The general court of Agenais: a reconsideration

Abstract

SUMMARY In this article Thomas Bisson returns to his early study on the origins of medieval representative institutions in southern France (1961). He had then concluded that the Agenais had a developed political identity, embodied in a general court which included the elected representatives of the local communities, as well as the barons, and had been active as early as 1182. The apparent precocity of this general court was challenged in a later study by a French scholar, and Bisson here considers this interpretation of the evidence. He concludes that in the wider context of developments in the Pyrenean region in the twelfth century his own original interpretation holds good, and that what happened in Agenais is consistent with a trend towards the development of the ceremonial courts of rules into partly political assemblies, where the whole community is represented. This is a response to the development of issues which are too difficult for the territorial rulers to resolve without the aid of their subjects.