Libellus de batalla facienda: Judicial Combat in Catalonia from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Century

This article gives an overview of the evolution of trial by combat in the Principality of Catalonia, culminating in a study of this interesting treaty that, because of historiographic circumstances, is relatively unknown to most academics. The Libellus de batalla facienda is a brief Catalan legal treatise that regulated judicial combat in the Principality of Catalonia, especially Barcelona. There are some characteristics to it that make it unique. Written in around 1255, it is not only very early for its time, but is also a very clear and detailed description of the formalities and the procedures that the two combatants had to go through before, during, and after the fight. Written in a down-to-earth fashion, it starts with the prearrangements – such as guarantees and pledges, or the oath taking – before detailing the preparation of the lliça – the battleground. It continues with a description of the rules for combat and finally ends with regulations regarding the outcome and its aftermath. The Libellus ultimately provides historians with a testimony of a common practice used to resolve legal issues that stems from a long tradition with its roots in the eleventh century

The Wheel of Justice: Court Procedure, Conflict Resolution and Narratives in Medieval Catalonia (950-1130)

[eng] This doctoral thesis presents an analysis of the judicial procedure in Catalonia between the years 950 and 1130. Catalan Archives preserve an exceptional number of documents related to justice which thanks to recent and systematic publication are now available for extensive research. Its aim is to analyse the change of legal procedure of a society in the midst of the process of feudalisation. To do so the work introduces a new method of the visualisation that allows for a detailed analysis of legal conflicts: The Wheel of Justice. The main body of the thesis is divided into three chapters that follow the inherent chronological order of court cases: Preludes, Trial and Resolution. In the first the work deals with dimensions - the place and the date as well as the necessary prearrangements for trials. The second part focuses on the trial itself: the composition of the tribunal and its attendees and the dynamics of the courts. This chapter pays special attention to judicial ordeals and duels in the practice of conflict resolution, as well as the abandonment of trials and their political, social and legal significance. Finally, the last chapter addresses new forms of resolution to highlight changes to the system. The thesis aims to provide new insight into the continuities and transformations that took place in Catalonia during this period, and what role the courts and the administrators of justice played as well as how these processes were narrated.[cat] Aquesta tesi doctoral presenta una anàlisi del procediment judicial a Catalunya entre els anys 950 i 1130. Els arxius catalans conserven un nombre excepcional de documents relacionats amb la justícia que gràcies a la publicació recent i sistemàtica ja estan disponibles per a una extensa investigació. El seu objectiu és analitzar el canvi de procediment legal d’una societat en ple procés de feudalització. Per fer-ho, el treball introdueix un nou mètode de visualització que permet fer una anàlisi detallada dels conflictes legals: la roda de la justícia. El cos principal de la tesi es divideix en tres capítols que segueixen l’ordre cronològic inherent dels casos judicials: preludis, judici i resolució. A la primera part, l'obra tracta de les dimensions: el lloc i la data, així com els prolegòmens necessaris per a les proves. La segona part se centra en el judici en si mateix: la composició del tribunal i els seus assistents i la dinàmica dels tribunals. Aquest capítol presta especial atenció a les proves i als duels judicials en la pràctica de la resolució de conflictes, així com a l’abandonament dels processos i la seva importància política, social i jurídica. Finalment, l'últim capítol tracta de noves formes de resolució per ressaltar els canvis al sistema. La tesi pretén donar una nova visió de les continuïtats i transformacions que es van produir a Catalunya durant aquest període, quin paper van tenir els tribunals i els administradors de justícia, així com la manera com es van narrar aquests processos

Liturgical Framing of Trials in 10th to 11th Century Catalonia

This paper focuses on the question of how place, time, ritual, and liturgy were interconnected before, during, and after trials in the tenth and eleventh centuries in what is today Catalonia. It does so by highlighting cases that show that Visigothic law heavily affected the way in which trials were organized, while simultaneously leaving enough space for the liturgy and the divine to impact legal customs. This article aims to showcase these dynamics, which combine space and time with liturgy in a well-articulated framework of legal procedure that formed part of how people experienced the law and its application