¹ The standard edition is Vinyals, Ramon d'Abadal i and Taberner, Ferran Valls, eds., Usatges de Barcelona, Textes de dret català, 1 (Barcelona, 1913); a new critical edition is in preparation (Martín, Antonio Pérez, “Hacia una edición crítica del texto latino de los Usatges de Barcelona,” Glossae: Revista de historia del derecho europeo 7 [1995]: 9–32). I use here instead Bastardas, Joan, ed., Usatges de Barcelona: El codi a mitjan segle XII, 2d ed., Textos i documents, 6 (Barcelona, 1991), although I maintain the traditional numbering of articles, abbreviated “Us.” The following abbreviations are also used: ACA = Barcelona, Arxiu de la Corona d'Aragó [unless otherwise noted, reference is to the series Cancelleria reial, Pergamins] Alfonso II = Ana Isabel Casabón, Sénchez, ed., Alfonso II Rey de Aragón, Conde de Barcelona y Marqués de Provenza. Documentos (1162–1196), Fuentes históricas aragonesas, 23 (Zaragoza, 1995) [cited by document number] CPF = Font Rius, José M., ed., Cartas de población y franquicia de Cataluña, vol. 1 (in 2 parts), Textos, Consejo superior de investigaciones científicas, Publicaciones de la Sección de Barcelona, 17, Escuela de estudios medievales, Textos, 36 (Barcelona, 1969) [cited by document number] DACU = Baraut, Cebrià, “Els documents … l'Arxiu Capitular de la Seu d'Urgell,” Urgellia 2 (1979): 7–145; 3 (1980): 7–166; 4 (1981): 7–186; 5 (1982): 7–158; 6 (1983): 7–243; 7 (1984–85): 7–218; 8 (1986–87): 7–149; 9 (1988–89): 7–312, 403–570; 10 (1990–91): 7–349, 473–625; 11 (1992–93): 7–160 [cited by document number] DI = de Bofarull, Próspero y Mascaró, et al., eds., Colección de documentos inéditos del Archivo general de la Corona de Aragón, 50 vols, to date (Barcelona, 1847–) [cited by volume and document number] GMLC = Bassols de Climent, M. et al., eds., Glossarium mediae latinitatis Cataloniae: Voces latinas y romances documentadas en fuentes catalanas del año 800 al 1100, 1 vol. to date (Barcelona, 1960–) LFM = Rosell, Francisco Miquel, ed., Liber feudorum maior: Cartulario real que se conserva en el Archivo de la Corona de Aragón, 2 vols., Textos y estudios de la Corona de Aragón, 1–2 (Barcelona, 1945–47) [cited by document number] Portions of this paper were originally presented at the annual meetings of the American Historical Association (New York, 1997) and the Medieval Academy of America (Georgetown University, 1999), as well as to the seminar of Prof. Daniel Smail (Fordham University, 1999). I am grateful to the audiences and participants on those occasions for their thoughtful questions and suggestions. Special thanks are due to Elizabeth A. R. Brown for her help with the final version. Robert Scott (Electronic Text Service, Butler Library, Columbia University) prepared an electronic version of the Usatges Google Scholar

² Modern scholars distinguish between “codes” (systematic, officially promulgated collections of legal texts) and “compilations” (non-systematic or unofficial collections); see, e.g., Pennington, Kenneth, “Law Codes: 1000–1500,” in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. Strayer, Joseph R. (New York, 1982–89), 7:425–31, at 425. The Usatges are generally labeled a “code” based either on their “official” promulgation (by Ramon Berenguer I or Ramon Berenguer IV) or on their later inclusion in the Constitucions de Catalunya. It is more accurate for the eleventh and twelfth centuries to refer as I do here to a “compilation” — a collection for use by judges rather than officially promulgated legislation — as Ramon Berenguer IV does not seem to have issued the Usatges formally; the only evidence for promulgation points to Ramon Berenguer I and, as indicated below (pp. 60–62), it is false.Google Scholar

³ Jaume I's prohibition in 1251 of the use of Roman, Visigothic, and canon law in the royal courts is the first certain indication of such a recognition: “fiant in omni causa seculari allegationes secundum Usaticos Barchinone” (Cortes de los antiguos reinos de Aragón y de Valencia y Principado de Cataluña [Madrid, 1896–1922], no. 21, c. 3, 1:138).Google Scholar

⁴ On the work of this commission, see Ramon d'Abadal i de Vinyals (with J. Rubió i Balaguer), “Notes sobre la formació de les compilacions de Constitucions i altres Drets de Catalunya i de Capitols de Corts referents al General,” in de Vinyals, Abadal i, Dels Visigots als Catalans, ed. Callicó, Jaume Sobrequés i, 3d ed., Col-lecció estudis i documents, 13–14 (Barcelona, 1986), 2:381–403 (originally published with documentary appendix in Estudis universitaris Catalans 4 [1910]: 409–45); Font Rius, Josep M., ed., Constitucions de Catalunya: Incunable de 1495, Textos jurídics Catalans, Lleis i costums, 4/1 (Barcelona, 1988), xvii-xl; Martín, Antonio Pérez, “Génesis de las Compilaciones del Derecho Catalán,” Studia Gratiana 29 (1998): 685–708.Google Scholar

⁵ The 1495 edition is reprinted as Rius, Font, ed., Constitucions de Catalunya. 1588–89 edition: Constitutions y altres drets de Cathalunya compilats en virtut del cap. de Cort XXIIII. de las Corts per la s. c. y reyal maiestat del rey Don Philip nostre senyor celebradas en la vila de Montso any M.D.LXXXV., 3 vols. [vols. 2 and 3 have different titles] (Barcelona, 1588–89). 1704 edition: Constitutions y altres drets de Cathalunya compilats en virtut del capitol de Cort LXXXII. de las Corts per la s. c. y r. majestat del rey Don Philip IV. nostre senyor celebradas en la ciutat de Barcelona any M.DCCII., 3 vols. [vols. 2 and 3 have different titles] (Barcelona, 1704); reprinted as Josep M. Pons i Guri, ed., Constitutions y altres drets de Cathalunya …, Textos jurídics Catalans, Lleis i costums, 4/2 (Barcelona, 1995).Google Scholar

⁶ Fernàndez, Joan Egea i and Escoda, Josep Maria Gay i, “Eficàcia de les normes a la tradició jurídica catalana des de la Baixa Edat Mitjana fins al Decret de Nova Planta,” Revista jurídica de Cataluña 78 (1979): 249–94, 505–86; Kagay, Donald J., trans., The Usatges of Barcelona: The Fundamental Law of Catalonia (Philadelphia, 1994), 49–51, 54. Debate exists as to the official character and the effectiveness of the compilation in its various stages. Font Rius argues, for example, that despite the fact that the 1495 printed edition is presented as the completion of the 1413–22 project, the number of manuscripts of the latter indicates that it was seen as authoritative. As for the later edition, he writes: “aquesta edició del 1495, si no una validesa oficial, es pot dir que la tingué oficiosa” (Rius, Font, ed., Constitutions de Catalunya, xxxviii-xl, lxv). Cf. contra, Pérez Martín, “Génesis,” 706–7.Google Scholar

⁷ For recent surveys of the historiography see Kagay, , trans., The Usatges, 51–57; Pons i Guri, J. M., “El dret als segles VIII-XI,” in Symposium international sobre els orígens de Catalunya (segles VIII-XI) (Barcelona, 1991), 1:131–59, at 148–54; Martorell, Frederic Udina and Udina i Abelló, Antoni M., “Consideracions a l'entorn del nucli originari dels Usatici Barchinonae,” in La formació i expansió del feudalisme català: Actes del col-loqui organitzat pel Col-legi universitari de Girona, 8–11 de gener de 1985: Homenatge a Santiago Sobrequés i Vidal , ed. Comas, Jaume Portella i, Estudi general, 5–6 (Girona, 1985–86), 87–104, at 87–92; and especially Parera, Joan Bastardas i, Sobre la problemàtica dels Usatges de Barcelona (Barcelona, 1977), 13–18. For a systematic treatment of the sources of the Usatges , see de Brocá, Guillermo M., Historia del derecho de Cataluña … (Barcelona, 1918), 142–79.Google Scholar

⁸ Thus the Usatges need to be considered as part of a group of codes, compilations, and other legal texts from these years, including the laws of Duke Bretislaw I of Bohemia (Cosmas of Prague, Die Chronik der Böhmen, ed. Bretholz, Berthold, MGH Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, n.s., 2 [Berlin, 1923; repr. Munich, 1980], 2.4 [pp. 86–88]), the laws of Stephen of Hungary (Bak, János M., Bónis, György, and Sweeney, James Ross, eds., The Laws of the Medieval Kingdom of Hungary, 1000–1526, vol. 1, 1000–1301, The Laws of Hungary, ser. 1, 1 [Bakersfield, Calif., 1989], 1–11), the Assizes of Ariano (Zecchino, Ortensio, ed., Le Assise di Ariano [Cava dei Tirreni, 1984]), and various twelfth-century English compilations (see, e.g., O'Brien, Bruce R., God's Peace and King's Peace: The Laws of Edward the Confessor [Philadelphia, 1999]; Patrick Wormald, The Making of English Law: King Alfred to the Twelfth Century, vol. 1, Legislation and Its Limits [Oxford, 1999], 224–55), as well as texts such as the Constitutio de feudis of Emperor Conrad II (Weiland, Ludwig, ed., Constitutiones et acta publica imperatorum et regum, vol. 1, Inde ab a. DCCCCXI ad a. MCXCVII, MGH Legum sectio 4, vol. 1 [Hanover, 1893; repr. 1963], no. 45, pp. 89–91) and the Consuetudines et iusticie of William II of Normandy (Haskins, Charles Homer, Norman Institutions [Cambridge, Mass., 1918; repr. New York, 1960], 277–84). Some of these texts share formal characteristics. The twelfth-century English compilation known as the Quadripartitus contains, for example, a multiple prologue similar to the one found in the Usatges; see Sharpe, Richard, “Appendix: The Prefaces of Quadripartitus” in Law and Government in Medieval England and Normandy: Essays in Honour of Sir James Holt , ed. Garnett, George and Hudson, John (Cambridge, 1994), 148–72. The approaches of historians of canon law who work with “intermediate collections” hint at promising directions for the analysis of this group of sources: e.g., Brett, Martin, “The Sources and Influence of Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal MS 713,” in Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of Medieval Canon Law, Munich, 13–18 July 1992 , ed. Landau, Peter and Mueller, Joers, Monumenta iuris canonici, Series C: Subsidia, 10 (Vatican City, 1997), 149–67. See also Bonnassie, Pierre, La Catalogue du milieu du X ^e à la fin du XI ^e siècle: Croissance et mutations d'une société, Publications de l'Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, série A, 23, 29 (Toulouse, 1975–76), 2:723; Giordanengo, Gérard, “Le pouvoir législatif du roi de France (XI^e–XIII^e siècles): Travaux récents et hypothèses de recherche,” Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes 147 (1989): 283–310; de Montagut Estragués, Tomàs, “El renacimiento del poder legislativo y la Corona de Aragón (s. XIII-XV),” in Renaissance du pouvoir législatif et genèse de l'état , ed. Gouron, André and Rigaudière, Albert, Publications de la Société d'histoire du droit et des institutions des anciens pays de droit écrit, 3 (Montpellier, 1988), 165–77. Professors Bruce O'Brien and Robert Somerville suggested a number of these parallels.Google Scholar

⁹ Bonnassie, , La Catalogue, 2:728–33, 764, 766, 777; Udina i Abelló, Antoni M., “Els Usatges de Barcelona,” in Documents jurídics de la història de Catalunya, 2d ed. (Barcelona, 1992), 75–84, at 77. For the “feudal revolution,” see Bisson, Thomas N., “The ‘Feudal Revolution,’” Past & Present 142 (1994): 6–42, and Barthélemy, Dominique et al., “Debate: The ‘Feudal Revolution,”’ Past & Present 152 (1996): 196–223; 155 (1997): 177–225.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Kagay, , trans., The Usatges Google Scholar

¹¹ Martorell, Udina and Abelló, Udina i, “Considerations,” 92–94, 96. Cf. Ferreirós, Aquilino Iglesia, “La creatión del derecho en Cataluña,” Anuario de historia del derecho español 47 (1977): 99–423, at 254–61.Google Scholar

¹² Bonnassie, , La Catalogne, 2:715.Google Scholar

¹³ Miret y Sans, Joaquim, “Los noms personals y geogràfichs de la encontrada d'Organyà en los segles X^è y XI^è,” Boletín de la Real academia de buenas letras de Barcelona 8 (1915–16): 414–44, 522–46, no. 60, p. 435 (a. 1065); ACA Ramon Berenguer III 202 [= CPF 49; LFM 245] (a. 1118), Ramon Berenguer IV 62 [= LFM 459; DI 4:17] (a. 1136). See Martorell, Udina and Abelló, Udina i, “Considerations,” 95; Bastardas i Parera, Sobre la problemàtica, 46–48; Shideler, John C., A Medieval Catalan Noble Family: The Montcadas, 1000–1230, Publications of the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 20 (Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1983), 92 n. 15.Google Scholar

¹⁴ E.g., Gergen, Thomas, “Texttradition der Usatges de Barcelona am Beispiel von pau e treva und den XXX passes (sagreres) der katalanischen Friedenskonzilien,” in Dulce et decorum est philologiam colere: Festschrift für Dietrich Briesemeister zu seinem 65. Geburtstag, ed. Große, Sybille and Schönberger, Axel (Berlin, 1999), 257–77; Boscá Codina, José V., ”Anteqvam vsatici fuissent. … La escritura impone la ley (Cataluña, ss. X-XII),” Estudis castellonencs 6 (1994–95): 225–33; Gouron, André, “Aux origines de l'influence des glossateurs en Espagne,” Historia. Instituciones. Documentos 10 (1983): 325–46 (repr. in idem, Études sur la diffusion des doctrines juridiques médiévales [London, 1987], VI). I have been unable to consult Gouron, “Sur la compilation des Usages de Barcelone au douzième siècle,” in El dret comú i Catalunya: Actes del VIII simposi internacional, Barcelona, 29–30 de maig de 1998 , ed. Aquilino Iglesia Ferreirós, Estudis, 18 (Barcelona, 1999).Google Scholar

¹⁵ E.g., Rubio García, L., “Comparación entre el texto latino y el catalán de los Usatges de Barcelona,” Glossae: Revista de historia del derecho europeo 7 (1995): 33–50; de Revenga Torres, Pilar Díez and Díaz, Isabel García, “Manuscritos y copistas: Los Usatici Barcinonae,” Glossae: Revista de historia del derecho europeo 7 (1995): 81–99; Philipp-Sattel, Sabine, Parlar bellament en vulgar: Die Anfänge der katalanischen Schriftkultur im Mittelalter, ScriptOralia, 92 (Tübingen, 1996), 57–61.Google Scholar

¹⁶ See Kosto, Adam J., Making Agreements in Medieval Catalonia: Power, Order, and the Written Word, 1000–1200, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 4th ser., 51 (Cambridge, 2001).Google Scholar

¹⁷ E.g., Kottje, Raymund, “Die Lex Baiuvariorum — das Recht der Baiern,” in Überlieferung und Geltung normativer Texte des frühen und hohen Mittelalters: Vier Vorträge, gehalten auf dem 35. Deutschen Historikertag 1984 in Berlin, ed. Mordek, Hubert, Quellen und Forschungen zum Recht im Mittelalter, 4 (Sigmaringen, 1986), 9–23; McKitterick, Rosamond, The Carolingians and the Written Word (Cambridge, 1989), 40–60.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Notably: Bonnassie, , La Catalogne, 2:711–28; Parera, Bastardas i, Sobre la problemàtical Udina Martorell and Udina i Abelló, “Consideracions.” Google Scholar

¹⁹ Giraud, Charles, Essai sur l'histoire du droit français au Moyen Âge (Paris, 1846), 2:465–509. For a detailed account of the contents of various manuscripts and printed editions, see Pérez Martín, “Hacia una edición,” 9–29.Google Scholar

²⁰ In the 1588–89 edition, the articles are listed, but no page numbers appear beside them. The list in the 1704 edition gives a location for Us. 136, but it is incorrect. The numbers associated with the various articles first appear in the index of 1588–89.Google Scholar

²¹ In fact, Us. 170–74 became a standard part of the Usatges only with the compilation of 1412–23, while the commission omitted from its work Us. 51, in addition to the three articles that are absent from the printed editions (Us. 97, 136, 166).Google Scholar

²² Antiquiores Barchinonensium leges, quas vulgus Usaticos appellat, cum comentariis supremorum iurisconsultorum Iacobi a Monte Iudaico, Iacobi et Guielermi a Vallesicca et Iacobi Calicii, cum indice copiosissimo non antea excussæ (Barcelona, 1544).Google Scholar

²³ Martín, Pérez, “Hacia una edición,” 19–20.Google Scholar

²⁴ Ibid. (quotation at 29).Google Scholar

²⁵ On the concept of a “vulgate” text of the Usatges , see Besta, Enrico, ”Usatici ed usi curiali di Barcellona,” Rendic. Istit. Lombardo 58 (1925): 637–52, at 639; Mor, Carlo Guido, “En torno a la formación del texto de los Usatici Barchinonae,” Anuario de historia del derecho español 27–28 (1957–58): 413–59, at 427; Rius, Font, ed., Constitutions de Catalunya, lxxviii.Google Scholar

²⁶ Us. 3 (Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 2, p. 50): “CVM DOMINVS Raimundus Berengarii uetus, comes et marchio Barchinone atque Ispanie subiugator, habuit honorem et uidit et cognouit quod in omnibus causis et negociis ipsius patrie leges gotice non possent obseruari, et eciam uidit multas querimonias et placita que ipse leges specialiter non iudicabant, laude et consilio suorum proborum hominum, una cum prudentissima coniuge sua Adalmode, constituit et misit usaticos cum quibus fuissent omnes querimonie et malefacta, in eis inserta, districte et placitate et iudicate atque ordinate seu eciam emendate uel uindicate.” Google Scholar

²⁷ Barrau Dihigo, L. and Massó Torrents, J., eds., Gesta comitum Barchinonensium, Cròniques catalanes, 2 (Barcelona, 1925), redacció primitiva, c. 4 (p. 7): “Hic coram Vgone cardinali et legato Romano, intra palatium Barchinonense, quedam iura et sanctiones instituit que Vsaticos nuncupant, quorum exemplaria per uniuersam regionem nostram hactenus leguntur et obseruantur.” In the first version, this line is misplaced — attributing the Usatges to Ramon Berenguer II — but corrected in the manuscript. The redacció definitiva (c. 11, p. 32) lacks the final clause: “Hic denique comes famosissimus suum optans dominium decorare, coram Vgone cardinali et legato Romano ac suis plurimis magnatibus, intra Barchinonae palatium, supradictorum consilio et assensu, propria quaedam instituit iura, quae Barchinonae Vsaticos nuncupamus, mandauitque ut his constitutionibus omnes comitatus sub Barchinonensis comitatus imperio regerentur.” Google Scholar

²⁸ Us. 4 (Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 3, p. 52): “HEC SVNT VSVALIA de curialibus usibus, quos constituerunt tenere eorum patria omni tempore, dominus Raimundus, Barchinonensis uetus comes et Adalmodis eius coniux, assensione et acclamatione illorum terre magnatum, uidelicet. …” Us. 1 (Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 1, p. 48) begins: “ANTEQVAM VSATICI fuissent missi solebant iudices iudicare ut cuncta malefacta fuissent omni tempore emendata, si non potuerint esse neglecta, per sacramentum uel per bataiam uel per aquam frigidam siue calidam.” Jaume de Montjuïc stops at Us. 128, but refers to later usatges and includes a gloss to Us. 138. The commentary of Jaume Callís ends at Us. 38 (Antiquiores Barchinonensium leges, fols. 103r–105r, 153v–154r, 157r, 158r–160r). See Ficker, Julius, “Ueber die Usatici Barchinonae und deren Zusammenhang mit den Exceptiones Legum Romanorum” Mittheilungen des Instituts für oesterreichische Geschichtsforschung, Ergänzungsband 2.1 (1886): 236–75, at 239–40. Ficker, , “Ueber die Usatici Barchinonae” 245. ³¹ Mor, Carlo Guido, ed., Scritti giuridici preirneriani, vol. 2, Exceptiones legum Romanorum, Orbis romanus, Biblioteca di testi medievali, 10 (Milan, 1938). The date and origin of the Exceptiones are subject to similar debates, with an Italian school arguing for a late-eleventh-century Italian origin for the text, in the face of the German opinion cited here. See Coing, Helmut, ed., Handbuch der Quellen und Literatur der neueren europäischen Privatrechtsgeschichte, vol. 1, Mittelalter (1100–1500): Die gelehrten Rechte und die Gesetzgebung (Munich, 1973), 253–56; Gouron, André, La science juridique française aux XI ^e et XII ^e siècles: Diffusion du droit de Justinien et influences canoniques jusqu'à Gratien, Ius Romanum Medii Aevi I, 4, d-e (Milan, 1978), 42–78 (repr. in idem, Etudes sur la diffusion, II). In either case, the Exceptiones postdate Ramon Berenguer I. Google Scholar

²⁹ Jaume de Montjuic stops at Us. 128, but refers to later usatges and includes a gloss to Us. 138. The commentary of Jaume Callis ends at Us. 38 (Antiquiores Barchinonensium leges, fols. 103r–105r, 153v–154r, 157r, 158r–160r). See Julius Ficker, “Ueber die Usatici Barchinonae und deren Zusammenhang mit den Exceptiones Legum Romanorum ,” Mitiheilungen des Instiiuis für oesierreichische Geschichtsforschung, Ergänzungsband 2.1 (1886): 236–75, at 239–40.Google Scholar

³⁰ Ficker, “Ueber die Usatici Barchinonae,” 245.Google Scholar

³¹ Mor, Carlo Guido, ed., Scritti giuridici preirneriani, vol. 2, Exceptiones legum Romanorum, Orbis romanus, Biblioteca di testi medievali, 10 (Milan, 1938). The date and origin of the Exceptiones are subject to similar debates, with an Italian school arguing for a lateeleventh-century Italian origin for the text, in the face of the German opinion cited here. See Coing, Helmut, ed., Handbuch der Quellen und Literatur der neueren europtiischen Privat-rechtsgeschichte, vol. 1, Mitlelalter (1100–1500): Die gelehrten Rechte und die Gesetzgebung (Munich, 1973), 253–56; André Gouron, La science juridique française aux XI^e et XII^e siecles: Diffusion du droit de Jusiinien et influences canoniques jusqu'à Gratien, Ius Romanum Medii Aevi I, 4, d–e (Milan, 1978), 42–78 (repr. in idem, Études sur la diffusion, II). In either case, the Exceptiones postdate Ramon Berenguer I.Google Scholar

³² Ficker, , “Ueber die Usatici Barchinonae,” esp. 257: “Nach der bisherigen Annahme über die Entstehung des ursprünglichen Rechtsbuches wären die Usatici von den späteren Zusätzen abgesehen eine einheitliche, auf einem Hoftage zu Barcelona 1068 vom Grafen Raimund erlassene Gesetzgebung. Das ist sicher nicht richtig.” See also Mor, , “En torno a la formación”; Bastardas, Sobre la problemàtica Google Scholar

³³ The studies are reprinted in Valls-Taberner, Fernando, Obras selectas, vol. 2, Estudios histórico-jurídicos (Madrid, 1954), 37–95; idem, Los Usatges de Barcelona: Estudios, comentarios y edición bilingüe del texto , ed. Peláez, Manuel J. and Guerra, Enrique M. (Málaga, 1984). Cf. Besta, , ”Usatici ed usi curiali” Kagay (The Usatges, 54–55) ties the scholarly debate over the text to Catalan political history. Valls-Taberner's arguments were associated with his franquista politics (“Valls i Taberner, Ferran,” in Diccionari biogràfic [Barcelona, 1966–70], 4:419), and it is striking that the contribution of Mor appeared in 1958, when Catalans celebrated the 900th anniversary of their law code. Nevertheless it should be noted that Mors article was a reworking of two studies that first appeared in Italian in 1939: “Appunti su di un MS. degli Usatici di Barcellona e sui rapporti tra Usatici, Libro di Tubinga ed Exceptiones Petri” Rendic. Istit. Lombardo 73 (1939–40): 81–93; “Appunti sulla formazione del testo degli Usatici Barchinonae,” in Studi di storia e diritto in onore di Carlo Calisse (Milan, 1940), 1:349–75.Google Scholar

³⁴ Us. 4.2, 5, 6, 7, 13, 27, 28; Bonnassie, , La Catalogue, 2:711–28. See also the comparative chart in Martorell, Udina and Abelló, Udina i, “Consideracions,” 101–4.Google Scholar

³⁵ BNF MS Lat. 4792. The earliest Catalan manuscripts are: ACA, Cancelleria reial, Legislació 1, and Vic, Museu episcopal 157. The following (all Latin) may also be from the thirteenth century: ACA, Ordes religiosos, Santa Maria de Ripoll 39; Madrid, Real academia de la historia 9–9-7/2005; Madrid, BN MS 12691. See Martín, Pérez, “Hacia una edición,” 14, 17–20, 22–25.Google Scholar

³⁶ Bastardas's edition relies on BNF MS Lat. 4792 for language, though not for order. Of the “official” articles, his archetypal codex lacks only 141–44 and 153–74; before additions at the end and marginal notations, it also lacked Us. 82, 85–90, 139–40, and 145–52. See Bastardas, , ed., Usatges; Parera, Bastardas i, Sobre la problemàtica Google Scholar

³⁷ CPF 66 (“iudicabunt supradicti iudices negotia civitatis secundum leges et consuetudines Barchinonensis curie”), 69 (“Iudicabunt supradicti iudices negotia civitatis et territorii secundum leges et bonas consuetudines Barchinone curiae”).Google Scholar

³⁸ ACA Ramon Berenguer IV, sense data 12 [= LFM 511; DI 4:146]. The text of the judgment opens: “Hoc est iudicium a Barchinonensi curia legaliter et usualiter datum” (emphasis added). For other apparent references to the Usatges, see below, n. 61.Google Scholar

³⁹ Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 3, p. 52.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Ibid., c. 68b, p. 106.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Ibid., c. 73a, pp. 110, 112.Google Scholar

⁴² Ibid., c. 65, p. 102.Google Scholar

⁴³ Ibid., c. 79, pp. 116, 118.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ DACU 1869 (“secundum consuetudinem placitandi quam urgellensis ecclesia habet cum militibus suis”); Alfonso II 373 [= LFM 400].Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Alfonso II 25 [= CPF 126] (a. 1165), 62 (a. 1169), 185 [= CPF 153] (a. 1175), 189 (a. 1175).Google Scholar

⁴⁶ LFM 131 (a. 1124/74); cf. contra Ferreirós, Iglesia, “La creación del derecho,” 275.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ CPF 122 (“usaticum Barcinonae civitatis ville”); cf. CPF 53, 120 [= Alfonso II 9].Google Scholar

⁴⁸ ACA Ramon Berenguer IV 305 [= LFM 253; DI 4:99]. See Parera, Bastardas i, Sobre la problemàtica, 42; Guri, Josep Maria Pons i, “Documents sobre aplicació dels Usatges de Barcelona, anteriors al segle XIII,” Acta historica et archaeologica mediaevalia 14–15 (1993–94): 39–46, at 40–41. Us. 31 and 34 have also been proposed.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 65, p. 102.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Ibid., c. 117, p. 150.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Ibid., c. 59, p. 94.Google Scholar

⁵² ACA Ramon Berenguer IV 305 [= LFM 253; DI 4:99] (e.g., “Super hoc iudicaverunt Petrum debere probare per testes vel per averamentum secundum morem Barchinonensis curie”), 333 [= DI 4:113] (“Berengarius debet se expiare per sacramentum quod defendat per duellum si comes voluerit secundum curie consuetudinem”), sense data 11 [= DI 4:145] (“iudicatum est quod vel testibus patrem suum illam adquisicionem fecisse probaret aut secundum curie consuetudinem monstraret Bernardus hoc adquisisse patrem suum per fevum”; “Iudicaverunt supradicti iudices quod Bernardus probaret se perdidisse cum comite que dicebat aut secundum curie sue consuetudinem averaret”). See, e.g., Us. 34 (Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 30, p. 76): “Similiter et milites, si in hostes uel in caualcatas siue in seruicio dominorum suorum aliquid perdiderint, emendent illis seniores eorum sicut auerare potuerint.” Also Us. 57, 79, 91, 112; GMLC, s.vv. aueramentum, auerare. For duellum, below, n. 76 Google Scholar

⁵³ CPF 122 (“faciat directum secundum usaticum Barcinonae civitatis ville”); DACU 1682 (“firmaret directum per ducentas uncias [sicut continetur in usaticis Barchinone]”); LFM 240 [= Alfonso II 181] (“faciam tibi directum pro usu et consuetudine curie mee Barchinonensis”). See Us. 23, 28, 29, 38, 41, 42, 47, 66, 100, 104; GMLC, s.v. directum Google Scholar

⁵⁴ DACU 1725 (“vel per baudiam de qua noluissetis vos escondire secundum usaticum barchinonensis curie”); LFM 27 [= Alfonso II 277] (“ad consuetudinem et fuerum Barchinone in omnibus et per omnia; nec ipse Bertrandus vel sui possit unquam illud perdere, nisi per manifestam et probatam traditionem”). See Us. 40–43, 45, 49, 77, 94, 136; GMLC, s.vv. bauzare, bauzator, bauzia Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Bou, Gener Gonzalvo i, ed., Les constitutions de Pau i Treva de Catalunya (segles XI–XIII), Textos jurídics catalans, Lleis i costums, 2/3 (Barcelona, 1994), no. 15, c. 13, p. 80.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 40, p. 82.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Ibid., c. 42, pp. 82, 84.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Bou, Gonzalvo i, ed., Les constitucions, no. 17, cc. 7, 10, 12, 20–21, pp. 96–100 (“secundum tenorem consuetudinis scripte … prout tenor consuetudinis scripte se habuerit”; “sicut scriptum usaticum comparantur”; “secundum consuetudinem scriptam”; “in nullo derogetur Usatico scripto”; “contra consuetudinem scriptam”). The constitutions were first announced at an assembly at Girona; the final version was issued later at Vilafranca. See Bisson, Thomas N., “The Rise of Catalonia: Identity, Power, and Ideology in a Twelfth-Century Society,” in idem, Medieval France and Her Pyrenean Neighbours: Studies in Early Institutional History, Studies Presented to the International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions, 70 (London, 1989), 125–52, at 148 n. 76 (originally in French as “L'essor de la Catalogne: Identité, pouvoir et idéologie dans une société du XII^e siècle,” Annales: Économies. Sociétés. Civilisations 39 [1984]: 454–79, at 479 n. 76).Google Scholar

⁵⁹ ACA Alfons I 629 [= Alfonso II 555]: “nichil ibi rex retineat sibi preter quam potestatem et fidelitatem quam Guilelmus et sui donent regi et suis irati et paccati quotienscumque requisierint iuxta scriptos usaticos Barchinone.” Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 20, p. 66; DACU 1682.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Above, at n. 38. Commentators have also identified citations of and allusions to Us. 34 and 66. See Parera, Bastardas i, Sobre la problemàtica, 40–42.Google Scholar

⁶² Guri, Pons i, “Documents sobre aplicació.” Google Scholar

⁶³ From the series ACA Ramon Berenguer IV, Alfons I, and Pere I; this estimate does not take into account scores of undated and uninventoried parchments.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ DACU 1509–1906, et al.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Ferreirós, Iglesia, “La creación del derecho”; Kienast, Walther, Studien über die französischen Volksstämme des Frühmittelalters, Pariser historische Studien, 7 (Stuttgart, 1968), 151–70 (c. 3, “Das Fortleben des gotischen Rechtes in Südfrankreich und Katalonien,” trans. Font-Rius, Josep Maria as “La pervivencia del derecho godo en el sur de Francia y Cataluña,” Boletín de la Real academia de buenas letras de Barcelona 35 [1973–74]: 265–95; an earlier German version of this chapter appeared in Album J. Balon [Namur, 1968], 97–115); Zimmermann, Michel, “L'usage du droit wisigothique en Catalogne du IX^e au XII^e siècle: Approches d'une signification culturelle,” Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez 9 (1973): 233–81. See now the thoughtful correctives to this research in Bowman, Jeffrey Alan, “Law, Conflict, and Community around the Year 1000: The Settlement of Disputes in the Province of Narbonne, 985–1060” (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1997), 21–49. For examples of citations and allusions from the period 1151–1200: Iglesia Ferreirós, “La creación del derecho,” nos. 454A–502C, pp. 384–94, passim.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Direct citation: Us. 3. Allusions: Us. 37, 68, 84, 112, 116, and elsewhere. See Brocá, , Historia del derecho, 142–79; Mundó, Anscari M., “Fragment del Libre jutge, versió catalana antiga del Liber iudiciorum,” Estudis universitaris Catalans 26 (1984): 155–93, at 176.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Guri, Pons i, “Documents sobre aplicació,” 43–46 [transcription of Barcelona, Arxiu Capitular, “Libri antiquitatum,” vol. 1, doc. 291], at 45; discussed at 42.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 91, p. 126.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Bach, Antoni, ed., Col-lecció diplomàtica del monestir de Santa Maria de Solsona: El Penedès i altres llocs del comtat de Barcelona (segles X–XV), Fonts i estudis, Sèrie fonts, 1 (Barcelona, 1987), no. 80, p. 117; cited by Guri, Pons i, “Documents sobre aplicació,” 43.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Bach, , ed., Col-lecció, no. 82, p. 119; cited by Guri, Pons i, “Documents sobre aplicació,” 43 n. 18.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 54, p. 90.Google Scholar

⁷² One might argue that evidence for regular, direct citation of the Usatges of the sort common for the Liber iudiciorum is harder to identify because of the absence of a standard name for the compilation (Usatici Barchinone becomes the norm only in the thirteenth century) or a division of the text into numbered books and chapters after the fashion of the Visigothic code (“titles” based on the first few words of each article are established by thirteenth-century commentators). On the other hand, the lack of a name and reference system for the Usatges offers still more evidence for their limited influence before the thirteenth century. I have not been able to pinpoint the crystallization of the name Usatici Barchinone, though the decree of Jaume I in 1251 prohibiting the use of Roman, Visigothic, and canon law in the royal courts offers an outside date (above, n. 3).Google Scholar

⁷³ Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, 13 (emphasis mine).Google Scholar

⁷⁴ Us. 4, 5, 10, 25, 93, 122. Castlanus appears in Us. 32 and 76. See Bonnassie, , La Catalogue, 2:798–99: “Dans les vavasseurs, on peut sans difficulté reconnaître les castlans” Italian influence is suggested by Bisson, Thomas N., “Feudalism in Twelfth-Century Catalonia,” in Structures féodales et féodalisme dans l'Occident méditerranéen (X ^e –XIII ^e siècles): Bilan et perspectives de recherches: École française de Rome, 10–13 octobre 1978, Colloques internationaux du Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 588 (Paris, 1980; also published as Collection de l'École française de Rome, 44 [Rome, 1980]), 173–92, at 192 (repr. with a documentary appendix in idem, Medieval France, 153–78, at 171).Google Scholar

⁷⁵ ACA Ramon Berenguer III 261.1 [= LFM 427]; Ramon Berenguer III 95 [= LFM 159] (a. 1105); Alfons I 668 [= Alfonso II 586] (a. 1193). See Bastardas, Joan, “Sobre el terme jurídic es ‘impediment legal,’” in idem, La llengua catalana mil anys enrere, Biblioteca de cultura catalana, 79 (Barcelona, 1995), 201–13. Bastardas i Parera catalogues twelve appearances of the term es in charters, all from between 1035 and ca. 1080. To these may be added ACA Ramon Berenguer I 153, sense data 3, sense data 20; Extrainventari 4726. Most of these documents are convenientiae Google Scholar

⁷⁶ ACA Ramon Berenguer IV 333 [= DI 4:113] (“Berengarius debet se expiare per sacramentum quod defendat per duellum si comes voluerit secundum curie consuetudinem”). Cf. Us. 1, 27, 45–46, 54, 56–57, 112–13. The term duellum is a rarity, even in charters. See ACA Ramon Berenguer IV 154 [= DI 4:40] (“unum militem qui hoc per duellum defendat”); CPF 120 (“duellum non sit factum”); GMLC, s.vv. batalia (n. 1), duellum Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Us. 36 (Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 33, p. 78): “QVI SOLIDVS est de seniore obtime debet illi seruire uel secundum posse uel secundum illorum conuentionem.” Us. 70 (Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 66, p. 104): “COMVNIE et conueniencie quas inuicem milites et pedites fecerint. …” On the convenientia , see Kosto, , Making Agreements Google Scholar

⁷⁸ Us. 3 (above, n. 26).Google Scholar

⁷⁹ Bonnassie, , La Catalogue, 2:728–32.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 24, p. 70: “DE OMNIBVS NAMQVE comunibus causis non plus oportet quam quatuor esse placita: unum in quo sit directum firmatum per pliuios uel per pignora conuenienter sicut opus erit uel necesse, querimoniis ex utrisque partibus auditis; aliud namque in quo sint querimonie dicte et rationate, et iudicia data a iudicibus ex utrisque partibus electis; tercium quoque in quo sint a iudicibus querimonie et iudicia retracta, et, si opus erit uel necesse, iudicia meliorata: postea sint laudata et auctorizata et ad laudamentum iudicis illorum bene assecurata per pignora ut sint facta, et ibi debent crescere pignora ad laudamentum iudicis illorum; quartum namque in quo dominus placiti recuperet pignora, et, illo ea tenente, sint directa facta et iudicia completa, sicut erunt iudicata et ex utrisque partibus auctorizata.” The Catalan version (c. 24, p. 71) does not translate the phrase “et ibi debent crescere pignora ad laudamentum iudicis illorum,” perhaps because the translator viewed this as implicit in the restatement of the need for pledges at this point.Google Scholar

⁸¹ Conversely, ACA Extrainventari 3462, a late-eleventh-century convenientia, concerns a subject explicitly addressed in Us. 15, namely compensation for imprisonment, but the terms of the settlement do not resemble the procedure set forth in the usatge. On judicial procedure, see Bowman, , “Law, Conflict, and Community,” e.g., 104–12.Google Scholar

⁸² Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, cc. la, 23, 42–43, 50, 54, 83, 89–90, pp. 48, 70, 82, 84, 88, 90, 120, 124, 126.Google Scholar

⁸³ Bonnassie, , La Catalogue, 2:728–32, followed by Bartlett, Robert, Trial by Fire and Water: The Medieval Judicial Ordeal (Oxford, 1986), 51–52.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ My findings here parallel patterns evident in other regions. Stephen White has found that only 10 percent of some 500 recorded disputes involving western French monasteries between 1040 and 1149 included proposals to hold the ordeal, and that in the majority of those cases, the ordeal appears never to have been carried out (“Proposing the Ordeal and Avoiding It: Strategy and Power in Western French Litigation, 1050–1100,” in Cultures of Power: Lordship, Status, and Process in Twelfth-Century Europe, ed. Bisson, Thomas N. [Philadelphia, 1995], 89–123, esp. 90 n. 5). Jeffrey Bowman makes similar observations concerning the ecclesiastical province of Narbonne (“Law, Conflict, and Community,” 149–67).Google Scholar

⁸⁵ Serra, José Rius, ed., Cartulario de ”Sant Cugat” del Vallés, Textos y estudios de la Corona de Aragón, [3–]5 (Barcelona, 1945–47), no. 218, 1:183–85 (a. 988), no. 545, 2:203–6 (a. 1036; cf. no. 1129, 3:279–80); Villanueva, Jaime, Viage literario a las iglesias de España (Madrid, 1806–1902), vol. 8, no. 31, pp. 283–85 (a. 1016) and vol. 15, no. 17, pp. 243–45 (a. 1080); DACU 1079 (a. 1091); BNF Collection Moreau, vol. 20, fols. 165–67 (a. 1044; cited by Bowman, , “Law, Conflict, and Community,” 158 n. 22). The following studies were consulted: Jovany, José Balari, Orígenes históricos de Cataluña, 2d ed., Biblioteca filológica-histórica, 10–11bis (Sant Cugat del Vallès, 1964), 2:417–22; GMLC, s.vv. auerare, bastone, bataier, batalia, bellum, caballarius (b), caldaria; Bonnassie, La Catalogne, 1:194, 2:562, 728–29; Iglesia Ferreirós, “La creación del derecho,” 193–97; Freedman, Paul H., The Diocese of Vic: Tradition and Regeneration in Medieval Catalonia (New Brunswick, N.J., 1983), 133; Ruiz-Domènec, J. E., “Las prácticas judiciales en la Cataluña feudal,” Historia. Instituciones. Documentos 9 (1983): 245–72; Bowman, , “Law, Conflict, and Community,” 149–67; Abelló, Antoni M. Udina i, “L'administració de justícia en els comtats pirinencs (segles IX-XII),” in Miscel-lània homenatge a Josep Lladonosa (Lleida, 1992), 129–45, at 140–41. Two examples cited by Bonnassie (2:562 n. 115, 728 n. 105) show the highly ambiguous nature of some of the evidence adduced. ACA Ramon Berenguer I 305 (a. 1064) reads: “Item iudicatum fuit a predicto iudice ut predictus Ermemirus, si fieri posse, comprobasset iamdictam scripturam quod vera esset. Sin autem minime facere potuisset, psaltim comprobasset quod in diebus Gerovardi prescripti aut cum ipso predictam evacuacionem placitasset, aut cum aliis, unde recuperassent [i.e., Ermemir and his daughters] de predictis alodiis qui ibi resonabant. Et si ista tota defecerint, quare predictus Iohannes et uxorem eius Guilie predictam evacuationem in dubium vertebant et falsam ea dicebant, predictus Ermemirus deliberasset et eripuisset ipsam scripturam securitatis quod falsa non erat \per iudicum aque ferventis/.” This section describes the various ways in which Ermemir might prove his case. The text continues, with a change in mood: “Deinde predictus Ermemirus dixit se facere sicut iudicatum fuit illi. Deinde intercurrente bonisque hominibus et consenciente predicto comite et comitisse, dedit predictus Ermemirus per se et filias suas sex uncias auri et uno mancuso a predicto Iohanne et uxorem eius Guilie et inter predictum comitem et iudicem et saionem, et evacuavit predictus Iohannes et uxori sue prescriptos alodios.” There is no evidence here that Ermemir actually underwent the ordeal, only that he was to do so if he was unable to prove that the document, or his case, was true by other means. Udina i Abelló, Antoni M., La successió testada a la Catalunya altomedieval, Textos i documents, 5 (Barcelona, 1984), no. 129, pp. 309–10 (a. 1024) describes the circumstances of the death of Ermengol d'Oló as follows: “vocatus est ad placitum per suos proprios consanguineos, id est: Guitardum vel Geribertum, et in ipsa invitacione placiti dolose deceptus gravi p[er]iculo immenente et casu mortis interveniente, ibi crudeliter vulneratus atque lanceis vulneratus subito in ipso placito ex hoc migravit seculo.” Bonnassie reads this as evidence for his death in a judicial duel, but the text suggests that he was simply ambushed.Google Scholar

⁸⁶ Abelló, Udina i, “L'administració de justícia,” 140–41; DACU 486 (a. 1024/35), 848 (a. 1072), 947 (a. 1081), 1079 (a. 1091), 1151 (a. 1097: “non potuit facere ipsum iudicium”).Google Scholar

⁸⁷ Vic, Arxiu Capitular, calaix 6, no. 2213 (a. 1100); calaix 9, episcopologi 2, no. 85 (a. 1091/99); Freedman, , The Diocese of Vic, 133; Freedman, Paul, The Origins of Peasant Servitude in Medieval Catalonia (Cambridge, 1991), 100.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ Exceptions: Monsalvatge, Francisco y Fossas, , Noticias históricas (Olot, 1889–1919), vol. 21, no. 32, pp. 363–64 (a. 1128); ACA Ramon Berenguer I, sense data 12 [= LFM 511; DI 4:146] (ca. 1150); Ramon Berenguer IV 154 [= DI 4:40] (a. 1143), 242 [= LFM 246; DI 4:71] (a. 1151), 333 [= DI 4:113] (a. 1160); Alfons I 234 [= LFM 455] (a. 1178), 668 [= Alfonso II 586] (a. 1193).Google Scholar

⁸⁹ Mundó, , “Fragment,” 173–89, addresses the relationship between the Usatges and the Liber iudiciorum at the courts of Ramon Berenguer IV and Alfons I.Google Scholar

⁹⁰ Bonnassie, , La Catalogne, 1:183–202, 2:560–66; cf. Freedman, , The Diocese of Vic, 116–20.Google Scholar

⁹¹ Bowman, , “Law, Conflict, and Community,” 100–124; Taylor, Nathaniel L., “Judges in Barcelona in the Twelfth Century: The Decline of the Post-Visigothic Judiciary,” paper presented at the 114th annual meeting of the American Historical Association, Chicago, 8 January 2000. We begin, too, to find for the first time references to these assemblies as the comital curia: Balari y Jovany, Orígenes históricos, 2:396–98; GMLC, s.v. curia. The earliest citations are from 1079 for Urgell and 1116 for Barcelona (Villanueva, , Viage literario, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 179; CPF 48).Google Scholar

⁹² ACA Ramon Berenguer IV 154 (a. 1143), 237 (a. 1151), 242 [= LFM 246] (a. 1151), 300 (a. 1157), 304 (a. 1157), 305 [= LFM 253] (a. 1157), 333 (a. 1160), sense data 11 (a. 1147/62), sense data 12 [= LFM 511] (ca. 1150), sense data 13 [= LFM 464–65] (a. 1153/62); Serra, Rius, ed., Cartulario de ”Sant Cugat,” no. 1031, 3:199–201 (a. 1160). All eleven are found in DI, vol. 4: nos. 40, 67, 71, 88, 98, 99, 113–14, 145–47; for simplicity, references in what follows are only to DI, vol. 4, though texts are transcribed from the original documents. Lists of complaints without records of judgment and notices of disposition after a dispute may also offer evidence for the activity of this tribunal; the problem is that in these cases we cannot be sure of the nature of the settlement: negotiation, mediation, arbitration, or adjudication, to use a common typology (Nader, Laura and Todd, Harry F. Jr., “Introduction,” in The Disputing Process: Law in Ten Societies, ed. iidem [New York, 1978], 1–40, esp. 9–11). Examples of such documents include: ACA Ramon Berenguer IV 62 [= LFM 459; DI 4:17] (a. 1135), 190 [= LFM 321; DI 4:52] (a. 1146); LFM 483 [= Alfonso II 52] (a. 1168). See also Blanca Garí, “Las querimoniae feudales en la documentación catalana del siglo XII (1131–1178),” Medievalia 5 (1984): 7–49. The dispute that led to the judgment in DI 4:67 made its way back to the comital court six years later. This time, however, the parties did not submit to judgment, but rather came to an agreement: “Sic que laude et consilio prephati comitis ac plurimorum curiae suae uirorum nobilium, tam clericorum quam laicorum, pari uoto, ad firmam pacem et stabilem concordiam amicabiliter deuenerunt” (Pons Guri, J. M., “La successió de Guillem Umbert de Basella,” Anales del Instituto de estudios gerundenses 22 [1974–75]: 153–75, app. 4 [pp. 169–75], transcribed from Seville, Arxiu Ducal de Medinaceli, Fons del patrimoni de Catalunya, llig. 13, perg. 68).Google Scholar

⁹³ Individual usatges, of course, may have been formulated to deal with specific disputes that came before the comital court (see, e.g., above, at n. 13), but once formulated and included in a compilation, they could not be applied again unless a similar case came before the tribunal.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ DI 4:99, 113, 146 (above, at nn. 38, 48, 76).Google Scholar

⁹⁵ The lines are, of course, not easy to define. The most common term for land here is honor, but this does not necessarily refer to land; an honor might comprise a collection of revenues. Similarly, a dispute ostensibly about the seizure of a mill may really be about the revenues of the mill. And in most cases, revenues were associated with particular pieces of land. I simply wish to stress that the disputes decided by the court were usually not about effective possession of the land, with or without consideration of subordinate rights. See Reynolds, Susan, Fiefs and Vassals: The Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted (Oxford, 1994), 57–64.Google Scholar

⁹⁶ In one case, this was extended to equal and joint rights: a grant by one brother was deemed invalid because the two brothers had not made a division between themselves (DI 4:40). When a division was made, equality reigned (DI 4:67; Guri, Pons, “La successió,” app. 4; see also DI 4:114).Google Scholar

⁹⁷ DI 4:71, 98, 114.Google Scholar

⁹⁸ DI 4:40.Google Scholar

⁹⁹ DI 4:88.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁰ Us. 33 (Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 29, p. 74): “SI QVIS SVVM FEVVM alicui dederit uel impignorauerit siue alienauerit sine consensu sui senioris, si senior scierit et contradixerit, imparare ipsum feuum poterit quandocunque uoluerit.” Google Scholar

¹⁰¹ Us. 114 (Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 91, p. 126): “HOC QVOD IVRIS EST SANCTORVM uel potestatum aut castrorum terminatorum, nemo potest eis impedire nec pro suo iure deffendere nec retinere nec eciam longinqua ducentorum annorum possessione.” Google Scholar

¹⁰² Zeumer, Karl, ed., “Liber iudiciorum sive Lex Visigothorum,” in Leges Visigothorum, ed. idem, MGH Legum sectio 1, vol. 1 [Hanover, 1902; repr. 1973], 33–456, at 2.5; 5 (passim); 10.2, 3 (pp. 105–20; 208–45; 391–99). For citations, see Ferreirós, Iglesia, “La creación del derecho,” 403–4. See now Bowman, , “Law, Conflict, and Community,” 21–49.Google Scholar

¹⁰³ Us. 9, 23, 29–31, 33, 38, 57, 71, 73, 115; see also cavalleria (Us. 9, 23).Google Scholar

¹⁰⁴ Lands are also referred to in these documents as alodium, dominicatura, domus, fexa, honor, mansus, terra, territorium, and villa, among other designations. The court did decide a number of cases involving lands called fiefs, but the status of the lands as fiefs was rarely at issue. The two cases where status was at issue are in DI 4:71 (“a quo episcopus habebat hunc honorem per feudum. Iudicatum est quoniam si Guilelmus poterit hoc probare per scripturam vel per testes quod iste honor ita esset alligatus Rodberto vel per feudum vel per alium vinculum quod non posset remanere sue ecclesie”) and DI 4:147 (“zudam Dertose non custodiebat sicut in carta sue donationis resonabat, pro qua guarda sive custodia predictum fe[u]dum seu beneficium ei habendum concesserat”), though in the latter case the issue is actually service. See also: DI 4:40 (“Item conquestus est Guilelmus quod Poncius et castlani sui auferebant sibi multa sui iuris in Castro Vetulo, videlicet estachamenta militum et sui baiuli et forcias et toltas et albergas que non sunt de fevis illorum”); 67 (“iudicaverunt quod prelibatus Reamballus faciat duas partes de omni honore Montis Signi qui fuit Umberti patris sui et Reamballi avunculi eius tam de alodiis quam de fevis sive baiuliis”), clearly a formulaic reference; and 145 (“quod illam turrem cum iamdictis terminis pater suus ab eo per suum fevum adquisierat”), where the reference is simply incidental, as it is the boundaries that are at issue. Cavalleriae appear in DI 4:40.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁵ See, e.g., Wormald, , The Making of English Law, esp. 29–92.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁶ E.g., Us. 29, 30, 32, 40, 42.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁷ Us. 61, 66, 93–95, 123.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁸ Bou, Gonzalvo i, ed., Les constitucions, no. 17, c. 20, p. 99; cf. no. 15.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁹ Ibid., no. 18, prologue, p. 102.Google Scholar

¹¹⁰ de Vinyals, Ramon d'Abadal i, “Pedro el Ceremonioso y los comienzos de la decadencia política de Cataluña,” in Historia de España, ed. Pidal, Ramón Menéndez, vol. 14, España cristiana; Crisis de la Reconquista; Luchas civiles, 2d ed. (Madrid, 1966), vii–cciii (prologue), at xlviii–lvii. See also Bisson, Thomas N.: “The Rise of Catalonia,” 139–40 (orig. 464–65); idem, “Feudalism,” 183–85 (repr. 164–65); idem, The Medieval Crown of Aragon: A Short History (Oxford, 1986), 34–35, 50–53.Google Scholar

¹¹¹ de Vinyals, Abadal i, “Pedro el Cerimonioso,” xlviii.Google Scholar

¹¹² Us. 69. Cf. contra , Martorell, Udina and Abelló, Udina i, “Consideracions,” 92–94.Google Scholar

¹¹³ Us. 64 (Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 60, p. 96): “QVONIAM PER INIQVVM principem et sine ueritate et sine iusticia periit omni tempore terra et habitatores eius, propterea nos sepedicti principes. R. et. A., consilio et auxilio nostrorum nobilium uirorum, decernimus atque mandamus ut omnes principes qui in hoc principatu nobis sunt successuri, habeant omni tempore sinceram et perfectam fidem et ueram locutionem.” Us. 80 (Bastardas, , ed., Usatges, c. 122, p. 156): “Quia qui iudicium curie recusat curiam falsat, et qui curiam falsat principem dampnat. …” Google Scholar

¹¹⁴ Ermengol, Josep Rovira i, ed., Usatges de Barcelona i Commemoracions de Pere Albert, Els nostres classics, Col-lecció A, 43–44 (Barcelona, 1933; repr. 1985). For the Usatges in the thirteenth century and later, see Brocá, Historia del derecho, 179–81.Google Scholar

¹¹⁵ See above, n. 74.Google Scholar

¹¹⁶ See, e.g., Cardona, Marti Aurell i, “Le personnel politique catalan aragonais d'Alphonse I^er en Provence (1166–1196),” Annales du Midi 93 (1981): 121–39.Google Scholar