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From the Keep to the the Court. The two ages of Castellan Peerage in Northern France, Flanders and Lotharingia (late 11th-13th c.). (1st 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.

Hermits and Solitude in the first Vie des Pères. The desert fathers are not the main subject matter of the Old French Vie des Pères. Notwithstanding its clear links with the patristic tradition, the text is resolutely contemporary, firmly rooted in the thirteenth century. Eremitism represents a symbolic ideal and solitude a literary tool. Even if hermits are often found at the centre of a narrative, their role in the spiritual life of the protagonists, or even as protagonists, is functional. The anonymous author seeks to preach confession and underline the importance of charitable works. His text tells of a contemporary world inhabited by recognisable characters; this “humanist” author seeks to reconcile happiness in the world with spiritual salvation. For him, the most important and content characters are not hermits, anchorites and recluses but rather those people who manage to accomplish what is a contradictory and yet achievable quest.

The Prince as God's Minister on Earth. Defining the Prince in the work of Jean de Salisbury (Policraticus, IV, 1). The present article proposes a new interprétation of a passage in John of Salisbury's Policraticus. Book IV of the Policraticus (in which the prince and his duties are described) first defines the prince by contrast with the tyrant. Est ergo tiranni et principis haec differentia sola uel maxima quod hic legi obtemperat et eius arbitrio populum regit cuius se credit ministrum (Pol., IV, 1,1-3, éd. K.S.B. KEATS-ROHAN ). The quoted sentence raises a key issue: to what extent is the prince subject to the laws or to (divine) Law? Modern translations read the latter part of the definition as meaning that the prince should serve his people. The article shows that grammar allows a different reading: the prince should rule according to the will of his master, namely God. It posits that the definition includes elements from Paul's Epistle to to the Romans, which comes through as a major source of inspiration throughout Book IV in the Policraticus.

Trois fuelles d'erbe a pris entre ses piez. Inquiry into Mort Begon in Garin le Loherain. After a brief survey of how the epic material is structured in Garin le Loherain and in Gerbert de Metz, a detailed summary of the first series of military exploits in Garin le Loherain takes readers to the point when Duke Bégon de Belin is murdered in the woods of Lens. Within a few lines the fatally wounded duke settles his duty as a Christian and in his solitude and the urgency of the moment he somehow partakes of the sacrament of the Eucharist with the help of three blades of grass. A close reading of these few lines and of the several variations to be found in some twenty preserved manuscripts makes it possible to be specific about the nature of this gesture (which is repeated in the context of a later murder) and to compare it with the opinions of theologians in the 12th and 13th centuries. An appendix brings together what can be found about this episode in the three prose texts of the Loherains as well as about twenty epic or romance passages in which a similar emergency religious practice is mentioned.

The Power of Bishops, Counts and Members of the Nobility, about a new orientation in the canonical structure in Flanders (11th century-first half of the 12th century). By 1155 there were 57 canonical communities in the county of Flanders. 24 of them housed secular canons who were supposed to adhere to the 816 Regula Aquensis while the 33 others had developed in the spirit of the 11th century reform movement. These regular canons tried to live an apostolic life of complete poverty, communality and chastity. The situation in 1155, however, resulted from a remarkable restructuring of the canonical landscape. Indeed from the last decade of the 11th century onward a radical re-organisation was implemented within the many secular chapters. Among the 55 secular chapters founded before 1155 31 converted back to a more austere way of life. Ten opted for the monastic rule as Benedictine priories or as independent abbeys. With only three exceptions the remaining 21 chapters turned to the regular counterpart of the canonical order and adhered to one of the canonical congregations that were thriving in Flanders at the time: Arrouaise or Prémontré. Sources (most of which are charters and some narrative works) may explain this development through the huge appeal that the new ideas radiated among various social layers and through the need to restore existing secular chapters. However, some clues may indicate that this radical change might be interpreted as a deliberate attempt on the part of those bishops that supported the change to substract collegiate churches from the influence of lay people.