Liber feudorum maior
Encyclopedia
The Liber feudorum maior (or LFM, medieval Latin
for "great book of fiefs"), originally called the Liber domini regis ("book of the lord king"), is a late twelfth-century illuminated
cartulary of the Crown of Aragon
. It was compiled by the royal archivist Ramon de Caldes with the help of Guillem de Bassa for Alfonso II
, beginning in 1192. It contained 902 documents dating as far back as the tenth century. It is profusely illustrated in a Romanesque style
, a rarity for utilitarian documents. The LFM is an indispensable source for the institutional history of the emerging Principality of Catalonia
. It is preserved as a file in the Arxiu de la Corona d'Aragó (ACA), Cancelleria reial, Registres no. 1, in Barcelona
.
to the document, written by Ramon de Caldes, describes the work as being in duo volumina (two volumes), but its present division dates only from its re-binding in the nineteenth century. Whether the planned second volume was ever bound or even begun cannot be known. The original volumes sustained damage during the French Revolution
and the French invasion of Spain
, but their indices (one dating back to 1306) survived, as well as most of the parchment charters that were copied in the Liber. Its modern editor, Francisco Miquel Rosell, has reconstructed the order and rubrics of the documents. The folios were trimmed, however, eliminating any evidence of their earlier physical states.
Two smaller books of fiefs related to the LFM project are also preserved. The Liber feudorum Ceritaniae
concentrates on Cerdany and Roussillon
and may represent a failed initiative to create regional cartularies modelled on the LFM. The Liber feudorum formae minoris is a continuation of the LFM including documents from the early thirteenth century. Only two other secular cartularies survive from the same period: the Liber instrumentorum memorialium
of the Lords of Montpellier
and the Liber instrumentorum vicecomitalium
of the Trencavels.
in Girona
, were handed over to Guillem de Bassa; many of these later appeared in the LFM.
Accepting the prologue at face value, Francisco Miquel Rosell assumed that the work was presented to Alfonso II and that it was therefore completed before the count's death in 1196. Thomas Bisson has argued that the work was presented to Alfonso complete in August 1194 at the same ceremony where Ponç III de Cabrera came to terms with the king. Since Ramon de Caldes's work on the LFM is last recorded in April that year, it is assumed that he pushed himself to complete the work in the following months. A third line of argument, pursued by Anscari Mundó, sees the LFM as complete by 1192, when the latest of its charters was issued. Three charters from the final four years of Alfonso's reign are contained in the LFM, but in a hand distinct from that of its two main scribes. All of these pertain to Ponç de Cabrera, his capitulation and his oath of fealty to Peter II
in April 1196. Since the last document would have been added only after Alfonso's death, it is possible that the others were added simultaneously, that the completion of the cartulary was unrelated to Ponç's settlement, and that the work was in the main finished by 1192. Since documents of an earlier date than November 1192 appear to have been inscribed on blank folios after documents from that year, it is probable that 1192 represents the "finish" date of the original version (or the date of presentation).
It is also possible that the work that had begun as early as 1178 was renewed sometime around 1190–94. Bisson connects any renewed effort on the part of Ramon de Caldes before his retirement from court in late 1194 with a serious of challenges to the authority of Alfonso II. In February 1194 Berenguer, Archbishop of Tarragona, was assassinated by Guillem Ramon II de Montcada, which to Bisson indicates the weakness of the Peace and Truce of God
at that time and since 1190, when the baronage had first rejected it.
According to Lawrence McCrank, the LFM was unfinished at the king's death in 1196 and at Ramon's in 1199. The prologue was written in anticipation and a second volume was never begun, only planned. Both Bisson and Adam Kosto agree that the work was completed in 1192 and presented in 1194, but that it was never a "completed", rather the "closing of the selection of instruments" was the "beginning of continuous work".
. On this view, Alfonso "slowed the Reconquest
" in order to concentrate on unifying his various realms into a single crown. Critiquing this view, Kosto points out that while papal bull
s and treaties with the military orders regarding Aragon are found at the start of the cartulary, the relative dearth of charters relating to castleholding and landholding in Aragon suggests that the unification of Aragon and Catalonia juridically (i.e. more than symbolically) was not high on the minds of the compilers or their patron.
The LFM introduced no "new principles of feudal organization", but it does represent "a more abstract notion of comital and royal power". It has been compared to the Usatges de Barcelona as a failure in "practical or bureaucratic terms". It is essentially an expression of power, conceived territorially and principally with regards to Catalonia. The cartulary is not a record of the union of Catalonia with Aragon. Rather, it is a record of a vast new authority including Aragon, parts of Occitania
(Carcassonne, Razès
, Béziers
, and the County of Provence), and all the Catalan counties
, including Ausona, Barcelona, Besalú
, Cerdanya, Girona, Roussillon
, and Pallars Jussà
, which were all possessed by Alfonso II, as well as the Empúries
and Urgell, which were not. Bisson writes that in the LFM "feudal principles, applied to serve administrative [...] needs, remained subordinated to a conception of territorial sovereignty," yet he also says that the LFM was "exclusively a land book concerned with proprietary or reversionary right [and not] concerned with any systematic effort to strengthen suzerain rights or vassalic obligations." Kosto, to an extent, disagrees, arguing that the work is a combination of land book and case book, in which some charters are presented to explain the proper working of the feudal system. The rubrics and section headings are evidence of the ambiguity of Alfonso's position and that of the various regions. While Aragon is termed a regnum (kingdom, realm), Cerdanya and Roussillon are comitati (counties), Tarragona
is listed as a civitas (city), and Provence and the County of Melgueil
are not described. In other cases charters are named for the lord that issued them or confirmed them.
or estate
). Sometimes sections are indicated by rubric
s. Sections and subsections were separated by blank folios, which Rosell thought were intended for earlier documents that were yet to be retrieved, but which others suggested were intended for expansion. In fact both new documents and earlier ones were added to blank folios. Within a given subsection the documents are usually ordered chronologically, and sometimes grouped (by blank folios) into periods.
A comital archive for the counts of Barcelona is only mentioned for the first time in 1180. Ramon de Caldes refers to omnia instrumenta propria et inter vos vestrosque antecessores ac homines vestros confecta ("all of your own documents and those drawn up between you and your ancestors and your men"), but the location of these documents is uncertain. The archive may have been centralised yet itinerant, or perhaps there were subsidiary archives at the various comital centres. The archive sent by Ramon de Gironella to Guillem de Bassa contained mostly documents pertaining to the County of Girona, for instance. The copyists of the LFM may have made use of an itinerant commission which collected or copied charters throughout Alfonso's domains, where needed. At least two charters in the LFM were definitely from outside sources: a grant by Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona to Santa Maria de l'Estany in 1152 and a privilege of Charlemagne
held at the monastery of Sant Llorenç del Munt
. Further, 109 documents from the archives of the County of Pallars Jussà, acquired by Alfonso on 27 May 1192, were incorporated into the LFM almost immediately.
, the Libro de las estampas of León
, and the Becerro antiguo of the monastery
of Leire
. French examples exist from the same time period as the LFM: from Vierzon
(c.1150), Mont-Saint-Michel (c.1160), and Marchiennes
(c.1195).
Kosto has identified two styles and thus two hands at work in the miniatures of the LFM, one conservative and local, the other expert and international. Joan Ainaud dated the painting to the first quarter of the thirteenth century (after the completion of the text), but it was probably planned from the start.
The LFM preserves 79 images, though there were once more. Many of the images are connected with specific charters in the cartulary and depict various specific actions of feudal politics. They are among the earliest depictions of the act of homage (hominium), of the placing of a vassals hands between those of his lord. Oaths and pledges are depicted by raised right hands and agreements by hand-holding. The Treaty of Zaragoza (1170) is depicted by Alfonso II and his Castilian
counterpart, Alfonso VIII
, as sitting on two thrones, holding hands. All these images reinforced the royal conception of power and the subordination of vassals.
The first two images of the cartulary, however, are counter the hierarchical spirit of the rest. In the first, Alfonso and Ramon, seated at equal levels, with a scribe at work in the background, gesture towards a pile of charters. The charters are the centre of attention. The king is depicted as working (administering his realm). In the second, the king and the queen, Sancha of Castile, are surrounded by a circular array of seven pairs of noblewomen engaged in conversation. The king and queen, too, appear engaged in conversation. The image is probably a depiction of the court and its culture, which was a home to many troubadour
s.
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...
for "great book of fiefs"), originally called the Liber domini regis ("book of the lord king"), is a late twelfth-century illuminated
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
cartulary of the Crown of Aragon
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon Corona d'Aragón Corona d'Aragó Corona Aragonum controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain and southeastern France, as well as some of the major islands and mainland possessions stretching across the Mediterranean as far as Greece...
. It was compiled by the royal archivist Ramon de Caldes with the help of Guillem de Bassa for Alfonso II
Alfonso II of Aragon
Alfonso II or Alfons I ; Huesca, 1-25 March 1157 – 25 April 1196), called the Chaste or the Troubadour, was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1164 until his death. He was the son of Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona and Petronilla of Aragon and the first King of Aragon who was...
, beginning in 1192. It contained 902 documents dating as far back as the tenth century. It is profusely illustrated in a Romanesque style
Romanesque art
Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
, a rarity for utilitarian documents. The LFM is an indispensable source for the institutional history of the emerging Principality of Catalonia
Principality of Catalonia
The Principality of Catalonia , is a historic territory in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula, mostly in Spain and with an adjoining portion in southern France....
. It is preserved as a file in the Arxiu de la Corona d'Aragó (ACA), Cancelleria reial, Registres no. 1, in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
.
Manuscript history
Only 114 of the original 888 folios of the LFM remain, but only ninety-three of the original 902 documents have been completely lost, and thus a near-complete reconstruction of its contents remains possible. The prologuePrologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
to the document, written by Ramon de Caldes, describes the work as being in duo volumina (two volumes), but its present division dates only from its re-binding in the nineteenth century. Whether the planned second volume was ever bound or even begun cannot be known. The original volumes sustained damage during the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and the French invasion of Spain
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
, but their indices (one dating back to 1306) survived, as well as most of the parchment charters that were copied in the Liber. Its modern editor, Francisco Miquel Rosell, has reconstructed the order and rubrics of the documents. The folios were trimmed, however, eliminating any evidence of their earlier physical states.
Two smaller books of fiefs related to the LFM project are also preserved. The Liber feudorum Ceritaniae
Liber feudorum Ceritaniae
The Liber feudorum Ceritaniae is, as its Latin title indicates, a book registering the fiefs within the counties of County of Cerdagne , which at the time included the old counties of Roussillon and Conflent, and the feudal obligations of the count and his vassals...
concentrates on Cerdany and Roussillon
County of Roussillon
The County of Roussillon was one of the Catalan counties in the Marca Hispanica during the Middle Ages. The rulers of the county were the Counts of Roussillon, whose interests lay both north and south of the Pyrenees.-Visigothic county:...
and may represent a failed initiative to create regional cartularies modelled on the LFM. The Liber feudorum formae minoris is a continuation of the LFM including documents from the early thirteenth century. Only two other secular cartularies survive from the same period: the Liber instrumentorum memorialium
Liber instrumentorum memorialium
The Liber instrumentorum memorialium is the surviving cartulary of the Lords of Montpellier, the Guilhems , and an important source for their history. It was compiled in the early thirteenth century, under the patronage of William VIII, whose lordship is extensively catalogued in it. Its earliest...
of the Lords of Montpellier
Lords of Montpellier
The following is a list of lords of Montpellier:* William I of Montpellier 26 November 986–1019* William II of Montpellier 1019–1025* William III of Montpellier 1025–1058* William IV of Montpellier 1058–1068* William V of Montpellier 1090–1121...
and the Liber instrumentorum vicecomitalium
Liber instrumentorum vicecomitalium
The Liber instrumentorum vicecomitalium , sometimes called the Trencavel Cartulary or Cartulaire de Foix, is a high medieval cartulary commissioned by the Trencavel family. It preserves either 585 or 616–7 charters, the earliest of which dates to 1028 and the latest to 1214...
of the Trencavels.
Dating
The compilation of the LFM was probably related to Alfonso's renewed drive to control the castellans of his domains. In 1178–80 he launched a series of lawsuits for power of access to various castles. The LFM was the product of intense research into the archives of the Crown in support of its claims. From 1171 to 1177 a review of the comital archives was found necessary for asserting the Alfonso's rights in the County of Carcassonne, which may have inspired archival reform. In 1178, 144 comital charters that had thitherto been in the hands of Ramon de Gironella, the count's vicarVicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
in Girona
Girona
Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...
, were handed over to Guillem de Bassa; many of these later appeared in the LFM.
Accepting the prologue at face value, Francisco Miquel Rosell assumed that the work was presented to Alfonso II and that it was therefore completed before the count's death in 1196. Thomas Bisson has argued that the work was presented to Alfonso complete in August 1194 at the same ceremony where Ponç III de Cabrera came to terms with the king. Since Ramon de Caldes's work on the LFM is last recorded in April that year, it is assumed that he pushed himself to complete the work in the following months. A third line of argument, pursued by Anscari Mundó, sees the LFM as complete by 1192, when the latest of its charters was issued. Three charters from the final four years of Alfonso's reign are contained in the LFM, but in a hand distinct from that of its two main scribes. All of these pertain to Ponç de Cabrera, his capitulation and his oath of fealty to Peter II
Peter II of Aragon
Peter II the Catholic was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1196 to 1213.He was the son of Alfonso II of Aragon and Sancha of Castile...
in April 1196. Since the last document would have been added only after Alfonso's death, it is possible that the others were added simultaneously, that the completion of the cartulary was unrelated to Ponç's settlement, and that the work was in the main finished by 1192. Since documents of an earlier date than November 1192 appear to have been inscribed on blank folios after documents from that year, it is probable that 1192 represents the "finish" date of the original version (or the date of presentation).
It is also possible that the work that had begun as early as 1178 was renewed sometime around 1190–94. Bisson connects any renewed effort on the part of Ramon de Caldes before his retirement from court in late 1194 with a serious of challenges to the authority of Alfonso II. In February 1194 Berenguer, Archbishop of Tarragona, was assassinated by Guillem Ramon II de Montcada, which to Bisson indicates the weakness of the Peace and Truce of God
Peace and Truce of God
The Peace and Truce of God was a medieval European movement of the Catholic Church that applied spiritual sanctions in order to limit the violence of private war in feudal society. The movement constituted the first organized attempt to control civil society in medieval Europe through non-violent...
at that time and since 1190, when the baronage had first rejected it.
According to Lawrence McCrank, the LFM was unfinished at the king's death in 1196 and at Ramon's in 1199. The prologue was written in anticipation and a second volume was never begun, only planned. Both Bisson and Adam Kosto agree that the work was completed in 1192 and presented in 1194, but that it was never a "completed", rather the "closing of the selection of instruments" was the "beginning of continuous work".
Purpose
The LFM was treated by its modern editor, Rosell, as little more than a written record of the aggrandisement of the domain of the counts of Barcelona. Lawrence McCrank connected the beginnings of the cartulary enterprise with the Treaty of Cazola in 1179, by which Alfonso secured recognition of his rights to Valencia by Alfonso VIII of CastileAlfonso VIII of Castile
Alfonso VIII , called the Noble or el de las Navas, was the King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo. He is most remembered for his part in the Reconquista and the downfall of the Almohad Caliphate...
. On this view, Alfonso "slowed the Reconquest
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
" in order to concentrate on unifying his various realms into a single crown. Critiquing this view, Kosto points out that while papal bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
s and treaties with the military orders regarding Aragon are found at the start of the cartulary, the relative dearth of charters relating to castleholding and landholding in Aragon suggests that the unification of Aragon and Catalonia juridically (i.e. more than symbolically) was not high on the minds of the compilers or their patron.
The LFM introduced no "new principles of feudal organization", but it does represent "a more abstract notion of comital and royal power". It has been compared to the Usatges de Barcelona as a failure in "practical or bureaucratic terms". It is essentially an expression of power, conceived territorially and principally with regards to Catalonia. The cartulary is not a record of the union of Catalonia with Aragon. Rather, it is a record of a vast new authority including Aragon, parts of Occitania
Occitania
Occitania , also sometimes lo País d'Òc, "the Oc Country"), is the region in southern Europe where Occitan was historically the main language spoken, and where it is sometimes still used, for the most part as a second language...
(Carcassonne, Razès
Razès
Razès is a historical area in southwestern France, in today's Aude département.Several communes of the département include Razès in their name:* Bellegarde-du-Razès* Belvèze-du-Razès* Fenouillet-du-Razès* Fonters-du-Razès...
, Béziers
Béziers
Béziers is a town in Languedoc in southern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the Hérault department. Béziers hosts the famous Feria de Béziers, centred around bullfighting, every August. A million visitors are attracted to the five-day event...
, and the County of Provence), and all the Catalan counties
Catalan counties
The Catalan counties were the administrative divisions of the eastern Carolingian Marca Hispanica created after its Frankish conquest. The various counties roughly defined what came to be known as the Principality of Catalonia....
, including Ausona, Barcelona, Besalú
County of Besalú
The County of Besalú was one of the landlocked medieval Catalan counties near the Mediterranean coastline. It was roughly coterminous with the modern comarca of Garrotxa and at various times extended as far north as Corbières, Aude, now in France. Its capital was the village of Besalú...
, Cerdanya, Girona, Roussillon
County of Roussillon
The County of Roussillon was one of the Catalan counties in the Marca Hispanica during the Middle Ages. The rulers of the county were the Counts of Roussillon, whose interests lay both north and south of the Pyrenees.-Visigothic county:...
, and Pallars Jussà
County of Pallars Jussà
The County of Pallars Jussà or Jusá, meaning Lower Pallars, was a county in the Hispanic March during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, long after the march had ceased to be effectively administered by the Kings of France. It was a division of the County of Pallars, which had been de facto, and...
, which were all possessed by Alfonso II, as well as the Empúries
County of Empúries
The County of Empúries was a medieval county centred on the town of Empúries and enclosing the Catalan region of Peralada. It corresponds to the historic comarca of Empordà....
and Urgell, which were not. Bisson writes that in the LFM "feudal principles, applied to serve administrative [...] needs, remained subordinated to a conception of territorial sovereignty," yet he also says that the LFM was "exclusively a land book concerned with proprietary or reversionary right [and not] concerned with any systematic effort to strengthen suzerain rights or vassalic obligations." Kosto, to an extent, disagrees, arguing that the work is a combination of land book and case book, in which some charters are presented to explain the proper working of the feudal system. The rubrics and section headings are evidence of the ambiguity of Alfonso's position and that of the various regions. While Aragon is termed a regnum (kingdom, realm), Cerdanya and Roussillon are comitati (counties), Tarragona
Tarragona
Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...
is listed as a civitas (city), and Provence and the County of Melgueil
County of Melgueil
The County of Melgueil was a fief of first the Carolingian Emperor, then the King of France, and finally the Papacy during the Middle Ages. Counts probably sat at Melgueil from the time of the Visigoths. The counts of Melgueil were also counts of Maguelonne and Substantion from at least the time...
are not described. In other cases charters are named for the lord that issued them or confirmed them.
Text
The documents in the LFM are organised by county, viscounty, or lineage (usually associated with a given castleCastle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
or estate
Estate (house)
An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...
). Sometimes sections are indicated by rubric
Rubric
A rubric is a word or section of text which is traditionally written or printed in red ink to highlight it. The word derives from the , meaning red ochre or red chalk, and originates in Medieval illuminated manuscripts from the 13th century or earlier...
s. Sections and subsections were separated by blank folios, which Rosell thought were intended for earlier documents that were yet to be retrieved, but which others suggested were intended for expansion. In fact both new documents and earlier ones were added to blank folios. Within a given subsection the documents are usually ordered chronologically, and sometimes grouped (by blank folios) into periods.
A comital archive for the counts of Barcelona is only mentioned for the first time in 1180. Ramon de Caldes refers to omnia instrumenta propria et inter vos vestrosque antecessores ac homines vestros confecta ("all of your own documents and those drawn up between you and your ancestors and your men"), but the location of these documents is uncertain. The archive may have been centralised yet itinerant, or perhaps there were subsidiary archives at the various comital centres. The archive sent by Ramon de Gironella to Guillem de Bassa contained mostly documents pertaining to the County of Girona, for instance. The copyists of the LFM may have made use of an itinerant commission which collected or copied charters throughout Alfonso's domains, where needed. At least two charters in the LFM were definitely from outside sources: a grant by Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona to Santa Maria de l'Estany in 1152 and a privilege of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
held at the monastery of Sant Llorenç del Munt
Sant Llorenç del Munt
Sant Llorenç del Munt is a largely rocky mountain massif in central Catalonia, Spain. The highest summit, where the Sant Llorenç del Munt Monastery is located, has an altitude of 1,004.2 metres above sea level and is known as La Mola...
. Further, 109 documents from the archives of the County of Pallars Jussà, acquired by Alfonso on 27 May 1192, were incorporated into the LFM almost immediately.
Illustration
Though it is rare as an example of an illuminated cartulary, the LFM is not the only example from the twelfth century, nor even from Spain. In fact, there exist four Spanish exemplars from the first half of the century: the Libro de los testamentos of the cathedral of Oviedo, Tumbo A from Santiago de CompostelaSantiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
, the Libro de las estampas of León
Kingdom of León
The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...
, and the Becerro antiguo of the monastery
of Leire
Leire
Leire is a village in Leicestershire, England. The name is thought to originate from the old British name for the river Soar, which has a tributary with a source south of the village.Present day Leire has a population of around 500....
. French examples exist from the same time period as the LFM: from Vierzon
Vierzon
Vierzon is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre region of France.-Geography:A medium-sized town by the banks of the Cher River with some light industry and an area of forestry and farming to the north...
(c.1150), Mont-Saint-Michel (c.1160), and Marchiennes
Marchiennes
-References:*...
(c.1195).
Kosto has identified two styles and thus two hands at work in the miniatures of the LFM, one conservative and local, the other expert and international. Joan Ainaud dated the painting to the first quarter of the thirteenth century (after the completion of the text), but it was probably planned from the start.
The LFM preserves 79 images, though there were once more. Many of the images are connected with specific charters in the cartulary and depict various specific actions of feudal politics. They are among the earliest depictions of the act of homage (hominium), of the placing of a vassals hands between those of his lord. Oaths and pledges are depicted by raised right hands and agreements by hand-holding. The Treaty of Zaragoza (1170) is depicted by Alfonso II and his Castilian
Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
counterpart, Alfonso VIII
Alfonso VIII of Castile
Alfonso VIII , called the Noble or el de las Navas, was the King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo. He is most remembered for his part in the Reconquista and the downfall of the Almohad Caliphate...
, as sitting on two thrones, holding hands. All these images reinforced the royal conception of power and the subordination of vassals.
The first two images of the cartulary, however, are counter the hierarchical spirit of the rest. In the first, Alfonso and Ramon, seated at equal levels, with a scribe at work in the background, gesture towards a pile of charters. The charters are the centre of attention. The king is depicted as working (administering his realm). In the second, the king and the queen, Sancha of Castile, are surrounded by a circular array of seven pairs of noblewomen engaged in conversation. The king and queen, too, appear engaged in conversation. The image is probably a depiction of the court and its culture, which was a home to many troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
s.
Further reading
- López Rodríguez, C. 2007. "Orígenes del Archivo de la Corona de Aragón (en tiempos, Archivo Real de Barcelona)." Hispania: Revista Española de Historia, 57:226, 413–54.
- Mundó, Anscari M. 1980–82. "El pacte de Cazola del 1179 i el Liber feudorum maior: Notes paleogràfiques i diplomàtiques." X Congrés d'història de la Corona d'Aragó, Zaragoza, 1979. Jaime I y su época. Comunicaciones (Zaragoza), vol. 1, 119–29.
- Rosell, Francisco Miquel (ed.). 1945–47. Liber feudorum maior: cartulario real que se conserva en el archivo de la corona de Aragón, 2 vols. Barcelona.
- Salrach, Josep M. 1992. "El Liber feudorum maior i els comptes fiscals de Ramon de Caldes." Documents jurídics de la història de Catalunya, 2nd ed. (Barcelona), 85–110.
- Access to a digitised version is available at PARES: Portal de Archivos Españoles