THE WILL AND SOCIETY IN MEDIEVAL CATALONIA AND LANGUEDOC, 800-1200 A thesis presented by Nathaniel Lane Taylor to The Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of History Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts April, © by Nathaniel Lane Taylor. All rights reserved. ABSTRACT Some three thousand men and women of Languedoc and Catalonia (southwestern France and northeastern Spain) from before the year speak to us through their testaments. This volume of testamentary evidence is unmatched in archives anywhere else in medieval Europe of the ninth through twelfth centuries. A comparative and focused analysis from over , surviving wills (amassed from diverse archival collections as well as hundreds of different published text editions) spans several parallel avenues of comparative and investigative history to illuminate the society of Catalonia and Languedoc in this period. A study of testaments and testamentary publication from Roman roots through the twelfth century explores the legal culture of the testaments using the methods and approaches of the new anthropology of law. Next, collective analysis of the testaments yields insights into social and family history. In addition to prosopographical information about the testators and economic data about the lands and goods bequeathed, the testaments reveal crucial changes in the custom of inheritance and patrimonial succession--changes which reflect (or underlie) the social transformations of the “feudal revolution” and its aftermath. Another avenue explored is that of the testament as a pious, religious document. Bequests to ecclesiastical institutions, when seen in the context of familial distribution of the estate, allow one to gauge the relative importance of pious alms for individuals and families, and to follow trends in popularity of various religious institutions as beneficiaries and of different types of goods (land, money, or other goods) as alms. Finally, testamentary evidence illustrates several new institutional, social, legal and political developments of the twelfth century-- Reconquista and resettlement, the growth of the military orders, the development of personal financial accounting, the introduction of a lay notariate, and more. The appendices include an index of over , testamentary documents and a prosopographical register of judges appearing in testamentary probate ceremonies between and in Languedoc and Catalonia. Dissertation Adviser: Professor Thomas N. Bisson. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract................................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................xi Introduction.......................................................................................................................... Chapter . Wills, History, Catalonia and Languedoc............................................................ I. Historiography............................................................................................................. A. Study of Wills....................................................................................................... . Wills as Political Documents............................................................................ . Legal Historians............................................................................................... Diplomatists.................................................................................................. . Wills and Social History................................................................................. B. Catalonia and Languedoc..................................................................................... Historical Geography and Political History..................................................... The Social History Tradition.......................................................................... Other Historiographical Themes .................................................................... II. Documentary Sources............................................................................................... A. Document-Rich Lands........................................................................................ B. Sources: Wills and Documentary Collections....................................................... Ecclesiastical Records..................................................................................... a. The Dioceses ........................................................................................... b. Regular Clergy: Monastic/Military Fonds................................................ Comital and Patrimonial Collections............................................................. Other Sources................................................................................................ C. Overview of the Source Collection ..................................................................... . Wills as a Proportion of Archival Collections................................................. . Wills and Cartularies..................................................................................... Limitations..................................................................................................... Chapter . The Will: Definition, Typology and Early History............................................. I. Terms and Documents................................................................................................ A. Definitions and Debates ...................................................................................... B. Types of Documents........................................................................................... . Wills .............................................................................................................. Publication Charters...................................................................................... Executors’ Acts .............................................................................................. II. Precursors: the Early Medieval Will.......................................................................... A. The Romano-Germanic Tradition...................................................................... B. Sources: Law Codes and Formularies................................................................... C. Surviving Documentary Examples....................................................................... III. Early Medieval Testamentary Procedure.................................................................. A. The Law Texts: Publication and Comprobation ................................................. B. The Formularies.................................................................................................. . Testaments..................................................................................................... iv . Adcorporatio Gestis Publicis: Documentary Publication .................................. Comprobatory Oaths: Conditiones Sacramentorum......................................... . Conclusions................................................................................................... Chapter . The Testamentary Process, -................................................................. I. Testamentary Documentation in the Ninth to Twelfth Centuries.............................. A. Testaments, Executors and Testamentary Execution........................................... . Classic Form of the Testament (Ripoll Formulary) ........................................ . Nomination of Executors............................................................................... Other Functional Variations in Testaments................................................... B. Executors’ Acts.................................................................................................... Appearance of Executors’ Acts (Ninth Century)............................................. Disappearance of the Executors’ Acts............................................................. Advent of the Laudatio/Donatio..................................................................... C. The Publication Charter: Theme and Variations ............................................... Ceremonial Publications: the Condiciones Sacramentorum............................. a. Condiciones Sacramentorum in Other Contexts ...................................... b. Tenth-Century Revival........................................................................... c. Publication of Oral or Written Wills?..................................................... Informal Publication Charters ...................................................................... . Informal Publication Ceremonies ................................................................. . “Post Mortem Signatures”............................................................................ Other Documents Serving a Function of Testamentary Publication.............. Testamentary Confirmations or Adjustments............................................... II. Multiple Documents: Illustrations of the Testamentary Process................................ A. Three-Document