Parliamentary Oratory in Medieval Aragon

Abstract

t is a tmism in modarn histories of rhatoric that tha prac­ tice of civic oratory virtually disappaarad during tha Euro­ pean Middle Ages. General surveys of tha Western rhe­ torical tradition usually allow that the only disciplinas of verbal persuasion practicad between tha fall of Rome and rise of Italian humanism wara tha arts of versifying, letter-writing, and preach­ ing.' Of thasa three, only tha last actually involved oral delivery, but its evangalizing purposa and sacrad subjact mattar disqualify it from consideration as a trua succassor to classical civic oratory. From this strict perspective, then, the three anciant genres of judi­ cial, political, and epidaictic eloquence simply did not exist during tha Middle Ages. More specializad accounts of medieval rhetoric hava accaptad and raaffirmad this ganaral viaw.^ They usually ar­ gua two basic and complamentary causes for the disappearance of civic oratory in medieval culture: tha ideals of Christian life either