Thomas N. Bisson

Cultures of Power: Lordship, Status, and Process in Twelfth-Century Europe

The authors of Cultures of Power proffer diverse perspectives on the prehistory of government in Northern France, Spain, Germany, the Low Countries, and England. Political, social, ecclesiastical, and cultural history are brought to bear on topics such as aristocracies, women, rituals, commemoration, and manifestations of power through literary, legal, and scriptural means.

Curia and Cortes in León and Castile, 1072-1295

Alfonso X surrounded by mitred bishops and others (frontispiece) Foreword Preface List of abbreviations Glossary Introduction 1. The curia regis in the kingdom of Leon-Castile under Alfonso VI, Urraca and Alfonso VII 2. The curia regis in the separate kingdom of Leon (1157-1230) 3. The curia regis in the separate kingdom of Castile (1157-1230) 4. The towns of Leon and Castile in the thirteenth century 5. Early appearances of representatives of the towns in great assemblies in Leon and Castile before 1250 6. The attendance of representatives of the cities and towns in the cortes (1250-1295) 7. The composition and procedure of the cortes in the second half of the thirteenth century 8. The cortes and questions concerning the succession to the throne, and home and foreign policy 9. The cortes and the voting of subsidies 10. The cortes and legislation 11. The corte (1230-1295) 12. Conclusion Appendix of documents Bibliography Subject index Index of proper names.

The general court of Agenais: a reconsideration

SUMMARY In this article Thomas Bisson returns to his early study on the origins of medieval representative institutions in southern France (1961). He had then concluded that the Agenais had a developed political identity, embodied in a general court which included the elected representatives of the local communities, as well as the barons, and had been active as early as 1182. The apparent precocity of this general court was challenged in a later study by a French scholar, and Bisson here considers this interpretation of the evidence. He concludes that in the wider context of developments in the Pyrenean region in the twelfth century his own original interpretation holds good, and that what happened in Agenais is consistent with a trend towards the development of the ceremonial courts of rules into partly political assemblies, where the whole community is represented. This is a response to the development of issues which are too difficult for the territorial rulers to resolve without the aid of their subjects.

Memoirs of Fellows and Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America

George Peddy Cuttino, distinguished scholar of diplomatic and diplomacy, died in Atlanta, Georgia, on 4 October 1991 in his seventy-eighth year. He was born in Newman, Georgia, on 9 March 1914. When Cuttino entered Swarthmore College in 1931, he assumed that he was heading towards a career as a diplomat, but Mary Albertsons seminar soon turned his thoughts to medieval history. After graduating with highest honors in 1935, he received an M.A. from the University of Iowa the following year. He then proceeded on to Oxford, the recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship, and for the next two years he studied at Oriel College. Maurice Powicke, already the Regius Professor, was his official tutor, but increasingly he sought guidance and inspiration from Vivian Galbraith, then a Reader in Diplomatic and the scholar whom Cuttino regarded as having had the greatest formative influence on his own development. He received his D.Phil. in 1938, after which he spent a postdoctoral year at the University of Londons Institute of Historical Research.

The Origins of the Corts of Catalonia

SUMMARY In this article, which is based on a paper given at a Colloquium of the International Commission held in Florence in 1986, and has been revised to take account of recent work on the subject, Thomas N. Bisson enters the debate over whether the first true Corts of Catalonia was the assembly of 1283. Three aspects of the development of the Corts are examined: its recognition as a territorial assembly of Catalonia, the use of the Corts for formal, ceremonial celebrations of the status of the ruler, and for affirmations of loyalty and the introduction of urban representation alongside that of the prelates, barons and knights. It is argued that meetings officially recorded as ceremonial, and in some cases not officially recorded at all, as early as 1173, were the occasions of fierce political debate between the king and his vassals and have at least some of the defining characteristics of ‘parliamentary’ occasions. The article also produces evidence for the introduction of urban representation before th...