Supervisión y gestión del programa FISE

We now move forward to the Établissements de Saint-Louis and continue to look at the characterization of the law book author through the lens of norm transmission. It is important to note here that the Établissements, being a collection of coutumes, do not have a single author. Regardless, in the coutumes, we see a general strengthening in the relationship between the authorial roles of “teacher of law” and “keeper of the moral code”. The juncture of “teacher” and “moral guide” in the Établissements is the discussion of justice; the authors appear more focused on exploring justice as an ideal. In fact, “keeper of the moral code” could perhaps be better understood in these texts as the “keeper of justice”.

In the Customs of Orléans, the author uses poetry to transmit norms of justice and morality, specifically regarding the conduct of elites who act as administrators of justice. Poetry appears twice in the text; its first appearance is just after the beginning. The coutumes open with a brief introduction: “Here begins: On justice, law, and the commandments of the law, and the order of knighthood…and on the punishment of offenders”.65 _{The five stanzas of verse that follow concern these same themes. The}

first two stanzas expound on the nature of law. They speak to the moral code that influences the law, which we might understand as justice. “The law will be the judgment and the lord”, the author writes. The passage quickly turns to moralistic

65_{Établissements de Saint Louis, trans. Akehurst, p. 113; “Ci emprès commence De joutise, et de droit,}

et des commandemens de droit, et de l’office de chevalerie…et de punir malfeitors” (Établissements de Saint Louis, ed. Viollet ii, p. 327).

terrain that echoes Biblical edicts: “The law forbids all wickedness./ The law shows every courtesy/ And teaches us to do good things. The law says we should lead a good life”.66 The text goes on to say that the law specifically commands that man should not be envious of his neighbours, be kind and speak only on what he knows, and behave in a generally amiable way.67 It seems that these edicts address the conduct of all men, not just elites.

In the third stanza, the author turns his attention to knights and to those involved in the dispensation of justice: “The law says, and I am its spokesman (emparliers),/ That whoever is a knight/ Must speak ill of no one.”68 This statement is vital in our understanding of the characterization of the law book author. This remark is the only one of its kind in these sources. It is the only instance where a narrator describes his relationship with the law. The rarity of such statements means that it is unclear whether other authors conceive of their role in a similar way. It does, however, contribute to our conception of the author of the Customs of Orléans as an intermediary between the student and subject matter. It deepens what we have understood in other texts to be the role of “teacher of law”, emphasizing the duty of the law book author to help his students interpret and understand the law.

Norms that we recognize from literature feature prominently in the directives of the Customs of Orléans: “The law says that he should be an honest counsellor./ The law says that he should be an honest judge,/ So that he cannot be contradicted.”69 _This

caveat perhaps suggests that a judge needs to be honest not purely for the sake of moral righteousness, but because it will prove more expedient. This reflects a sentiment expressed in most law books: that justice needs to be delivered expeditiously, and that delays are to be avoided. Furthermore, the statement, which comes in the midst of exposition of moral code, injects a bit of consideration for the practicalities of the judge’s profession. The author also diverges slightly from the technique of rote moral exposition, which is familiar from Glanvill and Bracton,

66_{Établissements de Saint Louis, trans. Akehurst, pp. 113-14; “Droiz en iert jugemens et sire…Droiz}

deffent toute vilenie./ Droiz monstre toute cortoisie/ Et enseigne tous biens à faire./ Droiz dit qu’en soit de bonne vie” (Établissements de Saint Louis, ed. Viollet ii, pp. 328-9).

67_{Établissements de Saint Louis, trans. Akehurst, p. 114.}

68_{Établissements de Saint Louis, trans. Akehurst, p. 114; “Droiz dit, et j’en sui emparliers,/ Que}

quiconques est chevaliers/ Qu’il ne doit de nelui mesdire” (Établissements de Saint Louis, ed. Viollet ii, p. 329).

69_{Établissements de Saint Louis, trans. Akehurst, p. 114; “Droiz dit qu’il soit drois conseilliers./ Droiz}

dit qu’il soit drois joustisiers,/ Si qu’en ne le puisse desdire” (Établissements de Saint Louis, ed. Viollet ii, p. 329).

when he tells the student not just what a knight should do, but what a knight should not do: “The law says that a knight’s honor,/ Is diminished in his jurisdiction/ When he does wrong for a fee./ Instead, he should choose the right/ As far as is in his power, and leave the wrong;/ For this is the noble thing to do.”70

The writer then adjusts his focus to the administration of justice. He prescribes codes of behavioural and professional conduct in the context of the exercise of the law. He emphasizes efficient, honest, and productive dispensation of justice:

The law says that a baron Should give him a swift trial If a thief is arrested in his lands; For the sooner he is given a trial, The sooner he will name his accomplices When he sees his judge before him. If it is a thief who does murder,

{Who robs people or breaks into churches,} He should not be put into prison.

The law says a judge rates his soul too low Who gives him any other treatment

Than hanging without allowing him to buy his freedom.71

When poetry next appears in the Customs of Orléans, it is again in the context of the honest administration of justice. This is also the last and only occasion that poetry appears outside of the prologue. The author describes the intellectual process of formulating a judgment. He makes specific reference to the internal introspection in which a good judge should engage:

16. On judging honestly your men’s cases; on petitioning in the king’s court; and on appealing immediately without delay.

…And they must give an honest judgment on the actions of the men, and must not judge on the face of things [selonc la face], but they must give an honest judgment, and must keep God before their eyes…Nor should they remember

70_{Établissements de Saint Louis, trans. Akehurst, p. 114; “Drois dit que trop s’onnor empire/}

Chevaliers, là où il est sire,/ Qui por avoir est torsonniers;/ Ains doit à son pooir eslire/ Le droit, et le tort desconfire;/ Car ce apartient à tous princiers” (Établissements de Saint Louis, ed. Viollet ii, p. 329). The repetition of the phrase “droit dit” emphasizes the voice of the law.

71_{Établissements de Saint Louis, trans. Akehurst, p. 114-15; “Droiz dit qu’il affiert à baron,/ S’en prent}

en sa terre i larron,/ Qu’il en face tantost joutise;/ Que plus tost joutise en fait on,/ Plus tost nomme son compaignon,/ Quant voit devant lui son juise./ Se c’est lerres qui fait murtrise,/ Qui robe gent ou brise eglise,/ L’en ne l’ doit pas metre en prison./ Droiz dit que cil peu s’ame prise/ Qui en fait nulle autre devise,/ Fors que pendre sans raençon” (Établissements de Saint Louis, ed. Viollet ii, p. 329-30).

love, or hate, or gift or promise, when it comes to the judgment…[the judge] should speak in this way: “We declare him not guilty [nos l’asolons]” or “We condemn him according to the charge that this party made against him, by the honest hearing [jugement] we have provided, in a judgment,”

<Which must be given to all And must not be sold.>72

As we can see, the two lines of verse bring the essential moral truth of the law into sharp focus. They distill the essence of the law and draw attention to the role of justice in the administration of law. Béroul’s Tristan deals with similar issues. Tristan

explores the dangers of having a lord who dispenses justice in the wrong way. King Mark does not administer justice swiftly, as is advised in the Établissements and

Beaumanoir, but hastily, and without offering a fair trial:

All the people of the kingdom cried out: ‘King, you would do them too great a wrong if they were not first brought to trial! Afterwards put them to death’.73

One of the king’s men later advises him to temper his harshness and respect the proper legal process:

You want to burn her without trial, but this is not rightful for the crime has not been proved. It will be a great shame if you burn her.74

The use of poetry in the Établissements enriches and complicates our understanding of the ideal law book author. The law book author is not simply an expert on the law and an authority on justice; he is also a spokesman and a poet. What’s more, the use of poetry recalls Beaumanoir’s use of literary devices and his characterization as a

conteur, transgressing while acknowledging the bounds of genre between legal and literary texts.

72_{Établissements de Saint Louis, trans. Akehurst, p. 130-32; “De jugier loiaument les fix des homes et}

de faire supplication en cort de roi et de appeler tantost sans delai…Et il doivent loiaument jugier les filz des homes, et ne doient mie jugier selonc la face, mais il doient rendre loial jugemant, et doient avoir Dieu devant lor iauz…Ne ne doient avoir remembrance, ne d’amor, ne de haine, ne de don, ne de promesse, quant ce vient au jugement…il doit dire en tel maniere: ‘nos l’asolons’ ou ‘nos le condampnons de la demande que cil faisoit encontre celui, par loial jugement que nos avons fait et par droit,’/ li quiex doit estre à touz renduz et ne doit pas estre venduz” (Établissements de Saint Louis, ed. Viollet ii, p. 374-80).

73_{Béroul, Tristan, trans. Fedrick, p. 67; “Tuit s’escrïent la gent du reigne:/ ‘Rois, trop ferïez lai}

pechié,/ S’il n’estoient primes jugié;/ Puis les destruit” (Béroul, Tristan, ed. Muret, ll. 884-87).

74_{Béroul, Tristan, trans. Fedrick, p. 71-72: “Vos la volez sanz jugement/ Ardoir en feu; ce n’est pas}

gent,/ Qar cest mesfait ne connoist pas;/ Duel ert, se tu le suen cors ars” (Béroul, Tristan, ed. Muret, ll. 1097-1100).