Custom in Late Medieval France

The idea of the dynamic movement of law—diffusion of legal institutions, rules, and culture—is deeply embedded in European legal history since antiquity. All the while, a potent spirit of local custom has sustained national history, forming an equally integral part of Europe’s legal tradition. This chapter examines the sources of law in late medieval France and the doctrine of custom. It also discusses the growth of royal justice and the relationship between private law and political power. An overview of major historiographical debates concerning the theory and nature of custom sheds light on the question as to whether the notion of common law (droit commun) emerged autonomously in France or only after custom was written down on the model of Roman law as jus commune.

The Book as Material Intercessor in Anne de Bretagne’s Library: Women’s Affective Reading in Late Medieval France

This article explores the materiality of the book in four codices owned by Anne de Bretagne at the end of the Middle Ages. Shedding light on the reading practices promoted by the library of one particular late-medieval female patron, I also provide a way into thinking more broadly about the ways in which reading practices were modelled to female readers by the secular and religious texts and images in their manuscripts.

Singlewomen and Illicit Pregnancy in Late Medieval France

This article examines the consequences of extramarital pregnancy for women in late medieval France. Pregnancy outside marriage is typically thought of as a disaster for women and children alike and for their families. However, careful analysis of records of royal pardon, other legal and prescriptive sources, and a wide range of other materials all suggests otherwise. The article demonstrates that, at least for some single mothers in late medieval France, illicit pregnancy did not necessarily mean disaster at all. Pregnant women could help themselves, and were helped by others. All this has important implications for our understanding of the regulation of sexuality and reproduction in late medieval France, and of the role of mercy in medieval justice. Cet article examine les conséquences des grossesses illicites pour les mères célibataires dans le Nord de la France à la fin du Moyen Age. La grossesse hors mariage est traditionnellement considérée comme une catastrophe pour les mères et les enfants, ainsi que pour leurs familles. Une analyse des documents relatifs à la grâce royale, d'autres sources juridiques et normatives et d'un large éventail d'autres documents suggère tout le contraire. L'article montre que, du moins pour certaines mères célibataires de la France médiévale tardive, une grossesse illicite ne signifie pas nécessairement une catastrophe. Les mères pouvaient s'aider elles-mêmes et étaient aidées par d'autres. Cette conclusion a des implications importantes pour la réglementation de la sexualité et de la reproduction, et pour le rôle de la miséricorde dans la justice médiévale.

Batu Khan’s Invasion in the Imagination of French Medieval Authors

Objective: A consideration of the problem of imagining the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Europe (1237–1242) led by Batu Khan in the works of French medieval authors from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Research materials: Edited sources in Latin, French, and Russian, including works by Giovanni di Pian di Carpine, Alberic de Trois-Fontaines, Matthaeus Parisiensis (Matthew Paris), André Thevet, Benoit Rigaud, and Blaise de Vigenère. Results and novelty of the research: The author considers the evolution of the views of French medieval authors on the problem of the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Europe from the appearance of the first information about the conquerors (Alberic de Trois-Fontaines, Matthaeus Parisiensis) to the formation of a scholarly approach to the study of this issue in the research of historians of the sixteenth century. In particular, the author deals with the ways that information about the Mongol-Tatar invasion of the countries of Eastern Europe penetrated into medieval France. Special attention has been paid to the diplomatic mission of Giovanni di Pian di Carpine (1245–1247) to the Mongol Empire and the participation of the archbishop of Rus’, Petro Akerovich, in the First Council of Lyon (1245). The importance of the Mongol issue for the policy of the French Kingdom in the middle of the thirteenth century is noted too. The attempts of the government of Louis IX to establish contacts with the Mongol Khans are analyzed as well. It is concluded that in subsequent times, a significant influx of slaves from Rus’ into the port cities of Southern France, noted in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, might be seen as evidence of the destructive nature of Mongol domination on the Rus’ian lands. Particular attention has been paid to the formation of a scholarly approach in French historical thought of the sixteenth century, when researchers such as André Thevet, Benoit Rigaud, and Blaise de Vigenère tried to recreate the picture of the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Europe in the middle of the thirteenth century based on a critical analysis of the sources, thereby laying the basis for the development of this topic’s historiography in France.

An Arthurian Knight in Ivory and Ink

Manuscript Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12577 and ivory casket Musée du Louvre, OA 122, and are two of three extant fourteenth-century visualizations of Chrétien’s Le Conte du Graal, produced in Paris circa 1310-1330. Although the objects’ shared era of production suggests similarities of iconography, artistic influences, and production methods, little research has been conducted regarding visual and cultural connections between MS fr. 12577 and OA 122. Through iconographic and stylistic analysis of the scenes each artisan depicted within his respective medium, I elucidate how the casket and manuscript’s imagery personifies Perceval’s dual nature, a young knight symbolic of the secular and sacred. As visualizations of Chrétien’s most religiously-minded legend, MS fr. 12577 and OA 122 exemplify the intertwining of the sacred and secular within fourteenth-century French romantic art, specifically within illuminated manuscripts and carved ivory, materials that through their refinement, rarity, and expense, signified leisure, luxury, and nobility. By examining these two opulent objects, I provide insights into their purpose and significance in late medieval France, especially cultural crossover between the porous realms of sacred and secular medieval life.