Representations of Self and Community in the Toulouse Inquisition Depositions of Doat 25 and 26, 1273-1282

Abstract

This thesis identifies increased opportunities for locating the agency of deponents in inquisitorial records, particularly Doat 25 and 26. Recent scholarship has tended to emphasise the construction of depositions by and through inquisitorial process, and therefore to consider depositions as records of inquisition and inquisitors. I argue, instead, that some of these documents can be treated as memory records. Examining deponents' reported memories, I argue that inquisitorial interviews provoked opportunities for deponents to craft narratives of personal history, and of communal interactions. This discussion demonstrates that despite the strong influence of inquisition in their production, some inquisitorial records retain significant value as evidence for social history, especially of changes in deponents' constructions of identity and community.