Bretthauer, Isabelle
The Notarial Deed Market in the Middle Ages: Set Rates, Cost, and Competition
- 2016.
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In the latter centuries of the Middle Ages, establishing contracts was an area of action belonging to ecclesiastical and secular “political authorities,” first and foremost the king. The production of such documents was the object of commercial transactions between notaries and clients, and the authority controlled these transactions by setting rates. Central to the analysis is the construction of an “economic market” between all these actors : this article aims to understand the construction of rates and to shed light on transactions between notaries and clients and the extent of competition in this market (between notaries under the same authority and between separate authorities).