Curia Steven Bednarski
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Curia Steven Bednarski To cite this version: Steven Bednarski. Curia: A Social History of a Provençal Criminal Court in the Fourteenth Century. Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée, 228 p., 2013, Histoire et sociétés, 978-2-84269-970-3. hal- 03327519 HAL Id: hal-03327519 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03327519 Submitted on 27 Aug 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée — Une question ? Un problème ? Téléphonez au . Curiautf8 --- Départ imprimerie --- 2013-3-27 --- 14 h 30 --- page 3 (paginée 3) sur 228 Curia A Social History of a Provençal Criminal Court in the Fourteenth Century Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée — Une question ? Un problème ? Téléphonez au . Curiautf8 --- Départ imprimerie --- 2013-3-27 --- 14 h 30 --- page 4 (paginée 4) sur 228 « Histoire et sociétés » Directeur de collection Daniel L B Comité scientifique Christian A, Geneviève G-F, Carol I, Daniel L B La collection « Histoire et sociétés » est le reflet des objectifs scientifiques des équipes des historiens montpelliérains médiévistes, modernistes et contemporanéistes et de la diversité actuelle de leurs champs de recherche. Les liens noués avec de nombreux cher- cheurs d’universités françaises et étrangères justifient également la publication, dans la col- lection, d’ouvrages de qualité rédigés par des historiens extérieurs à l’établissement, retenus en raison de l’originalité de leur démarche et de la nouveauté des sujets qu’ils traitent. La série « Sem — Études juives et hébraïques », fondée et dirigée par Carol Iancu, a pour objectif la publication de travaux scientifiques dont le principal domaine de recherches concerne l’histoire des Juifs et de la civilisation d’Israël. Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée — Une question ? Un problème ? Téléphonez au . Curiautf8 --- Départ imprimerie --- 2013-3-27 --- 14 h 30 --- page 5 (paginée 5) sur 228 Collection « Histoire et sociétés » Curia A Social History of a Provençal Criminal Court in the Fourteenth Century by Steven B St. Jerome’s University in the University of Waterloo P M Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée — Une question ? Un problème ? Téléphonez au . Curiautf8 --- Départ imprimerie --- 2013-3-27 --- 14 h 30 --- page 6 (paginée 6) sur 228 Key words : Medieval, Social history, Provence (France), Manosque, Crime, Courts. e cover image depicts the adulterers’ gauntlet om the thirteenth-century Livre de statuts et cou- tumes de la ville d’Agen, sometimes called the Livre juratoire. e image is courtesy of the Médiathèque municipale d’Agen (formerly the Bibliothèque municipale d’Agen). ISBN ---- Tous droits réservés, PULM, . Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée — Une question ? Un problème ? Téléphonez au . Curiautf8 --- Départ imprimerie --- 2013-3-27 --- 14 h 30 --- page 7 (paginée 7) sur 228 Acknowledgements is book was more than a decade in the making. It was born out of my doctoral research but continued to grow long aer my dissertation defence. Because of its lengthy genesis, the book owes a debt to many fine people. First and foremost are Leslie and Iris. ey suffered through vacations, week-ends, and holidays with a husband and father distracted by dead medieval townsmen. I wish I could say that this will now change, and that Iris’ new baby sister, Harper, will not miss her father as she did, but I know that is not the case and so I thank my family for its continued indulgence. Curia would never have happened without strong and giving mentors. As an under- graduate, then master’s and doctoral candidate, I was fortunate to be taken under wing by Andrée Courtemanche, who gave me Manosque, taught me to read fourteenth-century no- tarial hands, and showed me how to work with medieval documents. I am forever thankful for her faith in me and will forever walk in her footsteps. Along with Andrée came the eru- dite Martin Pâquet, whose rigorous dedication to historical methodology made a strong and lasting impression on me. Michel Hébert at the Université du uébec à Montréal (UQAM) generously agreed to take on an odd young Anglophone scholar from Toronto. Michel met me at odd hours, as I ran to catch trains back to Toronto, corresponded by e-mail, and smiled encouragingly as I plodded through graduate school in my second lan- guage. His expertise on late medieval Provence and governance was essential to my forma- tion, and he has served as learned guide and mentor ever since. In Toronto, Tom and Libby Cohen and Richard Hoffmann, of York University, showed me how to write clearly, think neatly, and, most importantly, connect research to teaching. At my doctoral defence and aer it, my external examiner, Daniel Lord Smail, pushed me in ways I had not previously considered, and provided feedback that I would not fully appreciate for many years. At the University of Toronto, Mark Meyerson and David Klausner allowed me to live for two years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Medieval Studies (CMS) where I continued to read and think about this book. At the Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies (PIMS), Fr. James K. Farge, who first led me to medieval studies, then later taught me about schools and universities, edited my writing and offered me an easy friendship and good example of a gentleman scholar. Parts of this book appeared in earlier dras as articles and book chapters. I am grateful to the editors and readers who participated in those projects for allowing me to take up similar themes here, and for leading me to new ways of thinking about them. I am likewise grateful to the anonymous readers at the Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée and, in particular, to Patrick Gilli, who saw merit in my work. I have found a true community of academics at St. Jerome’s University and the Uni- versity of Waterloo where I benefit from the constant support and encouragement of Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée — Une question ? Un problème ? Téléphonez au . Curiautf8 --- Départ imprimerie --- 2013-3-27 --- 14 h 30 --- page 8 (paginée 8) sur 228 dynamic, playful, and accomplished scholars. ree fine historians, Tracy Penny Light, Greta Kroeker, and Julia Roberts read and offered feedback on an early version of this book. Patrick Harrigan, Lynne Taylor, Andrew Hunt, and Wendy Mitchinson all fostered healthy academic discourse and taught me the importance of collaborating with histori- ans of later eras. At the nearby University of Guelph, my colleagues in the History De- partment, notably Elizabeth Ewan and Jacqueline Murray, read and commented on my writing over the years and I have benefited from their feedback. Many other colleagues at St. Jerome’s and Waterloo have cheered me along throughout the publication process and offered good advice about how to move from thesis to book. Another important fount of support at Waterloo has come from my brilliant and enthusiastic students, who fulfill my professional life and who take a genuine interest in my research. ree graduate stu- dents must be named: Jennifer DeVries helped format one version of the manuscript; Tyler Chamilliard kept my interest in Manosque alive throughout his MA on environmental his- tory; and Caley McCarthy, the most brilliant student I have had the privilege to teach, lent her expert eye to later manuscript dras, reformatted, checked for errors, and generally of- fered constant and enthusiastic encouragement. Farther afield, Barbara Hanawalt, whose early research into medieval English crime had an enormous impact on my interests, wrote an encouraging note about my writing when I was feeling particularly insecure. Years later, Monica Green did the same and shared a great deal of her time and wisdom with me. All of the research for this book was supported financially by outside agencies. Most notably, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) funded first my doctoral and then my postdoctoral work. St. Jerome’s University and the University of Waterloo offered me easy and generous access to faculty research grants and seed grants, and a flexible teaching schedule, so that I could pursue my interests in the archives of Provence. e friendly and knowledgeable staff at the Archives départementales des Bouches-du- Rhône in Marseille are always professional, and generous with me. Likewise, the municipal archivist in Manosque always showed me tremendous warmth and generosity. I owe a debt of thanks to Christine Pellehigue, Responsable des Fonds patrimoniaux, and to the Médiathèque municipale d’Agen, for so generously providing the book’s cover image. It depicts the adulterers’ gauntlet, or gantlope, a punitive ritual that was threatened in Manosque, though rarely, if ever, enacted. I owe a greater debt to Sandrine Claude and her unparalleled grasp of Manosquin archaeology. She generously shared her time, talents, and maps with me. With the expert assistance of a former graduate student, Graham Moogk-Soulis, I used her work to build upon the map contained in Félix Reynaud’s book. Finally, my father did not survive to read this book. But he lived well and instilled in his sons a love of teaching and learning. Curia is infused with his cheeky spirit and written, I hope, in such a way that even a Math teacher who purported not to enjoy ‘artsy stuff ’ may have picked it up and grinned. Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée — Une question ? Un problème ? Téléphonez au .