at al-kitba and Ab l-asan ‘Al al-Mward (364˘
450/974-1058): Al-Akm as-sulnya.2
These works on political economics, or economic administration, demonstrate
the long trajectory of the orient regarding its codification, but there were also notable examples of this in the Muslim west,3 such as the works by ad-Dwd and Ibn
azm. Here, they appeared in the 4th/10th centuries out of the need to clarify the
legality of property ownership, which was in turn the consequence of the need for
restitution for the numerous injustices committed by the powerful, who had taken
to pillaging and seizing lands to which they had no legitimate rights. Among these,
the work of ad-Dwd stands out, for which there is firm evidence, based on real
casuistry, that it was used in al-Andalus and that its influence stretched beyond the
final epoch of the Umayyad caliphate.4
2. Other later works must be added to these, such as those by Ibn al-Farr’ (d. 458/1066). Al-Akm assul nya; Ab l-Fara ‘Abd ar-Ramn Ibn Raab al-anbal (d. 795/1393). Kitb al-istihr li-akm al˘
har to mention only the most important treatises. Among the works on economic material it is basic to
consult the work Taxation in Islam, ed. A. Ben-Shemesh. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965-1969, 3 vols., as well as
the article by Chalmeta, Pedro. “Una obra de ‘materia económica’: ‘el Kitb fi’at al-amwl de al-Dwd’”,
Actas del IV Coloquio Hispano-Tunecino (Palma de Mallorca, octubre a noviembre de 1979). Madrid: Instituto
Hispano-Arabe de Cultura, 1983: 63-78.
3. Add to the work by ad-Dwd the epistle by Ibn azm (384-455/994-1063). Rislat at-talh li-wuh
at-tahl, a work written later in 426/1035. Edition and partial translation by Asín Palacios, ˘Miguel.“Un
˘ inexplorado del cordobés Ibn azm”. Al-Andalus, II (1934): 1-56.
códice
4. With regard to the importance of the work by ad-Dwd, it is cited as a source by Ab l-Wald
Muammad Ibn Rušd al-Qurub (450-520/1058-1126). Kitb al-Muqaddimt li-aw’il kutub al Mudaw-
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Ab a‘far Amad Ibn Nar ad-Dwd (or ad-D’d) al-Mlik al-Asad (d. 402
or 411/1011·2 or 1020·1), according to the q ‘Iyd, was a faqh (doctor of Muslim
˘
law) from Masla (others say that he was from Biskra) who lived in Tripoli in Libya
(where he composed his commentary about the Kitb al-Muwaa’), later moving
to Tremecén, where he died in 402 (although some locate his death in 411). His
biographers agree that he was an outstanding Maghrebin Mlik scholar, a virtuous
faqh, a precise, admirable and fecund polygraph, and a gifted linguist, expert in
adt and speculative science and also a kind man.5 He was a disciple of Ab Isq
Ibrhm Ibn ‘Abd Allh az-Zubayd al-Qalnis (d. 359/969), and Ab ‘Abd al-Mlik
Marwn al-Bn (d. 440/1048), Ab Bakr Ibn Muammad Ibn Ab Zayd, Hayyn
al- ab at-ulayul, Ibn Fuays, and Ibn al-Fara, Ibn Ḫayr al-Išbl and many
others learned from him.
His biographers, namely q ‘Iyd (d. 544/1150 or 575/1179, depending on
the source), Ibn Ḫayr (502-575/1108-1179), Ibn al-Abbr (595-658/1199-1260)
and Ibn Farn (720-799/1321-1397), concurred on the basic traits of his life and
works. Ibn ‘Iy (who seems to be the oldest of them) stated that he acquired his
knowledge by himself, being almost self-taught; he reiterated that his learning
was unique and that the majority of his knowledge was not acquired from to any
famous imm, and that he reached (his solutions) only through his intelligence
(which does not detract value or orthodoxy from his writings). He also affirmed
that he wrote his commentary F šar al-Muwa’ in Tripoli, and among other
works mentioned the one titled Kitb al-amwl.6 Both Ibn Ḫayr and the q ‘Iy
give contradictory arguments; although both were writing just over eighty years
after the death of ad-Dwd, the latter’s biography seems to be more complete and
better founded.
He wrote a Mlik treatise on Muslim law that must be considered among the
works on juridical-economic issues known as Kitb al-amwl (Kitb fi’at al-amwl
wana; Ab ‘Abd Allh Muammad Ibn Amad al-Anar al-Qurub (d. 671/1273). Tafr al-Qur’n, or
by Ab ‘Abd Allh Muammad Ibn Amad Qsim Ibn Sa‘d al-‘Uqbn al-Tilimsn (d. 871/1467). Tufat
an-nzir wa- unyat a-kir, not to mention other compilers who used it, such as Ab l-Abbs Amad Ibn
Yayà al-Wanšars (834-914/1430-1508). Al-Mi‘yr al-murib. These circumstances allow us to conclude
that the Kitb al-amwl by ad-Dwd was long studied by jurists in al-Andalus and the Maghreb, being a
basic reference work for Mlik law for over 500 years after the author’s death. For more details about the
work, the genre it belongs to, and other treatises of the same theme or about those that influenced this
one, see pp. 1-3 and 19-20 of the introduction to the complete Arab edition: Šaraf ad-Dn, Abu Muhsin
Muhammad. Kitb al-amwl. Ab Ja‘far Amad Ibn Nar ad-D’d (t. 402 H./1011). Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute, 1995/1416: 1-3, 19-20.
5. Qd ‘Iyd (476-544/1083-1150). Tartb al-madrik, ed. (partial Arabic) Muhammad a-Talb. Tarim
alabya mustaraa min Madrik al-Q ‘Iy Biographies aghlabides. Extraites des Madrik du Cadi ‘Iy.
Tunis: mi‘ at-Tnisya, 1968: 369-70, 430. About the author and his work, see the introductory
study in Arabic and English translation by Šaraf ad-Dn, Abu Muhsin Muhammad. Kitb al-amwl.
Ab Ja‘far Amad Ibn Nar ad-D’d (t. 402 H./1011). Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute, 1995/1416:
1-12, as well as the article by Chalmeta, Pedro. “Una obra de ‘materia económica’...”: 66-73.
6. Qd ‘Iyd.
. Tartb al-madrik, ed. (Arabic) Ahmad Bakr Mamd. Beirut: Dar Maktabat al-Hayat, 1968:
IV, 623-624.
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according to P. Chalmeta, and also sometimes called Kitb f l-amwl wa l-maksib).7
Based on a reference by Ibn Ḫayr8, and on the style of the work,9 P. Chalmeta
brought forward the hypothesis that it was not written by the author, but rather
that it is a nawzil or compilation of answers given by ad-Dwd himself to specific
questions and affairs that he was asked about. This would explain why ad-Dwd
neither wrote nor taught this work (in which case the biographers would have included it among his works). The Kitb al-amwl would have been compiled by some
of his disciples, and would have circulated in the Maghreb and al-Andalus without
an original author, later under the name of the compiler, and after the latter’s death
it would have been reassigned to ad-Dwd. Thus, dissenting with Ibn ‘Iy, he affirms that it was a doctrinal body, rather than a real treatise.
The works consists of four parts (az’), which, from a Mlik point of view,
deals with the principal resources of the state, the military administration, the right
to make peace and war, and it contemplates a whole set of rules relating to taxes,
captives, booty and its division, etc., supplying sentences by the author about cases
related to the Maghreb, Sicily and al-Andalus. It also deals with illegally acquired
7. Ab a‘far Amad Ibn Nar Ad-Dwd (or Ad-D’d) al-Mlik al-Asad (Masla-Tremecén, d.
402/1011). Kitb al-amwl (or Kitb fi’at al-amwl, or Kitb f l-amwl wa-l-maksib), partial Arab edition and French translation of the 3rd ikr of the second part: Abdul Wahab, Hasan Husni; Dachraoui,
Farhat. “Le régime foncier en Sicile au Moyen Age (IXe. et Xe. siècles) Édition et traduction d’un
chapitre du ‘Kitb al-amwl d’al-D’d’”, Études d’orientalisme dédiées à la mémoire de Lévi-Provençal.
Paris: G.-P. Maisonneuve et Larose, 1962: II, 401-444, arab edition 405-427; French translation 428444; Arab edition of the capitulillo 26: Dachraoui, Farhat. “Fal min Kitb f l-amwl wa-l-maksib li-lD’d”. awlyt al-mi‘at at-Tnisya, IV (1967): 83-100; complete Arab edition with intro. and notes
of the “unicum” from El Escorial, and English trans. by Šaraf ad-Dn, Abu Musin Muammad. Kitb
al-amwl. Ab Ḫa‘far Amad Ibn Nar ad-D’d (t. 402 H./1011). Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute,
1995/1416: 1-170 + 1-225, a work we have taken as a basic reference (Arabic reed. New Delhi: Kitab
Bhavan, 1999), and there is another Arab edition: Šda, Rida. Kitb al-amwl li-Amad Ibn Nar adDwd. Rabat: Markaz At-Tur al-Marib, 1988, as well as the one by Al-Fili, Najib Abdul Whab. A
critical edition of Kitab al Amwal by Abu Jafar Ahmad al-Dawudi. University of Exeter, 1989. Outstanding studies about this work include the brief analysis of the first pages of Sharfuddin, Abu Mushin
Muhammad. “Ab Ja‘far al-Dwd’s ‘Kitb al-amwl”. Islamic Studies, 4 (1965): 441-448, as well as
the presentation and preliminary study of the El Escorial manuscripts by Chalmeta, Pedro. “Una obra
de ‘materia económica’: el ‘Kitb fi’at al-amwl de al-Dwd”...: 66-68. Although the spelling in the
manuscript used by the editor and English translator correspond to a transcription “ad Dwd”, we
share the criteria of the western Arabists who, avoiding archaic forms, have transcribed “ad-Dwd”
with a modernised spelling.
8. Ibn Ḫayr al-Išbl (502-575/1108-1179). Fahrasa ma rawhu ‘an šuyhihi min ad-dawwn al-muanna
fa f urb al-‘ilm, ed. Codera, Francisco.; Ribera, Julián. Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana. Index librorum de
diversibus scientiarum ordinibus quos a magistris didicit Abu Bequer Ben Khair. Madrid: Michaelem Romero,
18931895: IX-X, 247-248. Pedro Chalmeta reaches this conclusion through the fact that Ibn Ḫayr
does not cite this among ad-Dwd works while, in another place in the Fahrasa (p. 440), he boasts
about “having learned that he composed Amad Ibn Nar ad-Dwd, with iza”. Pedro Chalmeta is rightly
surprised that he does not cite the Kitb al-amwl and placed emphasis on having learnt all his science from it (Chalmeta, Pedro. “Una obra de ‘materia económica’: ‘el Kitb fi’at al-amwl de alDwd’”…).
9. The text states: “was asked …”, “they asked him …”, “the author answered …”, “he stated …”, etc.
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property and property which was abandoned and without a legal owner.10 It is
one of the oldest surviving treatises on the subject of taxes, and it not only talks
about general casuistry, but also about specific cases from al-Andalus, Sicily and the
Maghreb.
It seems clear that this is a series of juridical approaches originating in a real
environment, in which inherited situations abound, and a desire to adapt them to
reality and standardise them. That is why out of the 28 epigraphs in the work, those
of a more “theoretical” nature are shorter, older and not very polemical, while those
that deal with reality are much longer, contemporary with the author, little “traditionalist” with regard to his explanation and with a clear touch of controversy.11 Its
being a realistic and practical treatise makes it especially interesting and valuable for
the construction of social and economic history. Although it is not strictly speaking a
work on economics, it is about the economic theory of the state, and must therefore
be taken into account as its suggestions help us better to understand the Andalusian
and Maghrebin society at the end of the 10th century, and the faqhs almost certainly
demanded its application by the Umayyad power.
We find in it the key to the norms for the regulation of the compulsory taxes,
such as the adaqa12 on the Muslims or the izya on the imms, to specific epigraphs
on booty, abandoned goods, the correct administration of booty seized during combat (with an extensive casuistry concerning this), the status of captives and how
their possessions should be considered. On the other hand, it also contains the
legal concepts of obligatory application in the Islamic society that was al-Andalus.
Thus, we have used it for such diverse research as understanding the legal status
of lands in the northern meseta, abandoned after the reorganisation of the 9thcentury frontiers13, or understanding the concept of “social assistance” for those in
need, referring to its definitions of the poor and needy, which is specified in such
great detail.14 Given the above, we wish to recover this treatise, which, as a complement to the great manuals of the Mlik school, shows the legislation applied
10. It is divided into four parts (az’), and these then into a total of 26 chapters (ful), that begin with
the word ikr and are: Preamble (ff.1v-2r); 1st part (ff. 2r-14r), which in essence deals with the goods
that fall into the hands of the suln, the booty, conscription, and the farming of the lands of the ḫar;
2nd part (ff. 14r-29v), that discuss the dwn and the reception of pensions, booty, tithes on the lands,
recove of lands abandoned by the Muslims in Ifrqiya al-Andalus and Sicily and inheritance of pensions;
the 3ª part (ff. 29v-43v), about the rights and behaviour about captives, truces, as well as various epigraphs dedicated to the paying of taxes, both the izya by the imms, and the adaqa by the Muslims and
various casuistics about combat, and the 4th part (ff. 43v-55v.), about the goods belonging to unknown
owners, about who should be considered poor and about wealth.
11. According to Chalmeta, Pedro. “Una obra de ‘materia económica’... ”: 72-73.
12. Weir, Thomas Hunter; Zysow, Aaron. “adaḳa”. Encyclopédie de l’Islam/Encyclopaedia of Islam (2ème
èdition/2nd edition: EI2). Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995: VIII, 510-526, which analyses: 1. adaḳa in the Ḳur’n; 2.
adaḳa in the adt; 3. adaḳa in Islamic law, and 4. The practice of adaḳa.
13. Franco Sánchez, Francisco. “Consideración jurídica y religiosa de los territorios de la meseta y el
Norte peninsular por el poder musulmán de al-Andalus”. Al-Andalus-Magreb, 7 (1999): 101-133.
14. Franco Sánchez, Francisco. “La asistencia al enfermo en al-Andalus. Los hospitales hispanomusulmanes”, La Medicina en al-Andalus, Camilo Álvarez de Morales, Emilio Molina López, dirs. Granada: Fundación El Legado Andalusí, Conserjería de Cultura de la Junta de Andalucía, 1999: 135-171.
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in the Muslim west, holding as it does the norms of the socio-economic field of
public and private law that the works of Mlik Ibn Anas or Sann do not provide
in such detail.
3. Some mechanisms for the regulation of the “real economy”
by the state
The intervention of the caliphal state in the general economy of al-Andalus could
not be direct, in the way we understand this nowadays, but rather applied through
indirect mechanisms and intermediaries. Thus, when Marxist historiography qualified the economic regime of Islamic societies as a “tributary-mercantile system”,
thereby making an essential differentiation between the earlier “slavery-based system” and the contemporary “feudal system”15, the first axis of this was defined as
the relation of exaction by the ruling social class or group over the popular mass,
manifested through the payment of taxes, while the other axis was configured by
the intense mercantile relation of the system, in turn a consequence of an evidently
monetary economy.16
Such a general outline of this relation is a useful framework and element of
analysis, but little else. The reality, as it has been transmitted to us through the
Arab sources, was that the central Cordovan government tried to make the tax
effective, gathering it through local governors. Thus enunciating this, it might seem
to be a mere fiscal relation between a/some lord(s) and their respective subjects,
15. About the question of whether there was feudalism in al-Andalus, see the analysis in Chalmeta,
Pedro. “Le problème de la féodalité hors de l’Europe chrétienne: le cas de l’Espagne musulmane”, Actas del II Coloquio Hispano-Tunecino de Estudios Históricos (Madrid-Barcelona, Mayo 1972). Madrid: Instituto
Hispano Árabe de Cultura, 1973: 91-115 (especially pages 93-96); Chalmeta, Pedro. “¿Feudalismo en
al-Andalus?”, Orientalia Hispanica, sive studia F. M. Pareja octogenario dicata. Volume I: Arabica-Islamica. Pars
Prior, J. M. Barral, ed. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974: 168-194 (especially pages 173-177).
16. About the Marxist vision of the Islamic societies see the historical and socio-economic analysis by
Samir Amin, whose Spanish translation is in: Samir, Amin. Clases y naciones en el materialismo histórico.
Barcelona: Iniciativas Editoriales, 1979: 1-211; Samir, Amin. El desarrollo desigual. Ensayo sobre las formaciones sociales del capitalismo periférico. Barcelona: Fontanella, 1974: 1-427; Samir, Amin. Elogio del socialismo y otros escritos. Barcelona: Anagrama, 1978: 1-110; Samir, Amin. Sobre el desarrollo desigual de las
formaciones sociales. Barcelona: Anagrama 1974: 1-154. A coinciding analysis about the real importance
that the Marxist postulates have suggested in the historiography in general, can be seen in two very
different works: Cardoso, Ciro Flamarión Santana; Pérez Brignoli, Héctor. Los métodos de la Historia.
Barcelona: Crítica, 1977: 1-439 (pages 59-70: “La concepción marxista de la historia, desde los años
20 a nuestros días”, pages 70-72: “La influencia del marxismo en el pensamiento histórico contemporáneo”); Aróstegui, Julio. La investigación histórica: Teoría and método. Barcelona: Crítica, 1995: 1-428
(pages 110 - 128: “El marxismo y la historiografía”). A study of the ideological drift of an important
group of Egyptian intellectuals from Marxist positions towards radical Islamism is the one by Gómez
García, Luz. Marxismo, islam e islamismo: El proyecto de Adil Husayn. Madrid: CantArabia, 1996: 1-432
pp. Finally another reading of the evolution of contemporary Arab ideologies that trys to explain this
same intellectual drift is Charaffeddine, Fahima. Culture et ideologie dans le monde arabe: 1960-1990. Paris:
éditions L’Harmattan, 1994: 1-244.
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but, as we have expressed in a previous study,17 the payment of the tax assumed
a “recognition of sovereignty”, which is something more than an exercise in fiscal
obligation; it means carrying out a religious obligation that affected the real essence
of the Islamic “pyramid of sovereignty”. This “recognition of legitimate sovereignty”
to the Muslim ruler was a political act, but also had economic and religious
implications: as is known, the payment of the legal tax (whether it be Christian
or Muslim), was the way in which this recognition was periodically made evident;
non-payment was equivalent to insubordination, a rebellion that went beyond the
political sphere and that implied abandoning agreed juridical-religious obligations.18
This meant that regular payment of the tax was equivalent to the formal acceptance
of political-religious deference, and non-payment meant rebellion, not only against
the established earthly power, but also against the political-religious system of which
this was its legitimate representative. The non-payment of tax by a group that had
previously agreed to it was in itself enough reason to consider them “outlaws”, and
even more so if there was any active aggression against the Muslim community, as
was the case with the rebels towards central power, or the kingdoms in the north
of the peninsula.
The quality and obligation of the legal tax has been clarified before. Despite this,
the successive governments of the orient and those of al-Andalus (especially after
the Fitna) complemented it with other illicit taxes (muks, marim, etc.). However,
the aim is here to concentrate on an aspect that we do not consider to have received
the attention it deserves. This is the issue of the state granaries or alorines which, according to what we can infer from the references in the Arab sources, were another
inheritance from the Roman past in the Andalusian administrative structure.
The, alfolíes, alhelíes or alorines19 were the public granaries which were used essentially to store grain, and possibly also other long-lasting products, all being the result
of taxes paid in kind by the Muslim peasants. These were obliged to contribute a
proportion of the harvest, generally a tenth, as a tax.
17. Franco Sánchez, Francisco. “Consideración jurídica y religiosa de los territorios de la meseta y el
Norte peninsular …”: 101-133.
18. In case of non-payment of the cited tax, the Muslim sovereign was empowered to reclaim it; here
arose the religious relevance of the raids against the Christians in the north (in the times of the ‘Abd arRamn III until the Fitna, and in especial those of Almanzor), or against the Muslim rebels within the
state (epoch of ‘Abd ar-Ramn I, ‘Abd ar-Ramn II, ‘Abd ar-Ramn III). See more details in my study
cited in note 17, and Míkel de Epalza has also dealt with this in various places, such as: Epalza, Míkel de.
“El derecho político musulmán y su influencia en la formación de Álava (siglos VIII-XI)”, La formación de
Álava. 650 Aniversario del Pacto de Arriaga (1332-1982). Comunicaciones. Vitoria-Gasteiz: Diputación Foral de
Álava/Arabako Foru Aldundia, 1985: 309-310 (Estudios de Deusto, Bilbao, XXXII/2, fasc. 73 [1984]: 504518); Epalza, Míkel de. “Descabdellament polític i militar dels musulmans a terres catalanes (Segles VIIIXI)”, Symposium Internacional sobre els orígens de Catalunya (Segles VIII-XI), Frederic Udina, dir. Barcelona:
Real Academia de las Buenas Letras, 1991: I, 67-75.
19. Dozy, Reinhart; Engelmann, Wilhelm Hermann. “Alholí”. Glossaire des mots espagnols et portugais
dérivés de l’arabe. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 18692: 139.
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We do not know if an origin of this based in the “annona militaris”20 of the Roman
Empire has been indicated before, but given what is known, this is more than likely,
as both mechanisms are similar. In the Roman state, along the roads built for this
purpose, the army went about gathering the tax of the annona, consisting of wheat,
oil, wine, barley, rye, meat, vegetables, etc., and this annona was used to pay the
costs of the militias. The products collected were stored in provincial granaries built
for this purpose, the so-called mansiones; a mansion was a station prepared as a place
where soldiers and state officials could spend the night, and with stores where they
could supply themselves and their troops. The landowners in the surrounding area
took the respective contributions (annonae) to these stores, silos or granaries or, if it
came from communities far afield, the army went to collect the tax.
In the Andalusian case, we find a correlation in the qur, or state inns, in some
cases fortified, that were placed at regular intervals along the main routes in the
peninsula. They were luxury inns (palacetes), almost like little palaces (hence their
later semantic derivation) where the various lords and Omeya state officials stayed,
and even later ones.21 On the other hand, the public granaries do not seem to
have been associated with those in al-Andalus, but were instead centralised provincially.
The local officials were in charge of the administration of these public silos, and
we know of their existence because the Arab sources cite them as the origin of the
lucrative profits and fortunes that their administrators gained from them. Thus, the
management of the granaries in Cordoba was of special importance, due to being
the seat of central power and the large number of peasants in the Cordovan country
that paid their taxes in grain and kind there, and due to the economic importance
that they had in general, and for the city in particular. That is why the appointment
20. Among the very extensive bibliography that should be cited with regard to the annona militaris, a
special place is given to both the old studies by van Berchem, Denis. “L’annone militaire dans l’Empire
romain au IIIe. Siècle”. Mémoires de la Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France, LXXX (1937): 117-202,
and his Doctoral Thesis, published under the title: van Berchem, Denis. Les distributions de blé et d’argent
a la plèbe romaine sous l’empire. Geneva: Georg et Cie., 1939: 1-182 and the Pavis D’Escurac, Henriette.
Le préfecture de l’annone, service administratif impérial, d’Auguste à Constantin. Rome: Écoles Françaises de
Rome, 1976: 1-473. Gonzalo Arias has followed the ideas of D. van Berchem and has even developed
them regarding the philological study of the so-called Antonine’s Itinerary; his scientific debt to D. van
Berchem has been recognised in a recent article: Arias, Gonzalo. “Tras las huellas de van Berchem”. El
Miliario Extravagante, 82 (2002): 20-26, in which he annotates his work as a researcher on Ancient Rome.
We must thank him for the theory that Antonine’s Itinerary was really a series of disperse route notes that
were grouped together by an anonymous collector of the Roman annona militaris, a thesis about which
he has spoken in various studies in El Miliario Extravagante. A complementary study is the one by
Remesal Rodríguez, José. La annona militaris y la exportación del aceite bético a Germania. Madrid: Universidad Complutense, 1986: 1-284.
21. See the section dedicated to the functionality of the qur in Franco Sánchez, Franco. Vías y defensas
andalusíes en la Mancha Oriental. Alicante: Instituto de Cultura Juan Gil Albert-Conselleria d’Educació i
Ciència de la Generalitat Valenciana, 1995: 1-402, as well as Rubiera Mata, María Jesús. “El rey Lobo de
Murcia, Ibn Mardanis (1147-1172): promotor de la construcción de alcázares viales”, Imágenes y promotores en el arte medieval. Miscelánea en homenaje a Joaquín Yarza Luaces. Bellaterra: Servei de Publicacions de
la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2001: 191-194.
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and control of the management by the administrators in charge of them was carried
out regularly.
This control was also carried out, although less directly, by the management of
those in charge of the provincial granaries, as shown by news from Ibn Bassm,
contained in a letter from Ibn Šuhayd to the Valencian taifa king, ‘Abd al-’Azz Ibn
Ab ‘mir (Almanzor’s grandson), explaining the promise that he had been made
to grant him a property in Tudmr. The motive was that Ibn Šuhayd’s father had
been named governor of Tudmr and Valencia by Almanzor, and the exploitation
of the aforementioned property in an indeterminate place had been ceded to him;
after nine years as governor, his father returned voluntarily to Cordoba weighed
down with enormous wealth: “four hundred gold dinars from the sale of products; gold
objects with a value of 100,000 dinars; ownership documents for five hundred head of livestock
and two hundred selected slaves”.22 The governor Ibn Šuhayd presented the list of
earnings to Almanzor in order for him to indicate the tax that he had to pay for
them, complaining about the high price of the grain required to feed the slaves and
the livestock. In a display of generosity, Ibn Ab ‘mir exempted him from the taxes
and conceded him two thousand almuds of cereals, half of wheat, and half, barley,
that had to be taken from the state granaries in Villena (Fillna), situated near his
property.
Mª. J. Rubiera identified these granaries of the Šarq al-Andalus cited in the
estate of Los Alorines/Els Alforins, an interesting case of the derivation of the
same Arab place name (al-hur, pl. al-ahr’) simultaneously in Castilian and Valencian, separated by a regional and linguistic frontier, despite being the same
estate. The cause of the double toponymical derivation lies in the enormous size
of the estate in question (which covers a large region between the modern-day
municipalities of Caudete, Villena and Onteniente) and the fact that this has been
divided since the Middle Ages by a linguistic frontier, which has led to the double
denomination.23 The estate of Los Alorines/Els Alforins on the frontier between
the kingdoms of Castile and Valencia was the reason behind various disputes over
its ownership and its boundaries, remaining a crossing to this day.24 These stores
of the kra of Tudmr were located in a strategic zone: far from the coast, the
22. Ibn Bassm (m. 542/1147). Ad- Daḫra f mahsin ahl al-azra, Arab ed. by Isn ‘Abbs, I. Tunis: Dr
al ‘Arabya li-l-Kitb, 1975: I, 193.
23. Rubiera Mata, María Jesús. “Los precedentes geopolíticos musulmanes del señorío de Villena”, Congreso de Historia del Señorío de Villena. Albacete 23-26 Octubre 1986. Albacete: Instituto de Estudios Albacetenses de la Excma. Diputación de Albacete-C.S.I.C.-Confederación Española de Centros de Estudios
Locales, 1987: 360; Rubiera Mata, María Jesús. Villena en las calzadas romana y árabe. Alicante: Ayuntamiento de Villena-Universidad Alicante, 1985: 1-62; Rubiera, María Jesús; Epalza, Míkel de. Xàtiva musulmana (segles VIII-XIII). Xàtiva: Ajuntament de Xàtiva, 1987: 60-61.
24. See Gironés Guillem, Ignasi. Els Pergamins d’Ontinyent. Ontinyent: Ajuntament d’Ontinyent,
1991: 1-229; Gironès Guillem, Ignasi. “L’Ontinyent al segle XIV (Notes tretes del Curial del Justícia
d’Ontinyent de 1343). El Diari més antic que es conserva a Ontinyent des de la conquesta. Un dels
primers documents de censals de la Comunitat Valenciana”, Almaig. Estudis i Documents, X (1994):
37-45. He studied in detail this lawsuit known as “Los debats de Villena de 1425: un episodi inèdit”
that defined as “El teló de fons: del contenciós entre Ontinyent i Villena sobre els Alforins”: Terol i Reig, Vicent. “‘Los debats de Villena‘ de 1425: cavalcades i enfrontaments fronterers en preludi de la Guerra
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above-mentioned district was sufficiently dry to guarantee the correct storage of
the grain. Moreover, they were at the crossroads of the Játiva-Villena-Vinalopó
Valley-Murcia route and the Villena-Caudete-Balazote route, the Via Augusta
and the Camino de Aníbal respectively, being equidistant from all the large urban
centres in the region. These are convincing reasons to guarantee the credibility of
such a toponymical identification.
Similarly, a century earlier, when al-azzl (156-250/772-864), ‘Abd ar-Ramn
II’s court poet, was in charge of the granaries in the kra of Jaén, he became
notoriously rich during a period of shortages. As with the granaries of Tudmr, the
ones in the kra of Jaén were also situated at another crossroads, although we do
not know whether in Bal Marwn or Calzada de Marwn.25 This relation with the
road network (as with the annona) also responded to two needs: the need to be at a
crossroads, to facilitate access from any place in the kra for the villagers who went
there to pay tax or to collect grain, and in second place, so that military expeditionary
forces did not have to go far off their route when they required supplies from the
state granaries in the kras.
The destination of the cereal stored in the granaries varied. As in the case of
the grain in the Roman annona militaris, the cereals in the alorines were destined
for high-ranking officials and armies on their travels, thus guaranteeing not only
the maintenance of people and pack animals, but also a minimum of security and
comfort on any journey of an emissary or civil servant. Grain was also extracted
from the granaries to pay the pensions of those whom the Cordovan power had
conceded this right; they served to pay in kind the troops stationed in the provincial fortresses, and from them was taken the grain necessary to be taken for the
supply of the caliphal raids. Thus, al-akam II guaranteed lib (who was going
through a bad economic moment in the Maghreb) his unconditional support
“although they had to empty the full coffers of the treasury and the overflowing granaries
of al-Andalus”.26 They also had a set standard measure for charging taxes and for
regional economic transactions related to them; thus, for one of the Berber lords
given refuge on the Cordovan side, al-akam II granted a pension of “200 dinars
(...) plus ten almudes of wheat per month, according to the standard measure of the souk,
plus two cahices of barley for their mounts every night, according to the standard measure
of the granary”.27
The type of taxation is referred to in the document (see Appendix I) which mentions livestock taxes. This was a writ conceded during Raman in 362/June 973
de Castella de 1429-1430”. Alba. Revista d’Estudis Comarcals d’Ontinyent i la Vall d’Albaida, 10 (1995):
17-34.
25. Vallvé, Joaquín. La división territorial de la España musulmana. Madrid: C.S.I.C., 1986: 281.
26. Ibn ayyn (377-469/987·8-1076). Kitb al-muqtabis f ta’rḫ ril al-Andalus: vol. VII, ed. Emilio
García Gómez. El Califato de Córdoba en la Muqtabis de Ibn Hayyn: Anales Palatinos del Califa de Córdoba
al-Hakam II, por ‘s Ibn Ahmad al-Rz (360-364 H. = 971-975 J. C.). Traducción de un ms. árabe de la Real
Academia de la Historia. Madrid: Sociedad de Estudios y Publicaciones, 1967: 165 (chap. 139).
27. Ibn ayyn (377-469/987·8-1076). Kitb al-muqtabis f ta’rj ril al-Andalus: VII, ed Emilio García
Gómez. El Califato de Córdoba...: 187 (chap. 161).
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by the caliph al-akam II to some of his Berber allies who wished to return to their
regions of origin in the Maghreb. As well as the religious recommendations and the
fiscal guidelines for livestock, it specifies the behaviour to be followed when collecting agricultural produce:
The zakaat corresponding to the goods harvested must be taken from your subjects, as well as
that of the fruit found on their land, and the adaqa or legal alms of the livestock, according
to the legal precepts and prescriptions, without in the slightest way reducing, increasing or
altering these precepts, that are as follows:
(...)Zakaat must be levied on all the grain in silos. There is no zakaat for less than five loads
(wasq), the wasq consisting of sixty s‘s, and the s‘ being equivalent to four almudes, according to the almud of the Prophet (God bless him and save him!). Above five wasq, the
zakaat is a tenth, if the land is watered by rains or from springs, or a fifth, if it is dry land
or irrigated by water mills.
The zakaat is not levied on figs, walnuts, almonds, or other fresh or dried fruit. It is, in contrast, levied on dates and grapes.
The zakaat on olives is levied on the oil, after pressing.
There is no zakaat on the imms taxpayers, either men or women, nor on any of their goods
or livestock. They are only obliged to pay the poll tax or izya. However, if they engage in
trade between one country and another, they must pay a tenth of the product that they sell.
Only an eighth of the zakaat must be seized, that God grants to those who levy it, without
increasing or exceeding this quantity.28
The public granaries also had another important function, given that in the case
of storms, lack of rain and, in general, ruinous harvests, the grain in the silos was
a guarantee that it might be sown again the following year. The unpredictability of
the weather (droughts, torrential rains, bad harvests in general, etc.) was alleviated
to some extent by the grain deposited in the state granaries, given that, in case of an
unfavourable economic or climatic situation, orders were given to put it on public
sale at an adequate price. This was a way of limiting famine among the population
and securing the next sowing. In these cases, we know that the stored cereals were
sold at a moderate fixed price to break the extortionate prices that food reached
during periods of dearth.
Thus, the alorines became a very effective measure for regulating grain prices
and mitigating shortages. The Romans used the grain collected through the annona
for the same purpose, and even in late imperial times, on some occasions the emperors gave orders to bring out cereal at a price below market value, as a populist
measure to control the increasingly discontent plebs.29
The Arab sources frequently show these negative economic contingencies in the
registers of the Cordovan State, as in the case of the great famine of 397/812·3, that
28. Ibn ayyn (377-469/987·8-1076). Kitb al-muqtabis f ta’rj ril al-Andalus: VII, ed Emilio García
Gómez. El Califato de Córdoba…: 142-145 (chap. 112).
29. van Berchem, Denis. Les distributions de blé et d’argent a la plèbe romaine sous l’empire…: 1-182.
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killed many people in Šarq al-Andalus and was the cause of serious revolts,30 to
mention but one example.
The granaries were designed for this. Thus, through Ibn ayyn, we know that
the Cordovan capital managed to survive thanks to the grain from the state granaries after a serious drought which lasted throughout the year 324/935·6:
That year there was a general drought in al-Andalus, such as had never before
been seen or heard of so persistent, given that it lasted throughout the year, the
sky denying any rain down to the last drop that might moisten the land, but the
people enjoyed a good situation, and the prices did not rise much despite the
persistent drought, because there were still abundant resources, given that provisions were continually brought from other places and there was general prosperity, without misery, the sultan sustaining them through the bad times, until the
following year, [3]25 (936·7) they had rain. That they could be sustained like this
for a whole year was considered marvellous (…).31
Similarly, we know that as a result of famines, shortages due to bad harvests,
heavy flooding of rivers and diverse tragedies, the population affected received a
general exemption from the legal tax. Accordingly, all those circumstances were
carefully noted in the Cordovan palace archives, and eclipses, comets, and other
extraordinary astronomic phenomena that were considered presages or related to
the disasters were added. Thus, thanks to the meticulousness of the registers of the
central administration, ar-Rz was able to note them down in what, for the same
reason, E. García Gómez called the Anales Palatinos.
Numerous examples might be shown to reflect this exemption from taxes. Thus,
Ibn ayyn states that the taxes were lifted in the year 362 (early April 973) in the
kra of Jaén after a drought followed by frosts;32 behind this news lies the unjust
claim made for a large quantity of wood, fish and tar as legal taxes that the kra of
30. Ibn ‘Ir al-Marrkuš (died around 711/1312). Al-Bayn al-murib, ed. (Arabic) Evariste Lévi-Provençal. Ibn ‘Ir al-Marrkuš. Al-Bayn Al-Mugrib. Tome Troisième. Histoire de l’Espagne Musulmane au XIème. siècle. Texte arabe publié par the première fois d’après un manuscrit de Fès. París: Librairie Orientaliste Paul
Geuthner, 1930: II, 73, and also in the anonymous ikr bild al-Andalus (s. VIII/XIV), arab ed. spanish
trans. study Luis Molina. Una descripción anónima de al-Andalus. Madrid: C.S.I.C., 1983: chap. 109.
31. Ibn ayyn. Kitb al-muqtabis, V, Arab crit. ed. Pedro Chalmeta; Federico Corriente; Mamud ub.
Ibn ayyn. Al-Muqtabas V. Madrid: Instituto Hispano-Árabe de Cultura-Facultad de Letras, 1979: 259260; Ibn ayyn. Kitb al-muqtabis, V, ed. and spanish trans. María Jesús Viguera, Federico Corriente.
Crónica del califa ‘Abdarramn III an-Nir entre los años 912 y 942 (al-Muqtabis V). Saragossa: Anubar, 1981:
287 (epigraph “La sequía”).
32. “The same month the ib aš-šurta and zabazoque (master of the souk) Amad Ibn Nar, cadi of the kra of
Jaén, went out to examine the complaint by some inhabitants of the kra against their governor (‘mil), el‘rid ‘Abd
ar-Ramn Ibn Yawar”, and “At the end of umadà al-thani (the year 362/beginning of April 973) sent the caliph
al-akam al ib aš-šurta and zabazoque Amad Ibn Nar to the kra of Jaén, to inspect the quantities of wood,
fish and tar that the ‘mil of the kra, Muammad Ibn ‘Abd l-Mlik had demanded from the vassals of that place.
They had, effectively, received orders to supply specific quantities of the above-mentioned products and to transport
them to Seville and Algeciras for the fleets that were under construction; but now the Caliph decided to exonerate them
of this supply and include it in his private expenses, out of benevolence to his subjects and their comfort. The ‘mil
Muammad Ibn ‘Abd al-Mlik paid all the people of the villages the value of what they had supplied, in the presence
of Amad Ibn Nar. The repayment was perfect, and they were not defrauded out of even a whit”, Ibn ayyn. Kitb
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96
Jaén had to supply to the central government, being collected by the ‘mil of the
kra of Jaén. In the previous epigraph, Ibn ayyn talks about a serious drought and
frosts that affected Cordoba and “also some kras near Cordoba”, that had destroyed
their crops.33 In these circumstances due note was taken of this fact in the annals
of the Cordovan administration and payment of taxes by the local populace was
postponed. The levy of these by the governor of the kra was considered a great
injustice. In reparation, al-akam II applied pressure by sending a Cordovan official
to control the return of the payment of the supplies in kind unduly levied, with the
public treasury taking charge of this repayment.
When the Umayyad state disappeared with the Fitna, all the state institutions
vanished with it, some of which were inherited by the kings of the taifas that
arose from the 11th century. We have hardly any data about the institution of
the state granaries after the caliphate, although we might expect that, depending on the new taifa capitals, they continued centralising their important fiscal
task and fulfilling the above-mentioned economic improvement functions. Given
this, it must be supposed that the granaries mentioned in the Villena/Caudete/
Onteniente region fulfilled their function until the beginning of the 5th/11th century, and probably after they disappeared, although their toponymical imprint
still survives. And the same should be said about the rest of the caliphates’ state
granaries.
4. Two tales about the economy in Almanzor’s times: the reports
of Ibn awqal anb Al-Muqaddasi
I. The geographer Ab l-Qsim Muammad Ibn ‘Al Ibn awqal (d. after
378/988), was from Nabn/Nisibis (Upper Mesopotamia/al-azra), where he
spent his childhood and adolescence; between 331/943 and 362/973, he travelled
ceaselessly, undertaking innumerable journeys. It seems that Ibn awqal’s main
activity was as a trader, and it has been shown that that he professed to š‘ism,
which is why he has also been defined as a missionary-agitator.34 On his lengthy
wanderings, Ibn awqal travelled through the Maghreb and al-Andalus, telling
his tale in the first person: “I entered al-Andalus at the beginning of the year 337
[11th July –9th August 948], when it was ruled by Ab l-Muarrif ‘Abd ar-Ramn (III)
al-muqtabis f ta’rj ril al-Andalus: VII, ed Emilio García Gómez. El Califato de Córdoba…: 123 (chap. 88),
129-130 (chap. 90).
33. The drought followed by hail and frost that occurred in the months of March and April 973 and that
“also extended to some kras near Cordoba and destroyed a good number of vines, fig trees and other crops”, Ibn
ayyan. Kitb al-muqtabis f ta’rj ril al-Andalus: VII, ed Emilio García Gómez. El Califato de Córdoba…:
129 (chap. 89).
34. In A. Miquel’s opinion about the author’s political-religious options, the professions of fim faith
scattered through his work identify him as a sincere militant of this movement, although it is difficult to
affirm that he was a d‘, a Fim missionary EI2: III, 810-811.
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97
Ibn Muammad Ibn ‘Abd Allh Ibn Muammad Ibn ‘Abd ar-Ramn Ibn akam Ibn
Hišm Ibn ‘Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwn”35; ‘Abd ar-Ramn III proclaimed himself
caliph in 316/929, but is not described in this work by his title as caliph of anNir li-Dn Allh as might be expected, from which we might surmise that this is
coherent with the anti-Umayyad tone of the rest of his story. We know that from
Cádiz he travelled to Seville and around the western regions of the Baetic ranges,
moving up through current-day Portugal and Extremadura, visiting Toledo and
the peninsula’s central meseta; he also went to Cordoba.
Ibn awqal returned to the peninsula for a second time in 363-4/974-5. His
work was written in about 367/977 (at least the first version) a year before Almanzor’s rise to the iba, which is why the economic data that he wanted to
reflect about al-Andalus is important. Although it cannot be used for dating his
work, he states that Almanzor “is the current zabazoque (master) of al-Andalus”.
Given the large amount and the kind of information that he transmits, but
especially on account of the way in which he relates his news about al-Andalus,
there is an almost general consensus, following R. Dozy, that Ibn awqal must
have been a spy dedicated to gathering information on his long trade journeys,
which he then placed at the service of the Maghrebin Fimds or the Š‘s in the
east. Ibn awqal appears to have been interested in supplying a full and accurate account of the economic and natural resources of al-Andalus and its natural
wealth; he also describes the situation and state of the tracks and routes, as well
as the state of its armies and their military power. When turning to commerce, he
shows an interest in the prices, productions, and economic activity in general.
As can be seen, the data is more generic than exact, and if he wished to gather
information about al-Andalus to offer to the Fims, it was more to persuade
them about the general good and the global economic bonanza in the peninsula,
than to provide them with precise data of places, routes or production, that they
would undoubtedly know about from other more prolific and exact informers or
traders.
II. For his part, Ab ‘Abd Allh Muammad Ibn Amad Ibn Ab Bakr al-Bann’
aš-Šam al-Muqaddas (or al-Maqdis), (around 334/946-around 390/1000) in his
Asan at-taq-sm f ma‘rifat al-aqlm also shared the postulates of the “al-Balḫ
school”.
35. Ibn awqal (d. after. 378/988), Arab ed. Johannes Hendrik Kramers. Opvs Geographicvm auctore Ibn
awkal
Ibn awkal
Secundum textum et imagenes Codicis Constantinopolitani conservati
. (Ab l-Ksim
.
.
. al-Nasb).
in Bibliotheca antiqui Palatii nº. 3346 cui titulus est “Liber Imaginis Terrae”. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1938: I, 108-117,
French trans. Johannes Hendrik Kramers: Wiet, Gaston. Ibn awqal. Configuration de la Terre (Kitb Srat
al-Ard).
. Paris-Beirut: Maissonneuve et Larose-Comission International pour la Traduction des ChefsOeuvre, 1964: I, 107-116. ‘Abd ar-Ramn III’s rule stretched form 300/912 to 350/961: first as an independent emir between 300-316/912-929, and as the first caliph of al-Andalus between 316-350/929961; the reasons for him assuming the title of caliph can be seen in Epalza, Míkel de. “Problemas y
reflexiones sobre el califato en Al-Andalus”. Revista del Instituto Egipcio de Estudios Islámicos en Madrid, 18
(1981-1982)(Homenaje al Profesor Abdelaziz Al-Ahwn. Madrid: Instituto Egipcio de Estudios Islámicos,
1982): 59-73; Epalza, Míkel de. “Problemas y reflexiones sobre el califato en Al-Andalus”. Anuario de
Historia del Derecho Español, 53 (1983): 569-581.
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Anglès.indd 98
Graph 1. Tabulated data concerning the economy of al-Andalus, according
to the “report” drawn up by Ibn awqal in 367/977
Region or place
mentioned
Agriculture
Livestock
Crafts
Mining
Cordoba Casa de
la Moneda
All the cities
(of al-Andalus)
Al-Andalus
Commerce
Other data
Rent rises annually to 200,000 dinars,
to which one must add contributions
and incomes from all al-Andalus, taxes
on goods, tithes, rents, tolls, poll taxes,
customs duties on the merchandise that
enters and leaves by boat, rights on the
taverns in the urban markets.
They are metropolises, populous, full of resources
It continues to
have factories of
irz
Its products are exported to Egypt, Khorasan, and other places
Slaves, captured in Ifran and illqiya.
All the aqliba eunuchs that are found
on the face of the earth are from al-Andalus. They are castrated by Jewish merchants.
The total income until the year 340/951
was no less than 20,000,000 dinars, without counting the merchandise, jewels,
ships’ rigging and pieces of gold work.
Mercury,
iron and
lead
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Anglès.indd 99
Al-Andalus
The fruit of
average quality
is affordable for
anyone, without
having to pay
very dearly for
them
Wool fabrics (a-f), the most beautiful Armenian velvet that is sold very
expensively. Tapestries of excellent quality. There are brocades that are
exported. There are marvels with regard to dyes, obtained from grasses
native to al-Andalus; Maghrebin felts are dyed, excellent and expensive,
and silk. Brocades are exported. Aducar in fine or crude silk (sakb) is
produced, that made up for the sovereign, exceed in quality that of Iraq;
another variety is made waxed, to make it impermeable. Ordinary linen
is made for dressing and it is exported in large quantities to Egypt. Felts
of unequalled quality.
All the cities: They are famous for their cereals, commercial articles, vines, buildings, markets, shops (al –buy‘),
baths, and public inn, granary and wholesale market (al-ḫnt). All the prayers take place in their beautiful
mosques. There are no run-down mosques in all al-Andalus.
There is no city that is not well populated and surrounded by a vast agricultural district (rustq), or rather a
whole province (kra), with numerous villages (iy‘) whose farmers are prosperous, own major and minor
livestock, good agricultural implements, beasts of burden and fields.
Its lands are well watered, by the rain or by channels
Pechina
Rayyuh (Malaga)
Cordoba
For the people and the court linen cloth is made (that is) not inferior to
the dabq, it is thick but light, of great quality. The blankets made there
are exported to Egypt, Mecca, Yemen and other places.
A vast and fertile
region.
There are great fortunes. The luxury of many fashions is appreciated: precious fabrics and
dresses, in flexible linen, in course or fine silk. There are agile mounts and all kinds of food
and drinks
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Majorca
Abundance of
fruit trees. Large
number of pastures.
Seville
Many orchards
and vineyards.
Producing especially figs
Robust mules
are the speciality of this land;
the breeding of
the mules has
no equal anywhere.Livestock at a low
price.
Gibraleón
Flourishing city
Ocsonoba
Considerable city and abundant in resources
Caracuel
Aljama major mosque, markets, baths
and fandiq (public inns, granarys and
wholesale markets)
Calatrava
Beside a river
that its inhabitants use for irrigation
There are
(matir)
Yébenes
(Abaniš)
With a spring
that
provides
drinking water
It has a funduq (public inn, granary and
wholesale market)
Magán
(Mam)
This is where the
clay (afl) deposits of al-Andalus
are located.
souks,
baths
and
shops
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Al-arr’
City with souks and
neighbourhoods.
Similar to Guadix
Guadalajara
Large, well-known frontier city (ar)
that has souks, fandiq, baths, a kim
and an espionage officer (muḫallif).
The commanders of the frontier live
there (wult a-ur).
Medinaceli
It has a vast rural
district (rustq)
and a large administrative circumscription
(iqlm).
Region very
rich in livestock.
It has an enormous
wall.
It is prosperous in
all the senses and
has a great abundance of resources
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102
In it he filled in those elements that his predecessors had omitted, compiling
data on economic geography about mines, languages and races, customs, religions
and sects, weights, measures and prices, territorial divisions, itineraries and distances, etc. Although he admitted not having travelled to al-Andalus in person,
he stated that he had consulted numerous Andalusian informers about its conditions, and although its date is not known, as it is somewhat later than that of Ibn
awqal, it seems likely that it is fully contemporary with the government of Ibn
Ab ‘Amir.36
As can be seen at first sight, this work is more systematic with regard to the
presentation of the data about al-Andalus (though perhaps not for other regions)
and, in contrast to the relation of Ibn awqal, it offers abundant data about each
city: situation, construction, fortification, quality of life, economic data linked to
this concept, etc. It describes a considerable number of places and provides more
economic data than its predecessor in the school but, despite this, it is complicated
to extrapolate data or extract more conclusions than the merely descriptive from
what is mentioned.
36. AL-Muqaddas (ha. 334-after 378/ha. 946-after 988): arab ed. Michael Jan de Goeje. Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum. Pars Tertia. Descriptio Imperii Moslemici auctore Al-Mokaddasi. Lugduni-Batavorum:
E. J. Brill, 1870: 7-499. A full English trans.: Collins, Basil Anthony; Hamid al-Tai, Muhammad. The Best
Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions. A Translation of Asan at-taqsm f ma‘rifat al-aqlm. Reading: Centre for Muslim Contribution to Civilization-Garnet Publishing Limited, 1994: I-XXVIII + 1-460. Chapter
about the province of the Maghreb, that includes al-Andalus: 215-245 (Arab edition), 198-222 (English
Translation).
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Anglès.indd 103
Graph 2. Data concerning the economy of al-Andalus, according to the “report” by al-Muqaddas (ca. 1000)
Region or
place cited
Agriculture
Livestock
Crafts
Mining
Commerce
Others
Capital (mir) of al-Andalus. City on a
plain with a mountain above it, it has
a medina and neighbourhoods. It has
various markets. It is an important metropolis, amiable and attractive, in which
you will find justice, science, political
sense, mildness, prosperity and religion
Cordoba
Arjona
It has no orchards or trees,
but it is a territory of grains.
Its people drink water from
springs, but their crops are
only watered by the rain.
Qasalla
There is an abundance
of trees, olives and vines.
Its people their orchards
with water wheels.
It is on a vast plain
Jódar
Abundance of olives. They
drink water from springs
Situated on a plain
Martos
It only has vineyards.
There are springs
It is mountainous
Qanbnuš
Most of its farms are in an
area known as Campania.
They drink water from wells
On a plain
(Campania)
08/06/2009 8:26:11
Anglès.indd 104
Fa ibn
Laq
There are quite a lot of
crops.Water from wells.
On a plain
Bal
Marwn
It has some crops. There
is a permanent stream.
On a plain
Buryna
It has crops. It obtains
drinking water from wells
Situated on a plain.
With souks in its
neighbourhoods
in
There are olive and fruit
trees and springs in
abundance. The drinking
water flows from a
spring and some wells
A-anda
There are vineyards,
farmlands, figs and
grapes in abundance. The
drinking water comes
from springs and wells
It is in the
mountains
Wd ‘abd
Allh
It has crops, creeks
and some fruit trees
On a plain
Qarss
Rich in figs, grapes and
olives. The drinking water comes from springs
On a plain
Jaén (its
district is
called awlaba
(awliya =ulia)
It has a certain number
of springs (later he states
that there are 20). It produces fruit in abundance.
The city is situated
in the mountains
Bulkna
08/06/2009 8:26:11
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Al-afr,
district of Jaén
The zone of al-afr has
creeks and mills, with many
trees, fruit, olives and grapes
It is located in the
mountains. The
zone is in a wd in
which a great variety of fruit have
been concentrated
Priego
There are valleys where
the springs bubble strongly
and turn the mills.
There is an abundance of
blackberries, olives and figs
In the mountains
Martos
(sic.)
Its inhabitants obtain
drinking water from springs.
It has an abundance of fig
and olive trees and vines
It is a city in the
mountains
[La]Qnt
There are no orchards.
Located on a
plain. The climate is healthy
Granada
It is an al-munya/fertile
plain 30 miles long.
It has all kinds of excellent
fruit. It has many fields
It is beside a
river. The city is
on the plain
Mentesa
There are many olive
and fig trees
Next to a river.
On a plain
Baeza
Drinking water from springs.
Abundance of fig
trees and vines
On a mountain
Tudela
There is an
abundance
of sables
Its fur is
used for
scabbards
08/06/2009 8:26:11
106
Appendix i
ibn ayyn provides information about the adaqa or canonical tax on livestock,
crops, gold and silver, gathered from a note by ar-Rz. In Raman of 362/June 973
(eight years before Almanzor took on the iba, in 981-371) the caliph al-akam
II saw off some of his Berber allies who wanted to go back to their lands in the
Maghreb. Together with splendid gifts, he gave them a diploma —that was really a
kind of “constitution”— which included a series of basic religious, fiscal, social and
political norms. This document contains the specific guidelines to follow about the
aspects mentioned, both inside the community, and with regard to relations with
their Š‘i neighbours.
Included in full by ar-Rz and copied by Ibn ayyn, this document was dedicate
to the most notable of all them, Ab l-‘Ayš Ibn Ayyb
“this diploma that conferred on him the legitimate authority over its people the
tribes of Kutma”, moreover “on this day, on which they were given permission to
leave, all the Berber chiefs (...) to whom the control over the tribes in their jurisdiction was granted, were presented with the diplomas that accredited them, written according to the text in which it was conceded to the chief among them, Ab
l-‘Ayš Ibn Ayyb”. There are many and varied sections in this set of rules which
were imposed by al-akam II, which refer to the various legal taxes, mentioning
grain, livestock, gold and silver, etc.
“The zakaat (adaqa) must be taken from your subjects corresponding to the goods harvested,
as well as that of the fruits that are on your land, and the adaqa or legal alms on livestock,
in accordance with the legal precepts and prescriptions, without reducing or increasing nor
altering in any way the precepts, which are the following:
The zakaat on gold and silver (...)
The zakaat on camels (...)
For minor livestock, from forty head (given that below this number there is no zakaat) and
up to one hundred and twenty, the zakaat will be one head of livestock.
From one hundred and twenty to two hundred, it will be two head, and from two hundred to
three hundred, three. Over three hundred, the zakaat will be a head for each hundred.
For cattle, from thirty head (given that below this number there is no zakaat) and up to forty,
the zakaat is a two-year-old bullock (tab‘). When the number of animals reaches forty, the
zakaat is a three-year-old cow (musinna). From forty upwards, the zakaat is a two-year-old
bullock for each additional fraction of thirty, or a three-year-old cow for each additional
fraction of forty.
What is separate must not be joined and what is joined must not be separated to avoid the
adaqa.
Thus, if three men together have one hundred and twenty sheep, forty for each, they must
pay only one sheep, and not three as would be required separately; and if two men have together two hundred and one sheep, they must pay three (seeing that, if the collector separated
them, they would not have to pay more than one sheep each).
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107
The payment of the adaqa must be taken from the livestock that has shed its first teeth or
that is a little younger; but it must not be taken from that which is breeding —or that has
already given birth—, nor from that which is being fattened for meat, nor the stud of the
livestock.
[here follows the text about the zakaat on agricultural products, shown above]
The zakaat is not applicable to the imm taxpayer, either men or women, nor to any of their
goods or livestock. They are only obliged to pay the capitation tax or izya. However, if they
trade between one country and another, they must pay a tenth part of the product they sell.
The bearer of this writ must act with justice to levy the zakaat and to distribute it among the
eight categories of people designated by God Almighty, or in the case that they do not all exist
in the country, of the parts that correspond to those that have a right to them, that is, those
who wage holy war on the infidels and heretics, according to the decision by the Cadis of the
prince of the believers that operated in the Maghreb.
Only an eighth of the zakaat which God conceded to those who levy it, can be appropriated,
without increasing or exceeding this quantity.
Nowhere on the land entrusted to you may any customs posts be built, that charge any toll
to passengers and travellers, and they must not demand from them, either by land, or by
sea, any tribute, alcabala (sales tax), contribution, food tax, nor extortion or expense that is
weighed on their goods (… …)”.37
Various aspects from this text have to be considered. In first place, we can suppose that this norm that was imposed on the allied Maghrebins was the same as
applied in al-Andalus, as it is very generic and in accordance with what is stipulated in the general treatises on Islamic administrative economy, and moreover, the
Maghrebins would have protested if their zakaat had been higher than that of the
Andalusians. Only the camel tax should be excluded, for these were nonexistent on
the Peninsula (at least in the numbers of head described).
These legal taxes were based on a charge for agricultural production, as well as
on the possession of gold and silver, and livestock. In the latter case, it first specifies
in detail the one corresponding to camels, given that the document was aimed at
the Maghrebin Berbers. Further, the taxes on minor and major livestock are specified; in the minor case (sheep and goats) payment began at 40 head, and for up to
120 head the required payment was one head; in the case of cattle, there was an
exemption up to 30 head, and between 30 and 40 the payment was a bullock. These
tax bands were important, given that, in the case of the zakaats being considered
equal, we must conclude that there was great wealth in livestock in al-Andalus.
That means that that in the 9th/10th centuries, the small domestic flocks were free
from the payment of such taxes, while must consider the possibility that whoever
37. Ibn ayyn. Kitb al-muqtabis f ta’rj ril al-Andalus: VII, ed Emilio García Gómez. El Califato de Córdoba…: 143-145 (chap. 112).
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had a flock or herd would have a minimum of 40 sheep or goats or 30 cattle and
that it would be normal to exceed this figure.
A curious point are the amendments on tax gathering which were soon made
in an attempt to evade fiscal avarice. As the norm was to gather the flocks together
and employ a shepherd to look after them, this was always the most favourable option for the owners when it came to paying tax. Similarly, it is notable that Muslim
legal tax tended not to be levied on the imms, unless they traded with Muslims
(in which case they also had to pay the tithe); and the indication of the eighth that
would be kept by the collector of such taxes needs to be considered.
It is prohibited to ask your subjects or travellers “either by land, or by sea, for tribute,
alcabala, contribution, food tax, nor extortion or expense over their goods”, which makes
sense, given that the cited taxes were illegal, and this was an official document.
On the other hand, we know that in al-Andalus these illicit fees (being outside the
sunna) existed during the caliphate, were normal during the period of the taifas,
and there are even some specific examples of their presence from the Almohad and
Narid periods. The express prohibition of the building of a “customs post that charged
passengers and travellers a toll” must be understood in the same sense, from which it
could be concluded that during the caliphate period there were no such fiefdoms or
internal tolls (at least legally authorised ones) in al-Andalus, but Ibn awqal’s text
implies the opposite (see above).
Finally, among the various conclusions that can be drawn, there is one that relates to the albacares (exterior enclosures annexed at walls) of the fortifications, as
places where the local troops would guard the livestock collected as adaqa, until
their subsequent sale (and conversion into cash), or consumption.38 It follows that,
if the tax to be paid is clear and we know that the grain was stored in the alorines
state granaries, this livestock would also have to be stabled, even if only for a short
period, in some ad hoc enclosure.
Appendix ii
firm conclusions still cannot be drawn from the study of the economy of alAndalus. The three maps included, illustrating the peninsula’s productive economy
between the 11th and 13th centuries, are a graphic summary and synthesis of the
data.39
Despite showing its age, the work by César Emilio Dubler “Sobre la vida economica
en la Península Ibérica del siglo XI al XIII. Contribución a las relaciones islamo-cristianas”
38. See the explanation by Epalza, Míkel de. “Funciones ganaderas de los albacares, en las fortalezas
musulmanas”. Sharq Al-Andalus. Estudios Árabes, 1 (1984): 47-54.
39. Dubler, César E. Über das Wirtschaftsleben auf der iberischen Halbinsel vom XI. zum XIII. Jahrhundert. Beitrag zu den islamisch-chistlichen Beziehungen. Ginebra-Erlenbach-Zürich: Librairie E. Droz-Eugen Rentsch
Verlag, 1943: 1-XIV + 1-186 pp. See the details about this work that García Gómez, Emilio added in the
review he wrote in Al-Andalus, 10 (1945): 472-474.
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109
was the first in-depth, detailed and extensive study of the Andalusian economy.
Concentrating on the 11th to 13th centuries, he painted a panorama of the Andalusian productions and crafts based on the oriental geographers, but especially on the
data from al-Idrs and al-imyar, also using the Arab toponymy profusely,40 as well
as the data supplied by contemporary Christian sources.
These three maps have been translated from German, and are included here,
although doing so might be problematic, because they are a useful way of approaching
the distribution of Andalusian production.
40. Despite the novelty of using the Arab toponymy as a vehicle for historical information, it must be
mentioned that Dubler assumes the postulations by Miguel Asín, with nothing other than a mere enunciation of toponymy and meanings, and without further semantic or morphological criticism.
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Anglès.indd 110
Location of non-metallic materials production in the iberian peninsula
Arab
sources
Calamine
(Zinc)
al-khul
Sulfur
Alum and vitriol
Gypsum
Lapis lazuli
Ochre
Special clays
Salt and salt mine
production
Marble quarry
Gemstones
Amber
Christian Toponyms
sources
08/06/2009 8:26:21
Anglès.indd 111
Craft productions in the Iberian Peninsula (XIth-XIIIth centuries)
Glass
Pottery
Toponyms with pottery
Cotton
Flax, hemp
Cotton
Wool
Textile crafts
Ropeworkers crafts (filters, ropes, nets)
Dyes: dry cleaners
Wood: production and crafts
Comercial harbour anchorage yards
Fishing
Leather: production and goods
Paper productions
Oil production limit
08/06/2009 8:26:27
Anglès.indd 112
Location of metal and mineral production in the Iberian Peninsula
Arab
sources
Gold
Raw materials
Alluvial gold
Silver
Copper
Lead
Tim
Iron
Magnetita
Marcasite
Mercury
Archeological remains
of the mining industry
Toponyms
al-ma'din
as-sama
az-za'uq
Christian
sources
08/06/2009 8:26:34
LOYALTY, FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE
IN THE LETTERS OF FULBERT OF CHARTRES
Analie Germain
Université de Provence-Aix-Marseille
France
Date of reception: 25th of April, 2007
Abstract
In letter 51 of his correspondence, Fulbert of Chartres offers a definition of fidelitas which has long been used by historians to describe feudal-vassalic relations. In
all of his correspondence, Fulbert expresses this social bond by using an elaborate
vocabulary of friendship and emotions. He thus qualifies social relations described
as an element of vassalage and loyalty and gives them a moral content. He defines
amicitia, particularly for the attention of William of Aquitaine, by emphasising its
“useful” aspect and stressing its objective, honestum or the common good, terms that
have already been found in his 51st letter to define fidelitas. Friendship is therefore
a natural corollary of the relationships of loyalty within the clergy or in the secular world. In the same way relationships of loyalty are coupled with the use of the
vocabulary of affectus, which conveys the ideals of peace and the common good,
heralded by the Bishop of Chartres in feudal society at the beginning of the 11th
century.
Key Words
Fulbert de Chartres, Faithfulness, Friendship, Peace, Love.
Capitalia verba
Fulbertus Carnutinus, Fidelitas, Amicitia, Pax, Caritas.
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Analie Germain
The letters of Fulbert, bishop of Chartres between about 1006 and 1028, are a
fundamental source of knowledge about the organisation of feudal society. Indeed,
this bishop, appointed by King Robert the Pious, following his position as scolaster
of Chartres and reputed for his erudition and piety, left 131 letters which are concerned with particular problems of a legal, ecclesiastical and religious nature. These
letters show how the bishop forged a network of relationships among the great and
the good of society at the start of the 11th century: he corresponded, for example,
with Robert the Pious, Fulk Nerra Count of Anjou, William, Duke of Aquitaine
or Eudes II Count of Blois and Chartres, but also with churchmen such as Odilo
of Cluny or Abbo of Fleury. This source is an invitation to examine the society of
power around the year 1000 and covers the notion of feudality.1
Indeed, Fulbert of Chartres, in his famous letter 512 of his correspondence, offered a definition of fidelitas, in which many historians have seen the definition of
feudal-vassalic relationships for the attention of William, Duke of Aquitaine3. Indeed, it seems that the Bishop of Chartres plays on both meanings of the word fidelitas, which represents the feudal-vassalic relationship in its entirety as well as sworn
loyalty4. Thus he defines the relationship of loyalty, which forms part of the vassalic
ritual but includes other types of relationship, through the concepts of securitas, consilium and auxilium. In this way his letter can act as a basis for establishing the rules
of vassalage like those for any type of loyalty. Fulbert emphasises the moral aspect
of this man-to-man relationship, which must follow the established rules and which
1. This article has been developed out of a communication presented on 21st May 2005 in Aix-enProvence, as part of the Doctoral Meetings organised conjointly by SICMA (Sociétés, Idéologies, Croyances
au Moyen Age) laboratories of the University of Provence and CHREMMO (Centre Historique de Recherches
Médiévales sur la Méditerranée Occidentale) of the University of Montpellier III-Paul Valery. It makes up part
of a thesis at the University of Provence under the supervision of Mrs. H. Taviani-Carozzi. I am grateful
to those who participated in the Doctoral Meetings for their advice and support. I am grateful to Mrs. H.
Taviani-Carozzi for rereading it.
2. The numbering and the text of the letters used in this article refer to The letters and poems of Fulbert of
Chartres, ed. Frederik Behrends. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976. The translation of the letters is
personal.
3. This letter is particularly used in the following reference works: Bloch, Marc. La société féodale. Paris:
Albin-Michel, 1994 (first edition, Paris: Albin Michel, 1940); Ganshof, François-Louis. Qu’est-ce que la
féodalité ? Paris: Tallandier, 1982 (first edition, Bruxelles: impr. de l’Office de Publicité, 1944); Boutruche,
Robert. Seigneurie et Féodalité. I. Le premier âge des liens d’homme à homme. Paris: Aubier, 1968; Bournazel,
Eric; Poly, Jean-Pierre. La mutation féodale Xe-XIIe siècles. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1991.
4. The Latin text of this letter, following the edition The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 90-92:
Glorioso duci Aquitanorum W(illelmo) F(ulbertus) episcopus oracionis suffragium.
De forma fidelitatis aliquid scribere monitus, haec vobis quae secuntur breviter ex librorum auctoritate notavi. Qui domino suo fidelitatem iurat, ista sex in memoria semper habere debet: incolume, tutum, honestum,
utile, facile, possibile. Incolume videlicet, ne sit in dampnum domino de corpore suo. Tutum, ne sit ei in
dampnum de secreto suo vel de municionibus per quas tutus esse potest. Honestum, ne sit ei in dampnum de
sua iustitia vel de aliis causis quae ad honestatem eius pertinere videntur. Utile, ne sit ei in dampnum de suis
possessionibus. Facile vel possibile, ne id bonum quod dominus suus leviter facere poterat faciat ei difficile,
neve id quod possibile erat, reddat ei impossibile. Ut fidelis haec nocumenta caveat iustum est, sed non ideo
casamentum meretur. Non enim sufficit abstinere a malo, nisi fiat quod bonum est. Restat ergo ut in eisdem
sex supradictis consilium et auxilium domino suo fideliter prestet, si beneficio dignus videri vult, et salvus esse
de fidelitate quam iuravit. Dominus quoque fideli suo in his omnibus vicem reddere debet (…).
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115
aims at achieving bonum, utile and honestum, in other words the common good and
the sovereign good of feudal society5. For the Bishop of Chartres, this relationship is
essential to society in his time: it enables the moralisation and hierarchisation of the
secular world as well as the clerical, in order to promote peace and justice.
In the 131 letters that make up his correspondence, this notion of fidelitas and the
lexical field associated with it frequently recur and are often connected to two other
lexical fields, those of friendship and of love. How then is this association between
the two vocabularies, one of social relationships and one of emotions, understood?
And what are the words and the concepts that can prove the connection between
the two? Does Fulbert of Chartres attempt to apply another cultural and moral
model to the relationship of loyalty and if so, with what aim? It is sensible to consider in which contexts, in which circumstances and according to what needs the
specific vocabulary of fidelitas is enriched with other notions like those of “friendship” and “love”.
1. Loyalty and friendship in the letters of Fulbert of Chartres
In the letters of Fulbert that contain the lexical field of loyalty, another lexical field is sometimes found, namely that of amicitia. This concept was inherited
from Greek and Roman Antiquity6. Cicero, in his treatise De Amicitia, passed on the
conceptions of Antiquity of this social relationship to the men of the Middle Ages.
In Rome, amicitia was embodied by two types of relationships: a noble relationship between highborn political men who shared the same education and values,
in particular the quest for virtue, and another, more common relationship, which
subordinates the client to his superior. The term amicitia was employed to represent
this relationship, despite the inequality between the two partners. From the earliest
centuries of this era, the Christian authors revisited this Greek and Roman heritage and adapted it to their beliefs and their communal way of life. The theme of
caritas, Christian love which is a gift from God and which must nourish the clergy,
subsequently appeared and was preferred to the Roman notion of amicitia within
monastic communities from the end of Antiquity and the early Middle Ages7. The
Greco-Roman heritage however survived, revisited and adapted by the Church Fathers, such as Saint Augustine or Ambrose of Milan, who passed it on to the literate
5. For a thorough analysis of this letter and in particular its rhetorical aspect and moral content, see the
following studies: Becker, Alfons. “Form und Materie. Bemerkungen zu Fulberts von Chartres De forma
fidelitatis im Lehnrecht des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit”. Historisches Jahrbuch, 102 (1982): 325361; Adalbéron de Laon. Poème au roi Robert, ed. and trans. Claude Carozzi. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1979.
See the introduction for clarification of letter 51 by Fulbert of Chartres.
6. The following work offers a detailed panorama of the notion of friendship in Antiquity and its evolution: Konstan, David. Friendship in the classical world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
7. Brian P. McGuire offers an analysis of this evolution: McGuire, Brian P. Friendship and community: the
monastic experience, 350-1250. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1988.
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Analie Germain
men of the Middle Ages. Gerbert of Rheims and Fulbert of Chartres in particular
turned amicitia into a lofty ideal of virtue and affection shared between two men, as
well as a social relationship that was useful to both parties. They thereby returned
to the notion of utile, from utilitas developed by Cicero in many of his works,8 which
Fulbert employs to define fidelitas in his letter 51. It seems therefore that these two
social relations, amicitia and fidelitas, are adorned with the same moral connotations
by the Bishop of Chartres. Taking as a starting point the study of vocabulary of amicitia associated with words and expressions which convey loyalty, this discussion intends to analyse the particular relation that linked Fulbert to William of Aquitaine,
because it gives rise to the use of two lexical fields.
2. Amicitia in the lexical field of loyalty
This notion of amicitia is evident in Fulbert’s letters through words of the same
family and words which are closely linked. If we take the lexical field of amicitia in
the letters which already contain the lexical field of fidelitas9, we notice first of all
the rarity and poverty of this lexical field in comparison with that of loyalty. The
words are particularly significant in relation to appearing in the text. The most common word, amicus, only appears seven times in the correspondence, while the term
fidelitas10 appears 16 times and the term fidelis11, 22 times. In letter 26, the bishop of
Chartres denies being a friend of Léothier, Archbishop of Sens. In letters 105, 114
and 117, Hildegar, Fulbert’s secretary, brings him news of his “friend” William of
Aquitaine12. Fulbert uses this term amicus again in letter 119 referring directly to
William. Similarly, the superlative amicissimus was used by Hildegar to qualify William’s attitude towards Fulbert in letter 109. The term amicitia is also rare: it is found
in letter 1 addressed by Fulbert to Abbo de Fleury and is above all used to characterize the relationship between the bishop of Chartres and William of Aquitaine.
Certain terms are closely associated with the concept of amicitia: Hildegar wrote to
8. In particular, see his De Officiis (Cicero, Marco Tulio. De Officcis, éd. Walter Miller. Cambridge [Mass.]
-London: Harvard University Press-William Heinemann, 1975) and his De Amicitia (Cicero, Marco Tulio.
De amicitia, ed. Valentín García Yebra. Madrid: Gredos, 1987).
9. The lexical field of the fidelitas is very rich in the letters of Fulbert de Chartres. The following words
and expressions can be pointed out: fidelitas, fidelis, fidus, fideliter, subditus, satelles, dominus, casatus, miles,
auxilium, consilium, securitas, casamentum, beneficium, honor, dignitas …
10. The word was picked out in the following letters: The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 2 (letter 1,
2 twice), 10 (letter 2), 12 (letters 3, 4), 20 (letter 9, 2 twice), 148 (letter 82), 164 (letter 92), 172 (letter 95),
178 (letter 99), 204 (letter 114), 208 (letter 115), 214 (letter 120), 218 (letter 122), 228 (letter 127).
11. The word was picked out in the following letters: The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 12 (letter
3), 14 (letter 5), 16 (letter 6), 20 (letter 9), 50 (letter 27, twice), 58 (letter 31), 74 (letter 42), 98 (letter 56),
106 (letter 62), 108 (letter 64), 138 (letter 78), 150 (letter 83), 172 (letter 95), 182 (letter 100), 204 (letter
114), 206 (letter 115), 212/214 (letter 119, twice), 218 (letter 122), 224 (letter 125), 226 (letter 126).
12. Hildegar, previously chancellor and secretary to the Bishop of Chartres, was, from 1022, his representative in Poitiers, capital city of William of Aquitaine, where Fulbert was in charge of the treasurer
of Saint-Hilaire.
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Fulbert that he “can observe the goodness, familiarity, friendship and patience of
his friend William (Duke of Aquitaine) towards him”13. Fulbert wrote to the Duke
of Aquitaine that he “felt his benevolence, which to him was more gentle in affection and actually more useful than the benevolence of all of his friends”14. The notion of utilitas is found in the greeting of letter 107, that Fulbert sent to William of
Aquitaine and in which he wished him “usefulness and honesty” or “the common
good and the sovereign good”15. These ideas, associated with the term amicitia, allow
a more precise definition of this relationship: it was a question of a social bond in
which affectus and utilitas, far from conflicting, complement each other. The idea of
utilitas, which Fulbert had already used to define loyalty, is also used to characterize amicitia. We furthermore notice that the idea of amicitia was particularly used
among educated men since Hildegar, Fulbert and William of Aquitaine were men
of letters16 who knew enough about Cicero to remember the connection that he
had made between amicitia and utile in his works17. Integrated into the vocabulary
of friendship, the words fidelitas, dominus, consilium, beneficium, servulus, words which
belong to the lexical field of fidelitas, are also found.
At the end of this brief presentation of the context in which the vocabulary of
friendship associated with the lexical field of fidelitas is used, it is worth noting that
these vocabulary associations do not, after all, affect certain relationships of the Bishop
of Chartres. Fulbert’s correspondence with the Duke of Aquitaine or with Hildegar
on the subject of the Duke of Aquitaine focuses on the heart of these associations.
The relationship between the Bishop of Chartres and the Duke of Aquitaine will be
the subject of a separate study. But it is possible henceforth to attempt to analyse
the association of the two lexical fields in the letters exchanged between Fulbert
and Abbo de Fleury, Hildegar and Léothier of Sens. In 1004, Fulbert, not yet bishop,
but a simple clerk and possible secretary to Bishop Rodolphe of Chartres, wrote to
the famous Abbot Abbo de Fleury to ask for his aid against the new abbot of SaintPère de Chartres, installed by Count Eudes. Fulbert wrote to Abbo that he did not
know “what to give in return for the granting of his good friendship”, and then he
“responds to his friendship with eternal loyalty”18. We find a direct association in
this letter between fidelitas and amicitia, since the friendship offered by Abbo seems
13. amici tui Guillelmi deprehendere potes erga te benignitatem, familiaritatem, amititiam (sic), sustinentiam (The
letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 210 [letter 117]).
14. Vestram (…) benivolenciam expertus sum cunctis amicorum meorum benivolenciis affectu mihi dulciorem, effectu
quoque utiliorem (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 212 [letter 119]).
15. Clarissimo duci Aquitanorum G(uillelmo) F(ulbertus) humilis episcopus utile et honestum (The letters and poems
of Fulbert of Chartres…: 190 [letter 107]).
16. Fulbert and Hildegar are or were renowned scolasters. William is a lay prince reputed for his culture
and he does not hesitate to ask Fulbert for some books.
17. We find in letter 51 by Fulbert (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 90, 92) a long reference to
De Inventione by Cicero, in particular in the use of the words utile and honestum, which are central to Ciceronian thinking on virtue. This aspect has been studied by: Carozzi, Claude. « Introduction », Adalbéron
de Laon, Poème au roi Robert, ed. and trans. Claude Carozzi. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1979: I-XII.
18. quid rependam muneris santae amicitiae…et ac perennem fidelitatis habitum amicitiae tuae rependo (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 2 [letter 1]).
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Analie Germain
to require Fulbert’s loyalty in return. Moreover, they appear along with two notions
of other words from the same lexical field: friendship is conveyed by the benivolentia
of Abbo and Fulbert owes him “a student’s loyalty”19 towards his master (dominus).
Fulbert therefore introduced the word amicitia into the lexical field of fidelitas. Two
interpretations of this letter are possible. Fulbert may have associated these two
lexical fields with a simple rhetorical goal: it would mean convincing Abbo of his
friendship and loyalty with the exclusive aim of obtaining his help in a specific
affair. However, Fulbert undoubtedly truly sought the friendship of Abbo, this man
of letters whom he respected “as his student”. In this case, the use of the lexical field
of loyalty goes back to the master-disciple relationship that Fulbert knew well as he
was the scolaster of Chartres, and not a relationship of vassalage. The flexibility of the
relationship of loyalty is apparent here as it can include the relationship between a
scolaster and his students, which was certainly the case in Chartres between Fulbert
and his old followers, such as Hildegar. This relationship is thus accompanied by a
friendship sometimes born out of living with each other within the school, often
out of mutual respect among men of letters. The relationship between Fulbert
and Hildegar therefore offers another example of friendship, founded on fidelitas.
Hildegar was first of all a student of Fulbert, then scolaster of Chartres. He then
became one of the clerks in his entourage, then his secretary and Chancellor. He
shared his daily life and became part of his familiaritas. A double loyalty binds them,
the one that binds Hildegar to his old master within the cathedral school of Chartres
and the one that binds him to the bishop within the Chartrian clergy. The two
men never used the vocabulary of amicitia in their letters except to characterise the
relationship between Fulbert and William of Aquitaine. On the other hand, they
used a lavish vocabulary taken from the lexical field of loyalty: Hildegar frequently
described himself as fidelis in view of his dominus Fulbert, to whom he owed fidelitas20.
Along with these words, there are numerous emotional terms such as carissimus or
dilectissimus21 and set phrases which are indeed the topoi of amicitia, inherited from
Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. For example, Fulbert writes to Hildegar, “your
absence often reminds me of how much your presence was indispensable to me”22.
This old platitude of friendship had already been used by the Christian Fathers or
during the Carolingian renaissance23. It was therefore a relationship of friendship,
characterised by reciprocal affection and usefulness, since Fulbert granted Hildegar
19. fidelitas ut alumni (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 2 [letter 1]).
20. See for example the form of address in letter 114 and letter 115: The letters and poems of Fulbert of
Chartres…: 204, 206-207.
21. The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 188 (letter 105).
22. Absencia tua sepe commemoror quam necessarius eras presens (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…:
156 [letter 88]).
23. White, Caroline. “Friendship in absence – Some patristic views”, Friendship in medieval Europe, Julian
Haseldine, dir. Sutton: Stroud, 1999: 68-89; Goetz, Hans-Werner. “ ‘Beatus homo qui invenit amicum’.
The concept of friendship in early medieval letters of the Anglo-Saxon tradition on the continent (Boniface, Alcuin) “, Friendship in medieval Europe, Julian Haseldine dir. Sutton: Stroud, 1999: 124-136.
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important positions such as chancellor and scolaster at Chartres,24 while Hildegar
represented him in Poitiers and passed on crucial information to him. The use of
the vocabulary of loyalty bears witness to the fact that the friendship between these
two educated men did not erase the ecclesiastical hierarchy between the clerk
and the bishop, the social hierarchy between the master and the follower. We can
however ask ourselves why the vocabulary of friendship that the two men master
perfectly and use for other people, is not used in this relationship. This vocabulary
was indeed replaced by the fraternal or paternal vocabulary generally used in the
church: both men call each other “brother” or “father”. This lack of vocabulary of
friendship should not necessarily be interpreted as an absence of friendship, but
rather as the existence of another model of friendship, that of a spiritual friendship
based on caritas, the Christian love that the clergy were supposed to disseminate25.
The case of the letter written to Léothier of Sens is different: it is very possible that
Fulbert swore an oath of loyalty to Léothier, his archbishop, during his consecration
as Bishop of Chartres. Indeed, the Romano-Germanic Pontifical of the 10th century,
widely known and copied in the north of France, bears witness to the fact that the
ordinationes of bishops often contained an oath of obedience and loyalty to their
archbishops26. Thus, both men maintained within the church a relationship of
loyalty, which excluded homage, but drew at length on the lexical field of fidelitas.
Fulbert often used the notion of fidelitas, particularly in the forms of address of the
letters. He therefore promises Léothier “the service of his loyalty”27 or “the service
and the feeling of his loyalty”28. The terms fidelis and dominus are also present in
these letters. From letter 16 we learn that Léothier excommunicated an enemy
of Fulbert who went on to thank him for it. It seems that Léothier provided help,
auxilium, ecclesiastically speaking, to his suffragan bishop. Finally, in letter 26,
Fulbert reproaches Léothier for having consecrated the new Bishop of Orleans
“without his council”29. Therefore, in the letters from Fulbert to his archbishop,
we find a group of terms that belong to the lexical field of loyalty. The conflict
between the two prelates on the subject of the Bishop of Orleans gave Fulbert the
occasion to deny any friendship with Léothier, “with pleasure I will accept, father,
you calling me your friend, if you yourself act like a friend”30. Prior to this letter, we
24. scolarum ferulam et cancellarii tabulas tibi servo (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 194 [letter
108]).
25. Caritas, or Christian love, defines the idealised relationships between members of the regular or secular clergy. However, with Fulbert of Chartres, the use of caritas vocabulary becomes systematic between
clerks. To conclude that a friendship between two correspondents is real, the presence, along with this
vocabulary, of a whole emotional and friendship lexical field must therefore be established.
26. LXIII Ordinatio episcopi: Vis sanctae Mogontiensi aecclesiae, mihi et successoribus meis fidem et subiectionem
exhibere? Volo (Vogel, Cyrille; Elze, Reinhard. Le Pontifical Romano-Germanique du Xe siècle. Cité du Vatican:
Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, 1963: I, 202).
27. obsequium fidelitatis (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 12 (letter 3).
28. fidelitatis affectum et obsequium (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 12 [letter 4]).
29. sine meo consilio (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 48 [letter 26]).
30. Quod me, pater, amicum appellas gratanter annuerem, si te quoque exhiberes amicum (The letters and poems of
Fulbert of Chartres…: 48 [letter 26]).
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often find an emotional vocabulary in the missives from Fulbert to his archbishop,
which proves that their relationship of loyalty was coupled, before this event, with
a relationship of friendship. This rested on Fulbert’s oath of loyalty and involved
“help” and “council” between the two prelates. It brought together affectus or dilectio,
the feeling of love between them and utilitas, as much for the two prelates as for the
church as a whole. Lastly, this relationship did not abolish the hierarchy that existed
between the archbishop and the suffragan bishop. Moreover, it was this hierarchical
bond that the fidelitas lexical field expresses.
Fulbert of Chartres’ correspondence offers some examples of different social relationships, bringing together friendship and loyalty. The use of these two lexical
fields allows the relationships to be qualified differently each time and to value
only certain relationships of loyalty. It is noticeable that there were several models
of friendship, amicitia, between men of letters or caritas between clerks, but that, in
all of these models, loyalty was an essential component. Similarly there were many
types of loyalty, be they between the follower and the master or between the bishop
and his archbishop, which nourished different friendships. In addition, friendship
did not erase the social hierarchies at the start of the 11th century: admittedly it
made the two men equals in theory, by virtue of their culture and elevated position
in society. However, within this “élite” there was of course a hierarchy which is explained by the use of the words dominus, fidelis. This hierarchy of equality, within an
élite, is of course to be compared with the system of vassalage, in which J. Le Goff31
found the same phenomenon. Fulbert’s specific relationship with William of Aquitaine gave rise to a very liberal use of the two lexical fields of friendship and loyalty
and enables a more precise analysis of how this double social bond works.
3. Fulbert and William of Aquitaine
The relationship between the two men is complex and they themselves expressed
this in a number of ways. In the correspondence of the Bishop of Chartres, the first
image that we have of this relationship is that given in the letters that Hildegar sent
to Fulbert from Poitiers and which systematically mentioned his “friend the Count
William”32: Hildegar is Fulbert’s representative in Poitiers, in the post of treasurer of
31. See his analysis of the vassalic ritual in the following work: Le Goff, Jacques. “Pour un autre Moyen
Age, temps, travail et culture en occident: 18 essais », Un autre Moyen Age. Paris: Gallimard, 1999: 11-400.
Jacques Le Goff evokes the procedure of the vassalic ritual and its symbolic sense: homage and immixtio
manuum mean the submission of the vassal to his lord and therefore the hierarchy that exists in feudalvassalic relationships. On the other hand osculum exchanged by the two men at the end of the ritual
shows that they are equals, that they belong to one and the same élite.
32. amicus vester comes G(uillelmus) (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 190 [letter 105]);
G(uillelmus), comes amicus tuus (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 204 (letter 114). There are
comparable formulas in letters 109 and 117 (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 194 [letter 109],
210 [letter 117]).
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Saint-Hilaire. Indeed William of Aquitaine33 was, as Count of Poitiers, the secular
father of Saint-Hilaire and could appoint to the very lucrative post of treasurer of
Saint-Hilaire. In 1022, he appointed Fulbert of Chartres to this post, in the hope of
attracting this famous man of letters to Poitiers. But Fulbert was occupied with his
work in his diocese and sent Hildegar to represent him. The latter played the role
of intermediary between the prince and the prelate and bore witness to the attitude
of William towards the man who had awarded him this honor34, “you can observe
goodness, familiarity, friendship and patience in your friend William towards you”35.
Again we find all the vocabulary of amicitia in the letters of Hildegar, and this man of
letters seemed to take pleasure in defining this relationship between a prelate and a
great layman with the help of a vocabulary with Ciceronian overtones. The lexical
field of loyalty is barely used except for the word honor describing the post of treasurer of Saint-Hilaire. We therefore distinguish, in Hildegar’s letters, the coexistence
of two types of loyalty between William of Aquitaine and Fulbert of Chartres: the
honor that William entrusted to Fulbert includes fidelitas, maybe sworn, and servitia.
The plentiful vocabulary of friendship used by Hildegar indicates that both men also
maintain fidelitas which rests in a relationship of amicitia. These two relationships,
which we are examining separately in order to give a clear analysis, are not differentiated in the three men’s letters, who stressed one or another of them according
to their needs.
Fulbert’s correspondence conserved the letters exchanged by the two protagonists
of this social relationship, as well as a letter from Fulbert to Hildegar in which the
bishop defines his relationship with William. These missives bear witness to the
relationship of amicitia which existed between the two men. Indeed, in them we
find a plentiful vocabulary of amicitia and affectus: the adjectives carus-carissimus and
dilectus-dilectissimus were often used36. William sent Fulbert his “kindest regards”37
while Fulbert compared the count to his best friends38. The words bonitas, benevolentia
define the relationships between the two men and in particular William’s attitude
to Fulbert39. The bishop also rejoiced in the caritas40 and the affectus that William
showed him. Thus he wrote to the count that he wished to “revive the admirable
33. Richard, Alfred. Histoire des comtes de Poitou, tome I. 778-1204. Paris: Picard, 1903; Treffort, Cécile. “Le
comte de Poitiers, duc d’Aquitaine et l’Eglise aux alentours de l’an mil 970-1030”. Cahiers de civilisation
médiévale, 43 (2000): 395-445.
34. non amittes susceptum honorem si tenere volueris. (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 210 [letter
117]).
35. amici tui Guillelmi deprehendere potes erga te benignitatem, familiaritatem, amititiam, sustinentiam. (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 210 [letter 117]).
36. The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 164 (letter 92), 208 (letter 116).
37. caras amicicias. (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 208 [letter 116])
38. See note 13 above.
39. The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 212 (letter 119), 216 (letter 120).
40. vobis autem me licet immerentem gratuitis beneficiis accumulare mira caritatis abundancia placet. (The letters
and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 212 [letter 119]).
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gentleness of his affection towards him”41. Both men therefore seem to have had a
veritable affection for each other. Similarly, Fulbert presented himself as the faithful
servant of his lord, William. Sometimes it was William who called Fulbert dominus,
thus showing his respect for the bishop and the reputed man of letters that he
was. This vocabulary conveys the loyalty that they owed each other within their
friendship. Both men gave each other many presents. For example, Fulbert wrote to
William, “I accepted your free donations”42; he is talking about the “free benefits”43
that William gave to him. One could believe that Fulbert was talking about the
post of treasurer of Saint-Hilaire, but that would contradict the use of the terms
servitium, deservire associated with this position. It is therefore more likely that these
“free donations” refer to the alms, the offerings made by William to the church of
Chartres for its reconstruction after a fire that destroyed it in 1020. Fulbert alluded
to these offerings in letter 92 and wrote in letter 119 that they were use in the
“service” of Jesus and his mother Mary, in other words the service of the Cathedral,
Notre-Dame de Chartres44. In exchange Fulbert sent him a collection of texts on
King Salomon, a subject that interested the Duke45. In addition, Fulbert constituted
a point d’appui for William north of the Loire and a means of obtaining information
about the king or the Counts of Anjou46 and Blois and Chartres. This amicitia was
very useful in the practical sense of the term. We find, moreover, the notion of
utile in the definition of this relationship between the two men: Fulbert thanked
William for his benevolence which to him was “more useful indeed than that of all
his friends”47. He also greeted the duke by wishing him “usefulness and honesty”48.
Finally, Hildegar advised Fulbert to keep the post of treasurer of Saint-Hilaire for
as long as possible, even if he could not do so himself, “if he thinks that it will be
useful to him”49. The notion of utilitas is therefore at the heart of the relationship
between Fulbert and the Duke of Aquitaine. In the letter from Hildegar, it is a
41. relevare cupio mirabilem affectus vestri erga me dulcedinem.. (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…:
214 [letter 119]).
42. munera vestra gratis suscepisse. (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 212 [letter 119]).
43. gratuitis beneficiis (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 212 [letter 119]). The adverb gratis and
the adjective gratuitus do not signify free in the modern sense of the term: payment and donations in
return were probably expected by William. On the other hand these gifts did not bind Fulbert in servitium
to the Duke of Aquitaine.
44. propter elemosinam quam misit ad restauracionem ecclesiae nostrae (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 164 [letter 92]); Domninum Ihesum Christum et sanctam Mariam genitricem eius in cuius officio expensa
sunt mercedem uobis reddituros (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres, ed. Frederick Behrends…: 214
[letter 119]).
45. tibi etiam misisse sibi exponendas sentencias Bacharii, Bedae et Rabani de fine Salomonis. (The letters and poems
of Fulbert of Chartres…: 164 [letter 92]).
46. Foulque Nerra, then Count of Anjou, was a “difficult vassal” of William of Aquitaine.
47. Vestram (…) benivolenciam expertus sum cunctis amicorum meorum benivolenciis affectu mihi dulciorem, effectu
quoque utiliorem. (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 212 [letter 119]).
48. Clarissimo duci Aquitanorum G(uillelmo) F(ulbertus) humilis episcopus utile et honestum. (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 190 [letter 107]).
49. suadeo ergo ne facias vel scribas eius repudium si intelligis fore tibi utilem. (The letters and poems of Fulbert of
Chartres…: 210 [letter 117]).
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question of practical use: Fulbert had to keep the post of treasurer of Saint-Hilaire
as it offered him substantial financial revenue. In Fulbert’s letters, the notion of
utile had many uses: the benevolence of William was “useful” to him effectively
through the services that his friend gave him in return, by his generous donations.
Moreover, he compared the effectiveness (effectu) of this friendship to that of his
other relationships with other friends. Amicitia is therefore defined in part by its
“usefulness”. However Fulbert, when he used the terms utile, utilitas, also had in
mind their Ciceronian sense of usefulness for the common good. The relationship of
friendship with William of Aquitaine therefore takes on a moral connotation. This
connotation is found in the expression utile et honestum that Fulbert used in the way
he addressed William in his letter 107. Wishing the Duke of Aquitaine “usefulness
and honesty”, Fulbert assumed the position first and foremost as his loyal subject
for the post of treasurer of Saint-Hilaire, since this expression defined the loyal
duties in his letter 51, but he also alluded to their relationship of friendship which
he liked to think of as “useful”. The expression utile et honestum, inspired by Cicero,
acts as a connection between the two types of relationship and was integrated
henceforth into the model of friendship that Fulbert offered the Duke of Aquitaine.
This privileged social relationship must not only aim at the practical use of each one,
but above all the public use and the sovereign good as friendship and loyalty enable
the expression of virtue and the quest for social peace.
However, the fidelitas that the two men had in their relationship of friendship
was less restrictive than the one that Fulbert owed William for his post as treasurer.
In the name of this position, Fulbert asked Hildegar, in letter 92, to “pledge his
perpetual loyalty”50 to the Duke of Aquitaine. He “indeed acknowledges that he
owes him perpetual loyalty, to his soul as to his body”51. We find in this expression
the notion of safety, of guarantee that the loyal subject must safeguard his lord’s
body and his person, as defined in letter 51. This relationship of loyalty rested on
the position of treasurer of Saint-Hilaire that the Duke of Aquitaine entrusted to
the Bishop of Chartres. This position was called beneficium or dignitas52 in Fulbert’s
letters, and honor, as seen in a letter from Hildegar. The notions of help or council
never appear in the letters between the two men53. On the other hand, the position
received by Fulbert and which consisted of “reaping the benefits”54 of Saint-Hilaire
and supporting the school, included servicia to William and Saint-Hilaire55. These
50. dic karissimo nobis principi G(uillelmo) perpetuam fidelitatem (..) ex parte nostra. (The letters and poems of
Fulbert of Chartres…: 164 [letter 92]).
51. Agnosco enim me perpetuum debitorem esse fidelitatis animae tuae et corpori. (The letters and poems of Fulbert
of Chartres…: 220 [letter 122]).
52. The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 212-214 (letter 119), 214-216 (letter 120).
53. However the expression quicquid sum et possum tuum est is found once, used by Fulbert in letter 120
(The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 214). He therefore offers his help, in every way he can as a
Bishop, to William of Aquitaine.
54. ad colligendas fruges. (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 164 [letter 92]).
55. quod sanctissimo ac sapientissimo patri nostro Hylario tibique debita servicia non rependo (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 212). See also the verb deservire in letter 119 (The letters and poems of Fulbert of
Chartres, ed. Frederick Behrends…: 212).
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terms, which belong at the heart of the fidelitas lexical field, define the relationship
that existed between the treasurer of Saint-Hilaire and the Duke of Aquitaine. In
the case of Fulbert and William, this relationship was coupled, as observed, with a
relationship of amicitia that involved another, more personal, loyalty. This double
relationship explains certain contradictions or ambiguities in the bond between the
two men: William never reproached Fulbert for not fulfilling his servitium towards
him and Saint-Hilaire. Conversely in letter 116, he asked him to spend three days
in Poitiers to see him56. Fulbert wrote to William that his loyalty did not depend
on the position as treasurer of Saint-Hilaire, “I beg you, do not think me so base as
to be less loyal because of that (the renunciation of his position)”57. Effectively the
Bishop of Chartres, who could not fulfil his post correctly because of his distance
from it, thought seriously about giving it up, though maintaining a relationship of
friendship and loyalty with William.
The letters exchanged between William of Aquitaine and Fulbert of Chartres
therefore bear witness to a particularly close combination of vocabularies of affectus,
amicitia and fidelitas. It is possible to try and retrace the evolution of their relationship:
in 1020-1021, William of Aquitaine consulted Fulbert, a renowned lawyer, on the
subject of his quarrel with a vassal. Impressed by the literary and legal quality of his
answer58, he sought to lure him to Poitiers and establish him there by means of the
post of treasurer of Saint-Hilaire and an oath of loyalty. However, the bishop had
little time to devote to this post given that the church of Chartres was in the middle
of being rebuilt. He therefore sent his secretary and friend Hildegar to represent
him: he maintained the excellent relationship with William, whom he probably
served as a secretary. Through his intermediary, Fulbert and William exchanged
information, presents and entered into a double relationship of loyalty, one linked
to the post of treasurer, the other to their mutual affection, their friendship. This
double fidelitas was defined by the same term utile and by the expression utile et
honestum. Friendly loyalty or legal loyalty, it was to the common good of both
men and the sovereign good of society as a whole. Thus Fulbert offered William
a model of friendship adapted to his situation as a layman. This model, different
from that experienced among clerks, is expressed in two essential references: the
fidelitas and the antique amicitia. Loyalty, certainly prior to friendship in this case,
offered the Bishop of Chartres a social setting and quite a flexible lexical field to
fuel a relationship of friendship, putting both men on an equal footing. In addition,
William, Fulbert and Hildegar were men of letters who were aware of the antique
concept of Ciceronian amicitia59. For Cicero, friendship was a social elitist relationship
56. si non manseris nobiscum plus quam triduo… (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 208 [letter
116]).
57. Nec me putes, obsecro, ita pravum, ut propter hoc videar tibi minus esse fidelis. (The letters and poems of Fulbert
of Chartres…: 218 [letter 122]).
58. This is the famous letter 51 (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 90, 92).
59. See De Amicitia by Cicero (Cicero, Marco Tulio. De amicitia, ed. Valentín García Yebra. Madrid: Gredos,
1987) and the following study: Hellegouarc’h, Joseph. Le vocabulaire latin des relations et des partis politiques
sous la République. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1972.
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which only concerned politicians or educated men. The vocabulary of friendship
used by these three men, in particular by Hildegar in his own letters and those he
wrote on behalf of William, drew on this concept. Finally amicitia was inserted, in
this case, quite easily into a pre-existing relationship of loyalty that it strengthened
and qualified. The coexistence of lexical fields of friendship and loyalty in certain
letters by Fulbert of Chartres allowed him to qualify the expression of their social
relationship and to find for each one a subtle equilibrium between the hierarchy
inherent in feudal society and expressed by the vocabulary of fidelitas and equality,
mutual aid and affection which characterised the relationships between these men
of letters and symbolised amicitia. Lastly, it was possibly a means of hierarchising
and pacifying the relationships of loyalty and one of the most restrictive forms of
fidelitas.
4. From amicitia to affectus: a peaceful ideal
A third lexical field that is closely connected with that of amicitia appears in
the letters of Fulbert of Chartres: that of amor, of affectus. The “emotion”, we have
pointed out, was fully part of the relationship of friendship. But it was also present
in the relationships of loyalty from which amicitia was absent. For the Bishop of
Chartres, affectus constituted one of the founding principles of the relationship of
loyalty, in the same capacity as securitas, utile honestum. The study of this vocabulary
of “love” shows the richness of this lexical field, which enabled Fulbert to offer an
original model of fidelitas.
4.1 “Love” and loyalty
In the letters of the Bishop of Chartres, emotional vocabulary is very rich, appearing much more than the lexical field of friendship. There are two direct associations, that is, within the same phrase or expression, of the two lexical fields of
affectus and fidelitas. The expression dominus et dilectissimus was employed by Fulbert
to greet certain people in the address of the letters: out of ten instances60 the expression was used to greet the king and Fulbert’s dominus, Robert the Pious61. The other
expressions that bring affectus and fidelitas together have a more varied use. Fulbert
wrote to Léothier, Archbishop of Sens, in letter 2, that he owed him “a lot of love
60. These instances appear in letters The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 32 (letter 17), 38 (letter
21), 46 (letter 25), 74 (letter 41), 94 (letter 53), 102 (letter 59), 176 (letter 97), 178 (letter 99), 182 (letter
101), 218 (letter 122).
61. The two other instances allow Fulbert of Chartres to greet William of Aquitaine and H (?) sub-dean
of Tours.
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and loyalty”62. In letter 120, the Bishop of Chartres declared that he owed William
of Aquitaine “a loyalty from the bottom of his heart”63. Out of six expressions of
this type, four refer to a relationship of amicitia, which explains the association of
the two lexical fields. Only one expression is used in a purely vassalic context. It allowed Fulbert to declare “his loyal love”64 to Eudes of Blois and Chartres. The word
amor is therefore directly associated with a relationship of loyalty and conveys the
feeling that the loyal subject must express to his lord.
As well as these expressions, some adjectives and nouns enable emotion to be
expressed in the letters which contain the vocabulary of fidelitas. It is noticeable that
the emotional adjectives, such as dilectissimus, benignissimus, are very frequently used
in the form of address of the letters or to invoke a person in the body of the letters.
These adjectives were not only reserved for Fulbert’s lords or vassals; they were also
used between clerks, or between Fulbert and Hildegar. This vocabulary of affectus was
therefore used in all the relationships of loyalty, from feudal-vassalic relationships to
the bond of loyalty within the clergy. However, certain words were more frequently
used to convey Fulbert’s relations with laymen. The adjective dilectissimus is used
in this way thirteen times65, of which seven refer to King Robert, Fulbert’s master.
In the same way, the adjective benignissimus66 always served to qualify the conduct
of a great prince towards the Bishop of Chartres. It served to thank William of
Aquitaine, Robert the Pious and Richard of Normandy for the donations they made
to the cathedral church of Chartres. By using this term, Fulbert took his position
as loyal subject. Finally, the adjective familiarissimus was only used in the context
of vassalage, since it conveyed the closeness between Eudes of Déols and William
of Aquitaine, his master67. In this lexical field of emotions, there are different
categories of nouns: certain words directly convey feelings. Fulbert compared the
terms odium and dilectio in one phrase when he wrote to one of his clerks, “Not only
do I receive from you neither council nor aid but in addition you repay my love
with hate”68. The Bishop of Chartres in this case associating one feeling, dilectio,
love, with a relationship of loyalty which bound one of his clerks to him. Moreover,
it is astonishing that, on this occasion, the bishop did not use the word caritas,
62. multum amoris atque fidelitatis tibi, pater, me debere censeo (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 10
[letter 2]).
63. fidelitatem ex corde (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 214 [letter 120]).
64. nostri adhuc sui fidelis amorem. (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 182 [letter 100]).
65. This adjective can be found in the following letters: The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 32
(letter 17), 74 (letter 41), 94 (letter 53), 102 (letter 59), 148 (letter 82), 176 (letter 97), 178 (letter 99),
66. The word appears in the following letters: The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres,…: 32 (letter 17),
67. See letter 109: The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 194.
68. Non solum enim nullum ex te consilium vel auxilium capio verum insuper odium pro dilectione reddis. It is possible that this clerk was wealthy at the hands of the Bishop of Chartres. (The letters and poems of Fulbert of
Chartres…: 32 [letter 16]).
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having a more clearly Christian and clerical connotation69. The use of the word
dilectio and the expression consilium vel auxilium, strongly linked to a relationship of
loyalty, shows that the Bishop wanted to emphasise the fidelitas that this clerk owed
him. He went on to reproach him for leading a secular life and not deserving his
position as a priest. The word dilectio, the love that Fulbert held for this clerk, was
the opposite of the word odium, the hate that this clerk held in exchange. Fulbert
tried, in this letter, to show that any relationship of loyalty should be accompanied
by mutual love between the two parties. Among the nouns that convey feelings,
two in particular, the words pietas and affectio, were reserved in Fulbert’s letters for
Robert the Pious. The term pietas conveys affection between two people, but also the
act of fulfilling their duties to God or others. It was particularly suitable for the king
as it showed his ability to govern well, to treat his loyal subjects well and therefore
serve God well. The only instance of the term affectio was linked to the word pietas
since Fulbert thanked the King “for such great affection (pietatis affectione) towards
him”70. The two nouns amor and affectus were more widely used71. Fulbert used
them as much for his relationship with his lord, Count Eudes of Blois and Chartres,
as for his “friends” Léothier of Sens, Hildegar or William of Aquitaine. Another
category of nouns expresses not feelings, but a certain type of conduct between two
people. This behaviour was characterised by goodness, benevolence, familiarity.
We have already seen that this behaviour characterised the double relationship of
amicitia and fidelitas between Fulbert and William of Aquitaine. Some of these terms
were also used to define Fulbert’s attitude towards Hildegar. But these words were
not only used as part of amicitia; the terms bonitas and benignitas define, in this way,
the behaviour of Robert the Pious towards the Bishop of Chartres. Lastly, the two
words cor and anima allowed the expression of feeling to be heightened between
two people with such formulas as “with all my heart” or “with all my soul”. They
are quite widely used72 and concerned relationships of amicitia as well as loyalty. So
this plentiful emotional vocabulary, which appears in Fulbert’s letters along with
the lexical field of fidelitas, referred in part to the relationships of amicitia, which we
have already studied. However, out of 84 instances of the words in this emotional
lexical field, 36 were devoted to simple relationships of loyalty, and 33 instances
only concerned the relationship between Fulbert and Robert the Pious. Indeed
Fulbert was a vassal to the king for the diocese of Chartres and owed him loyalty
69. It is noticeable moreover that the word caritas is completely absent from these association between
emotional vocabulary and the lexical field of loyalty. This word is however quite frequent in the letters
of Fulbert as there are 22 instances, but in one or two exceptions, it is only used between members of
the clergy to convey the Christian love that connects them. The absence of this term in the case of clerk
G. is even more astonishing.
70. pro tanta erga me pietatis affectione. (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 146 [letter 81]).
71. The word amoris is found in letters: The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 18 (letter 7), 148 (letter
82), 172 (letter 95, twice), 182 (letter 100); the word affectus in letters: The letters and poems of Fulbert of
Chartres…: 12 (letter 4), 212-214 (letter 119, twice).
72. The word cor appears in letters: The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 38 (letter 21), 148 (letter
82), 172 (letter 95), 214 (letter 120), 218 (letter 120); and the word anima, in this sense, in letters: The
letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 74 (letter 41), 218 (letter 122).
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in this role. It therefore seems that Fulbert of Chartres tried to introduce a strong
emotional and moral connotation to the definition of fidelitas and in particular to the
expression of the feudal-vassalic relationship.
4.2 A new expression of loyalty
This use of the affectus lexical field to characterise relationships of loyalty and, in
particular, vassalic relationships, led Fulbert to complete his definition of fidelitas,
which, in letter 51, essentially rested on legal and concrete clauses. All the vocabulary
of “love”, indeed, conveyed a model of an interpersonal relationship which would
not only be founded on fiefdom and loyalty: another of its cornerstones was the
relationship of mutual love between the lord and his loyal subject. Moreover,
Fulbert of Chartres developed a comparison between the relationship of loyalty and
relationships within the family, based on reciprocal love and a father’s authority.
Thus, in letter 27, he sent, “Count Gualeran, Count Gautier and all his other sons and
loyal subjects his greetings and his blessings”73. These men were his direct vassals and
he named them “sons” or “brothers” in the letter. These expressions referred to his
position as lord as much as to his role as bishop, father of the Christian community.
Similarly, the blessings he sent them from the bishop as the lord, were compared to a
father. Fulbert went even further, asking his vassals to “defend him as their spiritual
father”74. He showed them his love and trust and considered himself responsible
for them, materially and spiritually speaking75. The bonds between Fulbert and his
vassals exceeded the practical obligations described in letter 51; Fulbert, as bishop,
added the notions of love and moral responsibility to these bonds.
The relationship between Fulbert of Chartres and his principal master Robert the
Pious, although more complex, in part went back to this rhetoric of responsibility.
Fulbert often called for the king’s pietas, with regard to his duties of affection
towards his loyal subjects. Thus, towards 1008, Fulbert did not go to meet the
king, perhaps because of a dispute about the appointment of the Bishop of Orleans;
he asked for his “pardon” with “royal affection”76. Fulbert expected the help he
was owed from his lord by virtue of their bond of loyalty. He therefore used the
father reference to request this help with more conviction, even if auxilium was
part of the reciprocal duties between lord and loyal subject, “support me, good
73. Fulbertus (…) comiti Gualeranno et comiti Gualterio ceterisque filiis fidelibusque suis salutem et benedictionem.
(The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 50 [letter 27]).
74. rogo ut me sicut patrem vestrum spiritualem defendatis (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 50
[letter 27]).
75. Fulbert shows them this affection when their relationships are normal and very obviously not in a
state of conflict: in this case, he can appear very cold and authoritarian, as in letters 9 and 10: The letters
and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 20-22.
76. facilis tamen debet esse remissio apud regiam pietatem. (The letters and poems of Fulbert of Chartres…: 38
[letter 21[).
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129
father, support us in our weakness”77. This connection of loyalty between Fulbert
and Robert the Pious is the most extensively researched aspect, thanks to the letters
that Fulbert sent to the king and of which he kept copies in his collection. These
letters show that Fulbert sought to behave like a good and loyal subject of the king
and to follow the rules that he himself put in writing in letter 51. Thus, he very
frequently gave his consilium to the king, even when his opinion might offend the
latter. He possessed the lofty concept of consilium, a concept passed down from the
Carolingian bishops who wanted advice, of divine origins, to be passed on to the
king through his bishops: he hoped that Robert the Pious might obtain “advice and
courage from God”78. Fulbert did not hesitate moreover, to oppose the king if his
decisions went against his own interests, or against the health of his soul. Similarly,
Fulbert helped his lord, in particular by passing on information to him about the
Count of Chartres or by supporting his decision to consecrate his son Henry in 1027.
If Fulbert fulfilled his duties as a loyal subject so well, it was because a moral and
emotional relationship bound him to his lord. Fulbert often showed his affection
for the king by calling him dominus dilectissimus and he said that in his view, the
king was “always showered by a fountain of goodness”79. Moreover, the Bishop
of Chartres thanked him for inquiring after him so regularly80. This relationship of
fidelitas and affectus between the two men sometimes took on a moral and religious
connotation in Fulbert’s letters. The latter hoped that his relationship of loyalty with
the king would contribute to “the heightening of his sacred virtue”81 and allow him
to obtain “what is honest and useful”82. There we find all the Ciceronian vocabulary
of virtue, of utile et honestum, which already appeared in letter 51 defining fidelitas
and in the Fulbertian concept of amicitia. For Fulbert, fidelitas had to allow, thanks to
the affection existing between the lord and the loyal subject, the achievement of the
sovereign good, honestum. This was even more true for the king who held a particular
religious ministry, due to his coronation. The king was responsible for the moral and
spiritual state of his kingdom. The relationship of loyalty, as defined by Fulbert, was
therefore a tool of governance enabling him to keep the peace and to do good in the
kingdom. Furthermore, Fulbert did not hesitate to express this religious aspect of
fidelitas by wishing Robert that “God comfort his dear soul by granting him all that is
good”83.

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