In 932 Juan and Paterna exchanged a vineyard that they owned in Turieno for another in Basieda, given to them by Bagaudano and Faquilona to complete the deal. Bagaudano and Faquilona's acquisition of a vineyard in Turieno comes as no surprise, and is indeed of a piece with many similar transactions completed by this ambitious couple. Rather more interesting though, is the story of how Bagaudano and Faquilona came to possess the vineyard in Basieda in the first place, which can be reconstructed thanks to the narrative content of the charter. Therein we are told that an individual named Toribio handed over the vineyard to Bagaudano and Faquilona in order to meet a judicial fine. Although it has been seen as such, this was no arbitrary seigneurial imposition: Toribio had hidden his brother – a thief – from justice, and Bagaudano and Faquilona received the fine that this crime was deemed to merit at court. Significantly, although Bagaudano and Faquilona held no public office or honorific title, the judicial procedure was framed very clearly within the context of standard public justice; a decision was reached because ‘the law and the truth’ were uncovered. But what sort of justice was this, and who decided what was to be paid as compensation, and to whom? Moreover, was this not more properly the business of the count?

This brief vignette brings us face to face with one of the central dilemmas of any study of tenth-century Christian Spain, namely, the role of authority figures and the frameworks within which they operated. This chapter will consider these matters afresh, examining how, in what ways, and by whom the Liébana was governed. It will also look at what it was that powerful people seem to have done in the Liébana, paying particular attention to what their political and social functions tell us about how wider society worked.

Public power

Public power is a term that causes consternation among early medievalists. This is because it is frequently used without clear definition and has held such a wide range of associations and meanings that it risks complicating rather than clarifying any understanding of medieval politics and society.