Les querelles avaient-elles une vocation sociale ?

Abstract

Did disputes have a social purpose ? The case of land transfers in Anjou during the 11th Century Most of the disputes known by the “actes de la pratique” of the Central Middle Ages were linked to gifts made to religious establishments, as well as to sales and exchanges. Because they almost always ended in the affirmation of peace, these disputes seem to have contributed to strengthen the links between the participants to these transfers, which, otherwise, would have come apart. The question arises whether analyses, assuming the primacy of the “social” and relegating to the background the relationship between these contemporaries and the law and economic rationality, have not in fact contributed to overshadowing them. The problem posed, and never truly resolved, of “actes” mentioning a transfer of property partly as a gift and partly as a sale, is examined. The idea of property is also studied by showing how the requirement of rationality in the management of estates demanded that precise legal concepts be maintained. This demand explains the preservation of the distinction between a gift and a sale in the 11th Century ; finally, it becomes apparent how the law, economic interest and a sense of religion were combined.