Temmary 8 Advanced Spanish PDF

Preview

Summary

Lectures Notes Lesson Temmary 8 Advanced Spanish...

Description

Topic 5: Power and law in the Middle Ages (711 AD1492)

1. Introduction (political tensions that bring the Visigoth stage to an end, in short) There were the two Visigoth monarchies fighting each other for the Visigoth throne. There is the Chindasvinto dynasty (1) Chindasvinto, 2) Recesvinto, 4) Ervigio, 7) Don Rodrigo or Roderico) and the Wamba dynasty (3) Wamba, 5) Égica and 6) Witiza). The Middle Ages began with the landing of the Muslim army in 711 AD and, with the Muslim invasion, the Visigoth political unity disappeared. A political unity that had been achieved with great effort because the Visigoths were defeating a series of enemies and expelling them until they achieved a political monopoly in the peninsula. The medieval period ends with the reign of the Catholic kings and, specifically, the year 1492 AD is usually used as the end date (the date on which Granada was taken, this being the last Muslim stronghold). The reign of the Catholic kings would be a bridge for the beginning of the modern age as well. To understand the fall of the fall of the Visigothic kingdom, we must refer to the dynastic struggles that the descendants of two clans staged: Chindasvinto and Wamba. Specifically, after Chindasvinto passed away, his son Recesvinto ascended to the throne but, upon his death, the Visigoth political elite elects a representative of another Visigoth family, Wamba, as monarch. This causes discontent in the Chindasvinto clan. Ervigio (belonging to the Chindasvinto clan) conspires to seize power from Wamba (through a conspiracy in which the Catholic Church, specifically, the Archbishop of Toledo, apparently also participated). The church participates because Wamba had limited certain ecclesiastical privileges and Ervigio promised to grant them again. Apparently, Wamba was drugged to make it look like he was dying. Taking advantage of this situation, the archbishop of Toledo subjected the king to a religious ceremony known as "public penance" (which was a ceremony offered to the dying where blessed oil was applied to them, the back of their heads were shaved, and they were dressed in a habit). If the dying man managed to survive, he became a public penitent for the rest of his life. Wamba became a public penitent and these public penitents were disqualified from holding any public office, so Wamba was disqualified from reigning and, pressured by the Chindasvinto clan, gave the crown to Count Ervigio. At the moment in which Ervigio rises to the throne, the other clan begins to conspire against Ervigio, specifically he had an enemy, Égica (the head of the Wamba clan). Because of this, Égica marries Ervigio's daughter to avoid confrontations. Despite the marriage, Égica continued to conspire and, when Ervigio really fell ill, Égica ordered that public penance be administered. At Ervigio's death, Égica succeeds him. With his wife, he fathered children and one of them, Witiza, succeeded his father on the throne. When Witiza passed away, it seems that Witiza's children were minors to rule. For this reason, the Visigoth nobles, specifically the Senate, which was made up of nobles, elects a descendant of Chidasvintos: Don Rodrigo or Roderico. But the Witizans, not in agreement, contacted a governor of Ceuta, and of the region of the Strait who had been a client of Witiza, who was called Don Julián. They contacted him because they knew that Don Julián maintained good relations with certain leaders of the Muslim army in order to have the support of the Muslims to win over Don Rodrigo. Specifically, Tariq (governor of Tangier) and Musa / Muza (superior of Tariq and governor of Africa). In April 711, Tariq's army entered the peninsula. At that time, Don Rodrigo was at the other end of the peninsula (Pamplona), trying to quell the uprising of the Basques. The news of the landing reached him and he immediately moved south. But while Don Rodrigo moves south, Tariq's army is joined by the soldiers led by Musa / Muza. Finally the two armies face the banks of the Guadalete River. At no time was Don Rodrigo aware of the betrayal of the Witizanos, ending with the defeat and possible death of Don Rodrigo.

With this, the Visigoth monarchy ends and the Visigoth stage ends, beginning the Middle Ages. This lasts 8 centuries and, during this long period, the peninsula is divided into two areas: the Christian area and the Muslim area or Al-Andalus. This territorial division disappears with the taking of Granada in 1492.

2.High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages begins from 711 AD CHRISTIAN ZONE This stage is characterized by a great diversity of rights. The causes of diversity are: 

The Muslim invasion generates two political and legal zones: Muslim law governs in Al-Andalus and, in the Christian zone, a series of politically independent nuclei appear that create their own rights.



At this stage, in each Christian kingdom, there are municipalities and lordships that have normative powers. Municipalities generate municipal law and manors generate manor law. The lordships were territories dominated by a nobleman or lord, this being the one that created the right of their territory. The manor law was despotic and harsh, while the municipal law was more flexible and offered a better quality of life.



The existence of social classes that offered more or less privileged legal estates: nobility and clergy, bourgeoisie, peasantry.



Religion was another factor. According to the religious creed, a more or less beneficial legal status was enjoyed. Christians had more privileges and Muslims and Jews were legally discriminated against.

Despite all this legal diversity, in the Christian nuclei there was a common legal note, which consisted in the survival of Visigoth law. Specifically, in the high Middle Ages, two Visigoth codes survive: Liber Iudiciorum (secular law) and Hispana (canon law, of the Church).

3. The late Middle Ages At this stage, a great advance is achieved in the legal unification process, but unity is not achieved, only progress is made in the search for that unity. This progress in unification is achieved thanks, especially, to common law. The late Middle Ages began with the reception, in the different Christian kingdoms, of this common law. This reception, in some kingdoms it occurs before and in others it occurs later. The 12th and 13th centuries are usually used as the centuries of the beginning of the late Middle Ages. During the high Middle Ages, a great cultural crisis was experienced in Western Europe. A crisis that not only affected the level of culture, but all areas of life (economic crisis where the world became rural). This crisis made this era known as the dark centuries. This situation gradually began to be overcome from the 12th century. From the twelfth century, the economy began to recover and there was a revitalization in various aspects. This boom supposes a cultural awakening. This cultural interest had supranational connotations (they went beyond a specific kingdom,emphatically  affected all of Christendom). During the dark centuries of the high Middle Ages, knowledge remained in the church's habit but, from the 12th century, the transmission of knowledge is no longer exclusively from the church, but is transferred to the city where universities arise. The idea of unity remains politically and religiously.  Political unity:It is represented by the Holy Roman Emperor. He holds the highest earthly power  Religious unity:It is represented by the Pope. It holds the maximum spiritual power.

They have conflicts because they want to have hegemony. The Christian community where these ideas of religious and political unity arise, needed a common law. Specifically, this single right will be called Common Law. It is made up of 4 elements: 3 normative elements and a doctrinal element. REGULATORY ELEMENTS  Justinian Roman Law: it is the most relevant and will have a lot of importance.  Canon law (of the Catholic Church):  Right feudal. DOCTRINAL ELEMENT  The works of the jurists who study and interpret, analyze the three previous elements. NOTall kingdoms embrace this Common Law at the same time and with the same intensity. Some kings were reluctant to admit that there was a hierarchical superior to them (they did not want to submit to the emperor) therefore they rejected Common Law because it was the proper law of the Holy Roman-Germanic Empire. With this, some kings preferred to dictate their own rules, these being a Particular Right. The medieval jurists, will develop some theories to approximate the figure of the emperor to that of the Christian kings, so that hostility does not exist and the emperor's own law, which was Common Law, is accepted. In this sense, they develop a political theory which is known by the name of "Exemptio Imperii" Exemptio Imperii: This theory means that monarchs monarchs NOTthey had an obligation to recognize a temporally superior power within their territory because, in their territory, the king was an emperor. With this, they wanted to bring the figure of the king closer to the figure of the emperor, arguing that, if the king is also an emperor in his kingdom, he could perfectly use the right of the emperors: Common Law. The Christian kings of the peninsula felt they were continuators of the Visigothic monarchy, reigning independently and feeling the highest authority without having to resort to the thesis "Excemptio mperio  ”. There were 3 elements that coexisted in each Christian kingdom:  Traditional law: The legal tradition of the high Middle Ages  Particular or royal law: that the monarch believe in his kingdom  Common law: In some kingdoms it will be more important and in others less. It will depend on the importance of the other two previous elements. For example: in Castile Alfonso X el Sabio, welcomes common law and infiltrates it in his texts. END OF SUBJECT...