Le domaine de l’apôtre. Droit de saint Pierre et cens de l’Église romaine dans les provinces d’Aix, Arles et Narbonne (milieu XIe-fin XIIe siècle)

Abstract

The domain of the Apostle. The authority of St Peter and the census of the Roman Church in the provinces of Aix, Arles and Narbonne (mid XIth to end XIIth century). Looking at one particular aspect of the Gregorian Reform in Languedoc and Provence, this present paper discusses the special tie that unites the Papacy to those who are subordinate to St Peter’s authority and/or owed the census to the Church of Rome, by virtue of apostolic protection. The first section is devoted to the cartularies of the Curia, and demonstrates the close relationship between the nature of the documentation and the new ecclesiastical directions. It studies the process by which ecclesiastical communities and secular lords worked their way into Deusdedit’s canonical collection (1086-1087) (Book III, chapters 149-159), th & Digesta of Albinus (1188-1189 ?) (Book X) and the Liber censuum of the chamberlain Cencius (1192). These illustrate how the drawing up of lists superseded the compilation of blocks of texts to express the universal pretensions of the ecclesia Romana. The second part of this paper illustrates the different profiles which need to be distinguished among the protégés of St. Peter and the Roman Church. Beside these local traditions which defend the belief that monasteries have been given to the prince of the Apostles at the time of their foundation, the logicalities of ecclesiastical reform, papal travels and feudal structures are examined in detail. The final section looks in some detail at the formulae of letters and privileges issued by the papal chancery. It investigates the changing conceptions of the libertas used and the dynamics of the transformation of the tax, at the time when the offering made to St Peter’s altar is converted into a tax paid to the Lateran Palace and, later, to the popes and their successors. It explores also the links as well as the discrepancies between freedom, protection and exemption, which reflect the strong emphasis on jurisdictional preoccupations from the time of the pontificate of Alexander III (1159-1181).