OUTLINE — LECTURE 14

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14th and 15th Centuries—Political and Institutional Developments

The tenor of the times: Johan Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages

 

Events and Councils

 

1347–50, The Black Death, Europe-wide invasion of plague resulting in:

  1. A reduction in population that lasted for a century and half.
  2. Some shift of wealth from the rich to the laboring classes.
  3. A continual drain of population from the countryside to the towns.
  4. A change in mentality? Can we connect this development with the rise of voluntarism?

 

1305–1378, ‘Babylonian captivity’ of the papacy at Avignon

  1. The creation of the Roman Rota.
  2. Tighter control over appointments in local churches.
  3. The disputed papal election of 1378, which leads to:

1378–1417, the Great Schism

1409–1447, the ‘age of councils’:

            Pisa, 1409

            Constance, 1414–1417

            Pavia, 1423

            Basel, 1431–1449

            Ferrara-Florence, 1438–1445

(The last two named began as one and met intermittently.)

 

Theoreticians of Conciliarism:

John of Paris (Jean Quidort, O.P.), c.1240–1306 (theologian, proto-concilarist)

Lemoine, Jean (Johannes Monachus), c.1250–1313 (canonist, proto-conciliarist)

Durantis, Guilelmus, junior, c.1250–1328 (canonist, proto-conciliarist)

Ailly, Pierre d’, 1350–1420 (theologian conciliarist)

Zabarella, Francesco, c.1335–1417 (canonist conciliarist)

Gerson, Jean, 1363–1429 (theologian conciliarist)

 

France and England

 

France

Burgundy

1328–50, Philip VI

 

1350–64, John II the Good

 

1364–80, Charles V the Wise

1363–1404 Philip

1380–1422, Charles VI the Mad

1404–19, John the Fearless

1422–61, Charles VII the Well-served

1419–67, Philip the Good

1461–83, Louis XI the Spider

1467–77, Charles the Rash

1483–98, Charles VIII

1477–1519, Mary & Maximilian

 

England

The 100 Years War

1307–1327,Edward II

1346, Battle of Crécy

1327–1377, Edward III

1356, Battle of Poitiers

1377–1399, Richard II

1360, Peace of Bretigny

1399–1413, Henry IV

1415, Battle of Agincourt

1413–1422, Henry V

1429, Seige of Orléans

1422–1471, Henry VI

1453, Effective end of the war

1485–1509, Henry VII

 

 

The Empire and Italy

 

The Empire:

1356, Charles IV, the Golden Bull, 7 electors: abps Mainz, Trier, Köln, king of Bohemia, count Palatine of the Rhine, margrave of Brandenburg, duke of Saxony; notable for their absence: the pope, the duke of Bavaria

 

Italy:

Milan, despotism of the Visconti (14th c to 1447), rise of the Sforza

Venice, oligarchic republic, defeat of Genoa in 1380

Florence, republic, incresingly under control of the Medici in 15th c

Papal states, alternation of humanist and politician popes, the Borgia

Naples, briefly united with Sicily under Alfonso V the Magnanimous, king of Aragon, 1416–1458, divided at his death

 

Local law in Italy:

 

1170, Milan: Act of the consuls (regulating relations between lords and tenants)

1216, Milan: Liber Consutudinum Mediolani

1396, Milan: Statuta Mediolani (8 bks. promulgated just after Gian Galezzo Visconti become duke of Milan, contains much of the now-lost compilations of 1330 and 1342)

 

1246–1324, Florence: fragments only survive of annual legislation

1293, Forence: Ordinamenta Iustitiae (triumph of the merchants over the magnates)

1325, Florence: Statuto del Capitano del Popolo; Statuto del Podesta

1414, Florence: Statuta populi et communis Florentiae

 

1162, Pisa: Breve Consulum Pisanae civitatis

1233, Pisa: Constituta legis et usus

1286, Pisa: Breve Pisani communis

1303, Pisa: Breve Pisani communis

 

The Iberian Peninsula

 

Castile

Aragon

Sancho IV, 1284–1295

Alfonso III, 1285–1291

Ferdinand IV, 1295–1312

James II, 1291–1327*

Alfonso XI, 1312–1350

Alfonso IV, 1327–1336

Peter the Cruel, 1350–1369

Peter IV, 1336–1387

Henry II (of Trastamara),
 1369–1379

John I, 1387–1395

John I, 1379–1390

Marin I, 1395–1410

Henry III, 1390–1406

Ferdinand I, 1412–1416*

John II, 1406–1454

Alfonso V, 1416–1458*

Henry IV, 1454–1474

John II, 1458–1479*

Isabella, 1474–1504

Ferdinand II, 1479–1516

 

In Castile, a series of disputed successions from Alfonso X to Isabella. During the reign of Alfonso XI (1348), we get the Ordinamento de Alcala. Ferdinand I of Aragon was the younger brother of Henry III of Castile. (Their mother, Eleanor, was the oldest daughter of Peter IV of Aragon.) This connection made the the union under Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile easier. Kings of Aragon with a couple of exceptions noted with an * were also kings of Sicily. If they were not, the king of Sicily was frequently a close relative.

 

A Way to Think About These Developments

 

  1. A widening to the horizons of ordinary people.
  2. The rise of phenomenon of lay spirituality.
  3. The emergence of the vernacular.
  4. A crisis of legitimacy?
  5. The ultimate decline of representative institutions.

 

 

The Creation of the ius commune:

 

It doesn’t mean what “common law” means in England; rather it means the law that Europeans have in common, a combination of Roman and canon law, to be distinguished from the customary law of a particular city or region or the law embodied in the statutes, customs, or fueros of a particularly city or region. In 1348 Alfonso XI of Castile declared that the fuero real was to be the basic law for Castile and the Siete
Partidas
, essentially a work of the ius commune, were to be the secondary authority, the authority to be used when the fueros were silent. The same notion of a hierarchy of sources prevailed over most of Italy and southern France as well. Local statute was primary. If it applied to the case, it was binding. After that came the ius commune. But the power of the ius commune was even greater than the hierarchy would seem to suggest, because the local statutes were interpreted in the light of the ius commune. The terminology and structure of the ius commune was the terminology and structure that every trained jurist used, and jurists were increasingly used as judges and consultors.

 

 




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last modified:  01/19/13

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