Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Appendices
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Notes About This Book
- Introduction
- 1 The Background Rules and Institutions
- 2 Lying Witnesses and Social Reality: Four English Marriage Cases in the High Middle Ages
- 3 Statistics: The Court of York, 1300–1500
- 4 Story-Patterns in the Court of York in the Fourteenth Century
- 5 Story-Patterns in the Court of York in the Fifteenth Century
- 6 Ely
- 7 Paris
- 8 Cambrai and Brussels: The Courts and the Numbers
- 9 Cambrai and Brussels: The Content of the Sentences
- 10 Divorce a mensa et thoro and salvo iure thori (Separation)
- 11 Social Practice, Formal Rule, and the Medieval Canon Law of Incest
- 12 Broader Comparisons
- Epilogue and Conclusion
- Bibliography and Abbreviations
- Subject Index
- Texts and Commentary
- Table of Cases
- Table of Authorities
- Index of Persons and Places
7 - Paris
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Appendices
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Notes About This Book
- Introduction
- 1 The Background Rules and Institutions
- 2 Lying Witnesses and Social Reality: Four English Marriage Cases in the High Middle Ages
- 3 Statistics: The Court of York, 1300–1500
- 4 Story-Patterns in the Court of York in the Fourteenth Century
- 5 Story-Patterns in the Court of York in the Fifteenth Century
- 6 Ely
- 7 Paris
- 8 Cambrai and Brussels: The Courts and the Numbers
- 9 Cambrai and Brussels: The Content of the Sentences
- 10 Divorce a mensa et thoro and salvo iure thori (Separation)
- 11 Social Practice, Formal Rule, and the Medieval Canon Law of Incest
- 12 Broader Comparisons
- Epilogue and Conclusion
- Bibliography and Abbreviations
- Subject Index
- Texts and Commentary
- Table of Cases
- Table of Authorities
- Index of Persons and Places
Summary
THE BUSINESS OF THE COURT OF PARIS
In the late fourteenth century Paris was the largest city in Europe north of the Alps. It may have been the largest city in Europe. Its population was more than an order of magnitude greater than that of York or Cambridge. It was the center of the French royal government, the seat of the largest university in northern Europe, and a bustling commercial center. It was, however, the see of only a bishop. The metropolitical see was at Sens. Because of the large population of Paris (and of the large number of clergy that were resident in the town), the ecclesiastical courts of Paris probably had more business than any of the other ecclesiastical courts in France. There were three archidiaconal courts in addition to the court of the bishop's official. Two exempt jurisdictions within the city have also left a few surviving records.
Time has not been kind to the medieval records of the Paris officiality. There does, however, survive one remarkable register containing entries dating from November of 1384 to September of 1387, 319 folios in the original and 538 columns in the modern edition, approximately 3,250 entries all told. Despite the fact that the register has been in print since 1919, relatively little use has been made of it by modern scholars. The reasons are not hard to find.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Law, Marriage, and Society in the Later Middle AgesArguments about Marriage in Five Courts, pp. 302 - 382Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008