Prud'hommes et bonnes gens
J.L. LEFEBVRE, Prud’hommes and bonnes gens in Late Medieval Flemish and Walloon sources, or eligibility to public charges in the Middle Ages (Part 1) While the School of Savigny claims that prud’hommes and bonnes gens were well- defined legal categories, the French school maintains that they were...
Enregistré dans:
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Langue: | Français |
| Publié: |
2002
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| Accès en ligne: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Résumé: | J.L. LEFEBVRE, Prud’hommes and bonnes gens in Late Medieval Flemish and Walloon
sources, or eligibility to public charges in the Middle Ages (Part 1)
While the School of Savigny claims that prud’hommes and bonnes gens were well-
defined legal categories, the French school maintains that they were merely notable
people in their communities. Now, late medieval Walloon and Flemish sources make
it possible to establish that prud’hommes were first and foremost free men who could
freely commit themselves to an oath of allegiance by which they vowed to devote
themselves to truth and loyalty. However, not all free men who had sworn this oath
were de facto prud’hommes, the label only applied to those who were known for their
moral valour and for always keeping their word, and were consequently elected by
their peers to public charges, which involved repeating their oath. Medieval sources
record the various testimonies involved in this very Latin election to public charges. |
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