The Code of Cuenca: Municipal Law on the Twelfth-Century Castilian Frontier

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 2000

The Code of Cuenca

Municipal Law on the Twelfth-Century Castilian Frontier

Edited by: James F. Powers and James F. Powers

In the series Anniversary Collection

In the series The Middle Ages Series

https://doi.org/10.9783/9781512806762

Overview
Contents

About this book

Sometime around 1190, King Alfonso VIII of Castile granted a royal charter to the community of Cuenca, a Castilian frontier town recently recaptured from the Muslims and resettled by Christians. The royal charter was in the form of a law code, or fuero. Fueros, which evolved from short lists of exceptions to standing royal directives into much more extensive commentaries on legal matters, were used as an incentive to Christian settlement on the frontier. Reflecting the complexities of administering a town that still had large Muslim and Jewish populations, the fuero or code of Cuenca was meant to assure the permanence of Christian conquest and settlement. James Powers provides the first translation into English of this notable historical document. The Code of Cuenca is of great importance to legal historians, particularly as a comparison to contemporary English and other European law texts. Because there is no similar urban compilation anywhere else in twelfth-century Europe that contains significant descriptions of everyday life in a medieval frontier town, the code will serve as a primary source for scholars and students of medieval Iberian and western European political, economic, and social history.

Author / Editor information

James F. Powers is Professor of History at the College of the Holy Cross. He is author of A Society Organized for War: The Iberian Municipal Militias in the Central Middle Ages, 1000-1284, winner of the Best Book Prize, Society for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies, 1988-90.

Reviews

"This is an important and most useful translation of the fuero de Cuenca, one of the most significant sources for the history of medieval Spain and the medieval West."--Teofilo Ruiz, University of California at Los Angeles

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Poem and Prologue
I. Concession of the Code and Outline of Its Privileges Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
II. Statutes Regarding Property Holdings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
III. How Grain Fields Should Be Guarded Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
IV. Care of the Vineyards Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
V. Demarcation of Orchards Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
VI. Aggression with Illegal Weapons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
VII. Public Land of the Council Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
VIII. Concerning Mills Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
IX. Marriages and Wills Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	64
X. The Right of Succession of Children and Parents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
XI. No One Should Pay the Pecuniary Penalty of Homicide for a Man Killed During Sports Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
XII. Insults to Men and Many Other Violent Acts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	86
XIII. No One Should Respond for Counseling Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	92
XIV. The Penalties for Murderers: The Challenged Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
XV. Surety Bondsmen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
XVI. The Election of the Iudex and the Alcaldi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
XVII. Concerning the Manner in Which Each One Obtains His Rights Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
XVIII. The Citations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
XIX. Bondsmen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
XX. Witnesses and Accusers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
XXI. Testimony of Responsible Intermediaries or of Substitute AIcaldi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
XXII. Fighters of Judicial Combat Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
XXIII. Debtors Who Flee from the City Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
XXIV. Those Who Appeal to the Court of the Alcaldi on Friday Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	144
XXV. The Manner of Pleading and the Witnesses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	148
XXVI. The Festival Days on Which No One Should Be Allowed to Take Sureties or Cite to Judgment Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
XXVII. Those Who Appeal to the King Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
XXVIII. The Collectors of Money for the Council Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
XXIX. Cases Between Christians and Jews Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
XXX. The Government of the Military Expedition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
XXXI. The Emergency Military Muster Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176
XXXII. The Code of Purchase, of Sale, and of Collateral of Real Estate Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
XXXIII. The Code of Pledging and of Sales Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
XXXIV. Dogs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
XXXV. The Code of the Hunters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
XXXVI. The Code of Hired Workers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	192
XXXVII. The Code of the Herders Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	194
XXXVIII. The Loyalty of All Wage Earners Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
XXXIX. The Code of the Guards Who Watch the Livestock Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	200
XL. Those Who Find Something Should Proclaim It, and the Corroborators Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
XLI. The Code of Guests [and Other Matters] Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
XLII. Craftsmen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
XLIII. The Equalization of the Parishes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	214
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Select Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Edition: Reprint 2016
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 256
Keywords: History; Law; Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Human Rights; Law; European History; World History

eBook

Published: November 11, 2016
ISBN: 9781512806762