Homage in the Multi-Confessional Legal Space (Crown of Aragon, 14th Century)

Abstract

This article studies the phenomenon of vassal relations in a situation where the supreme power belongs to a Christian King, and Muslims become his subjects. The research is focused in the formulas and texts from documents in which the establishment of such relations was recorded. The specificity of the medieval Iberian experience in political administration was the need to create a legal space that would be common to both Christians and Muslims. Within the common legal space, all sides would act legitimately and recognize the legitimacy of the final agreements and relations. Thus, both the Latin strategy of government and the Islamic legal culture in the Iberian Peninsula found a way to interact. The article demonstrates how the medieval tradition of creating a shared sacred space was present in everything related to the establishment of vassal relations and taking homage between the Christian sovereign and his Muslim subjects. In this case, a common legal space was built by legal procedures, which included both the oath and the drawing up of a written act.