Municipal Officials, Their Public, and the Negotiation of Justice in Medieval Languedoc Later Medieval Europe
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Municipal Officials, Their Public, and the Negotiation of Justice in Medieval Languedoc Later Medieval Europe Managing Editor Douglas Biggs University of Nebraska – Kearney Editorial Board Members Kelly DeVries Loyola University Maryland William Chester Jordan Princeton University Cynthia J. Neville Dalhousie University Kathryn L. Reyerson University of Minnesota VOLUME 10 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/lme Municipal Officials, Their Public, and the Negotiation of Justice in Medieval Languedoc Fear Not the Madness of the Raging Mob By Patricia Turning LEIDEN • BOSTON 2013 Cover illustration: The Capitole (built in the 18th century) marks the very heart of the ‘Ville rose’ (Pink city.) It has a superb facade using brick, stone and marble. The eight columns symbolize the eight « capitols », or governors who administered the city from the middle ages to the revolution. Today it houses the town hall and the Théâtre du Capitole of the city of Toulouse. ©Photograph by Patricia Turning Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Turning, Patricia. Municipal officials, their public, and the negotiation of justice in medieval Languedoc : fear not the madness of the raging mob / by Patricia Turning. p. cm. -- (Later medieval Europe, ISSN 1872-7875 ; v. 10) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-23464-2 (hbk. : alk. paper) 1. Criminal justice, Administration of--France--Toulouse--History--To 1500. 2. Public administration--France--Toulouse--History--To 1500. 3. Municipal officials and employees--France-- Toulouse--History--To 1500. 4. Toulouse (France)--Politics and government. I. Title. HV9960.F72T688 2012 364.944’73670902--dc23 2012027134 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 1872-7875 ISBN 978 90 04 23464 2 (hardback) ISBN 978 90 04 23465 9 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. CONTENTS A Note about Abbreviations and Citations .......................................................vii Introduction ................................................................................................................1 1 From Count to King: The Capitols’ Struggle to Maintain Control over the Legal Structure of Toulouse .............................................17 2 The Spatial Distribution of Crime in Toulouse ..........................................43 3 “With an Angry Face and Teeth Clenched:” Personal Conflict and Public Resolution .......................................................................................73 4 Forces of Order, Forces of Disorder: Corrupt Officers and the Confusion of Authority ...................................................................103 5 The Power to Punish in Medieval Toulouse ..............................................137 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................177 Selected Bibliography ..........................................................................................185 Index .........................................................................................................................195 A NOTE ABOUT ABBREVIATIONS AND CITATIONS AMA – The Archives municipales of Albi AMM – The Archives municipales of Moissac AMT – The Archives municipales of Toulouse ADHG – The Archives départementales de la Haute Garonne in Toulouse BN – The Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris BMT – The Bibliothèque municipale of Toulouse CR – Comptes royaux (1314-1328), ed. François Maillard (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1961) DRT – Dictionnaire des rues de Toulouse: voies publiques, quartiers, lieux- dits, enseignes, organisation urbaine, 2 vols., ed. Pierre Salies (Toulouse: Éditions Milan, 1989) HGL – Claude Devic and Joseph Vaissètte, Histoire générale du Languedoc, ed. Auguste Molinier, 16 vols. (Toulouse: Privat, 1872-1904) Statuts – Marcel Fournier, ed. Les statuts et privilèges des universités françaises, depuis leur foundation jusqu’en 1789, vol. 1 (Aalen, Italy: Scientia Verlag, 1970) INTRODUCTION “[Toulouse is] another promised land, flowing in milk and honey, where prolific herbs flourish, where fruit trees bud, where Bacchus reigns over vineyards and Ceres rules over the fields… and so fear not the malice of the raging mob or the tyranny of an injurious prince…here it is seen that courtly good humor has struck a covenant with knighthood and clergy.”1 Jean de Garland, 1230 In 1230, the scholar Jean de Garland attempted to lure Parisian masters to join him at the newly instituted university in the southern city of Tou louse. Just a year earlier in Paris, a deadly town and gown row led to a stu dent strike, which effectively disbanded the university. As the above quote suggests, Jean de Garland needed to assure the newly displaced masters and students that they would not suffer at the hands of the people, or the exploitation of local officials. He insisted Toulouse was a stable and flourishing environment where they would enjoy their proper legal privi leges. In the same year of 1229, Toulouse and the surrounding region of Languedoc surrendered to the Capetian kings, thus ending the decades long and arduously fought Albigensian Crusade against the Cathar here tics. The peace treaty ordered the elected officials of Toulouse, known as capitols, to destroy the city walls and defensive garrisons, and stipulated that with the cooperation of their citizens, they would support and protect university scholars so as to ensure that heresy would not return to the region. In addition, the peace agreement extended royal judicial control over the local court system. The papacy also sent Dominican inquisitors into Toulouse, where they established their tribunal headquarters for the persecution of the lingering numbers of suspected Cathars in the area. But despite the best efforts of royal and papal authorities to set up institu tions of order and orthodoxy in the city, the administrators and citizens of Toulouse simply did not correspond with the portrait presented by Jean 1 Statuts, 440, no. 504 no. 72, 129–131. “Et ut libentius Tholose gloriam simul cum studio studiosi dinoscant, sciant hanc alteram esse terram promissionis fluentem lac et mel, ubi fetose pascue virent, ubi arbores pomifere frondent, ubi Bacchus regnat in vineis, ubi Ceres imperat in arvis, ubi temperatur aër antiquis philosophis fuerat consideratis terre stadiis preelectus…An timetis malitiam populi sevientis vel tyrannidem principis injuri osi? Ne timeatis…videtur enim hic facetia curialis cum militia simul et cum clero federa pepigisse.” 2 introduction de Garland. Instead, violent eruptions of protest from the citizens and capitols alike targeted the scholars, friars, and royal officials as the repre sentatives of outside oppression and occupation, and drove them from the city on numerous occasions. Jean de Garland himself became so fearful of the urban population that within three years of his boasts about the civil ity and security of Toulouse, he fled the city by boat just barely escaping an angry mob.2 The process, then, of incorporating Languedoc into the broader Capetian kingdom was not removed from the consciousness of the local population. Indeed, at times the administrators seemed to collaborate with their citizens in their resistance to royal authorities well into the later Middle Ages, and this ultimately is the argument of the following book. In order to elucidate the premise, this study explores the participatory nature of the medieval urban public in shaping and engaging in local political and judicial developments in thirteenth and fourteenthcentury Toulouse. By the end of the Middle Ages, city streets and public squares, buildings and landmarks, all served as a forum for judicial discourse between the local administration and urban inhabitants. Municipal officers (including messengers, trumpeters, sergeants, and night guards) patrolled the neigh borhoods, pronounced and enforced laws, and interacted with people through daily social activity. Elected officials and notaries presided over courts in the town hall, where citizens brought forth complaints and sought restitution for various illicit infractions. Through these points of contact, urban administrators and their residents constantly negotiated notions of law and order through both dramatic and subtle ways. Much like today, disgruntled citizens flocked to the streets of Toulouse in violent demonstrations against local practices or new taxes. In fact, only Paris hosted more insurrections than Toulouse in medieval France.3 But citi zens also