Identity and Difference among the Toulouse Elite at the end of the Middle Ages: Discourse, epresentations and Practices

Abstract

In Toulouse, in the 14th and 15th centuries, in a difficult and changing context, the urban elites, embodied by the well-known Capitoulat, actually make up a heterogeneous, mobile, and divided group. In spite of their social diversity and their differences, however, these men manage to establish a political identity shared by this group which includes high-ranking citizens and the ruling urban class. The purpose of this paper is to examine the to-and-fro movement between the Toulouse elites’ otherness and identity, which thus invents urban identity, by studying discourses and representations, thanks to different sources (normative documents and documents de la pratique, such as notarial records), iconography, but also through the way of life and material culture.