| Titre | Du donjon au tribunal. : Les deux âges de la pairie châtelaine en France du Nord, Flandre et Lotharingie (fin XIe-XIIIe s.) (2e partie) | |
|---|---|---|
| Auteur | Jean-François Nieus | |
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Revue | Le Moyen Age |
| Numéro | tome 112, no 2, 2006 | |
| Page | 307-336 | |
| Résumé anglais |
From the Keep to the the Court. The two ages of Castellan Peerage in Northern
France, Flanders and Lotharingia (late 11th-13th c.). (2d part)
In some fifty major castles (seats of castellanies, of second-rank counties or of
principalities) in the North of France and the South of Flanders, and to a lesser extent
in Lotharingia, small group of knights – usually around twelve – started to use the title
of “castle peers” (pares castri) from the end of the 11th century. Only those who owned
specific fiefs, called “peerage fiefs”, which involved well-defined services to the
castle, could belong to such colleges of knights. Both the origin and the functions of
this so far little known institution are here interpreted anew on the basis of all
acknowledged instances in available sources. An introductive chapter offers a survey
of the various groups of castle peers, accounting for their geographical distribution
and examining clues that establish the beginning of the phenomenon at the turn of the
12th century (first part of the article, published here). Next we try to define the original
situation of those peers, using the unwieldy tools offered by late documents that focus
more on changes the institution was subject to at the end of the 12th century (second
part of the article, to be published in the next issue). The members of the peerage seem
to have been the elite among the nobility of the territory dominated by the castle to
which they were linked. Several clues indicate that their service was originally of a
military nature: the peers were responsible for defending the castle where they would
serve for a long yearly period of guard (called estage). It was suggested that the
institution appeared in the 11th century at the time when a “deconcentration” of the
castellan society was beginning, and that it made it possible for the most
distinguished among the milites castri to maintain a priviledged relationship with the
castle and its protective structures, while at the same time dramatically standing out
among the lower vassals involved in the castle-controlled network. At the turn of the
13th century peerage entered a second stage: as the castellan lordship turned away
from a military structure, its warlike function rapidly faded and was often replaced
by a jurisdictional function developed in the context of the feudal court or of the
overlord's or prince's tribunal. However its social function remained unchanged. Source : Éditeur (via Cairn.info) |
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| Article en ligne | http://www.cairn.info/article.php?ID_ARTICLE=RMA_122_0307 |
