The Aristocracy in the Paris Region during the Reign of Philip Augustus, 1179–1223. A Quantitative Approach
John W. Baldwin
John W. Baldwin, The Aristocracy in the Paris Region during the Reign of Philip Augustus, 1179–1223. A Quantitative Approach, Francia 39/1, 2012, p. 29-68 et Francia 40/2, 2013, p. 27-55.
Extrait de l’article
The medieval aristocracy has long offered a perennial fascination to French historians, but modern scholars have been faced with a major obstacle in treating the period to the end of the thirteenth century. This is the lack of aristocratic archives in northern France. This lacuna has obliged historians to resort to documentation supplied by ecclesiastics, royalty or other great lords. The present investigation is conditioned both by personal choices and the availability of sources. Although I recognize the advantages in examining the aristocracy in symbiosis with the peasantry, this will not be feasible here. Furthermore, since the Francilien aristocracy has been recently treated for the preceding decades of the twelfth century by Nicholas Civel, I shall limit myself to the half-century of Philip’s reign. Encompassing only two, or three generations at most, this period presents a snapshot in time and place but not a longitudinal project that uncovers secular trends and mutations favored by present historians. The term Francia was often applied both to the region around 3Paris as well as tothe entire kingdomof France , but the specific term »Ile-de-France« as used today was unknown in the Middle Ages. The geographic scope of this study will therefore be defined by proximity to Paris and the availability of two sets of documents ...