“And so must he be chastised. . .” Kings, knights, and punishments in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
Besson, Florian
“And so must he be chastised. . .” Kings, knights, and punishments in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem - 2015.
14
The Livre au Roi is a juridical text compiled in the very first years of the twelfth century, probably to support the ambitions of King Amalric II of Lusignan. He ruled over the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem between 1197 and 1205, thanks to his marriage to Queen Isabella, and tried to re-establish a strong monarchy. Reproducing the assizes and customs of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the author devotes several chapters to justice and punishments. As has been demonstrated by Michel Foucault, there is a consubstantial link between justice, power, and the image that a society gives of itself: through the Livre au Roi, we try to understand how this link was re-forged in the feudal society of the Latin East. First of all, the question of justice reveals a lot about medieval minds and practices: the absence of the inquisitional procedure, the role of witnesses, the place of the judicial ordeal. . . We also aim to understand how the Livre au Roi, in itself, strengthened the social order: indeed, the text constantly reaffirms the superiority of the knights over the burgesses. In particular, the knights were less harshly punished than the burgesses when they commited violent attacks: the Livre au Roi imposed the bellatores as the only agents of legitimate violence. Finally, we try to show how the text reflected Amalric’s will to re-impose the monarchy above the barons: by deliberately using anachronistic assizes and vocabulary, by claiming the right to judge, the king wanted to assert himself as the direct successor of the powerful kings of the past. The Livre au Roi is at the very heart of Amalric’s political program, but a fair number of chapters show that this is only an ideal: the monarchy was forced to co-exist alongside a very powerful seigniorial class. The Livre au Roi must therefore be read anthropologically: it partook of the feudal conception of power and politics. It reveals a society that always preferred the circulation of power, even if only symbolic, rather than the concentration of power.
“And so must he be chastised. . .” Kings, knights, and punishments in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem - 2015.
14
The Livre au Roi is a juridical text compiled in the very first years of the twelfth century, probably to support the ambitions of King Amalric II of Lusignan. He ruled over the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem between 1197 and 1205, thanks to his marriage to Queen Isabella, and tried to re-establish a strong monarchy. Reproducing the assizes and customs of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the author devotes several chapters to justice and punishments. As has been demonstrated by Michel Foucault, there is a consubstantial link between justice, power, and the image that a society gives of itself: through the Livre au Roi, we try to understand how this link was re-forged in the feudal society of the Latin East. First of all, the question of justice reveals a lot about medieval minds and practices: the absence of the inquisitional procedure, the role of witnesses, the place of the judicial ordeal. . . We also aim to understand how the Livre au Roi, in itself, strengthened the social order: indeed, the text constantly reaffirms the superiority of the knights over the burgesses. In particular, the knights were less harshly punished than the burgesses when they commited violent attacks: the Livre au Roi imposed the bellatores as the only agents of legitimate violence. Finally, we try to show how the text reflected Amalric’s will to re-impose the monarchy above the barons: by deliberately using anachronistic assizes and vocabulary, by claiming the right to judge, the king wanted to assert himself as the direct successor of the powerful kings of the past. The Livre au Roi is at the very heart of Amalric’s political program, but a fair number of chapters show that this is only an ideal: the monarchy was forced to co-exist alongside a very powerful seigniorial class. The Livre au Roi must therefore be read anthropologically: it partook of the feudal conception of power and politics. It reveals a society that always preferred the circulation of power, even if only symbolic, rather than the concentration of power.
Réseaux sociaux