La justice royale et les juifs dans l'espace aragonais, quels enjeux ?

Abstract

The field of law is one of the areas in which Jewish autonomy, particularly marked in the Crown of Aragon’s territories, can best be observed. The Jews enjoyed privileges that enabled them to make their own decisions and have them applied while respecting the laws of the host State. Thus the Talmudic principle of Dina de Malkhuta Dina, formulated in the 3rd Century AD, was applied to its fullest and the Jews could thrive in the Aragonian diaspora. In a wider sense, the law seems to have been the emblematic field for the harmony that long characterized the relations between the King of Aragon and “his” Jews. It brought into play the king’s authority, Jewish autonomy and, more widely, attempts to affirm the king’s concurrent powers. We shall examine the ways in which the law was organized as far as the Jews were concerned, the underlying challenges and, finally, the occasional obstacles that disrupted the compromise.