Châteaux et justice

Around the year 1000, a slow rebuilding of the justice system took place, which gave full authority to local notables for the settlement of conflicts, most of which did not go beyond the villages’ surroundings. So many accommodations were anchored in the habits and customs of the inhabitants. In France, the situation was quickly changing because of the growing influence of the monarchy and its legal system. How can one possibly forget the image, so often reproduced in history textbooks, of Louis IX, the future Saint Louis, exercising his function as King of justice under the great shady oak tree of his castle of Vincennes?

This book, based on the most recent research, shows that reality was different and that, until the Revolution of 1789, many lords continued to exercise their judicial power. Some for the worse, others for the relative tranquillity of their tenants – even if the disproportionate and sinister silhouette of the pitchforks at the edge of the woods or the top of the hills still come to mind. Finally, in keeping with the long-term approach of our “Rencontre d’archéologie et d’histoire en Périgord”, this book presents the later upheavals of the judicial system, contemporary with the 19th and 20th centuries.