Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: Of the thousands of surviving charters from eastern Carolingian Francia, remarkably few contain boundary clauses, even though ceremonial perambulations were a prominent aspect of property transactions. This article examines these boundary clauses asking when and why perambulations were written down in charters, and why, in an overwhelmingly Latin charter tradition, this was often done with vernacular language. The analysis suggests that boundary clauses were intended as rhetorical statements of elite identification and authority, usually signalling the involvement of powerful patrons and significant properties. The article contributes to debates concerning ritual, rhetoric and the interaction between orality and literacy in medieval charters.
Source: Historical Research
Author: Edward Roberts
Institution: University of Kent
Language: English
Subfield: Classics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2896841549