Interpreting the Visual Evidence
Picturing Legal Transactions
Between the years 1192
and 1194, King Alfonso
II of Aragon (r. 1162–
1196) and his court
scribes compiled a remarkable
book. The codex known today
as "the big book of fiefs" (Liber feudorum
maior) may have been made to assist
Alfonso and his descendants in legitimizing
their authority over the many areas
they controlled, but it was also a way of
expressing that authority: its very existence
represented a new claim to royal
power. In its original form, it consisted
of 888 parchment folios (1776 pages)
on which 903 separate documents were
copied.
This "big book" represents a new
trend in Europe. In most places, claims to
property were made on the basis of custom
and memory, not on documentation.
When property changed hands, the
chief witnesses were people, and when
questions arose it was these people (or
their heirs) whose testimony proved
ownership. In Catalonia, the habit of documenting
things had a long history, and
it was not unusual for individual families
to keep archives of documents. At the
same time, however, documentation
was never sufficient on its own: verbal
exchanges of agreement and the public
performance of transactions constituted
legally binding ceremonies meaningful to
the entire community, and the validity of
these actions was not dependant on the
making of a written record.
With all this in mind, it is striking that
79 of the documents copied into the
book are accompanied by images that
convey important messages about documentation
and its limitations.
On the book's opening frontispiece
(image A), King Alfonso consults with his
chief archivist, Ramón de Caldes. Ramón
discusses one of the charters taken from
a large pile at his elbow, while a scribe
makes copies behind himperhaps to
aid in the compilation of the "big book."
The king is backed by men who look on
approvingly.
One of the charters copied into the
"big book" is accompanied by the second
image (B). It records that the viscount of
Nîmes betrothed his daughter, Ermengarde
of Carcassone, to the count of
Roussillon. Ermengarde, her flowing hair
uncovered as a sign of her maidenhood,
stands between her bearded father and
her seated mother, Cecilia of Provence.
Images
Questions for Analysis
1. fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d Why would a book designed to document
property transactions contain
images too? What functions could
they have served? |
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2. fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d Why would the artist of the “big
book” have depicted the king consulting
his archivist in the very first image?
How does he depict the relationship
between them? Why does he include
a group of men as witnesses to their
discussion? |
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3. fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d Women figure prominently in many of
the book’s images, including the one
below. On what basis could you argue
that their active presence is crucial to
the transactions being described? |
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