The essays in this volume discuss feuding and peacemaking in France during a period extending from the mid-10th to the early 12th century. They treat various aspects of so-called dispute-processing – a term coined by legal anthropologists to refer to the political processes and discursive practices through which conflict is mediated politically, socially, legally, and culturally. Each of the essays can be read both as one element in a larger critique of the theory that a ‘feudal revolution’ in c.1000 initiated a century-long era of ‘feudal anarchy’ in France, and as a study on a particular topic in medieval European legal and political history. These include feuding, violence, the emotional dimensions of conflicts among elites, the role of norms and normative argument in disputes, the uses of unilateral ordeals and judicial duels in litigation, and alternative strategies for terminating disputes.
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