Medieval Nobility

Axiom : When a new kind of sword originates and becomes prevalent, then it logically follows that both the sword and its new kind of fencing evolve and become perfected.  That is what must have started happening in Chivalric Europe circa 1100, when a new kind of sword—called variously longsword, langschwert, war sword, espée de guerre, great sword, grans espée, two-hand-sword, etcetera—came into being.  Its history is well-epitomised by the Liechtenauer Lineage of the German Tradition of the Art of Fencing, its Kunst des Fechtens.  The longsword probably first arose somewhere in Germany (i.e. Holy Roman Empire) and eventually spread via migratory innovation and/or native industry to England, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Italy, Benelux, Iberia, Poland, Bohemia, Prussia and Baltica.

The present study builds on Michel Pastoureau’s views about the origins of heraldry by proposing a reframing of the “appearance phase” of heraldry. It is chiefly based on an updated catalogue of the earliest identifiable seals with heraldic or pre-heraldic emblems (presented in Part 1). The new data (as explored in Part 2) allows us to reaffirm the existence of a northern cradle for heraldry, which can be located in eastern Picardy and is visible from the 1110s onwards. It was further developed after 1130 in southern England, a development which can be accounted for by the links between prominent aristocratic families in the two regions, men who were responsible for popularizing the new fashion within the upper nobility. In Part 3 it is argued that from the very beginning heraldry assumed the familial significance it would continue to display in its classical form. “Heraldic groups” of early emblems appeared, whose analysis betrays a very open conception of kinship; mixing lineage and parage, agnates and cognates. Finally in Part 4 this study argues that the invention of heraldry was not a response to any new battlefield imperatives, but a corollary to the rise of tournament in northern France and England. Both tournament and heraldry were features of the emergence of a chivalric culture after 1100. Heraldry however introduced into the process the social elitism found in the upper aristocracy with its pride in Carolingian origins and anxiety to advertise its superiority over the lower ranks of knightly society. A detailed catalogue of seventeen pre-1150 armorial seals is given in an appendix.

Se propone una profundización en las dinámicas específicas que se asocian al despliegue del señorío como modalidad de ejercicio de poder en la sociedad feudal de la Castilla bajomedieval. Para ello, nos concentramos en el estudio de las relaciones de poder señorial desplegadas por el infante Fernando de Antequera y su esposa, Leonor de Alburquerque, infantes de Castilla y reyes de Aragón, y por sus hijos, los "infantes de Aragón", entre finales del siglo XIV y los inicios del siglo XV. El análisis de una dinámica señorial poliédrica ejemplificada por los principales "parientes del rey" de su tiempo permite atender de forma más precisa a los procesos de reformulación e intensificación del poder de la aristocracia en Castilla desde finales del siglo XIII y a una reconsideración de ellos en el contexto de la “crisis bajomedieval”. Procedemos a un estudio de las relaciones de dominación señorial en términos de poder, consideradas desde una perspectiva sistémica y atento a las nociones de "casa", de "clientela" y "afinidad señorial".

El documento adjunto recoge exclusivamente la presentación, conclusiones y bibliografía de la tesis doctoral.

Knightly Dueling is a complete overview of the fighting arts of German chivalric dueling, on horse and on foot, during the late Medieval and early Renaissance. Through the words and pictures of original source texts of the great German fight-masters of the 14th through 16th centuries – extraordinary works that poetically preserved medieval methods of the true knightly dueling of mortal combat over grave matters with battlefield arms & armour.Until now, no single book has encompassed and clarified the scattered existing historical information on German dueling with swords, lances, daggers, pollaxes etc. Knightly Dueling shows the ruthless reality of man-to-man combat of the German Kunst des Fechtens (art of fighting), providing a thorough understanding of Johannes Liechtenauer's Roszfechten (horse fighting) and Kampffechten (duel fighting). It gives Middle High German transcriptions, as well as the first and only modern English translations, of works from various fight books by Liechtenauer's renowned masterly interpreters, including Hanko Döbringer, Peter von Danzig, Hans Talhoffer and Andre Lignitzer. The book also presents an illustrated blow-by-blow account of a deadly duel from a German Fechtbuch (fight book); primary source information regarding specific training of noblemen for duels and the training of noble youth in the combat arts; and a unique glossary of historical German chivalric terms for arms and armour.Lavishly illustrated with lots of period artwork, Knightly Dueling restores the concept of German chivalry to its rightful martial role and is a must for any serious scholar of the dynamic field of European martial arts.

The Fechtbuch (Fight-Book) from 1459 AD by Hans Talhoffer is truly an uncanny work. In this edition of his work, the fight-master opens a window for us to his world. He shares knowledge from his own field of expertise – the martial arts of Renaissance Europe. Yet he also presents works from masters of the same and other fields – Zwaintzig Ussrichtung (Twenty Directives) by fight-master Johann Liechtenauer; Bellifortis (Battle Force) by military engineer Conrad Kyeser; and Hie Lert (Here Teaches) by astrologer-physiologist Jud Ebreesch. By text and by pictures, numerous diverse and lively scenes are shown that are sometimes quite bizarre – vigorous fighting lessons, for judicial dueling and for battle; war-machines, strange inventions and secret formulas; and treatises upon cosmology and physiology.

In this rich personal edition of his work, Talhoffer deals with a wide variety of things, from the lofty to the earthy. He has something to offer everyone – whether fighter, artist, botanist, philologist, herbalist, chemist, metalsmith, carpenter, jurist, kinesiologist, astronomer, culinarian, theologian, costumer, physician or otherwise.

Although fighting-arts are the focus of Talhoffer’s book, it is really something of a kaleidoscopic view of the interests and pursuits of the Renaissance German warrior, inclusive of manifold things meaningful to his life. However atavistic or unreal his world may be deemed now, it did truly exist and held wonder and honour worthy of our admiration.

The diversity of this book stands witness to Hans Talhoffer as one of the dynamic personalities of his generation – one whom we must deem was a true Renaissance Man.

All imagery herein is from the 1459-Thott edition, courtesy of the original 15th Century manuscript held by sterwardship of Det Kongelige Bibliotek in Copenhagen Denmark. I made this PDF to present that work here for the free learning of all sincerely interested persons. It may be viewed via personal computer, saved onto CDR and/or printed into hard-copy, allowing complete archiving of the document in whatever quality format one may choose – with the understanding that it is meant for noncommercial and nonprofit educational usage. The imagery herein is colour-corrected; and where needed in four folios, the action of the artwork is conceptually restored. The original uncorrected DKB facsimile still exists online. DKB is found in the Web at this URL: https://www.kb.dk

So first is the facsimile of the original book itself, which lets you see the words and pictures for yourself. Next are my transcription of its German and my translation of that into English – the transcription gives you direct comprehensible reference to the original German wording, while the translation gives you the first and only rendering of that wording into English. Lastly is my interpretive commentary, which helps you better understand many aspects of the words and pictures.

The volume contains sixteen essays on aspects of the development of commercial, ecclesiastical, noble and military elites in the Romanian Principalities, Poland-Lithuania, the Ionian Islands and the Ottoman Balkans.
A hard copy of the book is available from the UCL online store, priced at £22.50.
See https://onlinestore.ucl.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=1&deptid=135&catid=74&prodid=536

v Coelho, que dispôs altruisticamente do seu tempo para realizar os mapas que aqui se inserem; à Teresa Lacerda e ao Rui Henriques, com quem aprendo sempre e cuja ética de trabalho é inspiradora; à Rita Carvalho, pela sua energia e bravura contagiantes; à Marta Malheiros, pela sua ternura e amparo, à Carina Vicente, pela sua sempre refrescante companhia, e à Antónia Dimas, amiga de outras lutas.

"La présente étude s'inscrit dans le débat à propos d'une éventuelle " mutation féodale " autour de l'an mil. Il s'agit d'étudier l'aristocratie laïque durant les Xe et XIe siècles, en prêtant une égale attention aux ressorts matériels et idéologiques de sa domination sociale. La signification des transformations que connaît alors l'écriture diplomatique étant au cœur de la controverse, le choix a été fait de partir des sources hagiographiques originaires des abbayes d'Aurillac, Conques et Figeac. Mais le discours hagiographique présente ses propres biais. Afin de s'en prémunir au mieux, on a confronté autant que possible les affirmations des sources hagiographiques aux informations disponibles grâce à d'autres types de documents. La démonstration procède en deux étapes. En recourant aux méthodes de l'hagiologie, la première partie permet de contextualiser la production hagiographique et de s'interroger sur les conditions de sa réception : on s'aperçoit que si les textes latins sont d'abord destinés à être lus par des clercs, de multiples canaux de diffusion orale permettaient aux hagiographes de s'adresser également aux laïcs, en particulier à l'aristocratie. La seconde partie étudie l'évolution de la domination aristocratique à travers ce que permet d'en percevoir l'hagiographie. Elle montre qu'un certain nombre de transformations ont eu lieu dès le début du Xe siècle et permettent de parler d'une " mutation de l'an 900 " : l'émergence de la chevalerie, la mise en place de la féodalité, la montée en puissance des sires, l'importance des châteaux et des milites sont autant de phénomènes qui datent de cette époque. Toutefois, l'an mil connaît deux ajustements non négligeables : le redéploiement de l'identité aristocratique autour des châteaux et le passage d'une conception cognatique de la parenté noble à une autre d'avantage agnatique.
The present study falls within the scope of the debate about a possible "feudal mutation" around the year 1000. It is concerned with the study of lay aristocracy during the 10th and 11th centuries, by giving equal attention to ideological and material aspects of its social domination. Because the meaning of the transformations that affect diplomatic writing then is in the heart of the matter, we make the choice to work from the hagiographic narratives from the abbeys of Aurillac, Conques and Figeac. But there are also biases in the hagiographic discourse. In order to counterbalance their influence, we have compared as much as possible the data from hagiographic texts with the information available thanks to other types of documents. The demonstration is organized in two steps. Using the methods of hagiology, the first part contextualizes hagiographic production and questions the conditions of its reception: we are led to realize that, if the Latin texts are primaraly intented to be read by clerics, multiple oral channels allowed hagiographers to address also the laity, especially the aristocracy. The second part examines the evolution of aristocratic domination through what can be perceived in the hagiography. It shows that some transformations took place as early as the beginning of the 10th century and that we can therefore speak of "a mutation of the year 900": the ermergence of chivalry, the establishment of feudalism, the rise of the lords, the importance of castles and milites are phenomena which date from this time. Howewer, there are two significant adjustments around the year 1000: aristocratic identity refocuses on castles and the the noble kinship moves from a cognatic conception to another more agnatic."

Fürstliche Erziehung und Ausbildung im spätmittelalterlichen Reich Vorwort Bei der vorliegenden Arbeit handelt es sich um die geringfügig überarbeitete Fassung meiner im Sommersemester 2013 an der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Greifswald angenommenen Dissertation. Auf dem Weg von den ersten Ideen in der Staatsexamensarbeit bis hin zur gedruckten Monographie bin ich von einer Vielzahl von Personen und Institutionen unterstützt worden. Ihnen allen bin ich zu Dank verpflichtet.

Whereas tournaments of the late thirteenth century were infused with cross-channel contact, whether in reciprocity of form or in the international composition of the participants involved, by the early fifteenth century, tournament forms in England and the Netherlands had significantly diverged. As has been thoroughly explored by recent historians, English tournaments became increasingly socially exclusive, whilst retaining an international dimension in the interests of diplomacy. However, this essay demonstrates that this development was by no means typical of all late medieval tournaments. The case of the Low Countries demonstrates that the more socially inclusive style tournaments did continue into the fifteenth century, and provided an opportunity for the ducal household and noblemen to come into contact with patrician townspeople and even more diverse urban audiences.

This thesis is a prosopographical study of the English baronage during the reign of Richard II.  It considers the role of barons within the political community and attempts to characterise them, both in terms of their engagement with institutions and by exploring private power relations.  In the tradition of the political culture framework within which the study is situated, it seeks ultimately to determine the group’s motives. 

The first section explores structures, defining the baronage and tracing the historical development of the class.  The stresses and concepts that moulded and distinguished the political culture are also set out.  Three broad themes - politics, land and lordship - are then discussed in the second section.  These endeavour to quantify and qualify the power and authority that were exercised by the 66 baronial families from the reign.  In the political arena barons’ engagement with the apparatus of royal government, administration and justice are investigated, along with political favour and its rewards.  The size and distribution of their landholding is then assessed and the strategies they employed for putting their estates together determined.  The service they performed and received is afterwards discussed and the reasons for and benefits of it analysed.  These broader themes are then enriched by a demonstration of the differences on the ground.  In this third section two case studies, of the Gloucestershire and Sussex barons, revisit the same themes, but look in more detail at just the handful of resident barons in those counties.  Finally, the different situations in the two sample localities are reconciled by deciphering the barons’ motives.

From 4 to 7 May 1439 a massive tournament (235 participants) was organized at the Grote Markt in Brussels, in which the Burgundian duke Philip the Good himself participated. This tournament was maybe one of the last in the massive (urban) melee-style in the fifteenth century. This article demonstrates that both the town and the duke had an interest in the organization of this tournament. The duke and his household officers were happy to exhibit the splendor of the court to the citizens of Brussels, the nobility of Brabant and the international community. The town considered the tournament as a stimulus for the local economy. At the same time the chivalric event would position Brussels as an attractive residence for the Burgundian duke.

Le pagine che seguono non sono opera di storico, o biografo, ma il rendiconto di un lettore severo di antiche carte. La ricognizione è il frutto di fatica spesa nel tentare di conferire ordine alle notizie sparse che, nel corso di dieci secoli, sono state depositate nella memoria degli archivi o sono rintracciabili presso più o meno vetusti storiografi -non di rado con lacune, imprecisioni e, nei primi tempi almeno, partigianerie estensi -sull'importante casata dei Terzi di Parma.

In the “calamitous” 14th century, as Barbara Tuchman called it in her classic „A Distant Mirror“ (1978) , the medieval world entered a period of severe crisis in demography, economy, politics and religion. This crisis took hold in all regions, ranging from China in the East to England in the West. Even before the catastrophic pandemic of the Black Death (1346-1352), deteriorating climatic conditions had ended the period of demographic and economic expansion that began in the 10th century.
The local and regional impacts and consequences of these general potentially crisis-laden conditions may have differed; outcomes ranged from actual societal collapse to the emergence of powerful new polities – while Byzantium´s power dwindled away, Hungary entered a period of strong rulership and external power in the reign of Louis I of Anjou (1342-1382), for instance. But these conditions provide a framework for global perspective on this period and allow us to use the 14th century-crisis as a field of “natural experiments of history”, as Jared Diamond and James A. Robinson have called them ; accordingly, we analyse how similar crisis phenomena influenced the development of societies with different (or similar) traditions, religions, institutions, geographies or ecologies.
In order to be able to capture the local variations and complexities, we adopt concepts and tools provided by the field of complexity science. Mono-causal or linear explanations are inadequate for the analysis and the description of crisis, transformation or collapse of pre-modern polities. Within this framework, complex systems are understood as large networks of individual components, whose interactions at the microscopic level produce “complex” changing patterns of behaviour of the whole system on the macroscopic level. In the last decades, historians and social scientists who became interested in complexity theory tried to use its concepts and terminology for the conceptualisation and description of phenomena in their own fields, but often only in a “metaphoric” way. Less frequently, though, historians have tried to make use of the mathematical foundations of complexity theory or of quantitative tools provided by this field. Recent scholarship has implemented some of these tools especially for the construction of macro-models of socio-economic development. While these studies help us construct analytical tools for the macro-level of our own research, they run the same risk as earlier scholarship of neglecting complex variations at the local and regional levels.
Therefore, we combine complexity theory with the analytical framework of „systems theory“ developed by the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann in order to capture the interveawements between politics, economy and religion within a polity and with the political, economic and ecological environment. In addition, we employ the methods and tools of network analysis, which allow us to capture, analyse and model linkages and cause-effect correlations in society, economy, politics and religion on the macro- and micro-level down to groups and individuals.
Overall, as a complement to earlier studies our analytical
approach shall allow us to capture the “diversité véritable” of our period without losing track of essential commonalities (the “strange parallels”, as Victor Liebermann has called them in his remarkable study on Southeast Asia in Global Context, 2009 ) of this “first world crisis” across all cultures and societies. The scientic value of this approach will be demonstrated for some specific cases.

Preminenza aristocratica a Napoli nel tardo medioevo: i tocchi e il problema dell'origine dei sedili stato. Famiglie e identità aristocratiche nel tardo medioevo. La Sicilia, Roma, Donzelli, 2001; e F. titone, Governments of the "Universitates": urban communities of Sicily in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth centuries, Turnhout, Brepols, 2009. 4 Cfr. G. Vitale, La nobiltà di Seggio a Napoli nel basso medioevo. Aspetti della dinamica interna, «ASPN», CVI, 1988, pp. 151-169; ead., Uffici, militia e nobiltà. Processi di formazione della nobiltà di Seggio a Napoli: il casato dei Brancaccio fra XIV e XV secolo, «Dimensioni e problemi della ricerca storica», II, 1993, pp. 22-52; ead., Nobiltà napoletana della prima età angioina. Élite burocratica e famiglia, in L'État angevin. Pouvoir, culture et société entre XIIIe et XIVe siècle. Actes du Colloque internationale (Roma-Napoli, 7-11 novembre 1995), Roma, École française de Rome, 1998, pp. 535-576; ead., Nobiltà napoletana dell'età durazzesca, in La noblesse dans les territoires angevins à la fin du Moyen Age, dir. N. Coulet, J. M. Matz, Roma, École française de Rome, 2000, pp. 363-415; ead., Modelli culturali nobiliari nella Napoli aragonese, Salerno, Carlone, 2000; ead., Élite burocratica e famiglia. Dinamiche nobiliari e proces si di costruzione statale nella Napoli angioinoaragonese, Napoli, Liguori, 2003; ead., Ritualità monarchica, cerimonie e pratiche devozionali nella Napoli aragonese, Salerno, Laveglia, 2006; ead., Monarchia e ordini cavallereschi nel regno di Napoli in età angioi na, in Linguaggi e pratiche del potere. Genova e il Regno di Napoli tra Medioevo et Età moderna, a cura di G.

En el Livro Velho de Linhagem de 1270 se dice que la nobleza portuguesa procede de los infanzones leoneses que en tiempos de Alfonso VI de León reconquistaron la región. De ellos se destacarían los Ricoshomes, por lo extenso de sus propiedades y de los que surgirían los Condes, como órganos jurisdiccionales, y el resto serían los Infançoes, a su vez divididos en cavaleiros, escudeyros y moços según el grado de adscripción militar.
Las primeras manifestaciones heráldicas aparecieron en Portugal, a finales del siglo XIII, entre los grandes linajes como forma de destacar sus vínculos de sangre. Costumbre iniciada por las grandes familias que se fue generalizando entre nobres y cavaleiros,  que adoptaron brasaos como distintivo personal.

Resumen: En este estudio se plantea una valoración del papel social de las mujeres de la aristocracia en la Castilla bajomedieval. Para ello se parte de una evaluación de las diferentes propuestas historiográficas a tener en cuenta. Desde estos presupuestos me ocuparé del estudio de caso de Leonor de Alburquerque desde el momento en que pasó a ser reina viuda de Aragón, a la muerte de su esposo Fernando “el de Antequera”, hasta su propio fallecimiento. Veremos cómo en esos años, la reina Leonor se convirtió en una protagonista fundamental en la planificación, coordinación y desarrollo de las estrategias articuladas por su casa en el esfuerzo por mantener la posición de hegemonía en Castilla que habían heredado del rey Fernando en 1416.
Palabras clave: Aristocracia. Mujeres. Reina. Clientela. Castilla en la Baja Edad Media
Abstract: In this study I propose an evaluation of the social role of aristocratic women during in Late Medieval Castile. For this it will consist of an asessment of different historiographical proposals to bear in mind. From these assumptions I will take care of the study of the case of Leonor of Alburquerque from the moment in which she came to be the widow queen of Aragon after the death of her husband Fernando, “el de Antequera” until her own death. We will see how in these years queen Leonor became a key character in the planning, coordination and development of merging strategies for her house in her effort to maintain the dominant position in Castille that had been inherited from king Fernando in  1416.
Keyword: Aristocracy. Women. Widower Queen. Seigniorial Affiniy. Castile in the Late Middle Ages

Tras la pacificación de la isla, Jaime I por Carta de Franqueza de 1230 constituyó el Reino de Mallorca como territorio de la corona de Aragón, bajo el nombre de «Regnum Maioricarum et insulae adyacentes»,Jaime I, en su testamento realizado en 1272, estableció una monarquía independiente en favor de su segundogénito el Infante Don Jaime, como Jaime II de Mallorca (1276/1311). Surgiendo un reino autónomo, aunque fedatario de la Corona Aragonesa, constituido por las islas de Mallorca, Menorca e Ibiza, más otras más pequeñas y despobladas, los condados continentales de Cerdaña, Rosellón  y el señorío de Montpellier.La incorporación del Reino de Mallorca a la Corona de Aragón no supuso un cambio significativo en las instituciones de éste, que se conservaron sin cambios, hasta que fueron disueltas por el Decreto de Nueva Planta de Felipe V de 1715 que transformó el antiguo reino en una provincia más de la monarquía española.

El presente trabajo se plantea como una modesta contribución al conocimiento de la figura de los parientes del rey, fundamentalmente de los infantes reales, dentro de la monarquía castellano-leonesa en los siglos XIV y XV. Dentro de que el encaje de dichos parientes reales en la sociedad política castellana bajomedieval apenas ha sido atendido historiográficamente de un modo específico, entendemos que, gracias a su pertenencia al linaje regio, estos individuos se hallaban facultados preferentemente para participar en el hecho de la realeza y, por ello, en las funciones políticas que ostentaba la Monarquía.
Con este fin, proponemos centrarnos en la trayectoria del infante Fernando “el de Antequera” durante el reinado de su hermano mayor, Enrique III, a modo de ejemplo en relación con este tema. Profundizando en algunas de las impresiones que ya expuso Emilio Mitre sobre este personaje, pretendemos verificar sobre qué principios que se iría conformando la posición de preponderancia política que el infante ostentaba dentro de la Corona de Castilla en el momento de la muerte de Enrique III como para acceder a la corregencia del niño Juan II junto a la reina viuda Catalina de Lancaster. A la luz de nuestro análisis, se manifiesta cómo tal situación de preponderancia socio-política de los parientes del rey se veía sostenida sobre una diversificada panoplia de recursos: acceso a los procesos de discusión y decisión de los órganos de gobierno monárquicos, comisión de responsabilidades políticas por parte del soberano, ostentación de honores y títulos cortesanos, proyección señorial destacada en el territorio del reino, desarrollo de una importante red vasallática y clientelar, integración simbólica en rituales de representación del poder de la Corona, etc.

El origen de Aragón lo sitúan los cronistas en la denominada "República Aristocrática del Sobrarbe", constituida por aquellos hombres enérgicos que en el siglo VIII hubieron de refugiarse en los estrechos valles pirenaicos, agrupando a gentes de muy variada condición unidas por un común deseo de resistencia frente a la morisma, que oprimía las tierras hispanas, defendiendo su libertad con las armas al igual que sucedía también en las montañas de Covadonga. La guerra era su estado permanente y los más valientes conquistaron los primeros puestos de combate empezando así a dirigir a los demás. Surgen así los primeros Magnates, a cuyo alrededor se aglutinarán cuantos guerreros huyen de la cautiva España, formándose diversos clanes a cuyo frente había un Senior.

La Serenísima República de Venecia durante sus casi mil años de existencia (IX/XIX) se nos presenta como un estado soberano europeo, en forma de república aristocrática de mercaderes, que regía un importante imperio ultramarino. Gobernada por un Dogo con un poder similar al de un monarca, aunque limitado por una serie de consejos mediante los cuales se buscaba el equilibrio de poder entre las principales familias.
En el presente trabajo se estudia tanto su historia, como su organización política y social. Se analiza la figura del patrizio véneto, oligarquía de sangre que controlaba la vida pública.  Para terminar explicando las peculiaridades de su heráldica.

This chapter investigates the form and consequences of the English invasion of Ireland, c.1166-c.1254, situated within the wider framework of European political configurations and frontier societies. A rapid narrative of the cut and thrust of medieval conquest is interwoven with the analysis of major themes relating to lordship and colonisation.

. Lo que antaño fue motivo de preocupación e incluso produjo graves daños al prestigio de muchas familias, se ha convertido hoy en día en una inagotable fuente de datos. Durante tres siglos se exigieron en España por determinadas instituciones religiosas, militares, académicas, administrativas y municipales, a todos los que quisieran ingresar en ellas el que probaran ser “cristianos viejos”; es decir que no descendían de conversos judíos o moriscos, añadiéndose más tarde el no descender de herejes o penitenciados por el Santo Oficio. Los expedientes de estas probanzas, conservados en diversos archivos a disposición del investigador, contienen una enorme variedad de datos de gran valor genealógico. En el presente trabajo estudiaremos sus precedentes, implantación, desarrollo y archivos en los que se encuentran.

Esta dissertação tem por objeto o estudo da ideologia cavaleiresca em Portugal no século XV, e orienta-se em função de algumas questões fundamentais: quais os valores e ideais que caracterizavam a ideologia cavaleiresca? Havia alguma hierarquia entre eles? Qual a importância desta ideologia no Portugal do século XV? Para tentar responder a estas perguntas, utiliza-se um conjunto diversificado de fontes: crónicas, legislação, capítulos de cortes, pareceres e correspondência trocada entre os membros da família real, cartas de brasão de armas e epitáfios tumulares. A estrutura da dissertação divide-se em três capítulos. No primeiro discutem-se os sentidos polissémicos dos termos cavalaria e cavaleiro. No segundo analisa-se a conceção teórica da cavalaria, nomeadamente sobre a sua origem, funções na sociedade e os valores que a deveriam orientar. No terceiro procuram-se analisar alguns aspetos da vivência da cavalaria, como as justas, torneios e feitos de armas realizados em Portugal, a importância do sentimento cruzadístico para a ideologia cavaleiresca, e o significado da cavalaria para a realeza e para os vários setores da aristocracia.

This dissertation has by goal the study of chivalry and knightly ideology in Portugal during the XV century, and it's oriented according to some fundamental questions: which values and ideals used to characterize the knightly ideology? Was there any hierarchy between them? How important was this ideology during the XV century in Portugal? To attempt to answer to this group of questions, the dissertation uses a diverse group of sources: chronicles, legislation, chapters of cortes, correspondence exchanged between the members of the royal family, letters of coats of arms and gravestones' epitaphs. The dissertation's structure divides itself in three chapters. On the first, we discuss the polisemy associated with the terms chivalry and knight in Portuguese sources. On the second, we analyze the theoretical conception of chivalry, namely about its origin, functions in society and the values which should guide it. On the third, we look to analyze some aspects of the chivalry's experience, such as jousts, tournaments and pas d’armes made in Portugal, the importance of the crusading spirit to the knighthood ideology, and the meaning of chivalry to the royalty and to the several sectors of the aristocracy.

In Brabant the historical sources for the 13th and 14th centuries show the frequent occurrence of illegitimate children in noble lineages. Many of these children were born when their fathers were still unmarried. Brabantine customary law excluded illegitimate children from inheriting landed estates, but bastardy did not exclude the transmission of noble status, nor did it limit the reciprocal expectations created by blood relations between the illegitimate children and their natural family, in particular their fathers, who often looked after them through the purchase of pensions or by including financial provisions for them in their wills. In cases when legitimate offspring was limited, illegitimate offspring partly took over the functions of the extended family, as happened in the ducal family during the first half of the 14th century. The ascent of ducal bastards in this period may be a factor which led to the clause in the Joyous Entry of 1356 which barred illegitimate children from high public office.

Ce livre étudie les relations entre Bruxelles et sa périphérie entre le XIe et le XIIIe siècle par le biais d’une analyse combinant lecture économique traditionnelle et approche sociale innovante. Il envisage l’impact du terreau régional sur l’émergence de la ville, l’empreinte de la ville constituée, ensuite, sur les structures économiques, sociales et politiques et, d’une manière générale, les synergies créées par cette interaction permanente qui fait du couple ville-périphérie un véritable continuum. La première partie – le volet économique – fait le point sur la croissance rurale et urbaine, ses protagonistes, ses modalités et sa chronologie. Elle met particulièrement en évidence la montée en puissance de Bruxelles comme place centrale et son rôle dans la croissance économique. La deuxième partie – le volet social – étudie le rôle du prince territorial et des élites politiques. Elle envisage spécialement le devenir du groupe aristocratique traditionnel dans son rapport au prince et à la ville, de même que l’émergence des nouveaux acteurs sociaux et leur confrontation avec le prince et la société seigneuriale (4e de couverture).

Article initialement publié dans Britannia Monastica 16, 2012, p. 93-161. Les premières entrées épiscopales en Bretagne ducale * [p. 93] Alors que les entrées royales sont assez bien connues 1 , les entrées épiscopales ne bénéficient que de quelques études régionales 2 et n'ont que très récemment été analysées dans une perspective globale 3 . Pour la période qui concerne notre sujet, à part les travaux des érudits des XIX e et XX e siècles que nous citerons dans le corpus, la Bretagne est un territoire pratiquement vierge 4 . Il faut dire que le sort s'est acharné. Paul de la Bigne-Villeneuve a fait une communication le 13 juillet 1853 qui n'a jamais été publiée sur les premières entrées des ducs bretons, qui contient « de curieux détails puisés dans les actes originaux inédits et conservés aux archives de la ville, concernant diverses entrées solennelles de ducs de Bretagne et de rois de France à Rennes : notamment l'entrée du duc François II en 1467 ; celle de la duchesse Anne, reine de France, en 1498, après la mort de Charles VIII ; une seconde entrée, non exécutée, de la même princesse, en 1505, après la maladie de Louis XII ; l'entrée du duc François III, fils du roi François I er et de la reine Claude, en 1532 ; enfin [p. 94] les préparatifs projetés pour l'entrée que devait faire le roi Charles IX en 1565. Tous ces documents, outre des descriptions pittoresques et très-curieuses des coutumes et des usages de l'époque, fournissent de nombreux renseignements bons à recueillir, tels que noms d'artistes, prix de main d'oeuvre, etc 5 . ». Céleste Couture n'a pas pu mener à terme sa thèse sur les entrées en Bretagne aux XV e et XVI e siècles entamée en 2003 6 . Plusieurs mémoires de maîtrise apportent un éclairage dans le cadre d'un diocèse, mais pour une période postérieure à celle qui nous intéresse 7 . Dans ce contexte, nous pensons pouvoir faire oeuvre utile en tentant d'esquisser une vue d'ensemble sur les neuf évêchés bretons avant le milieu du XVI e siècle.

Il tema dell'aristocrazia territoriale e del suo ruolo nella costituzione del ducato visconteo-sforzesco è stato marginalizzato dalla storiografia politico-istituzionale in favore di un paradigma interpretativo centrato su un modello di stato territoriale a base urbana. Diverse ricerche recenti, tuttavia, hanno mostrato la necessità di complicare tale modello e di sottoporlo verifiche puntuali nelle sue articolazioni locali, rimarcando la pluralità di attori e di linguaggi politici che anima una dialettica non costringibile nell'alveo del rapporto preferenziale principe-città. Questo contributo si propone di sottolineare alcuni aspetti della complessa interazione fra i grandi casati signorili e un potere ducale non sempre in grado di preseguire un coerente sforzo di disciplinamento dell'aristocrazia, che mantiene almeno fino alla metà del XVI secolo un forte ascendente sulla società lombarda.

Argues that hunting was a game to the aristocracy, that that game presented a nostalgic vision of society as a feudal hierarchy, and that the meaning of the game changed moving into the fifteenth century due to pressure from the gentry imitating the nobility.

Le Roman des bannerets de Bretagne est le récit mythiques des origines des bannerets bretons dont le commanditaire fut peut-être Etienne Gouyon, maréchal puis amiral de Bretagne. Une ancienne liste traditionnellement datée de 1214 ne comporte en fait pas que des bannerts et daterait plutôt d'entre 1205 et 1207. Une autre liste reprise pas Le Baud, le faussaire Delvincourt et un document, de travail d'Argentré a été composée pour sa première partie dans une perspective généalogique peut-être pour glorifier les bannerets du partie de Charles de Blois lors de la guerre de succession de Bretagne. Les érections de nouvelles bannières sont étudiées ainsi que les querelles de précéance aux États de Bretagne. La distinction associé aux bannerets jusqu'alors faite aux États de Bretagne disparue suite à une ordonnance royale de 1623.

Um cavaleiro não nascia cavaleiro: fazia-se. Por essa razão, a investidura ou adubamento tornou-se um evento de capital importância. Este artigo pretende analisar tal cerimónia sob dois prismas. Começar-se-á por tentar perceber os significados que ela foi assumindo ao longo do período cronológico definido. Na segunda parte, analisa-se o ritual propriamente dito, tentando descrevê-lo e procurando compreender a simbologia que lhe estava associada. Para cumprir estes propósitos cruzam-se diferentes tipologias de fontes: crónicas, livros de linhagens, obras de cariz legislativo e tratadístico, recorrendo-se ainda a documentação de carácter diplomático. Ao longo do texto procurar-se-á manter uma perspetiva comparativa com outras realidades peninsulares, não perdendo também de vista o que entretanto se passava nos territórios além-Pirenéus.

The ritual of dubbing to knighthood assumed since an early stage a capital importance, given that it was the necessary step to become a knight. This article will focus on this ceremony, dividing its analysis in two main parts. First, it will try to understand the different meanings of the ritual on the selected period. On the second part, the aim is to focus on the ritual itself, trying to describe how it was processed and analyzing the simbology of each step. As sources, this study uses chronicles, genealogical literature, legislative compilations, chivalric treatises and diplomatic documents. Throughout the text, there will be a comparative view with the rest of the Iberian kingdoms and also with other European regions.

The article deals with the construction of the narrative on the battle of Krbava Field where numerous Croatian noblemen lost their lives in 1493. The accounts on the battle spread immediately after the battle, offering couple of versions of the events. Second part of the article is devoted to the rhetoric used for maintaining the narrative in the period from the sixteenth century to eighteenth century, while the third examines the circumstances leading to the increase in political and social importance of the narrative in the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. The final part of the article focuses on the history of the narrative of the battle within the framework of various Croatian state formations of the twentieth century.

Des alpes desertae [...] et deteriores : voilà ce que les chartreux de Santa Maria di Pesio auraient reçu, dans les années 1170, de leurs bienfaiteurs seigneuriaux et ruraux, les domini de Morozzo et le populus de Chiusa 1 . Stefano di Crivolo, prieur et chroniqueur de la chartreuse présente ainsi, à la fin du XV e siècle, le contenu des premières donations en faveur de son monastère. En vérité, et bien que la chronique suive attentivement l'ancien cartulaire monastique 2 , il s'agit, ici, plus d'une invention de la tradition chartreuse destinée à magnifier les accomplissements des moines et de leurs convers que d'une description appliquée des possessions monastiques de la fin du XII e siècle. En effet, ces alpes n'étaient, alors, ni désertes ni de mauvaise qualité. Elles n'étaient point désertes, car, en s'humanisant toujours plus, elles étaient considérées désormais comme des enjeux de pouvoir et apparaissaient, dès lors, comme les lieux de la concurrence, voire du conflit, entre les seigneurs laïcs, les communautés religieuses et les droits des usagers paysans de la montagne. Elles n'étaient guère usées ou fanées, au vu d'une exploitation bien assise et de l'indiscutable rentabilité de leurs pâturages qu'attestaient aussi bien la multiplication des exemptions de péage pour les greges, les oves et les armenta monastiques que l'essor d'une transhumance à longue distance souvent marquée par l'arrivée de troupeaux issus des monastères cartusiens ainsi que de cheptels en provenance des abbayes cisterciennes de plaine.

Martin Aurell Chivalric culture in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Culture can be defined in two ways, one broad and one narrow. The term includes, firstly, information, practice and technique that allow mankind to control nature and a specific group to adapt to global society. It refers, secondly, to the erudite knowledge, to the artistic works and to any other form of science or creation of the human mind, considered as superior. Each of these two definitions seems to fit in a specific field of human sciences. More extensive, the first one concerns the sociology and even more 'cultural' anthropology, while the second, smaller, is rather used by historians of literature, of art and of science. This second definition of culture is reserved for the most sophisticated forms of knowledge and should not be confused, for example, with the gestures of manual work, with the structures of kinship or with the feast, which are so essential in the ethnological studies. In the categories, as convenient as misleading, in which each academic science tended to close, barely thirty years ago, the broader definition referred to material, popular and oral culture, and the narrow one to spiritual, elitist and writing culture. Nowadays, however, the interdisciplinary method shows us how these epistemological barriers are artificial and reductive 1. They should be abolished to restore the historical phenomenon throughout its life, its deepness and its richness. The medievalist studying chivalry would also be as wrong to move away from the anthropological definition of culture than from its elitist definition. He has indeed to apprehend his object as a whole, which includes values, attitudes, representations, ideology or literary and artistic creations, which he should not separate. For him, it is so important to know how the knight read or wrote a novel, made war, educated children, told a story, listen to a sermon or attended Mass. In other words, we need to know how he held his pen or his Psalter, but also his spear, the sleeve of his lover, his hawk or his spoon. Nonetheless, it would not be reasonable for us to level all these gestures, as if they were equally important in the evolution of the group of knights, who, because of their dominant position, acted as a model for lesser social categories. Perhaps a prisoner of the prejudices of his own socio-professional category, the author of this article believes that the intellectual activities of the aristocratic warriors deserve special treatment, mainly because they mark, in twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a shift in the evolution of Europe. Western culture owes much, including in its modernity, to the literacy of knighthood. Therefore, the literate knight (miles litteratus) will be particularly in the spotlight here. Like any historical object, chivalric culture can only be apprehended from documentary evidence that guides widely the researcher. However, for the Middle Ages, these sources are mainly produced by clerics, who describe in Latin, their elitist language of written communication, some practices that, like war, are prohibited to them. But even if they have received the tonsure and the sacred orders, these intellectuals are not strangers to the realities of chivalry. They only approach them according to mental categories and ecclesiastical values that distort necessarily their descriptions and their narrations, and more their judgments about their actors. While thinking and communicating about chivalry, they configure its ideological boundaries, influencing its evolution. Like them, some rare knights took the pen to write in vernacular: Bertran de Born, Robert de Boron, Snorri Sturluson, Wolfram von Eschenbach… Others chose to sponsor and guide the work of authors and jugglers. Children of William Marshal fostered John Early to write the biography of their father in his memory and in their PAGE 1 1 Some excellent studies about these interactions between the literary culture and the so called cultural culture can be found in Oral Art Forms and their Passage into Writing, ed. E. Mundal, J. Wellendorf, Njalsgade, 2008.

Vers 1250, un noble du Nord de la France commandite une Bible illustrée, dont les images au trait ferme et aux couleurs vives, en l'absence de tout texte, devraient lui rappeler les récits et les prêches qu'il entend depuis son enfance. L'histoire du jeune David y est à l'honneur. Elle fascine d'autant plus l'aristocratie guerrière que ce cadet sans fortune, parti de rien, accède à la royauté grâce à sa seule valeur chevaleresque et à la force de ses armes. Des plus prestigieux dans l'imaginaire généalogique du Moyen Âge, le héros fondateur des maisons nobiliaires répète trop souvent son irrésistible ascension. Le mariage hypergamique, bien au-dessus de sa condition, est l'une des clefs de son succès 1 . Narrées dans I Samuel 18, les tractations pour l'union de David avec Michal, fille du roi Saül, sont peintes avec précision dans l'une des miniatures (Figure en annexe) 2 .