Mute in life as in death, peasants of remote history rarely speak to us in their own voices. But Thomas Bisson’s engagement with the records of several hundred twelfth-century people of rural Catalonia enables us to hear these voices. The peasants’ allegations of abuse while in the service of their common lord the Count of Barcelona and his son the King reveal a unique perspective on the meaning of power both by those who felt and feared it, and by those who wielded it. These records—original parchments, dating much earlier than other comparable records of European peasant life—name peasants in profusion and relate some of their stories.
Bisson describes these peasants socially and culturally, showing how their experience figured in a wider crisis of power from the twelfth century. His compassionate history considers demography, naming patterns, gender, occupational identities, and habitats, as well as power, coercion, and complaint, and the moralities of faith, honor, and shame. He concludes with reflections on the historical meanings of violence and suffering.
This rich contribution to medieval social and cultural history and peasant studies suggests important resources and ideas for historians and anthropologists.
Thomas N. Bisson is Henry Charles Lea Professor of Medieval History, Harvard University. Among his publications are Fiscal Accounts of Catalonia under the Early Count-Kings (1151–1213) and The Medieval Crown of Aragon: A Short History.
Table of Contents
Memorials
People
Old Domains: Caldes de Malavella, Llagostera, and Vicinity
In this extraordinary, engaging and thoughtful book, Thomas N. Bisson, one of the foremost medievalist in the world, has crafted a most original and insightful 'thick description' and 'thick' analysis of the uses and misuses of power in mid-twelfth century Catalonia...Impeccable use of the sources, art in mining information from the memorials and placing his findings within a wider context...mastery of the secondary literature...A wise book, a work in which the author's empathy for his subjects--those faceless but now no longer nameless peasants--shine through like a dazzling bolt of lightening. His lyrical descriptions of the Catalonian peasantry, of their plight, his reflections on the nature of power, his attempts at and success in bringing the tormented peasants to life are deeds of remembering, of inscribing or, better yet, of reinscribing the peasants' lives and words into the historical present and, far more importantly, into our consciousness and heart...This is a great and very special book.
Teofilo F. Ruiz
In this extraordinary, engaging and thoughtful book, Thomas N. Bisson, one of the foremost medievalist in the world, has crafted a most original and insightful 'thick description' and 'thick' analysis of the uses and misuses of power in mid-twelfth century Catalonia...Impeccable use of the sources, art in mining information from the memorials and placing his findings within a wider context...mastery of the secondary literature...A wise book, a work in which the author's empathy for his subjects--those faceless but now no longer nameless peasants--shine through like a dazzling bolt of lightening. His lyrical descriptions of the Catalonian peasantry, of their plight, his reflections on the nature of power, his attempts at and success in bringing the tormented peasants to life are deeds of remembering, of inscribing or, better yet, of reinscribing the peasants' lives and words into the historical present and, far more importantly, into our consciousness and heart...This is a great and very special book. Teofilo F. Ruiz, University of California, Los Angeles